Space Oddities: Forgotten Stories of Mankind’s Exploration of Space

Former radio broadcaster Cuhaj (Paddling Alabama) recounts myriad stories about space exploration in this somewhat pedestrian outing. He shares tales of pranks played by and on astronauts, offers a summary of some of the accidents that occurred over the space program’s approximately 60 year history, writes of Alan Shepard famously hitting two golf balls during his lunar excursion as part of the Apollo 14 mission, and takes readers through a basic history of women in space that focuses largely on the Mercury 13, the “first lady astronaut trainees” who began training in the summer of 1961. There’s also the fact that, as the Soviet Union was preparing for what it hoped would be the first successful lunar landing, officials were concerned that people might not believe they had actually arrived on the moon and considered setting off a nuclear bomb there as proof. The stories are colorful, but it seems unlikely that readers with even a passing interest in space won’t already be familiar with most of them. Those new to the space game looking for some light reading may want to take a look. (Aug.)