http://hometownheroesrun.com/lib/mountain-building-in-scotland The Viking Rocket Story

Geesthacht by Milton Rosen

Harper, 1955. 242 pages.

 

In my research into the Vanguard program, this book appeared in virtually all the bibliographies. I had to find out why.

Wow!

Rosen may have been a real rocket scientist but he could actually do something else—write.

If you have an interest in rocketry and especially the United States’ early days in the process, you will not find a better book than this. Rosen not only talks about the nuts and bolts of the rockets, the engineering, and the science, but he puts it all in a very human perspective of what it took to launch rockets and push the space boundaries in the late 40s and early 50s.

This book left me with one minor disappointment and two big regrets.

The disappointment is that the book falls two rockets short of being a complete chronicle of the Viking program.

The regrets are that I found this book about 40 years too late and didn’t have an opportunity of speaking with Dr. Rosen. I would certainly have contacted him after reading this.

If rockets interest you, don’t pass this one by.

Reviewed June 2015