Author: Mark Mortimer

A bit of inspiration and a pound of sweat. Sounds like a perfect recipe for advancement, but sometimes more is needed. Space pioneers had inspiration and certainly worked wonders in the lab and at the desk. But, they also had to be spokespeople for the completely new field. This need is readily apparent in the book crafted by Irene Powell-Willhite entitled The voice of Dr. Wernher von Braun – An Anthology. Through careful selection and editing, she provides copies of 47 speeches given or written by Dr. von Braun. From them, it’s clear that after the 9 to 5 work hours, still much effort was necessary to keep the space program alive.

Dr. von Braun is the German engineer who is credited with being the driving force for the development of the V2 military rocket of World War II. At the end of the war, he and many of his colleagues purposefully surrendered to the Americans with the hope and desire of continuing rocket development. However, for many years they languished at back woods military research centres. His skills weren’t in demand until the U.S. public got a fright from the U.S.S.R’s Sputnik satellite. Even then, von Braun realized that broad public support was necessary to continually advance the U.S. military and subsequent civilian rocket programs. In particular, only with the nation’s support would humans land on Mars.

This need for continual advocacy is readily apparent from the collection presented by Powell-Willhite. Von Braun’s audiences included rotary clubs, NATO groups, SHAPE, press clubs and even dental associations. From them, the reader will readily recognize von Braun’s skill in effectively joining the interests of the audience with his own. Usually he did so by referring to the audience’s hopes and fears. Rarely did he introduce technical or quantitative elements, unless the audience expected such. Interestingly enough, one of the early speeches identified the alien menace as a purpose. However, he usually focused upon hard immediate gains, such as satellites for television transponders, satellites for weather forecasting, methods for program management, and construction of specialized material. Through his speeches, the reader sees that von Braun consistently demonstrated that humans in space were leading to a betterment in the lives of everyone in the nation.

Such a support of the space program is expected when coming from one of the prime racketeers. And, this anthology has other aspects. As the speeches appear in a chronological fashion, the reader can see how the progress of the space program added substance. Early speeches talked about future gains, while later speeches talked about the advancements already made. On a more sombre note is the diminishing hope shown for the program’s future. Early speeches championed flights to Mars, while toward the end, von Braun talked about a strong anti-science mood that was permeating society, especially within institutes for early education. Yet, the speeches never showed anger or regret, only desire and advocacy. From this, the reader can see change, from von Braun the dreamer to von Braun the practical manager.

Powell-Willhite’s anthology can serve a number of other purposes in addition to being an interesting reflection of von Braun’s attitude to the space program. For example, advocates and speech writers from any field can see how to write a speech on one topic so as to interest an audience that has only cursory interest. It’s also interesting to see how Braun massaged technical data to suit the expected level of the audience. Hence, from a public relations perspective, this anthology may offer many interesting perspectives.

Where this anthology fails is the lack of perspective from Powell-Willhite herself. There’s no basis for the selection of the 47 speeches, even though von Braun is purported to have given nearly 500. There is no perspective or overview or suggestion on what the reader should look for. Each speech lies in its own chapter and, aside from the title of the speech (if one exists) and the speech itself, there is usually naught else. This is great if the reader just wants to read the speeches. However, if the reader is looking for a little more on the why and wherefore, it’s not here.

There’s good reason for Dr. von Braun being given credit for boosting the U.S’s space program. His engineering and management skills and his advocacy did wonders. Evidence of this springs forth in the book by Irene Powell-Willhite entitled The Voice of Dr. Wernher von Braun – An Anthology. Its collection of speeches show a man dedicated to helping humankind take another step into the future.

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Combine some dust together into a clump and you get a dust ball. Bring enough dust close together and a solar system ensues. Distant Worlds – Milestones in Planetary Explorations is a book by Peter Bond that describes our solar system. As he shows, we’re amongst much more exciting things than a cloud of dust.

The subtitle of Bond’s Book is more apt than the title in describing the contents. Within, Bond offers details on the results of explorations, planet by planet. As normal, the book begins with a chapter on Mercury. Then, chapter by chapter, the book steps planet by planet onward until it ends at the Kuiper belt. A couple of extra chapters include the Earth’s moon and comets so that the chapter count rises to twelve.

