| ASTRO TURF: The Private Life of Rocket Science M. G. Lord New York: Walker & Company, 2005 |
Rating: 5.0 High |
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| ISBN-13 978-0-8027-1427-5 | ||||
| ISBN 0-8027-1427-7 | 259p. | HC/BWI | $24.00 | |
| Page 69: | "(Although a casual link is hard to prove, the deemphasis on JPL's accomplishments undeniably coincided with the hyperemphasis on those of the Germans.)" |
| S/B "causal", as in "that which causes an effect". Probably an editor's error. |
| Page 96: | "In August 1946, Malina and Summerfield delivered a paper to the Congress of the International Union for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics in Paris. Their subject was "The Problem of Escape from Earth by Rocket." In it, they proved the feasibility of a new idea: a multistage payload-bearing rocket that could achieve escape velocity from the Earth." |
| While not meaning to denigrate this paper or its authors, I must point out that multistage rockets were hardly a "new idea" in 1946. Tsiolkovsky (whom Lord does not even mention) and Goddard independently developed the theoretical basis of their design much earlier. |
| Page 97: | "Malina had entered the UNESCO chrysallis as a divorced man and a scientist. He would emerge as a family man and an artist." |
| Spelling: S/B "chrysalis". |
| Page 112: | "This paved the way for star-making appearances with such small-screen celebrities as Garry Moore, Dave Garroway and C. Fred Muggs, a chimpanzee." |
| This S/B "J. Fred Muggs". He had a recurring role in the 1950s kiddee show Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, and went on to a host of appearances on variety and comedy shows such as Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show. |
| Page 163: | "When I picked up Florida Today, the local Gannett paper, I understood the MER team's caution. The paper was running a seven-part series about troubles at NASA. It highlighted the agency's decision to launch the space shuttle Columbia in January 2003 with sixteen hundred known problems that could have destroyed the spacecraft and killed its crew. Under scrutiny for recklessness, NASA had to show prudence." |
| There's nothing wrong with this except the omission, which I find very curious, of the fact that one of those known problems did in fact destroy Columbia and her crew of seven. (Lord does refer to the loss of Columbia on page 166.) |
| Pages 167-68: | "By the time the bus disgorged at its final destination, the Firing Room Theater, a mock-up of the ground-based nerve center for the Saturn V launch that bore up Apollo 8, the last three decades might as well never have happened." |
| Disgorge is a transitive verb, and this S/B "the bus disgorged us". |
| Page 172: | "Viewed in this context, for example, the weird vestimentary rituals practiced by Apollo mission director Gene Kranz make a sort of sense. For each flight on which he served, Kranz wore a specially made vest—similar to the color-coded chasubles that priests wear for specific feasts." |
| I know "chasuble" is a word. But "vestimentary"?. |
| Page 213: | "I'd like to say that anticipation kept me on the edge of my seat. But I was distracted by nonengineering misbegoss swirling around the lab." |
| Another strange word, italicized in the text. Like "vestimentary", it's in neither the online Merriam-Webster dictionary nor Webster's First International Unabridged. These may be portmanteau words; or perhaps "misbegoss" is somehow derived from Yiddish. |
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