Breaking the Chains of Gravity: The Story of Spaceflight before NASA – Amy Shira Teitel

This is the story of how the American space program came to be. Starting with humble experiments in the early 20th century, continuing with the German rocketeers of the 30s and 40s, and developing into the advanced US military programs in the 50s.

Ms. Teitel is a space historian and producer of the popular YouTube channel Vintage Space, in which she presents short segments focusing on particular bits of space history. The subject matter of this book is fascinating, and not only because it is not as popular a subject matter as the early NASA period from the formation of the agency to the end of the Apollo Program, which is documented and described in hundreds of books and documentaries. The story of the German rocketeers before and during World War II reads almost like a thriller.

Ms. Teitel lays out the subject matter clearly, mostly avoiding confusion by revisiting various programs and initiatives with repeated mentions of names that the reader can remember. Given the very intricate events and relationships of the post-war US rocket launch initiatives, this is no small feat.  While a history should focus on events and people, this one fails to really grip the reader and would probably not be very an interesting read to the non-enthusiast. A more in-depth focus on either a changing society, or on some particular figures and their motivations, would have made the whole thing more engaging and less bland.

The prose could use some polish, perhaps with stricter editing. There is an overuse of “as well” and “also”. Too many sentences start with conjunctions, making for a sometimes jarring rhythm in the text.

The subtitle is somewhat misleading. While the Soviet space program is frequently featured, there is no in-depth analysis, and these parts serve mostly as background to the US program.