These twelve do a credible job of being extensive and thorough in their descriptions. Their layout is quite prescriptive. Each chapter has a prologue containing a brief overview of the planet (or other object) as understood through history. Next, the chapter has the results of probes we sent to visit. Occasionally, there’s also a brief bio of the probe as well. The conclusion of the chapter, if any, raises the hopes of future probes, if any.

Though detailed, the book and its chapters leave very little to the imagination. That is, tere’s little within with which to get excited. Equally there’s little to disparage. Bond is thorough, provides lots of facts and data, includes enough word-smithing to join everything, and, includes pictures and photographs to make it pretty. The layout is clear, the contents follows an obvious pattern and the appendices and index give the necessary pointers. As such, it’s a great reference book. However, while reading, I was unconsciously forming questions for a grade school test. It’s that sort of book. It would excel as a reference, it would be very poor for sitting down and reading on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Nevertheless, being current (with references to launches happening later in 2006) and detailed makes this book a good reference. A lovely picture of Amathea and a stately portrait of Herschel add flavour. Ballooning to the Venusian surface or landing a probe on Churyumov-Gerasimenko puts the reader close to the action. But, unless very dedicated, the book won’t likely draw a reader in to learn, page by page, of the milestones in our exploration of the planets of our solar system.

The worlds of our solar system began humbly as motes of dust on the arm of our galaxy. After tens of years of exploring with robotic surrogates, we’ve learned much about these worlds. Peter Bond in his book Distant Worlds – Milestones in Planetary Explorations offers readers much data and facts resulting from these missions. He well shows the steadily increasing plethora of facts and knowledge with each new discovery.

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The big bad wolf had big eyes to see better. But big eyes are only part of the solution for improving vision. Geoff Andersen in his book, The Telescope – Its History, Technology and Future shows there’s so much more to bringing small things into focus. No wolf would have had any problem finding prey if they had some of these ultra-fine instruments to help them do the searching.

Telescopes, however, aren’t for finding lost girls ambling around the forest. They’re for pumping in every last iota of detail from objects millions of light years away. Things too small or too faint have hidden themselves from humanities eyes for so many years that many people still can’t envision a galaxy. But continuing space observations and broadcasting amazing new discoveries keeps raising the background knowledge of everyone. Telescopes are the main tool for this and they have rich heritage in their own right.

Geoff Anderson’s book showcases these tools that have made so many astounding discoveries. He targets his book at an audience that’s had little knowledge of telescopes and less information on optics. With such, he begins with a very quick overview of our past accomplishments, made purely without optical aid. However, he quickly bounces on over to some clever Dutchmen and, of course, Galileo, who began our ascent into the finer reaches of the night sky. Keeping with this chronological frame, Anderson progresses through the advances in lenses, telescope design, observatory location and image collecting. There’s no surprise in his book, though he includes some unexpected, pleasant asides, such as the basis for gamma ray observatories.

With this chronology, Anderson’s addressed the history of this piece of equipment. But, his book is much more than an historical journey. Interspersed throughout the chapters on history are some high level details on the physics related to the optics. These don’t get into any great detail and the forward even makes apologies for the slight amount of equations present. Suffice it to say that the Airy spot is about as particular as the information gets. Because of this, Anderson meets his obligation to make the technical contents digestible.

And, as evident from the title, this book peers into the telescope’s future. Even when considering the future, Anderson stays in safe, complacent territory. His book extends out to a couple of the proposed next generation terrestrial and space based telescope platforms. He adds their purpose and chance of success. However, he doesn’t play any games with contemplating far into the future, except for noting that if current trends continue, telescopes will get more capable and we will be further astounded by more amazing discoveries.

Staying safe with the subject is a constant theme in this book. The book’s content is thorough, informative, well written and colourfully illustrated, but it doesn’t add much to astronomy or the field of telescope equipment. The book is like a marketing brochure; it skims over using highlights and pretty pictures and a ‘trust-me’ approach to most of the written work. Thus, it will be pleasing to those who know little and want to get introduced to the subject. But, it won’t take long for a reader to ‘eat’ their way through and be ready for another dish.

