posted 06-26-2007 10:01 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by ColinBurgess:
This will be the first of ten books overall that tells the entire social or human history of space flight. It's a massive undertaking, and one which we hope will be widely supported.

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posted 06-26-2007 11:35 AM               

In response to your question, I imagine the answer will vary from volume-to-volume. "Into That Silent Sea," which is rather "astronaut-heavy" in that regard, still has excellent anecdotes from the ground-bound. The book on space probes, on the other hand, will almost certainly skew very heavily away from astronauts. (Though Jay could speak to that better than I.)

posted 06-26-2007 05:07 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Naraht:
Many more people worked for NASA than just the astronauts, and many more people were involved in the space program besides NASA employees.

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When it comes to "Into That Silent Sea," we made a conscious decision, which we spell out in the introduction, to focus on a specific area. In this book the Cold War, the human urge to explore, the Space Race, are all interesting backdrops, but backdrops only, to a very human story. That is, a variety of very different kinds of people, from hugely different backgrounds and experiences, all found themselves at some time in their lives sitting on top of a rocket ready to launch.

There are spacefarer stories in the book that have been well-explored before, but I'd say that there are some real surprises in there even for people who think they know the whole story. Certainly, people heavily involved in the programs at the time have told us so.

I've had a similar initial response to yours with some recent books that focus on astronauts. For example, when reading about Andrew Smith's "Moondust," I at first thought, 'do we really need another book on moonwalkers?' As it was, it was a fresh, enjoyable, engaging take that I am glad he wrote and that I read. Despite a preponderance of books out there on astronauts, I think there is room for new ones when they take a fresh approach.

This has particularly been brought home to us with the recent losses of Gordon Cooper, Wally Schirra and Andrian Nikolayev, all of whom told us stories they had never before committed to print. It made us feel even more glad that we had talked to them and captured these stories when we did. They may otherwise have been lost forever.

You also only mention "NASA" and "astronauts" - I should point out that this book does give equal weighting to the cosmonauts, and explores their lives in equal detail, with a number of first-hand interviews. This is an area that really has not been explored too much, particularly in US-published works, in this way. Some readers and reviewers have really enjoyed this fresh aspect of the book. It also allows interesting comparisons with the astronauts that gives new light to their stories.

Where some of the spacefarers had already passed away, or where it enhanced the story to take it in new directions, we have extensive parts of the book based on talking with people such as Dee O'Hara and Jim Lewis - giving great credit to the "supporting cast" who, I agree, did vital but often unsung work. I think you'll also find the Apollo 1 chapter in our second book, "In The Shadow of the Moon," very interesting, as it is based almost entirely on the recollections of many non-astronauts associated with the program, talking about that sad day.

As David says, other books may take a slightly different tack. I have had the pleasure of reading his Skylab book draft, and I have to say, his marriage of recollections from both astronauts and others in the program is astoundingly good, and probably far more what you are looking for in a social history. It's an incredible book.

I should clarify something - our book is not, as you suggest, based on 'anecdotes,' which suggests tale-telling and thus a level of historical inaccuracy. While we do include much first-person material, and a good amount of opinion by and about the spacefarers which keeps the stories very personal, we worked very hard to ensure a level of technical and historical accuracy. Where opinion or conjecture was given, we tried to make that clear, and state whose opinion it was. The book is not a nuts-and-bolts technical / engineering book, nevertheless we tried very hard to bring some dry engineering that was vital to the story into vivid life.

It may be that this book is simply not going to be one that interests you - goodness knows, so many great books come out every month we all have to be picky -but if you do end up reading it, I'd be really interested in hearing here what you think of it, and if your opinion changes at all after you do.

posted 06-26-2007 08:06 PM               

I'd be happy to cover the work in more depth - albeit in another forum, so as not to detract from the topic of Colin and Francis' excellent work.

posted 06-28-2007 09:19 AM               

How so much drama could be crammed into fifteen-minute flights is aptly described, and done very well. I have done several network radio interviews relating to a space exhibition of mine and in each one have mentioned "Into That Silent Sea" when responding to the questions related to Apollo. Without Mercury and Gemini and all the original personnel, Apollo would never have happened! I continued with "It is impossible to describe the history in a few words, but here is a new book that does exactly that..."

posted 07-07-2007 10:14 AM               

Let me start out by saying that I have heard many of these stories first hand by several of the people interviewed in this book. I have tried to read the book with the unpracticed eye of a space history novice. The book turned out to be very interesting due to it's personal historical perspective. I have read many books about the dates and times of the major events in space flight, so this book has been an enjoyable alternative due to it's intimate knowledge and style.

