Ambassadors from Earth: Pioneering Explorations with Unmanned Spacecraft (Outward Odyssey: A People's History of Spaceflight) [Hardcover]

Jay Gallentine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2009

Rewind to the 1950s and ponder: was America's first satellite really built by a college student? How did a small band of underappreciated Russian engineers get pictures of the moon s far side using stolen American film? As the 1960s progressed, consider: how the heck did people learn to steer a spacecraft using nothing but gravity? And just how were humans able to goose a spaceship through a thirty-year journey to the literal edge of our solar system?

Ambassadors from Earth relates the story of the first unmanned space probes and planetary explorers from the Sputnik and Explorer satellites launched in the late 1950s to the thrilling interstellar Voyager missions of the '70s that yielded some of the most celebrated successes and spectacular failures of the space age. Keep in mind that our first mad scrambles to reach orbit, the moon, and the planets were littered with enough histrionics and cliffhanging turmoil to rival the most far-out sci-fi film. Utilizing original interviews with key players, bolstered by never-before-seen photographs, journal excerpts, and primary source documents, Jay Gallentine delivers a quirky and unforgettable look at the lives and legacy of the Americans and Soviets who conceived, built, and guided those unmanned missions to the planets and beyond. Of special note is his in-depth interview with James Van Allen, the discoverer of the rings of planetary radiation that now bear his name.

Ambassadors from Earth is an engaging bumper-car ride through a fog of head-banging uncertainty, bleeding-edge technology, personality clashes, organizational frustrations, brutal schedules, and the occasional bright spot. Confessed one participant, "We were making it up as we went along."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Gallentine, a film and video engineer and a lifelong space buff, tells tales about the exciting early days of unmanned space exploration in this sprawling account. From Sputnik through James Van Allen and his assistant George Ludwig's discovery, with a tape recorder, of massive amounts of radioactivity above the atmosphere, to the two Voyager missions with their gold-plated Rosetta stones, many lifelong space buffs will know Gallentine's story by heart. What makes his account special is the amount of access he had to Van Allen and Ludwig, who shared previously unknown details of their early collaboration. Gallentine is also very well informed about the movers and shakers in the Soviet space program and its epic achievements. Some readers may be put off by Gallentine's informal tone (his use of egad makes it sound as if he just stepped out of The Music Man) as well as by his re-creation of conversations and even thoughts. It would have helped, too, if Gallentine had tied past lessons to future space exploration. Nevertheless, many space buffs, especially young ones, should find this a satisfying narrative. 50 photos and illus. (Nov.)
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Review

"Gallentine's book weaves highly accessible and rich tales of the lives of some of the passionate pioneers behind these space machines. Flooded with details that reveal the contingent and fragile nature of these adventures, Ambassadors from Earth reminds us that behind the scenes in these exciting enterprises are genuine human beings who struggle to make something work. Read this and be inspired." --Rob Manning, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Program chief engineer

"An exciting, engrossing tale of the early days of space flight capturing the human drama with its inside look at the competitors in the space race reaching for the Moon, Venus, Mars and beyond. It s like listening to the stories of the sailors on Captain Cook s voyages as they discovered new worlds." --Louis Friedman, executive director, the Planetary Society

"The story of unmanned planetary exploration deserves retelling to each new generation and it has found an expert chronicler in Jay Gallentine. His lively, readable, and expertly researched book documents this saga from its roots in WWII to the latest findings presenting both the human and the technological dimensions of our ventures into space." --Jon Lomberg, Design Director, Voyager Interstellar Record

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 544 pages
• Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr (November 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803222203
• ISBN-13: 978-0803222205
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.6 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,205,012 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jay Gallentine is a film and video professional with a life-long interest in space exploration. He grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and from the University of Iowa earned a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Broadcasting and Film Production. During this period he also competed as a sponsored triathlete. In Minneapolis he joined the local independent film scene. Jay spent several years editing films, commercials, and documentaries before changing his focus to video engineering.

