In case you didn't figure it out from the picture, the title of this blog entry isn't the full title of the book, I simply added a bit more. This is a fitting novel for a fitting time. For those of you who didn't know, and sadly that's probably around 95% of you out there, the American Space Shuttle Program is done, finished. July 8th was officially the last shuttle flight America is ever going to see. It was even on the news, but most of you probably didn't know that. See, back in the day, America really cared about itself, but since then we've lost our way. No just our way but our will. Sure, it comes back occasionally when chaos strikes, but it always sinks back under the surface of rising debt, horrid unemployment, outsourcing, shoddy plastic shit from Lowe's, and politicians that never have a clue. The shuttle program is just yet another example of our eventual end. You may all be indeed witnessing not just the end of an era, but the end of an empire.
Enter The Pilgrim Project. I can't forgive you for not knowing about the above, but not knowing about this novel is another story. Hank Searls is pretty much a total no-name today, which is sad because he basically was the first writer to do what would eventually make Tom Clancy famous. This particular novel was one of a few, and it was even made into a film in the 60s called "Countdown". As far as sci-fi goes, don't expect aliens or weird technology. This is really perhaps the first novel of its kind, a historical science fiction novel that assumes the then near future. In it, a group of researches, scientists, politicians, etc. get together and come up with a plan to beat those dang Russkies to the moon. As a whole, the characters are pretty wooden, and the plot will seem drab at first, but something about The Pilgrim Project makes it incredibly interesting. I'm not sure what it is, perhaps it's the fluid writing style and attention to the details you need, or perhaps it's that part of us that died yesterday.
The main plot revolves around Steve Lawrence, an astronaut who's ship is called down with its crew and eventually becomes the central figure in a race to beat Russia to the moon. Keep in mind, when this was written, the Russians had already beaten us to space and shot up a satellite. Searls here assumes what would eventually happen, America landing the first man on the moon. What follows is a bunch of political intrigue and science, the majority actually really cool in spite of how boring you'd assume it would be. The plan? Shoot a man to the moon, sending a special pod to live in separately so he can survive when he gets there (he'll be there for about a year, alone). It's risky, and he could die due to a number of circumstances. Many people don't think it will work and think it's an unnecessary risk. Others know it's the only way to make America care about itself again, it's the only way to give the people hope. So Lawrence is eventually chosen and decides to move forward in spite of some problems at home and not really having the necessary experience. After some grueling training, and after the Russians secretly try to beat America when the plan is leaked to the press, Lawrence is shot into space.
The ending is actually quite surprising, so if you don't want to blow it, skip this paragraph. Lawrence basically misinterprets a riff on the moon's surface and lands. He has a small window in which to abort and using the pull of the moon, head back to earth. But he doesn't, even though he promised everyone otherwise, he knows what it means to at least make it there, even if he dies within a few hours. So he decides to land, not wanting to think years later he actually saw the pod but aborted the mission. He thinks at first of staying in the capsule to survive for four more days, but then decides to go on the surface, wandering for several miles as he takes it all in with a peaceful, going-towards-death attitude. He eventually finds the shape he saw, and discovers it was in fact the Russian craft, most of it damaged. Out of the port is half of the body of the pilot, with a small Soviet flag nearby. In his last moments, he wanted to make sure it was planted. Lawrence knows he's going to die, so he gets his flag ready and starts to plant both flags in the moon's surface, when, at the last moment, he sees the blip of the light of the pod in the distance, which means it's both fairly close and upright (undamaged), so he goes for it and the novel ends. I kind of thought having him die would be a cool , philosophical ending considering the presence of the dead Russian, but Searls leaves it open to him just having enough air to make it, but you don't know if he does.
One of the things that makes this such a great book is the historical value. Sure, the story is strangely engrossing and fast-paced despite reading tons of material on training. As far as sci-fi goes, it's a pretty solid book. But that's not the value of it, especially considering what's happening to us now. This was a time when America thought it was really going to accomplish something; the Space Race absorbed our attention easily up through the mid to late 80s. After that, it, and we, lost the spark. Since that time NASA shuttle launches have seen a pretty hard decline, and after this final launch, I can't help but feel we're all a little empty and downtrodden, at least those of us that paid attention. It's like seeing everything we were blast one last time, disappear, and then sink into nothingness. The Pilgrim Project is a glimpse into the feeling of the time, and a look at what we once were. Will we ever regain the glory and push to greatness found in this novel? Probably not, this book is sad in a way, it's part of a dead age, one we'll never see again. Troubling, because within the story it's commented that we'll be on mars by the '1980s'. Funny how that didn't work out.
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