Now for science fact!

I wanted to write "More science fiction!" since the post below was all about sf links and clearly the webmistress and I dated the same guys in high school (was one of those guys named Eric?), but this is all true.  And amazing.

Starting with Gagarin and the Russian space program, authors Francis French and Colin Burgess take us person by person and mission by mission through the space programs of Russia and the U.S. from 1961-1965.  But they do more than just discuss the missions.  They talk about the people behind the missions, describing backgrounds and childhoods of these men and women who grew up to be icons (or not in the case of the women who tried and were denied).  It is a well written account of an era in spaceflight and absolutely facinating to read.

But I have to go back to the people.  It wasn’t that the astronauts and cosmonauts were so amazingly smart or athletic.  Some were.  But really they were simply above average.  What makes them stand out was their abilities to be cool in a crisis and to handle setbacks and misfortunes.

Cool in a crisis is self-evident.  Things went wrong in space.  The only reason the American and Russian space programs were so successful and had no human losses at that time was because of the quick thinking and cool heads of their astronauts and cosmonauts.  These people saved themselves time and again.  (You’ll have to read the book for the spine tingling details.)

But what really strikes me is the way they dealt with the setbacks and misfortunes in their lives.  The men and the women.  They tried their best.  And if it didn’t work and trying harder didn’t get them anywhere, they moved on.  Almost as though the motto of everyone in the space program was, "Okay, what is my next challenge?"  It is the cosmonauts who grew up in a war torn Russia.  It is Wally Funk moving on and being realistic about her chances for space.  More than the amazing stories, it is the people who are inspiring.  The people who fly into space and the people who support them on the ground are heroes.  We grow up with that idea, learning it in schools and magazines.  Read this book to learn what heroes, truly human heroes, are really like.

Incidentally, I meant to write this about the time Sputnik had its anniversary and then when the second book came out, but never managed.  But I am managing to get this post out in time to tell you that one of the authors, Francis French will be signing books at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. on May 18th.  I only wish I were in that area.