Word: kinsman
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Bova conveys his message entertainingly. His writing is competent, if not spectacular, and while the "futuristic technology" involved--killer satellites (gasp!) and moon bases--is old hat to science fiction fans, the interplay between science and politics and the bitter metamorphosis of Chester Arthur Kinsman should keep readers interested...
Chester Arthur Kinsman is one of Bova's ideal astronauts. These are not the sterile, blandly patriotic robots projected by NASA flacks, but intensely human and necessarily flawed men--and women--who believe in what they are doing and possess enough independence to reject or exploit bureaucratic maneuvering that surrounds them. As Bova portrays it, the path into space--whether it be military, industrial or political--will be strewn with the carcasses of careers and programs that, regardless of merit, lose behind-the-scenes struggles of power and influence...
...novel opens, Kinsman is 21, an idealistic Air Force test pilot. He loves to fly, and he wants to be an astronaut. He is told: "You don't believe they'll actually give you what you want, do you? They'll use you for cannon fodder... They'll put you in a war plane and order you to kill people." Kinsman, already straining his Quaker heritage by joining the military, vows he won't be a pawn of a system he does not like but must deal with to get what he wants--into space...
...gets there, all right, but his accomplishment is tarnished. Sent into orbit to inspect a Soviet satellite, Kinsman kills a Russian cosmonaut by yanking out her airhose as they grapple soundlessly in the vacuum. Haunted and horrified that he could commit such an act Kinsman must find out what made him kill another human being without reason. Only then can he bring into space his victory of morality over military training, confrontation politics, and the squandering of resources...all earthbound evil...
...committees--but industry will want raw materials and the military nice spots to place their nuclear weapons. Power and the profits will be their motivations, not scientific curiosity or the thrill and the strangeness of space. They won't "come in peace for all mankind." But a few--like Kinsman--may. The game will be played; we might as well start rooting for the good guys