Pale Blue Dot
Sep. 2nd, 2020 09:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qatsiBook Review: The Earth Gazers - On Seeing Ourselves, by Christopher Potter
I picked this up in a work book sale a couple of years ago, timed perhaps by the then upcoming Apollo 11 anniversary, or more particularly the Apollo 8 anniversary and the Earthrise photo.
I expected something along the lines of a continuation from where an earlier book had left off. In fact, about the first half of this book covers much the same ground as that one, though with slightly different perspectives. It was unexpected to begin this book by reading again about Charles Lindbergh, this time the real figure rather than an alternative history. Lindbergh took an interest in the space race, and his inclusion in the book, with its claimed focus on the combination of human exploration and introspection, is probably justified by his pioneering Atlantic flight. Potter sticks to the facts about Lindbergh and Von Braun; the earlier rocketry pioneers Robert Goddard, Hermann Oberth and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky get a good mention but not much in the way of depth.
The second half deals in more detail with the Gemini and Apollo missions, as well as some information on the USSR's Luna missions of the same period. It turns out that misinformation and fear are nothing new: Von Braun and others at NASA used the uncertainty of the Cold War to hint regularly at Soviet supremacy as part of their funding justification; in fact, the Soviet space programme was in most aspects, particularly that of safety and risk, well behind. The book gathers some technical information on the rockets and spacecraft for each mission, but rather less on what was accomplished on the Moon's surface. Instead, attention is paid to the Cinderella activity of the astronauts' photography while travelling around the Earth and to and from the Moon. It's difficult to strike the right balance: in all probability, invisible scientific data gathered from a mission is probably of more raw value to the programme, but relatively frivolous photographs of the Earth from space have the value of capturing the public imagination. However, Potter highlights that the photographs turned out to have real value for various Earth sciences, including geology and meteorology.
Interspersed through the NASA story is that of atheist Madalyn Mays, who fought several cases against the US government in an attempt to enforce the separation of church and state. This adds an interesting dimension to the story, though Potter certainly conveys the impression of her as dogmatic and unable to appreciate any distinction between the astronauts' government-sponsored mission and their own personal activities and beliefs.
I picked this up in a work book sale a couple of years ago, timed perhaps by the then upcoming Apollo 11 anniversary, or more particularly the Apollo 8 anniversary and the Earthrise photo.
I expected something along the lines of a continuation from where an earlier book had left off. In fact, about the first half of this book covers much the same ground as that one, though with slightly different perspectives. It was unexpected to begin this book by reading again about Charles Lindbergh, this time the real figure rather than an alternative history. Lindbergh took an interest in the space race, and his inclusion in the book, with its claimed focus on the combination of human exploration and introspection, is probably justified by his pioneering Atlantic flight. Potter sticks to the facts about Lindbergh and Von Braun; the earlier rocketry pioneers Robert Goddard, Hermann Oberth and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky get a good mention but not much in the way of depth.
The second half deals in more detail with the Gemini and Apollo missions, as well as some information on the USSR's Luna missions of the same period. It turns out that misinformation and fear are nothing new: Von Braun and others at NASA used the uncertainty of the Cold War to hint regularly at Soviet supremacy as part of their funding justification; in fact, the Soviet space programme was in most aspects, particularly that of safety and risk, well behind. The book gathers some technical information on the rockets and spacecraft for each mission, but rather less on what was accomplished on the Moon's surface. Instead, attention is paid to the Cinderella activity of the astronauts' photography while travelling around the Earth and to and from the Moon. It's difficult to strike the right balance: in all probability, invisible scientific data gathered from a mission is probably of more raw value to the programme, but relatively frivolous photographs of the Earth from space have the value of capturing the public imagination. However, Potter highlights that the photographs turned out to have real value for various Earth sciences, including geology and meteorology.
Interspersed through the NASA story is that of atheist Madalyn Mays, who fought several cases against the US government in an attempt to enforce the separation of church and state. This adds an interesting dimension to the story, though Potter certainly conveys the impression of her as dogmatic and unable to appreciate any distinction between the astronauts' government-sponsored mission and their own personal activities and beliefs.