Wernher von Braun (1912–1977)

Von Braun wrote this book in 1958, more than a decade before the first Apollo moon landing, as a sort of speculation (or perhaps proposal) as to what such a mission might be like. He offers a detailed fictionalized account of the trip from liftoff to landing, including a few things that could go wrong along the way. In the margins of this story, he provides lots of explanations of the science and technology involved, including much discussion of orbital mechanics.

As a big space history buff, I found this fascinating, especially the way in which von Braun's imaginary journey differs from the real one made such a relatively short time later. For example, he posits a winged reentry vehicle, and has his astronauts land on the moon with it attached, rather than using a separate lander. He also depicts considerably less communication and coordination with ground control back on Earth than was actually the case, and fails to anticipate the extent to which the eyes of the world would be watching the entire thing. And, rather heart-breakingly, he has the main focus of the expedition being an evaluation of the moon with an eye towards future human habitation, which he seems to assume as the obvious and inevitable next step after the initial exploration.

Von Braun also includes a section at the front answering the questions he most frequently got from the public. I think nothing in here illustrates the difference between this early period of space exploration and now better than the fact that the very first question there is, "Man's abode is the earth. Are we not invading God's kingdom as we prepare for human travel through the universe?" Wow.

This isn't a particularly remarkable book in terms of the writing or anything; it really is interesting mainly just as a historical curiosity. But for me, that was more than enough.… (more)

This used to be a nationally syndicated strip, "Travels With Farley", until 1985 when Phil Frank made the unorthodox decision to write the strip exclusively for the San Francisco Chronicle, dealing with local issues, and concentrating mainly on Yosemite National Park. Not sure what the strip is called these days, but it's still a great one, with good loosely-drawn art, an offbeat humor, and a side-panel pun in every strip (watch for them - they're hilarious). If I had to make a list of my 10 favorite strips, this would most likely make the cut. My only quibble is that Farley himself only makes a few appearances in the book. I really like the guy.… (more)