This alternative history sci-fi takes place a few years after the end of World War II when a meteorite strikes the earth.
I meant to read this book last year as part of my Hugo Award Winner challenge. Better late than never.
The Premise
The story begins when the protagonist Elma York and her husband escape the Pocono mountains when a meteorite impacts the earth off the US east coast.
The point of impact wipes out Washington DC and renders heavy devastation to the US east coast.
In the following days, the protagonist determines that this particular meteorite strike is an extinction-level event. The president is briefed, and the world unites in a space race to leave the planet. This part of the story reminded me of the movie 2012
This story entwines what the gender and racial equality struggle would look like had there been an extinction-level event following World War II.
The Sci-Fi
This book's crux was about Dr. Elma York’s struggles to become an astronaut in a male-dominated industry. Nevertheless, I like the slow, deliberate approach of the book in establishing the trajectory of the space program in the background.
Much of the science in this book is rooted in facts about the technology used in America’s space program.
- Putting a man into orbit
- Improving the Booster Rockets and the evolution of the engines.
- The establishment of a space station made of inflated fabric, and artificial gravity
- Human Computers - The word Computer refers to a human doing various calculations.
- The introduction of IBM computers and punch cards to augment Human computers.
Becoming a Lady Astronaut
The space program sees our protagonist and her husband relocated to the new capital - Kansas City, also the new spaceport.
It is evident that despite her impressive educational qualifications and skills as a pilot, Dr. Elma York is only seen as a shadow of her husband - the famous rocket engineer - Dr. Nathaniel York.
A series of actions solidified her credibility and eventually landed her position on the first landing mission to the moon.
And then Benkoski cleared his throat. He steepled his fingers and gave Parker a solemn stare. “Look. We all know that you don’t like her. And we all know why. And we also know what would have happened to Malouf and me if she hadn’t been on duty
Takeaway Thoughts about this book
Denial of the extinction event
In the post-meteorite impact society, the earth experiences a nuclear winter, during which the government embarks on an earnest space program. However, politicians and people go into denial when the weather starts warming up, and life becomes tolerable.
This part of the book is a nod to our present society, where it is very easy to dismiss Global Warming.
Space Colonies … without women
The International Space Program in the book remains a male and military-dominated effort. Despite the explicit goal of establishing colonies on the moon, there is strong (and comical) resistance to including women in the astronaut program.
Sometimes even though the goals are clear, irrational thoughts and views are hard to change.
“The pilgrims, on the other hand, did bring women. If you want to establish a colony, we need women in space.” “I see no compelling reason for that.” “Here’s a reason.” Nicole laughed, lifting her glass over her head. “Babies!”
Race
The book does not avoid the prevailing issue of race during the 50s and in this book's space program.
Immediately after the meteorite strike, rescue efforts are concentrated primarily in white areas.
Black and Asian female aviators are excluded from the Astronaut program by imposing strict qualification criteria or disqualified via dubious medical evaluations.
“The application rules are such obvious baloney. If they could bend them for Violette and Betty, then—” “Elma…” Nicole shook her head.
Maggie, the only Chinese candidate, just “happened” to have a previously undiagnosed heart murmur. Ida would be livid when I told her tonight.
Dr. York recognized the inequality of her position compared to Helen and Ima and was cognizant of her platform and power, despite being unable to affect any real change.
Mental Illness
Dr. York does suffer from anxiety problems, especially during public engagements. She is forced to seek psychological treatment and medication. The book attempts to normalize seeking psychological help when needed.
The doctor pointed his pen at me. “If I had told you that your vomiting was caused by influenza, would you also refuse to take any medicine?”
Fiction Based on Facts
Here are some of them listed in the post section
My father-in-law, Glenn Kowal, was a Vietnam-era fighter pilot and also a test pilot during the Apollo days. Thanks to him for the spectacular bird strike details and the snow landing.
and all of the statistics I cited about them are completely true. Including the fact that the only black woman pilot to apply was asked to withdraw her application.
These women were there. Helen, in fact, is very loosely based on Helen Yee Chow Ling - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Ling
In the 1950s a man with an advanced degree in mathematics was an engineer. A woman was a computer. There was a huge discrepancy in the pay rates for those two job titles, even though the women were the ones designing the algorithms that drove much of the space industry.
Michael Collins, who was in the command module during Apollo 11 and was supposed to be on Apollo 8, had bone spurs in his neck.