On October 4, 1957, a time of Cold War paranoia, the Soviet Union secretly launched the Earth's first artificial moon. No bigger than a basketball, the tiny satellite was powered by a car battery. Yet, for all its simplicity, Sputnik stunned the world.
Based on extensive research in the US and newly opened archives in the former USSR, Red Moon Rising tells the story of five extraordinary months in the history of technology and the rivalry between two superpowers. It takes us inside the Kremlin and introduces the Soviet engineer Korolev, the charismatic, politically-minded visionary who motivated Khruschev to support what others dismissed as a ridiculous program. Korolev is virtually unknown to most Americans, yet it is because of him that NASA exists, that college loan programs were started in the US, and that Kennedy and Johnson became presidents.
Character driven, suspenseful, and dramatic, Red Moon Rising unveils the politics, people, science, and mindset behind a critical and transformative world event.
This book tells the behind-the-scenes story of Sputnik, the first satellite launched into Earth orbit, and the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. The story starts with the race for German technology, especially that of the German rocket scientists of WWII and moves through the beginning of the Cold War. The book offers a unique view of the geopolitics of the 1950s, and both history and space buffs will find it fascinating. However, the author tells the story in, at times, almost excruciating detail. This slows down the narration. Reader Charles Stransky is solid. He varies his tone and pace to good effect. And his pronunciation of Russian terms and names is crisp and clear. R.C.G. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
About the Author
MATTHEW BRZEZINSKI is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and former foreign correspondent at The Wall Street Journal. He is also the author of Casino Moscow: A Tale of Greed and Adventure on Capitalism's Wildest Frontier. He lives in Washington, D.C.
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