The big bad wolf never got the meal he wished. But, astronomers have been satiating their appetites with a continuing feast of more capable equipment. Geoff Andersen’s book, The Telescope – Its History, Technology and Future provides a background for these amazing tools. The hungry wolf was out of luck, but, as the book shows, people are very fortunate that astronomers’ hunger is continually satisfied.

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The red planet is so close we can almost taste it. Probes, landers and robots extend our reach into its exotic terrain. To tease us even more, Discovery Channel is running the show ‘Race to Mars’. In it, people take the first footfall onto the Martian surface.

Succinctly blending space opera with the trials of experienced at the Devon Island analogue, the producers of this television show demonstrate the beauty, challenges and rewards of sending people to explore the Martian surface. A spacecraft tumbling through space catapults the audience into inter-planetary transit. The craft gliding soundlessly through its orbit above the Martian surface readies us for the crescendo of landing. Determination and destiny guide the occupants as would only happen for the thoroughly committed.

Within this vessel, six people from many nations represent an harmonious humanity of Earth in 2029. Three preceding craft brought infrastructure and support to the fourth planet of our solar system. Thus, for this show, all is in place for a simple and easy voyage and arrival. Yet, as to be expected with the real event, and this documentary, stuff happens. Machinery fails, tempers flare, and a whole new climate plays upon the senses of the new arrivals. The voyage, as incredible as it is on its own, is just part of the show’s offerings.

But, this show is listed as a documentary. Hence, as no ones visited Mars, at least yet there is room for conjecture. Nevertheless, it’s obvious much homework’s been done. A false gravity, self aware computer system and transmission time delays make the sets and events seem immediate and real. We, the audience, watch over the explorers’ shoulders as footfalls strike the surface, romance sparks and harm strikes. With this being a television show, such additions are necessary but they add rather than detract from the believability.

And this ring of truth is what makes this show so watchable. We expect and need drama. We appreciate the science and engineering challenges. We believe in the undertaking. Mars is an appropriate destination and we can strive for it. The show ‘Race to Mars’ is one more contribution to helping point the way. Next week’s conclusion won’t come soon enough and the ending of this show will come all too soon.

The show is currently broadcast on the Discovery Channel in Canada, but it will likely make its way into other markets soon enough.

Visit the Race to Mars site.

Just a few pages into Gotz Hoeppe’s book, Why the Sky is Blue – Discovering the Color of Life and I was staring into the daytime sky. Sure we all know it’s blue, and most of us know why. Or, at least we think we know why. This book shows that our sky comes in as many shades of blue as a painter has in their palette. But each shade has an natural explanation, hence the size and value of this enlightening book.

Hoeppe’s book works through humanity’s understanding of the phenomenon of the blue sky by advancing chronologically. Aristotle again gets the early nod with his elucidations on colour, composition and the contributions of earth, water, air and fire. Yet, as shown, his musings were little more than conjecture. Nevertheless, other Greeks, Arab philosophers and even da Vinci applied their great strengths to understanding the concept of light and colour. Yet, as the book shows, all they had were observations to guide them.

The book shows that it took the development of scientifically supported knowledge to counter theory and shed the mysteries of the sky’s colours. Hoeppe’s book advances through the ever expanding understanding of the Earth’s atmosphere, the novelty of Iceland spar and the subtleties of conjoining wave theory with corpuscles. For these, he readily illustrates the experiments and undertakings that kept pushing our knowledge onward. He doesn’t present much theory such as when he slides over the derivations for Mie scattering but his illustrative descriptions are clear enough.

These illustrations greatly add to this book’s value. Many of the described experiments can be easily repeated, whether looking at smoke in front of a coloured screen or ascending a mountain with a cyanometer. Really, there’s no reason for not doing these and, in consequence, the reader can happily enjoy the thrill of your own discovery of a basic phenomenon of nature. The excellent coloured plates in the middle of the book clearly demonstrate the expected results and often display the experimental setup. Given that new discoveries were being made into the 1950s, the immediacy is not lacking.

