The Race: The Story of the Moon Race between Russia and America Author: James Schefter Publisher: Arrow Books ISBN: 978-0-099-4061-43 Price: £8.99 (Pb), 303pp
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Competition motivates, and the space race between the two twentieth century superpowers, the USSR and the USA, ended with twelve men walking on the Moon between July 1969 and December 1972. James Schefter was in the thick of it, a journalist for TexasÕ Houston Chronicle. He interviewed the astronauts. He reported on the launches. He has talked with Sergei Khrushchev, the son of the USSR Party Chairman, and with Roger Launius, the NASA historian. But what is more important is that he knows how to tell a good story.

The bravery of those who went out into space, the dedication of the rocket designers, the skill and attention to detail of the manufacturing engineers, the stoicism of the wives and families shines from every page. This book is a great read. You will learn a lot and will be entertained and enlightened.

But much is left unsaid. Schefter glosses over the dash at the end of World War 2 to bag as much V2 hardware and personnel as possible, and the rush to build up an arsenal of Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles. He starts with Sputnik 1 and 2, which so concerned the American people and politicians that 25 May 1961 saw John F Kennedy setting the goal, Òbefore this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth.Ó

But 40 years later we realise that our problem arises with the definite article. ÔTheÕ race. There has only been one. When the USA won, in 1969, both sides stopped trying. They did not race again. The big rockets were abandoned. Travel between one astronomical body and another ceased. Human space travel became confined to low Earth orbit. In 1969 it might have been Òone giant leap for mankindÓ but who would have thought that we would give up so soon after that.

David W Hughes