Matthew Brzezinski - Red Moon Rising

Tupolev bombers, 25–26, 127

Turkey, 41, 116, 129, 270–71

Twining, Nathan, 58

Tyura-Tam test site, 96–97, 100, 102, 117, 128–32, 146, 148, 150–60, 205

U-2 spy plane, 115–28, 130–35, 178–79, 185, 205

Cuban missile crisis and, 271

satellites replace, 249–50

USSR shoots down, 270

Ukrainian Society of Aviation and Aerial Navigation, 107

United Fruit Co., 118

United Nations, 75, 78, 241

United Press International, 179

United States. See also specific government agencies; individuals; and programs

bases of, in Europe and Asia, 25

development of jet power in, 45–59

first satellite launch by, with Explorer and Juno, 260–67

German scientists gathered by, 14

Hungarian revolution of 1956 and, 74–76

IGY satellite program and, 92–93

impact of Korolev and Khrushchev’s space program on, 274–75

Korolov speaks of satellite plans of, to get Soviet support, 43–44

lag behind Soviets in space, after Explorer, 268–69

leads in ICBM race, 269–70

military spending, vs. USSR, 38

missile gap and, 251–53

missile launch pads and, 153

missile program of, downgraded vs. bombers, 79–82

nuclear weapons and bombers of, 24–26

prepares first Explorer launch after Vanguard failure, 247–51, 254–56

response of, to Sputnik I, 165–87, 274

response of, to Sputnik II, 213–34

satellite program of, rumored in Moscow, 151–52

school integration crisis in, 136–40

Sputnik’s propaganda success and, 199

spy satellite program and, 249–51

storable solid-fuel rocket, 155

surpasses Soviets with Saturn rocket, 273

surveillance of USSR and, 129

threatened by range of R-7 missile, 40–41

U-2 plane developed by, 115–35, 270

V-2 rocket and scientists sought by, with defeat of Nazis, 8–11

Vanguard failure and, 238–43

von Braun moves to, 83–92

U.S. Congress, 49, 50, 55, 79, 93, 132, 135, 144, 174, 178, 182, 184, 213–14, 222, 224

U.S. Information Agency (USIA), 200, 201, 241

US News & World Report, 173, 182

U.S. Senate, 53, 56–58, 135, 167, 213–15

Armed Services Committee, 80, 174–76, 214

Armed Services Subcommittee on Preparedness, 183–84, 214–15, 221, 229–30, 231, 247–48, 250, 251–53, 274

U.S. Supreme Court, 136–37, 139

Ustinov, Dmitri, 8, 18, 36

Uzbeks, 63

V-2 rocket (Vergeltungswaffen-2, Vengeance Weapon), 36, 38, 92, 166

Nazi Germany develops, 1–6, 11–13, 235–38

Soviet rockets and, 6–8, 12–15, 29–30, 34, 40, 67, 68

U.S. rockets and, 8–12, 52, 255, 261, 277

Van Allen, James, 255

Vance, Cyrus, 229

Vanguard program, 133–35, 162–63, 165–67, 171, 179, 202

cost overruns of, 226–27

failure of, 224–30, 232–34, 238–44, 247, 250–51, 255–60, 263–64

first test of, 185–87, 224–25

funding for, 249–51

Versailles, Treaty of, 236

Vietnam War, 274–75

Viking rocket, 225–26, 233–34

von Braun, Iris, 90

von Braun, Magnus, 87, 89, 224

von Braun, Margrit, 90

von Braun, Maria, 86, 90

von Braun, Wernher

ABMA missile program and, 48, 51, 79, 102, 129, 144, 162–63, 187, 202, 218, 220

background and Nazi past of, 5, 9, 14–15, 86–87, 234–38, 277

Disney and, 91–92, 121, 234–35

Explorer satellite and, 224–25, 248–49, 254–56, 258, 260–61, 263–65, 267

Korolev keeps abreast of, 100, 102

legacy of, 276–77

manned flight and moon landing proposed by, 249

moves to U.S. after WW II to work on missiles, 83–92, 238

salary of, 122

satellite proposal of, turned down, 92

satellite surveillance proposed by, 132–35

Sputnik success and, 165–68, 186–87

von Freed, Charles, 180

Voroshilov, Kliment, 111

Voskresenskiy, Leonid, 98–99, 113–15, 153, 155–57, 261

Wallace, Mike, 229

War of the Worlds (movie), 92

Warren, Earl, 139

Warsaw Pact, 72, 75, 270

Washington Evening Star, 182, 213

Washington Post, 176, 181, 221

Werhmacht, 166, 235

Western Ukrainians, 32, 63

West Germany, 83, 129, 277

White, Thomas D., 82

White Army, 105

White Sands Proving Ground, 12

Wiesl, Ed, 229

Wiley, Alexander, 171

Williams, G. Mennen, 230–31

Wilson, Charles E. “Engine Charlie,” 48–53, 58, 79, 82–83, 93–94, 102, 129, 132, 134, 161–66, 170–71, 178, 181, 204, 227, 229, 247–48

Wilson, Charles “Electric Charlie,” 49

Wilson, Glenn P., 215

Winterstein, William, 86

Woods, Randall B., 175

World War II, 38, 40, 46, 177, 183, 189–90, 235–38

WS-117L reconnaissance satellite, 249–50

Yangel, Mikhail, 101, 205, 247, 271

Yates, Donald, 262

Yesenin, Tolya, 198

Yugoslavia, 41–42, 193

Zhukov, Georgy, 6, 76, 109–112, 181, 189–94, 201

MATTHEW BRZEZINSKIis a former Moscow correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and has reported extensively on homeland security issues for The New York Times Magazine and other publications. He is the author of Casino Moscow: A Tale of Greed and Adventure on Capitalism’s Wildest Frontier and Fortress America: On the Front Lines of Homeland Security .

He lives in Washington, D.C.

“The writing is fast-paced and crisp, the stakes high and the tension palpable from the first pages of this high-flying account of the early days of the space race…. Yet even more than his absorbing narrative, Brzezinski’s final analysis has staying power.”

“Matthew Brzezinski explores both sides of this hardboiled Cold War conflict in a taut chronicle… [that] reads more like a spy thriller than a history book.”

“In our fear of terrorist attacks, we forget there was an even more panicky time—when Russia’s Sputnik first sped across the night sky in October 1957, signaling that the Soviet Union could launch nuclear-tipped missiles at the United States. By plumbing Russian as well as American sources, Matthew Brzezinski has given us a vivid, insightful account of that paranoid age.”

“Matthew Brzezinski’s Red Moon Rising fills a significant hole in our understanding of the Cold War. Using the Sputnik launch as his centerpiece, Brzezinski brilliantly flashes back and forth between Washinton, D.C., and Moscow. A truly gripping, important book.”

“Matthew Brzezinski’s reportorial skills and smooth writing propel the narrative forward at the perfect pitch. Red Moon Rising is a combustibly entertaining mixture of scientific daring, politics, Cold War duels, and big-time personalities.”

“Matthew Brzezinski has crafted a dazzling account of the people and events that led to the world’s first earth satellite. It is one of the most important stories of the twentieth century, and Brzezinski tells it supremely well. His account not only tells us how the Russians did it, but how the Americans, bewildered at first, finally got going with their own space program. It is historical storytelling at its finest, and I thoroughly enjoyed every page. In a word: Prodigious!”