NPR AMERICAN CHRONICLES: EXPLORING SPACE

Anyone interested in both history and the space program will enjoy this collection of news reports, interviews, and recollections from an era that saw wondrous scientific advances contrasted with the Cold War fear that the U.S. and Soviet Union would use space exploration as an excuse to rain bombs down on each other. NPR reporter Joe Palca narrates as you would expect a reporter to. His voice is friendly, accessible, and informative, and he paces himself so that we can follow his reports. This is not just Palca’s gig, though, as the stories also feature other NPR on-air personalities, American citizens with an interest in space, astronauts from John Glenn to Sally Ride, rocket scientists, and even Nikita Krushchev’s son Sergei, who reminisces about the night that Sputnik launched in 1957. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2013]