Germany now has a space ministry. Some like mocking, but space travel in this country is actually an essential economic factor. The space journalist Christoph Seidler has published his book “Armstrongs Erben” in ignorance. In it, he recapitulates the race to the moon in the Cold War and the sometimes problematic legal law and around the moon. He explains why today we are in a second race between China and the USA to return to the moon – maybe permanently and maybe only as a stopover to Mars.
He skilfully describes the geopolitical causes and implications of this new race, but also what it takes technically to fly to the moon, to colonize it and to what difficulties we encounter. Seidler takes us narratively on a fictional moon trip, on which we learn a lot about space ferries, moon geology or agriculture in space. Only one point is missing here: the individual physical preparation of space drivers for a mission into space.
This is very informative and instructive, sometimes unexpected, for example when we meet the fashion group Prada or monument protection. Despite all the technical and political complexity, Seidler manages to inspire and entertain us for space travel. The journey to the moon opens up completely new perspectives. Hans Siglbauer
Christoph Seidler
Armstrongs heirs
Piper Verlag, 336 p., € 22, –
ISBN 978-3-492-07326-4
