Red Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivalries That Ignited the Space Age

by Matthew Brzezinski

Book Overview

For the fiftieth anniversary of Sputnik, the behind-the-scenes story of the fierce battles on earth that launched the superpowers into space ? The spy planes were driving Nikita Khrushchev mad. Whenever America wanted to peer inside the Soviet Union, it launched a U-2, which flew too high to be shot down. But Sergei Korolev, Russia's chief rocket designer, had a riposte: an artificial satellite that would orbit the earth and cross American skies at...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080508147X
• ISBN13: 9780805081473
• Release Date: September 2007
• Publisher: Times Books
• Length: 322 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

A Must-Have Book

Matthew Brzezinski, take a bow - this is one heck of a good book. I've been reading and writing about spaceflight history for more than four decades now, and every so often a book comes along that just slots right into the category of The Best Book Available on the Subject. This is an engrossing, enjoyable and informative story of the origins of the Space Race, and while I have a vast number of books on the subject in my private library dating way back to those by Medaris, Caidin, Gatland, Bergaust, right through to others written to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the first Sputnik, this will always be the one I will refer to first when I want to check on something. Not just because it is remarkably well told and covers the subject comprehensively, but because it is accurate and reliable. And that, to any true spaceflight devotee, researcher and reader, is paramount. In a word, this book is superb.

IN THE SHADOW OF THE RED MOON

I was 10 years old and returning from Los Alamos, N.M. with my mother on October 4, 1957. We were just outside of Orogrande, N.M. when a special report came across the air waves and into the car radio. The Russians had launched an artificial satellite known as "Sputnik." My mother listened intently for a moment and then, made some comment to the affect: "Well, the Russians have beat us into space...we're in trouble now!" I had no "earthly" idea what a satellite was then, but grew up within it's shadow of turbulance. Matthew Brzezinski's "Red Moon Rising" is "top-notch" historical research and writing. Brzezinski places the reader into an elevated mono-rail and sends them down the paths of history never before seen or, known by the common citizen. He supplies his readers with a magnifying glass of knowledge which allows them to see what really went on from the "far left" to the "far right." Within that magnified strata the reader is privey to a great many things including world politics, aircraft design, rocketry, and everything in between. The "in-house" political squabbling between Military Generals, and inter-service rivalry is almost comical if, it were not so dangerously sad and true. The Soviet Union was testing their first IBM, when the United States Air Force was happily building up their fleets of bombers that were almost, obsolete by the time they took to wing. The Russians on the other hand, realizing they could not compete with the quality or, quantity of aircraft being built started focusing on the Rocket and it's far-reaching potentials. The Soviets were spending more money on rocket development, had a prototype ICBM, but could not perfect the problem with nose-cone re-entry burnup. A stale-mate of sorts began to develop until, the Russian scientists' decided to distract the military and Khrushchev from the the nose-cone reentry problem. After all, with the launch of a satellite into orbit, the need for an intact returning nose cone (or warhead) was irrelevant. The payload trajectory of a satellite was out and away, and not intended to be a quarterback's touch-down pass. Therefore, an "orbital field-goal" of a 184 pound polished aluminum sphere would be the political and symbolic football that scored the winning point of the game and...changed the world forever... as we once knew it! Brzezinski has out done himself, and I think Bryon Burroughs'superb book review shows you what a truly fine and indepth piece of work this is. What more can I say?

