The Manned Missiles Summary

The text of "The Manned Missiles" is made up solely of two letters exchanged between two men: Mikhail Ivankov, a U.S.S.R. stone mason, and Charles Ashland, a petroleum merchant from Florida. Ivankov is the father of Stepan Ivankov, the first man sent into space. Ashland is the father of Bryant "Bud" Ashland, the second man sent into space. Stepan and Bud were involved in some kind of conflict in space that resulted in their deaths. Stepan went into space on a surveillance and defense-related mission, and Bud was sent up after him to take pictures of his actions. The exact nature of the two countries' intentions and of the two men's deaths, is left unclear. In their letters, Ivankov and Ashland focus on their sons and on each other, rather than on the political and philosophical...