Space (novel)
First edition cover
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| Author | James A. Michener |
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| Illustrator | Jean Paul Tremblay (cartography) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Random House |
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Publication date
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1982 |
| Pages | 622 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 8493271 |
Space is a novel by James A. Michener published in 1982. It is a fictionalized history of the United States space program, with a particular emphasis on manned spaceflight.
Michener writes in a semi-documentary style. The topics explored in the novel include naval warfare in the Pacific, air combat in the Korean War (something Michener had already explored in The Bridges at Toko-Ri), test pilot life at 'Pax River', astronaut selection and training, the role of the media in promoting the space program as a national achievement, and the development of the Gemini and Apollo spacecraft, the rise of the military-industrial complex and the evolution of NACA into NASA.
The story begins in 1944 and covers more than 30 years in the lives of four men and their families: Dieter Kolff, a German rocket engineer who worked for the Nazis; Norman Grant, a World War II hero turned U.S. Senator from a fictional mid-west state; Stanley Mott, an aeronautical engineer charged with a top-secret U.S. government mission to rescue Kolff from Peenemünde; and John Pope, a small-town boy turned Naval Aviator who becomes a test pilot and then an astronaut. Randy Claggett, a rambunctious Marine Corps aviator and astronaut, is considered by Michener to be the most important supporting character (the first two parts of the book are entitled "Four Men" and "Four Women"). The lives of the fictional characters interweave with those of historical figures, such as Wernher von Braun and Lyndon Johnson. A group of trainee astronauts are introduced to fly fictional but plausible Project Gemini and Project Apollo missions; the intensive training and jockeying for position among the astronauts forms much of the background of the middle of the novel, reminiscent of a fictional version of Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff and the movie as well.
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