Man Into Space

New York: Pyramid Books, 1961. First Printing [Stated]. Mass market paperback. Good. Fred L. Wolff (Drawings). 192 pages. Illustrations. Diagrams. Appendix 1 and 2 (Glossary of Space Terms). Name stamped inside front cover. Some page discoloration. Martin Caidin (September 14, 1927 - March 24, 1997) was an American author and an authority on aeronautics and aviation. Caidin began writing fiction during 1957, and authored more than 50 fiction and nonfiction books, as well as more than 1,000 magazine articles. His best-known novel is Cyborg, which was the basis for The Six Million Dollar Man franchise. He also wrote numerous works of military history, especially concerning aviation. Caidin flew with the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration squadron for several months, and was made an honorary member of the U.S. Army's Golden Knights parachute demonstration team. Additionally, Caidin twice won the Aviation/Space Writers Association award for the outstanding author on aviation. Caidin also established a company with the purpose of promoting aeronautics to young people. The book MAN INTO SPACE by Martin Caidin featured astronaut Alan Shepard, Jr.'s experience as the first American launched into space on May 5, 1961 in a Mercury capsule atop a Redstone rocket. The book went beyond the experience of the first Mercury launch in describing the technology, history, and future of manned space exploration. An amusing item appeared among the pictures section in the book's center. A sketch shows a futurized booster with the words, "NOW BOTH THE US AND THE USSR HAVE THEIR SPACEMEN. THE RACE GOES ON...AND THE STARS ARE THE GOAL." The comment was an extreme exaggeration considering Shepard's Mercury had not orbited the Earth while the Russians had succeeded in an orbital manned mission. Only in science fiction is a mission to the stars a goal of the plot, since both landing and departure to return to Earth would be problematic.