One thing that strikes me about the media during the space race and the media in general is how they can take things out of context. The media needed a quote from Colonel John “Shorty” Powers who was spokesman for the seven astronauts and would not wait until morning.

“A reporter woke Powers and started asking questions. Groggy, befuddled, and angry, Shorty snarled into the phone, ‘If you want anything from us, you jerk, the answer is we’re all asleep!’ He slammed down the phone. The moment was heaven-sent for a newsman out for the perfect cutline, and my morning the reporter’s newspaper headline shouted:

SOVIETS SEND MAN INTO SPACE;

SPOKESMAN SAYS U.S. ASLEEP

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

Irony is ever present throughout literature, but it is even better when the book is non-fiction and the irony is present in history. It truly was a toss up as to who would put a satellite into orbit first or who would put a man in space first. The United States had the capabilities to send a satellite into orbit first, but the workers were not given permission. The United States had the capabilities to send a man into space first, but the rocket scientists required more tests.

This irony about the first man in space is present in Moon Shot in a conversation between Alan Shepard and his wife Louise.

“[Louise] came into the living room, and her three words said it all. ‘You got it!’ She threw her arms around [Alan], and he squeezed her until she almost winced with the pain. ‘You got the first ride!’

He shouted at her, ‘Lady, you can’t tell anyone, but you have your arms around the man who’ll be first in space!’

‘Who let a Russian in here?’ she mocked him.

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

Moon Shot does an excellent job at telling history as a new story and not one that we’ve already seen in the newspapers and heard on the radio. I listened to lectures at Space Camp, and much of this is the same material, but with each new page, the authors bring to light new details about the space race.