Fascinating look at the early space race

This book is a fascinating look at the start of the space race, how the Soviets won and why, and the forces that surrounded those momentous events. Author Brzezinski works both sides of the Iron Curtain, showing what influenced Khrushchev's interest in the project and Eisenhower's disdain of the American counterpart, and makes it clear how really happenstance and uncertain the whole thing was. The Soviet effort was headed by a visionary who's pretty much unknown outside Russia, and rather obscure even within his native country. His name was Sergei Korolev, and he was the visionary behind much of the early Soviet space program. The Soviets, of course, were paranoid, and their leadership was constantly insistent on the leadership getting credit for everything, so even in Khrushchev's more liberal Soviet Union Korolev's name was classified until after his death. The author does a wonderful job recreating the life of this loud, boisterous, intelligent scientist who wasn't the best rocket designer, but was a pretty good project manager who contrived to use other people's talents to their full potential. His counterpart, Bruce Medaris (another unknown), is similarly brought to life, and the result is a fascinating look at the early space programs of the two countries involved. The book is to a fair extent about the politics involved in the race on each side, so there's a considerable discussion of the major issues of the day, especially those which distracted President Eisenhower or Khrushchev when either of them was trying to make a decision regarding the launching of missiles or satellites. Eisenhower had to deal with the British and French invading Egypt, and himself sort of invade Little Rock, Arkansas with the 101st Airborne to integrate the schools there. Khrushchev had a failed coup to weather, a too-popular army chief to demote, and a stumbling economy. And of course neither of the men recognized how important Sputnik was going to be until it was up in the sky, beeping harmlessly and orbiting the earth. Pravda barely noted the launch the day it happened: the following day, when it had become clear that everyone else was impressed, the headline was inches in height. This is a very good book, interesting and well-written. It works well on several levels, as a political history of the United States, as a cautionary tale of the dangers of bureaucratic rivalry in our government, as a further cautionary tale of the dangers of believing every bit of intelligence passed through the hands of the government, and as an interesting discussion of why the Soviets were good at some things and so very bad at others. I would recommend Red Moon Rising.

"One Small Ball" and the Terror that Started the Space Race

I must have received a pre-release copy of 'Red Moon Rising' because I review books for a large newspaper. Two weeks ago the doorbell rang and there it was on my doorstep. I'm glad they sent it. This political history of the sputnik launch reads as if it was co-written by Ian Flemming. The political effects of the Soviet launch of Sputnik in October 1957 shocked the Russians as much as the Americans: Sputnik was simply the by-product of Soviet attempts to create a decent missile-weapons system. But by being the first in space, the USSR placed itself in an orbit equal with the world's then sole superpower, the USA. PS1--prostreishy sputnik, or `simplest satellite,'--spent only 92 days beeping innocuously far above the earth, but it instilled far more terror in the West than 1000s of silos spread across Siberia ever could. And Khrushchev, technologically ignorant but ever the opportunist, milked it for all it was worth. Of course for the USA the launch of Sputnik was humiliating, shattering America's complacency and belief in its technological superiority, and exposing US security weaknesses even then ("For the Soviets, it was mind-boggling how much information the Americans naively left lying around for the KGB to scoop up. Russian generals didn't need a satellite to find out what was going on in Washington. They needed a missile to destroy it." pg. 144). Most significantly, Sputnik caused untold political upheaval. That "one small ball" was Eisenhower's undoing. In fact, 'Red Moon Rising' is essentially just this--a political history of technology, not the history of a technological event. The author, Matthew Brzezinski, tells the story of the politics--not so much the science--behind the development of Russia's missile program and how Sputnik's launch (which was little more than an afterthought in Russia's defense strategy) started the space race. It does start off a little slow, and keeping track of the different players in this drama requires that the reader pay attention. But it's worth getting through the first few chapaters and remembering who's who. With its quick pace, trans-global intrigue, and cast of ego-maniacal scientists, generals, and heads of state, this is a great book. And as an example of how a history of major political events can be constructed around an important technological moment, 'Red Moon Rising' is excellent.

" . . . it's a Commie sky and Uncle Sam's asleep."

Those song lyrics were written by the governor of Michigan, one of many Americans who thought President Eisenhower was spending too much time golfing and not enough worrying about the Soviets and their Sputnik beeping above the earth. Red Moon Rising is a detailed technological history, but it's even more interesting as a social and political history. It was liberal Democrats like JFK and Lyndon ("I'll be damned if I sleep under a Red Moon") Johnson who used a nonexistent "Missile Gap" as a campaign issue against the Republican Eisenhower. That scared the American public, and the U.S. started on a road which led to the shooting down of a U-2 spyplane over the USSR, the U.S. stationing of Jupiter missiles in Turkey, the Bay of Pigs, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. It's also interesting how Walt Disney (on his new TV show) created an image of Werner von Braun as a dispassionate scientist, bringing Tomorrowland's imagined future to reality. No mention of the slave labor von Braun used to build V-2 rockets for Hitler. Or, as Basil Fawlty said in another context, "Don't mention the war." But, as Matthew Brzeszinski shows in Red Moon Rising, you have to mention it. It was the personalities who came out of World War II - - people like Eisenhower, Stalin, Sergei Korolev, Werner von Braun, Nikita Khrushchev, Lavrenty Beria, and Allen Dulles - - who gave us the world of ICBMs, satellites, and Apollo Moon launches. But not against our will. Beep. Beep.