Space [FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING]

Michener, James A.

Verlag: Random House, New York, 1982

Beschreibung

Near fine condition navy blue cloth boards with gold front cover and spine lettering contained in a near fine condition non price-clipped color photographic dust jacket. Includes List of Other Books by James A. Michener; Author Acknowledgments; and a rear endpaper consisting of The Four Families, The Solid Six Astronauts, and The Others. Illustrated with color illustrated front and rear endpaper maps. All pages are in fine unmarked condition and the spine/binding is tight and square (see photographs). "The countless readers who are familiar with such great Michener works as Hawaii, The Source, Centennial, Chesapeake and The Covenant will recall that they are all set in vast time frames, ranging from hundreds to millions of years, and that their actions take place in settings all around the world. The action in Space is confined to a tight frame of only forty years, but in a scene that extends for billions of miles beyond the surface of Earth. The American explorations and discoveries in space provide the principal subject matter of this engrossing and informative novel based on the activities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the fascinating people and intricate machines connected with it. The story bewgins in October 1944 and introduces four men: Stanley Mott, U.S. engineer in England on a secret mission; Norman Grant, naval hero in the Battle of Leyte Gulf; John Pope, high-school football star and student of astronomy; Dieter Kolff, rocket engineer associated with Wernher von Braun. These four, who will be crucial to the space program, and their wives are principals in the enormous cast of characters, which also includes Randolph Claggett, Texas, Marine, astronaut, and his wife, Debbie Dee; Cynthia Rhee, glamorous Korean reporter and writer; Tucker Thompson, ebullient editor of Folks magazine; Leopold Strabismus, self-named confidence man who operates on the fringe. The incredible successes of the Gemini and Apollo manned flights, the Viking landings on Mars, the breathtaking performance of the Columbia, the encounters with Jupiter and Saturn by Voyagers 1 and 2 -- these awesome achievements did not sprint full-blown from a presidential edict. The story of what was behind them is vividly, dramatically and clearly told here: the complicated experimentation, invention and planning by scientists and engineers, and their debates about means and ends, their speculations about future accomplishments in space and the possibility of life in other galaxies; the personal rivalries; the political maneuverings in Washington; the selection and training of the astronauts; the excitements and anxieties of the flights and landings; the public relations and media confrontations. Space is a compelling narrative, fiction for the most part, but solidly built on the factual and the possible." - from the inner front and rear jacket flaps. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 008194

Bibliografische Details

Titel: Space [FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING]

Verlag: Random House, New York

Erscheinungsdatum: 1982

Einband: Hardcover

Illustrator: Tremblay, Jean Paul (cartography); Lowenstein, Carole (book design)

Zustand: Near Fine

Zustand des Schutzumschlags: Near Fine

Auflage: 1st Edition