Space is a novel by James A. Michener published in 1982. It is a fictionalized history of the United States space program, with a particular emphasis on manned spaceflight.
Michener dramatizes the life experiences of these men and their families against the backdrop of the real history of the U.S. space program, depicting their experiences in post-war aviation, the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union; the development of congressional funding for the space program; the early failures in the Gemini program; and the successful moon landings in the Apollo program. In a fictional postscript to history, Michener creates a last, "Apollo 18" launch to further the drama of Pope, Claggett and Linley, America's first black astronaut. This is the only Apollo mission in which the lunar module lands on the far side of the Moon, unseen by Earth; in order to remain in contact with NASA after landing, while still in lunar orbit the Apollo craft must launch a communication satellite that will bounce the lunar module's signals to Earth. An unusually high amount of sunspot activity, only partially predicted by the NASA ground crew, results in the death of Claggett and Linley in the lunar module when they are exposed to lethal levels of radiation following their ascent back towards the command module and they crash back into the lunar surface; Pope, the command module pilot returns to Earth safely. The mission profile is significantly different from that of the real-world canceled mission that would have been Apollo 18.
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