Posts: 675
From: Hudson, MA
Registered: Jul 2005

posted 06-08-2008 09:10 PM            

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Has anyone else read Astro Turf by M. G. Lord? It's a pretty facinating (and very human) look at the early years of JPL and the aerospace/rocket industry from the point of view of a woman whose father was a JPL engineer in the 50s/60s/70s. Exceptionally well written in my opinion.

(One minor, but interesting [if not extremely coincidental], footnote I learned from this book is that one of the early [1930's era] American rocket pioneers was named Apollo [Apollo Milton Olin Smith - usually referred to as A.M.O. Smith].)

Posts: 846
From: Los Angeles CA. USA
Registered: Jan 2005

posted 06-09-2008 05:47 PM               

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Yes, the book and her life is all that but also dark in places and times, as her Dad wasn't around during as he was building space probes.

Surprisingly for me - M.G. Lord and I were in the same graduating class in the same year at the same High School. She and I discovered this when we first met last year. No - we don't remember one another (even if I was a big space geek even then) - but we lived close to each other and went to the same schools.

But my Dad was a diesel engineer - not a rocket scientist.

Posts: 1966
From: Atlanta, GA
Registered: Feb 2007

posted 08-31-2010 12:26 PM               

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I was disappointed with this book. It seems like a missed opportunity for an overview of all that is JPL - the people and the missions regardless if they were successful or not.

The book instead focuses on the author's anger at how women were treated in US industry years ago and her anger that the German scientists of Operation Paperclip were never tried for their supposed part in the Nazi organization. She goes on and on about how Wernher von Braun's war record was ignored and about how women in past decades were seen as decoration or as suitable for light work only. Regarding women in the workplace the author fails to see that times have changed and you cannot use today's moral or ethical standards on a decades old organization. The author goes so far as to describe womens' treatment at MIT in the 1800's and at Cambridge University in the 1700's which is surely outside the scope of this book. Regarding von Braun's part in WWII, that is worth discussing but I don't see how it fits into this context (a history of JPL).

What really got me is her description of a launch as a phallic, demonstrably-male event. She further complains that the "feminine components" of a launch, such as the umbilical connecting rocket and pad, are hidden and not featured prominently. She makes this assumption even though she's never seen a launch. That's right, although her JPL contacts urged her to see one to better understand their missions and culture, she did not have the patience for the delays and decided it wasn't that important anyway. To me that translates as a person with her own agenda who refuses to be swayed by others' thoughts or even the facts themselves - not the type of author I think best qualified to write a historical account.

Posts: 1309
From: Denver, CO
Registered: Jun 2004