For those of us of a certain age, growing up on the New Frontier was one gee-whiz experience after another rather than the ideological struggle envisioned by our elders. The Moon Race: US vs. USSR does an excellent job of portraying the Soviet, as well as the American, side of the moon race, featuring a former cosmonaut who recounts the history of the Soviet space program, including the triumphs, tragedies, and as always, the politics (traits mirrored in the U.S. effort). The major difference is that the Soviets started out with great successes (Sputnik, putting the first man in orbit) and then ran into a series of failures and missteps, while the evolution of the American space program was just the opposite. Still, the Soviets almost upstaged the Americans by nearly having an unmanned probe retrieve moon rocks just before the Eagle landed. After Apollo 11, the Soviets scrapped plans for putting a man or woman (they had female cosmonauts almost from the beginning) on the moon, and concentrated on creating a space station. While New Dimension Media recommends this for intermediate, junior and senior high students, the content is too advanced for all but 11th or 12th graders (the rather lame teacher's guide recommends students look these words and phrases up before viewing: "wunderkind," "Bakanair cosmodrone," "acid test," "Communist," "Yuri Gagarin," etc.--terms that would take younger students an entire class session or more to synthesize). Highly recommended for high school, college, and public libraries. Editor's Choice. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Reagan)
The Moon Race: US vs. USSR
(1998) 21 min. $59: single site use; $199: multi-site use. Teacher’s guide included. New Dimension Media. PPR. ISBN: 1-56353-692-7. Vol. 15, Issue 5
The Moon Race: US vs. USSR
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