Award-winning historian Piers Bizony explodes the US space programme mythology and unveils the man who gave up everything to win the Space Race. In spring 1961 former Washington bureaucrat and businessman James E. Webb took charge of the grandest exploration project ever known: Americas bid for the Moon. He persuaded a reluctant John F. Kennedy to support him and gained control of 5 per cent of the US federal budget. Dispensing largesse and calling in favours, Webbs NASA supervised half a million workers across America as they built new machines, launch pads and control centres.
But in 1967 a spacecraft caught fire, and three astronauts died. The press began to investigate, exposing a series of failures and delays, as well as the profiteering of Webbs business partners. To protect NASAs future, Webb faced interrogations by journalists and politicians, and shouldered the blame for the corruption and deaths. His sacrifice enabled his colleagues to continue their work and land on the Moon by the end of the decade. America had won the Space Race but the name of the man who made it possible was wiped from history.
Conducting extensive interviews and drawing on original sources only recently released, acclaimed space historian and journalist Piers Bizony tells the fascinating story of the unconventional, charismatic man who made one giant leap for mankind.
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