America's First Step Into Space

Sixty years ago today, America made it into space. I was proud to chronicle the story.  With help from Erika Maurer and a Foreword by Dr. James Van Allen, we wrote The First Space Race, the first book to tell the American and Soviet stories together.  (It was the most complete story possible in 2004 (a few then-classified or misunderstood facts have come out since then, I admit: but it's still a great book).  This is the story as told to us by leaders pf the American efforts who were still alive.