Taking Science to the Moon: Lunar Experiments and the Apollo Program: Donald A. Beattie
(Hardcover - June 2001)

Most of the Apollo project books have focused on either the spacecraft that went to the Moon (Moon Lander, Saturn) or the astronauts or Mission control and the flight controllers. However the author, who was the program manager for the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments, tells the story of how these experiments got to the moon, which ones were chosen and why. The book, provides the inside story on all decisions, meetings, NASA in-fighting that happened on the way to get theimportant surface experiments on the flights to the Moon. The author has used his extensive library of NASA memos, publications to produce a really fine book.
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A Man on the Moon : 3 volume Illustrated Commemorative Boxed Set: Recent Amazon review; "The 3 volume boxed set of "A Man on the Moon" is perhaps the best book on the Apollo program ever published. Not only does it have the complete text of the original "a Man on the Moon", which was a great description of what it was like to fly on the Apollo missions, though lacking in both technical details and Apollo development history, but it is graced with hundreds of beautiful photos and a number of sidebars describing aspects of the moon program. Even if you have the original hardbound or paperback edition, buy this....its worth every penny and then some. I've spent many hours just leafing through it (I read the original years ago). If you or someone you know has the slightest interest in the moon landings, this is the book!"

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Angle of Attack : Harrison Storms and the race to the Moon

Written by Mike Gray (Screenwriter on the film "The China Syndrome") this book covers space history more from the engineers point of view than "A Man on the Moon" and in particular Harrison Storms , head of North American Aviation's Space division. The reviews on Amazon are rather varied for this book so follow the book title link and make your own mind up.
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The Unbroken Chain

Book and CD-Rom (October 2001)
(Save 30%)
Written by Guenter Wendt who supervised preparations for every mission from the Mercury program through the early shuttle flights, this book features Wendt's accounts of his career highlights, good and bad, as well as behind-the scenes revelations about missions and personalities. Three sections of great photos accompany the text, and the accompanying CD-ROM features a tour of Cape Canaveral hosted by Wendt himself.
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For All Mankind DVD - Criterion Collection: This Criterion Collection DVD is an indispensable record of the Apollo space program.; The likable interaction between director Al Reinert and Apollo 17 astronaut Eugene
Cernan creates a noteworthy audio commentary. Reinert focuses us on how the images here are better than any other NASA footage and on curious mission facts (why the earlier Gemini program created superior shots of the earth, for instance)
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Apollo 13 Movie DVD: The acclaimed 1995 space drama about the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission. Also includes the film's theatrical trailer, an interesting short "making of" film, and lots of data on the cast and crew, plus two commentary tracks (one with director Ron Howard, and one will real-life hero Jim Lovell and wife Marilyn)
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Also available with DTS Digital Surround soundtrack and according to Amazon; "The DVD's discrete 5.1 DTS soundtrack sounds very open, with extended high frequencies and deep, powerful .1 LFE enhancement. Effects are directionalized with delicate inner detail resolution. The music score is well defined and expansive with excellent soundstage imaging."
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At the Edge of space : The X-15 Flight Program: An account of NASA's experimental X-15 project which was to find out the limits of manned rocket powered flights at the upper edges of Earth's Atmosphere. Written by Milton O. Thompson, who was both a pilot and flight engineer on the X-15 program.
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A Man on the Moon : The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts: We all know "One small step ..." off by heart, but this book fills in the fascinating background.
A result of numerous interviews with the moon voyagers and ten years in the making, results in a book that is a compulsive read. It is the ideal book for someone visiting Florida and hitting the Cape Canaveral space trail.
(see below for updated version of this book)
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To The Moon DVD: This two-hour documentary from NOVA detailing America's space program was produced for the 30th anniversary of the first moon shots. While no 120-minute film can tell all the stories of the space program, To the Moon is more comprehensive than other similar videos.; According to one recent Amazon Review "If you want to get the real story of NASA's amazing success, as well as the heart-wrenching
failures, this is a MUST SEE!"
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Full Moon: For the first time NASA has allowed a selection of the 32,000 extraordinarliy beautiful photographs taken during the Apollo missions to be scanned electronically rather than copied film, this has resulted in the sharpest images of space ever reproduced . Full Moon uses 129 images, five in 45 inch gatefolds, to provide stunning images that begin with the launch, the journey to the moon, orbit, landing and return to Earth with splashdown. The Booklist review called this book a "visual stunner".
Explanations for the pictures are written by Andrew Chaikinwho wrote "A Man on the Moon" as mentioned above.
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Flight: My Life in Mission Control: Written by Chris Kraft (Fligh Director at Mission Control).; Publishers weekly said "In these memoirs he reveals little-known details of the space program: the young marine pilot John Glenn's cocky, stubborn side; the disorganization that contributed to the horrible launchpad fire in 1967 that killed three astronauts and NASA's subsequent soul-searching; Kraft and his staff's fight against cautious bureaucrats over the first lunar circumnavigation, one of the space program's high points; Buzz Aldrin's campaign to be the first man on the moon and why Neil Armstrong was chosen instead; and the media's construction of the U.S.-Russian space race. Kraft pulls no punches in his accounts of NASA infighting, and he gives credit where it's due, even to longtime sparring partners like NASA head George Mueller and master rocket-builder"
Wernher von Braun."; Find out more / buy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