One challenge with preparing a full text on the sky’s colour is in making it relevant. Hoeppe has thoroughly provided the pertinent historical and scientific information. He tackles the relevance in the last chapter entitled “The Color of Life”. Here, he directly associates the sky’s colour to oxygen as well as associating the provision of life to this same chemical element. Later, he expands to issues on global warming and possibly detecting life on other planets. With this, Hoeppe has made a valiant attempt at making the subject relevant even though this chapter is of a different tone than the previous ones.

In any case, it’s the inquisitive people who made the advances in knowledge. Hoeppe never shirks on identify them. He readily identifies and compliments those researchers associated with this subject. Throughout, he includes photographs, portraits and even a picture of a stone bust to personalize the individuals. This attention to detail, the thoroughness of his review and the vibrant style of writing (even though a translation) make this book worthwhile reading.

Earth’s blue sky lent airs to many poets’ passages. Painters have brought life to canvases by making use of the blueness around them. Scientists have added to this, as Gotz Hoeppe shows in his book Why the Sky is Blue – Discovering the Color of Life. Looking up at the skies of day will never be the same after reading this book.

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Dogs were one of the first creatures to join with human tribes. Their barks and bites kept predators at bay while their wagging tails and happy disposition welcomed those coming home. Some dogs got to do incredible feats in advance of humans, as happened with the first creature to orbit Earth. Laika the graphic novel written and drawn by Nick Abadzis recounts the story of our first astronaut. For it was a dog with this name that the Soviets sent into space in advance of the many humans that followed.

Graphic novels are a great medium for relaying a story. These are so much more than the average comic strips that people read in the Sunday paper. They can have as many pages as a novel, have tens of intricate drawings on a page, and each drawing can relay more emotion and information than most paragraphs written with words. Abadzis uses this medium to great effect in retelling the stories of some special players in the early times of space flight.

The main character in Abadzis’ graphic novel is Laika, our first member of the astronaut ‘tribe’. Using a blend of fiction with fact, the novel follows the dog from its birth on Earth to its death in orbit. But the book is not solely focused on the dog. For example, the author begins with an introductory chapter focusing on Sergei Pavlovich making his way from the gulag back to civilization. But, Abadzis uses the dog as the focal point. However, it’s the people who interact with the dog that give life to the story. The novel displays the emotions and actions of people rather than giving Laika human-like qualities of speech and emotion. With this, the author keeps the story real and relevant.

As such, the novel shows that this dog’s life is less like the pleasures of the rich and famous and more like a harsh slave, outcast and downtrodden. In this manner, Abadzis uses his novel to critique the harsh living conditions in Moscow and the Soviet Union. Yet at the same time he shows the compassion and warmth that spring forth out of horrific events. As an example, the author shows the dog cast out having to fend for itself and people’s generosity comes to its rescue. Yet at the same time, dog catchers want to efficiently clear the streets of the strays. Eventually Laika ends up at the research institute where dogs become test subjects. Here again, people befriend the dog yet there is the expectation that most dogs don’t survive the tests. The author shows this is the case for Laika though he illuminates mixed emotions for the many human characters involved.

The nice thing about this graphic novel is that it tells much but leaves much for the reader to fill in. As with a written novel, the reader can easily put their own emotions into the characters and live their lives. Abadzis uses rich colours, well rounded characters and vibrant backgrounds to lend impact and credence to his story. As well, he’s researched the material, so the factual basis of the events get accurately recounted. Thus, the novel is both pleasurable and informative.

Graphic novels do have great value in telling stories and this novel does so and in doing, will inspire many readers. The story and imagery will intrigue the general reader. The evocative images of Moscow and Tyura-Tam would pique the interest of the burgeoning historian. And of course, the story about Laika, Sergei and the early Soviet space efforts will interest the space enthusiast. For a warm and interesting break from equations and formulae, this book is a wonderful treat.

