Two Sides of the Moon: Our Story of the Cold War Space Race - Softcover

Leonov, Alexei; Scott, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312308663 ISBN 13: 9780312308667

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin, 2006

Synopsis

"An extraordinary book."
---Arthur C. Clarke

Space was one of the most fiercely fought battlegrounds of the Cold War, the Moon its ultimate beachhead.

In this dual autobiography, Apollo 15 commander David Scott and cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the first man to ever walk in space, recount their exceptional lives and careers spent on the cutting edge of science and space exploration―and their participation in the greatest technological race ever―to land a man on the Moon.

With each mission fraught with perilous tasks, and each space program touched by tragedy, these parallel tales of adventure and heroism read like a modern-day thriller. Cutting fast between their differing recollections, this book reveals, in a very personal way, the drama of one of the most ambitious contests ever embarked on by man, set against the conflict that once held the world in suspense: the clash between Communism and Western democracy.

Through the men's memoirs, their courage, passion for exploration, and determination to push themselves to the limit, emerge not only through their triumphs but also through their perseverance in times of extraordinary difficulty and danger.

"Two Sides of the Moon is unique among space histories. If you are looking for a balanced, interesting, and personal account of the American and Soviet space programs during the 1960s and 1970s this is it."
---Astronomy magazine

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

"Dave Scott and Alexei Leonov have each borne the enormous responsibility of commanding spacecraft and of representing their respective countries in the most fascinating and most expensive race in human history. This is their transcendent recounting of that competition."
- Neil Armstrong, from the Foreword

"Leonov and Scott have gone to extra lengths to explain the inexplicable in Two Sides of the Moon. And thank goodness they have. Theirs was a gamble taken voluntarily and eagerly with the single-minded pursuit of earning the assignment and then getting the job done. Sometimes they were first. Often they were best. Always they were colorful. And yet each time they returned, neither man claimed to have come back a changed man who had gone into space and seen the spirit of the universe. They came back from their missions in space having seen the spirit of themselves as even more of the human beings they were before leaving our world of air, land, and water.... Leonov, the artist and Scott, the engineer/dreamer. The two of them-the Cheaters of Death."
- Tom Hanks, from the Introduction

"What was most significant about the lunar voyage was not that men set foot on the moon, but that they set eye on the Earth."
- Norman Cousins

About the Author:

David Scottis one of the twelve men to have walked on the Moon. He flew three space missions: first as pilot of Gemini 8 in 1966, then as command module pilot on Apollo 9 in 1969, and finally as commander of Apollo 15 in 1971.

Alexei Leonov was among the first group of cosmonauts selected in 1960 and flew two space missions: first as pilot of Voskhod 2 in 1965 and then in 1975 as commander of Soyuz 19 during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.

Christine Toomey, cowriter, is an award-winning journalist with the Sunday Times (London).

About this edition

• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0312308663
• ISBN 13: 9780312308667
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448