If the sun dies

This is the journey of a modern woman exploring the world of tomorrow-a world of people preparing to go to the Moon and the distant planets. Her characters are real as today's headlines. They include astronauts Shepard, Glenn, Schirra, Cooper, Borman, Conrad and Stafford, among others; spacecraft designers von Braun and Stuhlinger; and many key figures of the American space program. For a year Oriana Fallaci spent much time in Houston, Huntsville and Cape Kennedy, observing these priests of the new order, listening and talking to them. "The world has always been in the hands of the politicians and technologists," said one. "Never in the hands of those who write poetry, never in the hands of those who protest. And yet the world has always needed those who write poetry and those who protest. Because they are the only people who can explain things." Oriana Fallaci, a writer with the eye of a poet, functions admirably as a protester who can explain. While other NASA visitors have delved into space training, explored the interior of electronic brains, visited spacecraft, discussed space medicine with experts, eaten the food of astronauts and learned about instruments that sustain life in orbit, she has done all these things for a distinct purpose, driven by her quest for a human link between the past and the future.