Laika started us upon our voyage into space. Of course no one would think of writing a biography for this dog. But, Nick Abadzis in his graphic novel Laika recounts the story of this dog and gives a rich, impassioned view of what its life might have been. Dogs have been helping humans for thousands of years. This book shows one more case of their excellent service.

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Combining large scale astronomical observations with the careful reasoning of physics leads to the widely encompassing field of astrophysics. Apparently, the physical laws that rule interactions on Earth also rule the actions across our universe. Fulvio Melia takes this consideration to task in his book The Galactic Supermassive Black Hole. Within the book, the equations bring reason to some very murky observations and sharpen our view of the heavens.

The target of Melia’s book is our own active galactic centre; the region in and about Sagittarius A*. One of today’s postulations is that each galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its centre. Thus, we’d expect to see a black hole in or near Sagittarius A*. But this raises the question, “How does one see a black hole?”. For, of course, a black hole absorbs everything about it, including light, so there is little for satellites to detect. Nevertheless, though we aren’t able to directly see a black hole, there are many other indicators foretelling such an astronomical entity. Thus, by observation, inference and a great deal of reliance upon physical laws, Melia dishes out reason about the contents of our galactic centre.

To make reason, Melia provides the tools and background throughout his book. He begins with a brief review of relevant observational data about Sagittarius A*. In particular, he looks at emission strengths and characteristics for various energy levels. As an example of the difficulties of this subject, much of the observation supports each other, but yet there’s no exact match. Thus, there’s the need to account for the common problems with astronomy, in that targets move, viewing platforms shake and differences arise for no known cause. Nevertheless, with diagrams, graphs and satellite survey results, Melia shows the data that’s important and provides ways and means to interpret it.

After this review, Melia takes the reader through some simple and some esoteric mathematical manipulations. The simple is setting up transformation matrices for four-dimensional space time. He then goes on to utilize these constructs as a substrate for simulations of the magnetohydrodynamic properties at the galactic centre. These equations come after some development, though many are results from other, external works or papers (that are usually referenced). The equations aren’t present for an intimidation factor, however. Rather, Melia uses them to construct comparative figures and graphs. And, with these, he brings together the hard relations of physics with the softer visages from the satellites. In consequence, the reader, if they can follow the mathematical development, will have effective and viable tools for analyzing the expected properties at our, and other, active galactic nuclei. This is as wonderfully complete as a reader could expect for introductory analytical tools.

And the target audience of this book is the people who are thinking of extending their interests into active galactic nuclei. Melia’s stated goal with the book is to help young astronomers come up to speed with mature primary literature on Sagittarius A*. This book is a great resource for doing just this. By providing background references, establishing equations and comparing theory to observation, this book has excellent breadth. With the derivation of equations and presentation of typical hard data, this book has good depth. For those well into the wonders of astronomy and astrophysics, reading this book would be just the treat to help them reach further into this specialized area of astrophysics.

However, for those readers who are more interested in results or enjoying the view, this book may have too much depth. Integrals, distribution functions and relativistic motion are all present and are necessary preparations for many of Melia’s discussions. His expectation, apparently, is that the reader is comfortable with this technical level. Thus, he doesn’t draw out derivations. A reader, unfamiliar with this level, may soon find themselves grasping for understanding.

Yet, for those who want to make a serious commitment in the field of active galactic nuclei, particularly of Sagittarius A*, this is a very thorough and polished book. The chapters and material follow on naturally. There aren’t surprises nor need for guess work. Somewhat unsettling is the ending. Here, Melia skips from a paragraph on needed telescope upgrades to the next paragraph, where he states that his book is at best a work in progress. The reader, therefore, is left hanging. There’s very little on expected future research efforts, centres of research or practitioners in the field. Thus, if a person is contemplating further study, they may know more of what to do from reading this book, but they will need to look elsewhere on how best to contribute to the field.

The light from far away stars, beautiful in its own right, can carry great meaning. As it bounces off of dust or reflects about great masses of matter, we can infer details. Fulvio Melia in his book The Galactic Supermassive Black Hole combines the little information we can detect from our galactic centre together with our accepted laws of physics. This foundation is just waiting for the next contributor to extend our knowledge into the further reaches of space.