The only criticism I have for Colin and Francis concerns some of the content and it's relationship to the rest of the book's material. While this book is about people and specifically says so in the introduction, I would make the suggestion to the publisher to add a subtitle to the book cover that briefly states the series is a societal review of space flight history from the personal perspective of some of the participants in the events. That might avoid some of the confusion I ran into while reading the "Two Wally's" chapter as well as resolve other such potential conflicts in future books of the series.

However, I did find the "Mercury 13" interviews and material excellent. The chapter provides compelling and sympathetic look at what happened to these women through the review of contempory documents as well as the eyes of one of the more prominent participants in the Lovelace exams. The relationship to the pioneering space flights, however tenuous, is handled by the author's use of the interview material to provide a counterpoint between two participants who unavoidably became involved in the greater social issue of gender as criteria for early astronaut selection. Also, the chapter did prove to be a good precursor to Valentina Tereshkova's story. As such, I regard my criticism as minor.

The Russian chapters were of particular interest, because they provided me with much new personal information from the cosmonauts. As someone who has primarily focused on the American side of the space race, I was fascinated to read of the personal struggles and triumphs of the early cosmonauts through their eyes.

posted 07-08-2007 12:17 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Larry McGlynn:
I would make the suggestion to the publisher to add a subtitle to the book cover that briefly states the series is a societal review of space flight history from the personal perspective of some of the participants in the events.

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posted 07-22-2007 08:28 PM            

It was also a pleasure, Kevin, to sign my very first copy of "In The Shadow of the Moon" for you, as well as the copy of "Into That Silent Sea" you brought with you - I hope you enjoy them both!

Carpenter's visit was a nice opportunity for me to talk again with him about the books, as he and daughter Kris Stoever had been of immense help in our research, fact-checking and proofreading.

posted 07-30-2007 10:58 PM               

I've been reading "In the Shadow of the Moon" this past week and have almost completed it. I'm taking my time getting through it, as the book is like a very fine wine that can't be hurried through. I need to take small sips of each chapter and savor the history and never-before-told personal stories.

I've read almost every astronaut book that's come out over the last 35 years and this edition, along with my soon-to-be read "Into That Silent Sea" tell the manned space flight story like no books before. My thanks to you and Colin for putting these memories to paper and sharing them with the rest of us.

posted 07-31-2007 04:29 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Kevmac:
...the book is like a very fine wine that can't be hurried through. I need to take small sips of each chapter and savor the history and never-before-told personal stories.

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posted 08-04-2007 03:01 AM               

Francis and Colin could very well be among the most important spaceflight historians of this moment. And certainly among my favorites...

It is also nice to see so many familiar names in the acknowledgements...

posted 08-06-2007 03:50 PM            

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Originally posted by heng44:
I am nearing the end of 'Into That Silent Sea' and find it most enjoyable and well-researched.

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Wonderful to hear that, Ed - thanks! For someone with your depth of knowledge to say such a thing means a lot to me.

quote:

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It is described how cosmonaut Bykovsky had a full bladder before the lift-off, which kept getting postponed. He wanted to get out and relieve himself. But he was about to start a flight of several days: how was waste-management handled in the Vostok spacesuits?

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Ed, you have actually found one of the very few typos that Colin and I discovered in the final manuscript after publisher copyediting, but that it was too late to amend as the printing presses were rolling. The correct translation of Bykovsky's comment was "open the spacesuit," not "open the spacecraft." Colin and I have it listed with the publisher to be amended for any future editions of the book.

That you found it and it raised this question gives me much confidence that we have found the typos.