His first book, "Ambassadors from Earth", detailing the turbulent early days of solar system exploration, was published in 2009 after five years of research. From the American Astronautical Society it received the 2009 Eugene M. Emme Award for Astronautical Literature. This award recognizes "the truly outstanding book published each year - serving public understanding about the positive impact of astronautics upon society".

Jay is currently writing a follow-on volume to 'Ambassadors', celebrating the in-depth studies of our moon, Venus, and Mars. He has also been an invited speaker in classrooms, at Scout gatherings, and at space-themed conventions.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "The Right Stuff" For Unmanned Spaceflight September 28, 2009

By nprev

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

"Ambassadors From Earth" provides a panaoramic overview of the early days of spaceflight that is free of official spin and loaded with insider details. The author took the rare opportunity to conduct in-depth interviews of the surviving pioneers of this heady era, and produced a highly readable and entertaining historical record of the very human mistakes, egoes, politics, and flashes of sheer genius that put us on the road to the stars.

Featuring previously unprinted photographs from the author's own collection, the book also provides one of the best accounts yet written in the West of the Soviet efforts behind Sputnik and other early probes, warts and all. This would never--COULD never--have been revealed during the Cold War.

If anything, the book is too short for the sheer number of topics it covers. Many of the discrete projects of the era, such as the struggle of the US Ranger program, are worthy of books unto themselves. The work is of considerable value in its own right as a study of the development of systems engineering processes and quality control that have become the standard guiding practices of the aerospace industry, and indeed of project management in general.

"Ambassadors" is a must-read for historians, project managers, and anyone else interested in truly understanding the toil behind the nearly miraculous achievement of of unmanned spaceflight, which now influences literally every aspect of our lives.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A definitive history of unmanned space exploration December 24, 2009

By Phyl L. Good

Format:Hardcover

If you have even a moderate interest in the history of the space program, suit up, belt yourself in securely, and prepare for a fantastic ride. From the earliest days, both in the Soviet Union and the United States, Gallentine traces the history of space exploration in wonderful detail, scientist by scientist, development by development, scientific decision by political decision. And of course, failure after failure after smashing success.

You might think a book like this would be rather a dull history, but you couldn't be farther from the truth. Yes, Gallentine researched all those things to within an inch of their lives, so all the important details are here. But with his casual, conversational style and keen storytelling ability, he brings the events to life in a tale that is absolutely riveting.

Beginning with James Van Allen's discovery of the radiation belts around the earth, then backtracking to the first development of rockets by Germany, the Soviet Union, and the United States during World War Two, the tale soon splits into two main branches, following teams of scientists in the USSR and the US as they race to find ways of getting first a satellite into space, and then finally a living being. Much of the American history is well-known if you look in the right places, but Gallentine presents information from the Soviet side that nobody on this side of the Iron Curtain ever knew before. The book would be worth reading for that alone.

Yet even on "this side," the public never knew the hair-tearing frustrations so many scientists lived with as they wrestled to get rockets off the ground in the first place, then had to deal with budgets, radiation, fuel loads, and how to fit cameras and experimental equipment into the smallest space possible that would still let them work optimally. Nor did most of us know how much of the work was political, either struggling to get the politicians on their side or, sometimes worse, having them on their side and then having to live up to their impossible demands and deadlines. (Khrushchev wants a six-month already-impossible satellite schedule moved up three months to coincide with a significant Soviet anniversary? Piece of cake, right?)

Occasionally Gallentine's style gets just a bit too "gosh darnit" for comfort. But those brief moments are quickly forgotten as he sweeps you into the next big development, and then the casual style puts you right in the moment. He brings the main characters in the space exploration race vividly alive, and puts you on the edge of your seat as the story progresses, even while you already know how it turned out.

If you love the idea of space exploration, and have any interest at all in how the human race started with missiles and ended up going to the Moon and extending its consciousness into the farthest reaches of the solar system, you will want this book.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars informative book November 7, 2009

By Craig B. Clark

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Very enjoyable, and written so that it is easy to follow and understand the material within the book. I found it easy reading and covered parts of space history that I am aware of but also added information about those topics which added to my previous knowledge. It was fast reading.