Into that Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961–1965 (review)

Into that Silent Sea offers personal histories of astronauts, cosmonauts, and other spaceflight professionals who participated in the earliest years of the human spaceflight program. Many of the stories have been well told by other authors, as the extensive list of references at the end of the book demonstrates. Francis French and Colin Burgess supplement their own interviews with some of these historic personalities by synthesizing the stories into an entertaining and easy-to-absorb set of personal histories that readers are likely to enjoy, especially those who are experiencing their first foray into the lives of these spacefarers.

The authors explicitly tell their readers in the introduction what the book is not intended to be—and there are many things it is not. It is not a history of the early era of the space age. Although the individual stories are interesting and remind us of the heady days of early human spaceflight, the authors make no attempt to weave those lives into a complete historical account of the years 1961–1965. They also make clear that they are not attempting to enlighten readers either about what we have learned from human journeys into space or about the geopolitical role the space program played during the Cold War.

Instead, the book is composed of biographies—tales, really—of the lives and careers of a number of individuals who were important during the early days of human spaceflight. Among them are many who are household names to space-program aficionados, including the first Soviet cosmonauts (Yurii Gagarin, German Titov, Andrian Nikolaev, Pavel Popovich, Valentina Tereshkova) and the first American astronauts—Alan Shephard, Gus Grissom, Scott Carpenter, John Glenn, Deke Slayton, Wally Schirra, and Gordon Cooper.

The book also contains stories of some who are not as well known: Dee O’Hara, who served as a nurse to the astronauts; and Jim Lewis, a helicopter pilot who tried unsuccessfully to prevent Gus Grissom’s Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft from sinking to the bottom of the ocean. Particularly enjoyable is the story of the salvage of Liberty Bell 7 from the depths of the Atlantic 38 years later, in which Jim Lewis also participated.

The years covered in this book, 1961–1965, were relatively good ones for the space program. Although astronauts and cosmonauts were injured or killed in accidents during that period, the first spaceflight tragedies—of Soyuz 1 and Apollo 204—did not occur until 1967, past the timeframe of the book. Nonetheless, the fear of catastrophic loss was always present, and the authors’ storytelling skills keep the reader ever aware of the risks. Human spaceflight may have become routine to some who follow the space program, but others of us still get knots in our stomachs each time the space shuttle’s solid rocket boosters ignite, or the orbital maneuvering engines fire to trigger descent. The authors of this book remind us why.

For those who have heard the tales of Gagarin and Shepard and other early spacefarers too many times already, the book contains enough new stories to make it worth reading. The authors dedicate the better part of a chapter to the “Mercury 13” women who were part of “astronaut selection” tests at the Lovelace Clinic. Part of the story is told through the eyes of Mary Wallace (“Wally”) Funk II, one of the Mercury 13, who participated in the tests believing that she had a chance to be selected as an astronaut. The authors go to great lengths to explain that such beliefs were misplaced at a time when the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was not yet interested in female astronaut candidates. Funk has not given up her dream of flying in space, perhaps as a “commercial” astronaut. The authors also extensively discuss the Soviet women who trained as cosmonauts during that era. Although only one of that initial group, Tereshkova, actually flew in space, she was not...