In spring 1961 James E. Webb, a North Carolina farm boy turned Washington insider, took charge of the grandest exploration project ever known: America's bid for the Moon. He persuaded JFK to support him and gained control of 5 per cent of the US federal budget. Webb's NASA controlled half a million workers across America as they built new machines, launch pads and control centres. But when a spacecraft caught fire in 1967, killing three astronauts, the press exposed a series of failures and the profiteering of Webb's business partners. To protect NASA's future, Webb took the heat for the corruption and deaths and enabled his colleagues to land on the Moon by the end of the decade. America had won the Space Race but the name of the man who made it possible was wiped from history. The Man Who Ran the Moon reveals the secret history of Project Apollo and the true cost of America's victory in Space.
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Review:
"'Bizony draws a fast-cutting portrait... bound to appeal to moon buffs of all ages.' Guardian 'Bizony tells Webb's remarkable story in a pacy way, revealing the highs and ultimately the lows of a flawed genius whose name has been forgotten by time' Good Book Guide 'Journalist Bizony's excellent corrective to NASA's mythologized history takes an unflinching look at how James Webb, a North Carolina farm boy turned Washington insider, ran his end of the space race as NASA's administrator under presidents Kennedy and Johnson. A firebrand of a book' Publisher's Weekly (US)"
About the Author:
Piers Bizony is a science journalist and space historian who writes for magazines such as Focus and Wired as well as the Independent.
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- PublisherIcon Books
- Publication date2006
- ISBN 10 1840467649
- ISBN 13 9781840467642
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages320
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