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We all look upon space voyagers with awe and envy. They’ve reached out and touched that which we can only glimpse. Many have shared their experiences and Walter Cunningham does just that in his presentation entitled The All-American Boys. He first wrote this as a book in 2003, but now he’s made it available in audio. With this audio-book, we can listen to his words and connect in a much more personal and immediate way to this author’s space based thoughts.

Walter Cunningham flew on Apollo 7. He was part of the middle group of astronauts; post Mercury and pre shuttle. As tradition had it, he had fighter pilot training, was recruited as an astronaut trainee, had many eventful years with NASA and then went on to other activities. Yet, as is evident by this audio book, he remains close to the manned space program even today.

Entitled, The All-American Boys, Cunningham’s audio-book has a lot about the astronauts but also much about the programs that put and continue to place people into space. There’s depth and breadth that anyone would expect from an astronaut who participated in the Apollo program. Breadth wise, his audio book runs the timeline from the launch of the Mercury capsule to today’s mission to Mars. Depth is shown spanning technical discussions on the capsule design and on to wives’ shopping sprees in Moscow. He includes reminisces, critiques, appraisals and suggestions. Though he certainly does provide lots of insight into the all-American boys who flew and fly space vehicles, he adds much on the space programs, both of the United States and elsewhere in the world.

When talking about astronauts, Cunningham lays a huge amount of emotional and opinionated detail on the line. He recalls memories of his brother dying in a flying accident. As well, he wonders about the wisdom of female astronauts and astronaut-educators. He certainly believes that fighter pilots have the right stuff for flying in space, and he even tries to back this up with arguments. Though the listener may not agree with the opinions at least Cunningham doesn’t leave any doubt as to where he stands.

In considering space programs, this audio-book has much perspective, though almost all is what one would expect from an operator. Cunningham says he believes in the benefits of people in space machines as well as placing humans on Mars. He even rationalizes his beliefs so as to provide a basis to supporting these actions. Again, the listener may not agree with the rationality, but they will have no doubt as to what Cunningham thinks and why.

In overall consideration, this flow of Cunninghams’ thoughts and reasons continues through the CDs. He shares his moments explaining to astronauts’ children that their father isn’t coming home from work, ever. Later, he strenuously argues that people need to conquer space and that we should accept some cost, no matter how painful. In perhaps his greatest leap, he claims that humans flying into space is as great a step as when creatures first walked on land. He then goes on to argue that we must continue our efforts to advance our species off this world.

As can be deduced from this, Cunningham is very pro-space. This audio-book is positive about the effort, though critical about many steps taken and many of the people who took the steps. Unfortunately, with this, Cunningham sounds like an armchair quarterback who, after playing one game, is then very willing to tell everyone and anyone the best way to play. Certainly there’s lots of knowledge and experience behind his words, but still they are opinion.

Though Cunningham balances most of his opinions with arguments, he doesn’t always do the same with his critiques. One repeated concern seems to relate to crew assignments. In almost every second chapter/CD, he’s complaining about who flew which mission and how their assignment didn’t follow the rules. From this, it’s apparent that Cunningham likes rules and prefers to live in a well ordered, understandable world. As well, it sounds like he’s still bearing a chip on his shoulder. This can lead to some unbalanced flow in the recitation.

Yet, Cunningham easily has enough stories and subjects to hold the listener’s attention through all the 22 CDs. His voice is somewhat rough and lacking in strong emotion, as one would expect of a fighter pilot. But he’s obviously skilled at public speaking, as the CDs quickly pass by. A table of contents isn’t included and would have helped, but this isn’t a great detriment.

Anyone who enjoys space related presentations, especially from a first hand, authentic source would appreciate having and listening to these CDs. Fighter pilots and shuttle mechanics could listen and have a clearer understanding of why they are doing what they do. Those advocating the journey to Mars would also appreciate hearing the supportive words that arise throughout. This, together with knowing that the author wrote and spoke the words as well as lived the adventure, lends a lot of immediacy that any listener will appreciate.

