Dark Side of the Moon: The Magnificent Madness of the American Lunar Quest.DARK SIDE OF THE MOON: The Magnificent Madness of the American Lunar Quest GERARD J. DEGROOT Many people have fond memories of the moon landings of the 1960s and consider them heroic scientific achievements for the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . However, DeGroot, a professor of history at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, claims that the race to the moon brought few dividends beyond a fleeting sense of pride and wonder. DeGroot examines what he calls the dark side of the space race. He reveals how Nazi scientists used slave labor to develop rockets and then were rewarded with work and security in the United States. The author claims that the first astronauts weren't chosen for their piloting or scientific skills. Once Russia orbited Sputnik Sputnik: see satellite, artificial; space exploration. Sputnik Any of a series of Earth-orbiting spacecraft whose launching by the Soviet Union inaugurated the space age. and ignited ig·nite v. ig·nit·ed, ig·nit·ing, ig·nites v.tr. 1. a. To cause to burn. b. To set fire to. 2. To subject to great heat, especially to make luminous by heat. panic in the U.S. government, few people questioned the logic of space exploration, and NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. became a big-budget agency with a nebulous mission. After Neil Armstrong's first step onto the moon, politicians and NASA leaders had even less of a sense of what to do about space, the author asserts. NYU NYU New York University NYU New York Undercover (TV show) Press, 2006, 321 p., hardcover, $29.95. |
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