Customer Reviews

Race to the Stratosphere: Manned Scientific Ballooning in America

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This historical study examines in great detail the history of high-altitude ballooning during the 1920's and 1930's, with epilogues about the Forties and Fifties. DeVorkin compares these competitive efforts to the early years of the Space Race. Unfortunately, he focuses so much on the details of bureaucratic and scientific in-fighting that the adventurous aspects of the story get lost. This would have been a more interesting book if the author had told us more about the actual flights, particularly dramatic moments such as the bailout from the record breaking flight that was interrupted by a shredding balloon. DeVorkin mentions but does not describe the ultimate balloon trip, when an Air Force officer stepped out of a capsule 25 miles up and parachuted to safety. Numerous black and white photos are reproduced in the book, most of them of scientists and other personalities involved in this competition. Authoritative, but dull.