Binary Moon: two views of the Apollo Missions

Alan Shepard & Deke Slayton were two of the original intake of astronauts for the American space program. Shepard was the first American into space but soon after was removed from active flight duty due to an ear problem that affected his balance. Slayton was also removed from flight duty because of a minor heart problem. These two men remained with NASA as managers of the astronaut department

The writing of Moon Shot is credited to Shepard and Slayton but its writing had a significant contribution from Jay Barbree and Howard Benedict, journalists with a background in aerospace reporting.

Moon Shot gives a good general (and brief) coverage of the space race of the 1960s – early 70s, with a more detailed concentration on the roles of Shepard and Slayton and how they overcame their health issues to be reinstated to active flight service. Shepard was reinstated in time to command Apollo 14 and become the 5th man to walk on the moon. Slayton missed out on a moon mission and barely scraped into the last pre-shuttle mission, a joint USA- USSR flight in which the rendezvous and docking of the two nations' craft was achieved.

I read the book immediately after Andrew Chaikin’s A Man on the Moon and my reading experience suffered because of it. Chaikin’s book is much more detailed and to my mind much better written. He interviewed almost every surviving astronaut from the Apollo era as well as their wives and many of those behind the scenes. His descriptions of events and memories were written using information gained from these interviews but without the obvious flights of imagination used in Moon Shot.

In my previous post I mentioned the Moon Shot account of the first moon landing which gives an imaginative description of Neil Armstrong’s eyes as “tired but warm with anticipation”.
This was only one example of what marred the book. How about this description of the separation of the stages of a rocket?

“Explosive charges blew apart the two stages with all the velvety touch of a locomotive thundering off a high trestle to roll down a rocky slope”.

I also found that parts of the book were over-sentimentalised and soap-opera like. Yes, I’m sure that astronauts and their families did experience some strong emotions – but those feelings could have been explored with greater skill than was utilised.

In my previous post I described the book’s style as “new journalism gone mad”. So much was written that was not based on obtainable fact or observation – so much imaginative speculation was presented as fact (as in the Armstrong eyes example). “New Journalism” at its best gives literary style to description without resorting to unverifiable detail. At times it might get into the head of a “character” and explore his/her thoughts and emotions, but the exploration needs to be based on substantial evidence from interview with (and observation of) the person being portrayed.

In contrast, I don’t know whether there could be a better book of its type than Chaikin’s. It addresses the major developments in the space programme from the beginning through to the climax of the moon missions, examining every moon landing (and the aborted Apollo 13 flight) with enough detail to highlight the individual achievements of each Apollo crew.
The book provided the basis for Tom Hank’s mini series From the Earth to the Moon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_the_Earth_to_the_Moon_(TV_miniseries)

SPACED OUT!!!

It has been a while since my previous post. I was waiting until I finished the second of two books about the Apollo space programme (see left).
Both books were borrowed from the library and I needed to extend the loan of the second so I could finish it. I’m still about 60 pages from the end and I have just over a week left of a total six week loan period.

It’s taking much longer to read than the first even though it’s a fraction of the length. Maybe it’s been more of a struggle because it covered the same kind of ground as the other, and while it is very readable, I found it was not written any near as well as the other book.

When I am told that during the approach to the first moon landing, Neil Armstrong’s eyes:
“…were tired but warm with anticipation”, I have to wonder who made this observation. For some reason I can’t imagine Buzz Aldrin, his only companion, had time to stare into Armstrong’s eyes and make poetic observations while they were approaching the moon’s surface.

This is only one example of the book demonstrating “New Journalism”* gone mad or, in other words, poorly thought out writing spoiling a very good story.

Hopefully I’ll finish the book over the weekend and will be able to write more about my impressions of both books about the moon landings before too long.

Before I move on to other books I have about the space programme (and I have several to read) I’ll try something different so I can come back to the topic with a fresher mind. But where to start?

I have many books I want to read but I’d like to tackle something short and not too demanding before trying to tackle anything that’s going to take a lot of commitment. Maybe I’ll turn to one a children’s book again.

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* a journalism technique started in the 1960s - 70s in which literary story telling techniques were combined with news stories making journalism more accessible to the reader.