Moon Shot by Alan Shepard, Deke Slayton, Jay Barbee, and Howard Benedict is written in such a way as to pull the reader in. It includes interesting stories about the space race that the average person does not know about or only knows vaguely about. When reading Moon Shot, the reader is given such imagery as to feel like he or she is actually there where the events happened. Still, as Barbee and Benedict are both journalists, the reader receives a story that is as factually correct as if it was printed in a newspaper. Though Moon Shot focuses on Shepard and Slayton’s side of the story, much is told about the whole space race, Wernher von Braun’s involvement and the Soviet Union’s role in the space race.

Neil Armstrong wrote the introduction and he has a calm eloquent way of summing up the space race. It is clear that he chooses his words carefully. It is clear that he was chosen to be first on the Moon because of how he carries himself, how he is careful with his words, his calmness under pressure, and how he demonstrated his flying abilities in Gemini 8.

What strikes me about Wernher von Braun is that he was peace loving in his scientific pursuits.

“When von Braun’s V-2 rocket first hit London, he remarked to some of his colleagues, ‘The rocket worked perfectly except for landing on the wrong planet.’”

-Moon Shot by Shepard, Slayton, Benedict, and Barbee

Von Braun’s original intentions were for space travel and not for war. This original dream got him off the streets and back in the classroom where he graduated valedictorian and one year early. The need for a job has a funny way of forcing people to do things they do not want to do.

Moon Shot almost comes out and says that the United States could have been first in space. This would have radically changed history. Wernher von Braun and his crew in Hunsville, Alabama had built a rocket (Missile 29) capable of launching a satellite into space.

“When von Braun asked for permission to launch a satellite into space, Eisenhower denied the request, and Missile 29 was stored in a shed at the arsenal. Washington had given the Russians an open door and a free ride to lead the world into tomorrow.

-Moon Shot by Shepard, Slayton, Benedict, and Barbee

While reading, it occurred to me how narrow the field was to be an astronaut. This is quite different from today in which the field is broad and we even send female teachers into space.

“’The test pilots we are considering must meet certain minimum standards,’ the NASA announcement of astronaut qualifications read. ‘Each man must have at least fifteen hundred hours of logged flight time; jet pilot training, experience and full qualifications; at least a bachelor’s degree for academic qualifying; and he must pass national security requirements. He may not be taller than five feet eleven inches, he must weigh less than one hundred eighty pounds, and must be under forty years of age.”

-Moon Shot by Shepard, Slayton, Benedict, and Barbee

These requirements specifically excluded women and limited the search to about 110 men. I believe this made it harder for the United States to reciprocate putting a woman in space after Valentina Tereshkova went into space.