American moonshot : John F. Kennedy and the great space race
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 257-260).

On May 25, 1961, JFK made an astonishing announcement: his goal of putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade. The author brings together the extraordinary political, cultural, and scientific factors that fueled the birth and development of NASA and the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo projects, which shot the United States to victory in the space race against the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War. New primary source material and major interviews with many of the surviving figures who were key to America's success brings this fascinating history to life as never before. This is a portrait of the brilliant men and women who made this giant technological leap possible, of the geopolitical tensions that spurred Kennedy to commit himself fully to this audacious dream, and of the major players like rocketeer Wernher von Braun, astronaut John Glenn and space booster Lyndon Johnson. It is a vivid and enthralling chronicle of one of the most thrilling, hopeful, and turbulent eras in the nation's history, an homage to scientific ingenuity, human curiosity, and the boundless American spirit.