Moon Lander : How We Developed the Apollo Lunar Module: Written by Thomas J. Kelly Chief Engineer at Grumman Engineering, which built the moon lander
The story of the development of the LEM(Lunar Excursion Module).
Kelly's account begins with the imaginative process of sketching solutions to a host of technical challenges with an emphasis on safety, reliability, and maintainability. He catalogs numerous test failures, including propulsion-system leaks, ascent-engine instability, stress corrosion of the aluminum allow parts, and battery problems, as well as their fixes under the ever-present constraints of budget and schedule. He also recaptures the anticipation of the first unmanned lunar module flight with Apollo 5 in 1968, the exhilaration of hearing Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong report that "The Eagle has Landed," and the pride of having inadvertently provided a vital "lifeboat" for the crew of the disabled Apollo 13.
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Journey to the Moon : The History of the Apollo Guidance Computer: Eldon Hall, one of the designers of the Apollo guidance computer, put this book together to put the record straight on the Apollo computer. It starts from early work at MIT, right through to the final design.
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Exploring the Moon : The Apollo Expeditions: With a foreword by Patrick Moore the famous British astronomer, and an after word by Dave Scott the Apollo 15 Commander, this book covers the whole lunar exploration period from the early unmanned landers, the Apollo project itself through to the current day. This book has plenty of scientific and geologic material, as well as the usual details on the mission themselves.
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Earthlight: NASA - Spectacular Views of Earth from Space: This DVD features beautiful, digitally filmed, views of Earth from the Space Shuttle. Views include city lights on the U.S. east coast at night, the MIR spacestation, and the Sahara desert.
"The video quality is truly excellent -- this is probably the best looking DVD i own"
"Seeing this magnificent Atlantis launch and hearing it in roaring 5.1 dolby is solely worth the price of the dvd. plus, you get many, many shots of our beautiful planet, crisply videotaped from the space shuttle missions."... Amazon reviews
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Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8: The first manned flight to another world: Written by Robert Zimmerman, a science and technology writer, depicts a space program that was the province of the hero/ace pilot in a Cold War era. Probably of interest to people who want a book that puts the Apollo program in the context of the time in which it happened.
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Apollo 8: The NASA Mission Reports Apollo 9: The NASA Mission Reports: These Apollo space mission reports derive from documents in NASA's archives and provide details which were only available to researchers previously. Some of the material has been scanned and the quality of the scanning is variable, but as one review on Amazon says these books are a "Technical goldmine from the exciting days of Apollo".
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APOLLO Photo Galleries and Image Files - Set One: Apollo 1 through Apollo 12 (Two CD-ROM Set) APOLLO Photo Galleries and Image Files - Set Two: Apollo 13 through Apollo 17 (Two CD-ROM Set): Set One: "The most complete collection of Apollo photographs ever gathered in one place. It's so huge, this set - with still images from Apollo 1 through Apollo 12, including the first landing on Apollo 11 - takes up over 1.2 gigabytes (GB) of storage on two CD-ROMs!"
Set Two: "images from Apollo 13 through the last moon landing, Apollo 17 - takes up over 1.2 gigabytes (GB) of storage on two CD-ROMs"
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Apollo in perspective: This book takes a retrospective look at the Apollo space program and the technology that was used to land a man on the Moon. It explains the basic physics and technology of spaceflight, and tries to convey the huge technological strides that were made and the dedication of the people working on the program. Physics topics covered include the laws of motion, rocketry, how to manouver in orbit and many others. The designs of the Apollo Command, Service and Lunar modules are discussed and how these changed as the plans for the manned mission evolved. Guidance systems, computers and engines all had to be developed for the first time.With Apollo as background, the book goes on to look at the space shuttle, the technology being developed for its replacement, the International Space Station and the possibilities for a manned Mars mission. Finally, the far future is considered, including Mars colonies and journeys to other stars.
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Tracking Apollo to the Moon: "superb introduction to the Mercury / Gemini / Apollo / Skylab programs and a valuable addition to the collection of any space enthusiast"; "The book itself is astounding. It is far more image-rich than any of the recent memoirs and histories, with photographs, maps, diagrams, cartoons, paintings on every page, rather than a few black and white shots grouped in the middle. The images themselves are chosen with care and matched to the text - I was impressed with two of the earliest photographs of the Lunar Module, almost lost against the immensity of the lunar landscape, a reminder of just how fragile and precious was this little bubble of Earth."
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Deke!: U.S. Manned Space: From Mercury to the Shuttle

