Andrew Mark Sewell

Space Non-Fiction with some Science Fiction
Review of the Audible Original audiobook (July 2019)

The Space Race is a 10-part documentary that covers the beginnings of rocketry through to the Cold War race to the moon by the Soviet Union and the USA, the moon landings, the Space Shuttle and International Space Station programs. It includes voice actors to create various scenes some of which are fictional speculative enactments such as a return to the moon in the future by a descendant of Neil Armstrong and a star ship journey to other star systems. Even with the amount of well documented information already in the public domain there was still a interesting variety of earlier historical events which were completely new to me, such as the story of rocket sled tester John Stapp and of the independently funded physiological research testing of potential female astronauts such as Mary Wallace 'Wally' Funk in the Mercury 13 program.

The chapter headings were as follows:
Episode 1 Return to the Moon
Episode 2 Cold War in Space
Episode 3 Space Warriors
Episode 4 Reaching for the Moon
Episode 5 Tragedy to Triumph
Episode 6 For All Mankind
Episode 7 United in Space
Episode 8 Space Shuttle
Episode 9 Home in Space
Episode 10 Infinity and Beyond

The narration by Kate Mulgrew and the performances by the audio actors were all excellent.

The Space Race was originally released in July 2019. It was one of eleven free Audible Originals available to members in July 2020. It is available to everyone for a standard price.… (meer)