Description du livre
Ghost towns of the space age reveal the hidden cost of American technological triumph: the systematic displacement of thousands of families whose homes stood in the way of progress. From Mississippi’s sunken villages to Nevada’s atomic proving grounds, from Idaho’s nuclear boomtowns to the forgotten neighbours of cape Canaveral, this is the untold story of the communities that vanished so America could win the space race.
But this isn't just history. As spacex transforms rural texas and private space companies reshape the american landscape, the patterns of displacement that defined the original space age are repeating. The race to mars is creating new ghost towns, and the lessons of the past have never been more urgent.
You’ll discover:
•Early rocketry, from chinese fireworks to the terrifying german v-2 missiles of wwii.
•The cold war rivalry between the united states and the soviet union.
•The origins of nasa.
•The original mercury 7 astronauts.
•The cosmonauts who went where no one had gone before.
•The spacecraft that brought us to the moon.
•Glossary and timeline.
In some ways, project gemini is a neglected part of the us space program. Sandwiched between the excitement of project mercury and the sending of the first american astronauts to space and the euphoria of the apollo moon landings, gemini was a step forward rather than a dramatic leap. However, this project achieved many important firsts, including the first spacewalk, the first rendezvous and docking between two spacecraft, the first flights of more than one week’s duration and many more.