"Slayton's time at NASA stretched from the early Mercury days through the heady Apollo missions right up to the commercial space shuttle flights, so a comprehensive insight into pretty much all the US manned space flight programme is provided. Of equal interest are the pages devoted to Deke's test pilot days and, earlier, his wartime experiences. The picture emerges of an unbelievably experienced and skillful pilot who remained at the cutting edge of aviation/space science for most of his life. This book should appeal to anyone with an interest in space, NASA, or aircraft.."
(Amazon.co.uk reader)
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Managing Martians: Donna Shirley, Leader of the team that created the "Sojourner" Mars rover recounts how she made the dream of "getting to Mars" come true, not withstanding budgets, deadlines, and all the other big project obstacles.
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Space Shuttle: The First 20 Years -- The Astronauts' Experiences in Their Own Words
by Tony Reichhardt (Editor),
Smithsonian Institution (Hardcover)
(Save 30%)

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Failure Is Not an Option : Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo: Gene Kranz and found an embryonic department run by whiz kids (such as himself), sharp engineers and technicians who had to create the Mercury mission rules and procedure from the ground up. As he says, "Since there were no books written on the actual methodology of space flight, we had to write them as we went along."
You see NASA through his eyes, from its primitive days when he first joined up, through the 1993 shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, his last mission control project.; This book has a lot of the scenes detail, and is very down to earth writing.; Find out more / buy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk
The Race : The Uncensored Story of How America Beat Russia to the Moon: The messy and glorious saga of the golden years of the American space program, told in never-before-revealed detail by a man who was there.
In 1963, a young reporter named Jim Schefter was given a dream job: cover America's race to the moon. Since the astronauts were under contract to Life, Schefter's employer, for their stories, he was given unparalleled access to the lives of all the players at NASA. Of course, for PR reasons he could not write a fraction of what he saw then.; Find out more / buy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

NASA 25 Years: Triumph and Tragedies Collection - 5 videos (1997)

N.B This is a VHS which is NTSC so normally suitable for US and Canada only
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This page last updated 29 November 2002

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