Sputnik; The Shock of the Century
New York: Walker Publishing Company, 2001. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. [10], 310 pages. Illustrations. Diagrams. Footnotes. Bibliography. Index. Pencil erasure on half-title. Paul Dickson (born 1939 in Yonkers, New York) is a freelance writer of more than 65 non-fiction books, mostly on American English language and popular culture. He has written many articles on a wide variety of subjects, including baseball and the military. He is a founding member and former president of Washington Independent Writers and a member of the National Press Club. Dickson coined the term "word word". In May 1979, he appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson to promote his book The Official Rules, which detailed the history of Murphy's Law and similar aphorisms. For years, former Nazi Wernher von Braun, who ran the U.S. Army's missile program, lobbied incessantly that his Rocket Team should be handed responsibility for the first Earth-orbiting satellite. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the space age. Sputnik, all of 184 pounds with only a radio transmitter inside its highly polished shell, became the first man-made object in space; while it immediately shocked the world, its long-term impact was even greater, for it profoundly changed the shape of the twentieth century. Dickson chronicles the developments leading up to and emanating from Sputnik's launch. "Sputnik" offers a profile of the early American and Soviet space programs and a strikingly revised picture of the politics and personalities behind America's fledgling efforts to get into space. Sputnik owed its success to many people, especially from the Soviet spokesmen strategically positioned around the world on the day the satellite was launched, who created one of the greatest public-relations events of all time. Condition: Very good / Very good.
Keywords: Dwight Eisenhower, John Medaris, Missiles, NASA, Rockets, Satellites, Soviet Union, Sputnik, Bumper Project, Cold War, Robert Goddard, International Geophysical Year, John Medaris, Hermann Oberth, Redstone Rocket, Rocket Team, Satellite, Wernher von
ISBN: 0802713653
[Book #73408]
Price: $30.00