Seven into Space
The Story of the United States Astronauts and Project Mercury
Bell, Joseph N.
First Edition
Seven brilliant and dedicated young men are eagerly waiting to be shot 120 miles into space, orbit the earth three times at a speed of 1,600 m.p.h., and then be dropped into the Atlantic Ocean. All seven sorely want to be the first to make this flight.
These unusual men are the Astronauts of Project Mercury, America's man-into-space programme. In Seven Into Space, Joseph Bell gives us the whole story of Project Mercury - its background and growth, the selection and training of the Astronauts, and the development of America's space rockets.
To top it off, he describes man's first ride into space in detail, as the men who will take it explained it to him.
Frorn the beginning, Project Mercury has been a fascinating programme. The difficult task of selecting the Astronauts was made more difficult by the fact that no rules existed for selecting spacemen.
Nor were there precedents to follow in establishing the training programme and thus it has had to be worked out as it progressed. Unusual too is the fact that the development of the programme's space rockets has been going on concurrently with the Astronauts' training, and that they have had a big part in designing their own space equipment.
All this makes interesting reading, and Bell, an ex-Navy pilot, tells the story in a clear and factual manner.
In conclusion, he tells what we can expect in the way of space travel in the coming years - a manned orbit of the moon, a 'soft' landing on the moon and return, building of space stations, and probes to the planets.
In more than one of these developments the Russians have already blazed the trail. Can America regain the lead in scientific achievement and world prestige?
Hardcover with dust jacket
192 Seiten / pages
with photos and illustrations
book good condition, dust jacket with some tears at the edges
London - 1960 - Ebury Press
Art.Nr. 25555