As to your larger question - the waste-management capabilities of the Sokol SK-1 spacesuit - I have some paperwork at home I could dig out. But firstly, someone here might have a copy of a book I don't have - Isaac Abramov's "Russian Spaceasuits" - that may provide a far more comprehensive answer than my records.

posted 08-07-2007 02:15 AM               

All joking aside, compliments such as this mean a lot to both of us after years of hard work and diligent research on the books, and particularly when they come from someone so highly regarded in the space community, not only for your awesome work in collating and sharing space images, but for your extraordinarily beautiful and evocative paintings. Many thanks, Ed - much appreciated.

posted 08-09-2007 12:07 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Jay Gallentine:
it reports four copies of 'Silent Sea' circulating in our system. Two are checked out right now

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Great, thanks - good to hear libraries are buying them and people are reading them!

posted 08-12-2007 12:22 AM            

The engineer who was in charge of the Q-ball cover retraction system for Apollo 11 liked this book so much, he decided to give us both a piece of the Q-ball cover - the very, very top of the stack as the Saturn V sat on the launch pad. It survived launch, but with some wonderfully historic scorching all over it!

posted 08-17-2007 08:54 AM               

I have finally, shamefully late, finished reading 'Into That Silent Sea' by Francis French and Colin Burgess, the first book in the Outward Odyssey series.

Almost a year ago, I had the pleasure of having dinner with Francis French at a local German restaurant, and we discussed our respective entries in the Outward Odyssey series. I told him that, while I was probably unusual in this respect, my thoughts on writing about the era covered in Silent Sea and its follow-up, In the Shadow of the Moon, was "Better you than me."

Yes, it would be a fun sandbox to play in, and, yes, it would be very cool to get to talk to the people you would have to interview to write the book.

But, it's been done, you know?

The Gemini period perhaps a bit less so, but how many books and movies and documentaries have covered the Mercury and Apollo programs? No, I'll stick with something a bit more fresh, like, say, Skylab, thanks.

But the great thing about Silent Sea is that it is, in fact, fresh.

For the people who are relatively new to these stories, it's a wonderful introduction. To say that it's thorough is putting it lightly. Yes, the Mercury program is covered completely. The book includes everything you need to know. And it's told in a way that's interesting not only to a technical crowd but also to a lay audience, because, ultimately, Silent Sea is the story of the people who lived the history. These people who have become legends, after all, were people. Where did they come from? What were they like as children? How did they get to the point where they were making history? What was the experience like for them? What was it like living with having done something so exceptional? With the aforementioned thoroughness, Silent Sea paints portraits of the individuals behind the history.

Silent Sea is unusual, as well, in that it's not a history of the Mercury program. It's a history of human spaceflight from 1961 through 1965, regardless of where those humans were from. The U.S. and Soviet programs are covered in a combined chronological account, presenting the stories side-by-side as two components of one historical period. As a result, even for someone who is fairly well-versed in the history of NASA spaceflight, Silent Sea is an extremely informative volume, filling in the gaps from the far side of the Iron Curtain.

posted 08-17-2007 11:11 AM               

I was absolutely delighted when David Hitt and Owen Garriott accepted the task of taking on the much-anticipated Skylab book. Soon after, Joe Kerwin became another eager participant, joining in as a third author. David has lavished praise on "Into That Silent Sea," so by way of reciprocating I must point out that I have now read the unedited manuscript submitted by this august trio, and I can report that it is not only brilliant, but is destined to become the definitive book on this remarkable program. David is a proven and superb writer with a great turn of phrase, and he has both organised and pulled this book together in magnificent fashion. Meanwhile Owen and Joe have not only been involved in the writing process, but have solicited the assistance of the other six surviving Skylab crewmembers, making this a must-read book for any spaceflight enthusiast. Additionally, Alan Bean graciously offered his personal diary notes from his Skylab mission, fully reproduced in print form in the book. This particular volume is, I believe, destined to become a classic among non-fiction space books, and David will deservedly suffer a chronic case of writer's cramp from signing copies once it is released next year.

posted 09-03-2007 03:52 PM               

I've read some good space books over the last few years (Colin's "Fallen Astronauts" is one as he knows) but this one is up there in my top five.

I like the bit when Titov went round to the Glenns for a BBQ.

posted 12-16-2007 10:18 PM            

After the recent visit of Jim Lewis, the guy who "dropped" Liberty Bell 7 (see the September 25 photos on this thread), it was very nice to receive a visit from the guy who picked it up again - Curt Newport. Curt was kind enough to tell us some great spacecraft recovery stories for the book, and kind enough to sign some copies too for general sale.