Humankind’s space adventure is a great undertaking. Few may travel up high, but we all benefit with the accomplishment; knowing that we can achieve incredible challenges. Walter Cunningham in his audio-book The All-American Boys describes how we have been reaching out to the great unknown. He shares his memories and his vision of a future where we might continue to help a select few accomplish greater feats for everyone.

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Project Mercury and Project Gemini preceded the landing of a person on the Moon. These projects taught the United States how to safely fly humans in to space and out to adventure. Steve Whitfield has prepared a Pocket Space Guide for each of these. Within, he combines smooth narrative with hundreds of both colour as well as black and white pictures to bring a reader complete, colourful little synopses. Their result is a generous reminder of what people can achieve when given a task, no matter how hard.

Both Project Mercury and Project Gemini were extreme engineering marvels as much as Project Apollo. The first placed people above Earth’s atmosphere and into space. The second gave control to the pilots of the space craft in order to give them independence and capability with which to complete missions. The third, as most remember, put men upon the lunar surface. Given the definitive goals for each project, definitive results must occur. This hard definition lends well to ready documentation. In consequence, Whitfield can draw on clear objectives and well documented achievements for his pair of books. He does this for a remarkably fine result.

The Project Mercury guide clearly shows the veritable flying phone booth that was the first vehicle the United States used to put men into space. Yet Whitfield doesn’t begin there, as the project started well before the Mercury capsule was lofted. First he mentions the unmanned launches of Little Joe and Big Joe. As well, there’s a bit on Ham the chimpanzee doing tests, and numerous unoccupied vehicles doing systems tests. Then, after providing a short one paragraph description of each of the 20 preliminary tests within the Mercury project, Whitfield provides a few pages for each of the seven manned launches. Given the allowances in these compact guides, they only provide the barest of technical information and not much else. Therefore, Whitfield gives statistics regarding the space craft and launch vehicle. After, he lists some of the more exciting moments of the flight as well as noting the objectives achieved. These clearly show the increasing confidence and capability of all the people involved in the space program of the United States.

Closing the book, though in reality consisting of about half the pages of the book, Whitfield provides copious colour photographs. These act as wonderful memories of an exciting project, whether they be pictures of the contents of the astronauts’ survival package or a sequence of an astronaut while in orbit. Perhaps most fitting is the final picture of the women who trained in parallel with the men in the hopes that they too could go into space.

The outline of the Project Gemini pocket space guide follows that of the Project Mercury guide. However, this project had no unmanned trials, but only a few Agena targeting craft. Hence, this guide focuses solely upon the 12 manned Gemini flights. Again, each of the twelve has a few pages to describe the flight. Where applicable, these include; objectives, the launch, any highlights, and the landing. Concluding the text section is an overview of an interesting plan to use the Gemini craft and launcher to put a man upon the Moon. Of course, this ended up not being necessary, but is a rewarding tidbit nonetheless.

The photograph section in the Project Gemini guide is as varied and plentiful as for the Mercury guide. Each crew and their badge get an entry. There’s Ed White doing the first space walk for the United States. An angry alligator and an Agena silhouetted against the Earth’s far away surface or other visual testaments. These and others showcase events of the Gemini project vividly and clearly.

Both these guides are great examples of well edited and very detailed works. Given their subject manner, it’s easy to get carried away, but they don’t do so. These guides summarize the achievements and provide rewarding visual testaments without overweighting the reader with managerial nuances or technical trivia. Certainly, there’s a dearth of substance but such is not the intention of a guide. The consequence is that these books practicably do justice but not to excess. Anyone wanting an introduction to human space flight or an overview of multi-year project development will benefit from reading either or both of these two. As well, they’re handy references for anyone not wanting to memorize.

Only a few days were needed to transport a human to the Moon. But, more than a decade of research and discovery were necessary to bring all the abilities together to make this happen. Steve Whitfield provides two guides; Project Mercury and Project Gemini that display two projects that preceded Apollo. Their clarity happily bring these heady times back to the ready fingertips of any reader.