Book Review: Deke!
Deke! U.S. Manned Space: From Mercury to the Shuttle
by Donald K. “Deke” Slayton with Michael Cassut
New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 1994.
“America’s Chief Astronaut Speaks Out at Last!” The publisher isn’t exaggerating with that tagline. This autobiography reads like it came straight from Deke Slayton’s mouth, complete with copious usage of his favorite expletive “goddamned.” I’m sure some of it has been smoothed over by the cowriter, but it still reads like practically a transcript of the taped conversations. The language is short and punchy, just like the way Deke spoke. It’s very jarring at first to hear him speak of his childhood like this, but it grows on you and fits in better when the book moves onto his adult life and career. The writing style gives the reader a very real sense of Deke’s no-nonsense personality.
The early history of the American space program has been covered thoroughly in many other works, so there really isn’t that much unique material in this book. Many events are rushed through in a few paragraphs, and even Deke's sole spaceflight on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project is covered in very sparing detail. Deke was already starting to feel the effects of his brain tumor when he started the book, and died only two years later. Evidently, he was scrambling to to record his thoughts on each event while his mental faculties were still sharp, focusing on breadth of coverage rather than depth. Even then, there are still gaps in the narrative, some of which have been filled in with reminiscences from friends and family.
Insider’s Perspective
But what makes up for it is the insider’s perspective on events, delivered straight. What was it like to have the Russians constantly one-upping you at the start of the Space Race? Actually, they heard plenty of rumors about each Russian space shot, and knew to be on the lookout for something big even though they had no details about what was going to take place. How did the various program decisions evolve? This has been documented in other places, but Deke's firsthand account makes things concrete. What did he think about the scientific experiments? Oh, he thought that most of them were nonsense and just created opportunities to fall behind schedule.
Since he drew up the crew assignments for missions, Deke’s explanation of his reasoning made perhaps the biggest splash when the book was published. He does not shy away from revealing which pilots he thought were “weaker” than others. For example, Don Eisele and Roger Chaffee were initially assigned to Apollo 1 because Deke felt one good commander (Gus Grissom) could carry the weight for a mission that did not have much complexity. He also explains why he liked Wally Schirra, who raced cars and always did what he signed up to do, but didn’t like Gordo Cooper, who raced cars and didn’t live up to Deke’s expectations.
Deke seemed to evaluate everyone by his piloting ability, and he always seemed to feel some resentment towards the scientific community. He was unwilling to give priority in crew assignments to scientist-astronauts, and when he has a nice word to say about one of them, it's invariably due to surpassing Deke’s expectations in flight training. He's even more blunt when he discusses the death of Elliott See and Charlie Bassett in a plane crash. According to Deke, Elliott See "flew too slow," in an "old-womanish" manner, and "wasn't even in the best physical shape." Deke had first-hand experience flying with all of the astronauts, since his heart condition precluded him from piloting a jet by himself, and he "didn't need a board to tell me that" the accident was caused by pilot error. In fact, Deke blames himself for being so soft-hearted and giving Elliott See a mission, despite his misgivings about his abilities.
Deke was also involved with much of the later astronaut selection, and he clearly disliked the political pressures that were brought to bear. The woman-in-space program didn’t really seem to have made much of an impression on him. The push to get a black man into the astronaut corps occupies more of his attention, but Deke is very adamantly opposed to taking affirmative action to achieve this. In Deke's assessment, Ed Dwight was clearly disqualified by being primarily a multiengine pilot, lacking experience, and not being particularly enthusiastic about being an astronaut. (Ed Dwight left the military soon afterwards and later became a sculptor.)
