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nickfourtimes's review
4.0
1) ''Five days later [after Vostok 2], Red Army engineers and East German border guards rolled prefabricated concrete barricades and barbed wire entanglements into place on the border between East and West Berlin: the Berlin Wall, dividing the former German capital into two parts, had been created. This was why Khrushchev had needed a counterbalancing 'progressive' Soviet space achievement and why Korolev had been forced to fly the risky 24-hour mission before the Vostok system was ready. Korolev's carefully engineered space program was a hostage to such event as long as Khrushchev was in power.''
2) ''The crew now had three radio call signs: Scott in Spider, Jim in Gumdrop, and Schweickart, the EVA man, now known as 'Red Rover.'''
3) ''Neil Armstrong was a no-frills kind of guy who didn't talk a whole lot, but usually said what he meant. But there was also a more complex side to Neil, and I think at this point we were both beginning to realize just how important being the first man to set foot on the moon was. Neil hemmed and hawed for a moment and then looked away, breaking eye contact with a coolness I'd never seen in him before. 'Buzz,' he said, 'I realize the historical significance of all this, and I just don't want to rule anything out right now.'''
4) [Before entering the CSM] ''The only sound I could hear was the whirring ventilator fan. When I walked I could feel my soft pressure boots twang on the grating. The sun was just rising. Surf rolled soundlessly onto the beach, half a mile away. Across the Banana River thousands of cars were parked around the VAB. Millions of people lined the roads and beaches around the Cape, all gazing at this launch pad. Across America and Europe, millions more were watching on television. But here I was completely alone, breathing cool oxygen inside the sterile cocoon of my suit. A feeling of calm confidence rose inside me.''
5) ''After lunch that day I asked Neil if he knew what he was going to say when he stepped onto the lunar surface. He took a sip of fruit juice and shook his head. 'Not yet,' he said. 'I'm still thinking it over.'''
6) ''I was grinning ear to ear, even though the gold visor hid my face. Neil and I were standing together on the moon.''
2) ''The crew now had three radio call signs: Scott in Spider, Jim in Gumdrop, and Schweickart, the EVA man, now known as 'Red Rover.'''
3) ''Neil Armstrong was a no-frills kind of guy who didn't talk a whole lot, but usually said what he meant. But there was also a more complex side to Neil, and I think at this point we were both beginning to realize just how important being the first man to set foot on the moon was. Neil hemmed and hawed for a moment and then looked away, breaking eye contact with a coolness I'd never seen in him before. 'Buzz,' he said, 'I realize the historical significance of all this, and I just don't want to rule anything out right now.'''
4) [Before entering the CSM] ''The only sound I could hear was the whirring ventilator fan. When I walked I could feel my soft pressure boots twang on the grating. The sun was just rising. Surf rolled soundlessly onto the beach, half a mile away. Across the Banana River thousands of cars were parked around the VAB. Millions of people lined the roads and beaches around the Cape, all gazing at this launch pad. Across America and Europe, millions more were watching on television. But here I was completely alone, breathing cool oxygen inside the sterile cocoon of my suit. A feeling of calm confidence rose inside me.''
5) ''After lunch that day I asked Neil if he knew what he was going to say when he stepped onto the lunar surface. He took a sip of fruit juice and shook his head. 'Not yet,' he said. 'I'm still thinking it over.'''
6) ''I was grinning ear to ear, even though the gold visor hid my face. Neil and I were standing together on the moon.''
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