# Spaceflight *A Concise History. By Michael J. Neufeld. The MIT Press, 2018.* > I did not read the book. This note uses the publisher's description, the table of contents from Project MUSE and the MIT Press Books Gateway, the Smithsonian's author pages and Wikipedia. I give no quotations from the text and I did not check what the book says on any specific point. ## 1. Book facts | | | |---|---| | Title | *Spaceflight: A Concise History* (the MIT Press listing title is just "Spaceflight") | | Author | Michael J. Neufeld | | Publisher | The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA | | Series | The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series | | Published | Paperback 16 October 2018 (MIT Press listing, via search excerpt; PRH gives the same date); eBook 21 September 2018 on the MIT listing | | ISBN | 9780262536332 (paperback); 9780262350464 (eBook, MIT Press listing) | | Pages | 248 per the publisher, PRH and Open Library; the Project MUSE contents run to index p. 233 and a library record says "xiii, 233 pages" | | Open access | No (Project MUSE) | **Where it came up.** The Overview Effect's channel lists the book as a source in two videos; neither gives a timestamp for it. - [The Myths of Spaceflight History](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlFciE2iNW4): the video draws on space historians including Neufeld, Walter McDougall, Roger Launius, Alexander Geppert and Asif Siddiqi. [[Video Summaries/The Overview Effect/The Myths of Spaceflight History]] - [A Visual History of Every Interplanetary Mission](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4b9R8Xqej4): listed among reference books. [[Video Summaries/The Overview Effect/A Visual History of Every Interplanetary Mission]] ## 2. Book resources - **Free copy:** none located. The book is in copyright and not open access. Borrow it from a library or buy it. - [Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum publication page](https://airandspace.si.edu/research/publications/spaceflight-concise-history) - [Project MUSE record, with table of contents](https://muse.jhu.edu/book/61332) - [MIT Press Books Gateway](https://direct.mit.edu/books/book/4155/SpaceflightA-Concise-History) - [Penguin Random House page](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/657988/spaceflight-by-michael-j-neufeld/) - **Audiobook:** none found. - **Cover:** [Open Library](https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9780262536332-L.jpg) ## 3. Author biography Michael J. Neufeld (born 1951 in Edmonton, Alberta) is a Canadian-born historian and Senior Curator in the Space History Department of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, where he is responsible for the early rocket collection and the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft ([Smithsonian profile](https://profiles.si.edu/display/nNeufeldM12212004)). Wikipedia says he holds a PhD from Johns Hopkins University (1984) and chaired the museum's Space History Division from 2007 to 2011. His earlier books include *The Rocket and the Reich* (1995) and *Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War* (2007), both prize-winning according to Wikipedia ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._Neufeld)). ## 4. Author interviews and talks - [Wernher von Braun and the Nazi Rocket Program: An Interview with Michael Neufeld](https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/wernher-von-braun-and-nazi-rocket-program-interview-michael-neufeld-phd-national-air), The National WWII Museum (text interview, 2019; this is about his von Braun research, not this book). - [Saturn V episode of the *Big If True* podcast](https://bigiftrue.abbymullen.org/saturn-v/), with Neufeld as guest. I read only the episode description. ## 5. Summary **Thesis (publisher description).** "The space program" should not be equated only with human spaceflight. Neufeld maps the full range of activity, including military and commercial satellites and robotic deep-space probes, from the origins of space ideas through Sputnik and Apollo to the present. **Chapter outline (Project MUSE contents; page ranges as given there).** 1. Spaceflight Dreams and Military Imperatives (pp. 1-34) 2. The Cold War Space Race (pp. 35-70) 3. Space Science and Exploration (pp. 71-108) 4. A Global Space Infrastructure (pp. 109-136) 5. Astroculture: Spaceflight and the Imagination (pp. 137-168) 6. Human Spaceflight after the Cold War (pp. 169-194) - Epilogue: The Past and Future of Spaceflight; Glossary; Notes; Further Readings; Index. **Key ideas the publisher highlights.** The origins of space ideas and the discovery that rocketry could serve spaceflight. The Cold War race, including NASA's resistance to women astronauts after the first female cosmonaut flew. Two rationales for Apollo, prestige and science (science "something of an afterthought"). The internationalization and privatization of human spaceflight after the Cold War. The influence of space fiction such as *Star Trek* and *Star Wars*, space tourism for the ultra-rich, and the popular desire to go into space. ## 6. Fact-check Overall verdict: **supported**. The book's details are well sourced. I cannot test what it says on any particular point, and the videos do not attribute specific claims to it. | Claim | Verdict | Evidence | |---|---|---| | Neufeld wrote *Spaceflight: A Concise History*, MIT Press 2018 | Supported | [Smithsonian page](https://airandspace.si.edu/research/publications/spaceflight-concise-history), [Project MUSE](https://muse.jhu.edu/book/61332) | | Neufeld is a Smithsonian space-history curator | Supported | [Smithsonian profile](https://profiles.si.edu/display/nNeufeldM12212004) | | Page count | Discrepancy | 248 (publisher) versus index ending at p. 233 (MUSE, library record) | | Paperback date | Minor discrepancy | 16 October 2018 (MIT Press, PRH); MUSE lists a 1 October 2018 launch date | | Apollo never had majority public support; Sputnik panic was exaggerated (from the Myths video, which draws on several historians) | Not attributable to this book | The video does not tie these claims to Neufeld's book; I did not check them | | Awards for his earlier books (Dexter Prize, Leopold Prize) | Reported by Wikipedia | Not independently verified | ## 7. Citations and references - [MUSE record](https://muse.jhu.edu/book/61332); [MIT Press Books Gateway](https://direct.mit.edu/books/book/4155/SpaceflightA-Concise-History); [Smithsonian NASM](https://airandspace.si.edu/research/publications/spaceflight-concise-history); [PRH](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/657988/spaceflight-by-michael-j-neufeld/) - [Open Library record](https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9780262536332.json) - [Smithsonian profile](https://profiles.si.edu/display/nNeufeldM12212004); [Wikipedia: Michael J. Neufeld](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._Neufeld) - [National WWII Museum interview](https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/wernher-von-braun-and-nazi-rocket-program-interview-michael-neufeld-phd-national-air); [Big If True: Saturn V](https://bigiftrue.abbymullen.org/saturn-v/)