Book Reviews
Review by Geoffrey Holland
"Life springs from hydrogen, and as fate has dictated, the subject of hydrogen has permeated my life." So opens the new, book length memoir, The Freedom Element by Dr. Addison Bain, a rocket scientist/engineer who was one of the chief architects of the hydrogen propellant and life support infrastructure at Kennedy Space Center and other NASA facilities around the country.
The book begins with Bain''s earliest days in northwest Montana where his interest in rockets and space flight first emerged. In 1959, his schooling as an engineer was interrupted by a call to service from the Army where he was assigned to the missile development program at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. From there, Bain''s transition to NASA seemed almost foreordained. He was with NASA at the beginning of the manned space program and was largely responsible for the initial design, installation, and operation of the substantial ground infrastructure for hydrogen and other gases used on Gemini, the Apollo lunar missions, and the Space Shuttle.
It was during his NASA tenure that Bain became intensely interested in the Hindenburg airship disaster that took place in May of 1937 when the gigantic zeppelin, made buoyant by lighter-than-air hydrogen gas, mysteriously ignited and burned to a cinder in less than a minute while attempting to land at Lakehurst, New Jersey.
Much of The Freedom Element deals with Bain''s dogged efforts to understand what really happened to the Hindenburg. The long held assumption was that the hydrogen gas aboard was responsible for the conflagration. Given his years of experience with hydrogen, Bain didn’t believe it. The investigation that had been a hobby, took up Bain''s attention full time when he retired from NASA. All the evidence he collected suggested that something other than hydrogen had started the fire aboard the Hindenburg.
As for the truth about what actually happened to the great airship that fateful night in Lakehurst, it''''s no longer a mystery. Bain did find the answer. Suffice to say, it''''s all laid out clearly and in great detail in this book. Bain says, "The moral of the story is, don’t paint your airship with rocket fuel." That pretty much sums it up. To say more here would be giving away the story.
The Freedom Element was great fun to read. Addison Bain''''s intense curiosity and good nature shine through the pages. Though the decision to identify many people he dealt with by first name only is distracting at times, the writing style is breezy and engaging. This autobiographical book is a celebration of a life well lived. It was clearly written by a man who sees the glass half full rather than half empty.
The Freedom Element is available from Blue Note Books 1-800-624-0401 www.bluenotebooks.com
