Snapshots from the moon: NASA photographs from the earliest manned space flights NASA's Apollo program landed the first humans on the moon in 1969. In the next three years, Apollo sent 10 more men to the moon in five subsequent missions. The first moon landing in particular is a legendarily well-documented event, representing one of those rare moments in which the world was united in awe, witnessing the feat together on their television screens. But each Apollo mission also generated hundreds of photographs, many of which have only recently been released by NASA. A selection of these images--shot by the astronauts themselves with suit-mounted and handheld Hasselblad cameras--are gathered in this beautifully designed, affordable volume. Many of the photographs, though shot originally for scientific, documentary purposes, have an extraordinary snapshot quality, boasting inadvertently artful compositions and effects: in one, a pair of astronaut's legs emerges upside down from the bottom of the frame; in another, a striding astronaut appears to glow against the black recesses of space. Contextualized with background information about the Apollo Missions and the role of photographic documentation in them, the photographs in The Moon 1968-1972are fascinating documents of the majesty of outer space, but also record the surface of the moon as a landscape of wonder. This is the moon of which E.B. White wrote in the July 1969 issue of The New Yorker: "The moon, it turns out, is a great place for men. One-sixth gravity must be a lot of fun, and when Armstrong and Aldrin went into their bouncy little dance, like two happy children, it was a moment not only of triumph but of gaity."

The moon landing remains the most astonishing and impressive accomplishment of manned space travel to this day. In July 1969, just eight years after President John F. Kennedy announced the bold plan, the first astronaut set foot on another celestial body. While Project Apollo: The Early Years covered the exciting developments from the first project drawings to the unmanned first flight of the mighty Saturn V, this book covers the later years of the Apollo era, in all its fascinating detail, including the test flights in Earth's orbit; the first orbits of the moon; the legendary Apollo 11 mission; the drama of Apollo 13; and Apollo 17, the last manned moon flight in 1972. Experience this era through exciting accounts, radio transcripts, and impressive photographs and diagrams.

Stung by the pioneering space successes of the Soviet Union - in particular, Gagarin being the first man in space, the United States gathered the best of its engineers and set itself the goal of reaching the Moon within a decade. In an expanding 2nd edition of How Apollo Flew to the Moon, David Woods tells the exciting story of how the resulting Apollo flights were conducted by following a virtual flight to the Moon and its exploration of the surface. From launch to splashdown, he hitches a ride in the incredible spaceships that took men to another world, exploring each step of the journey and detailing the enormous range of disciplines, techniques, and procedures the Apollo crews had to master. While describing the tremendous technological accomplishment involved, he adds the human dimension by calling on the testimony of the people who were there at the time. He provides a wealth of fascinating and accessible material: the role of the powerful Saturn V, the reasoning behind trajectories, the day-to-day concerns of human and spacecraft health between two worlds, the exploration of the lunar surface and the sheer daring involved in traveling to the Moon and the mid-twentieth century. Given the tremendous success of the original edition of How Apollo Flew to the Moon, the second edition will have a new chapter on surface activities, inspired by reader's comment on Amazon.com. There will also be additional detail in the existing chapters to incorporate all the feedback from the original edition, and will include larger illustrations.

A Behind-the-Scenes Look At NASA’s incredible Journey to the Moon Space journalist and insider Nancy Atkinson weaves together the riveting story of NASA’s mission to complete “the greatest adventure on which humankind ever embarked.” This incredible account is a keepsake celebrating some of the most important and dramatic events in modern history. Told through over 60 personal interviews and oral histories, as well as personal photographs, this tribute to the men and women who made the Apollo 11 mission a reality chronicles the highs and lows that accompanied the race to the Moon: the devastating flash fire that killed the crew of Apollo 1; the awe of those who saw their years-in-the-making contributions to space exploration blast off from Cape Canaveral; the knuckle-biting descent of Apollo 11 to the lunar surface; a near-catastrophic event on the crew’s flight home; the infectious excitement and jubilation across the world after the astronauts returned safely to Earth. These little-known stories of the dedicated engineers, mathematicians and scientists in the 1960s reveal the “hows” of the Apollo missions and bring to life the wonder and excitement of humanity’s first steps on the Moon.

The only work to date to collect data gathered during the American and Soviet missions in an accessible and complete reference of current scientific and technical information about the Moon.

Only twenty-four people have seen the whole earth. The most beautiful and influential photographs ever made were taken, almost as an afterthought, by the astronauts of the Apollo space program from the moon. They inspired a generation of scientists and environmentalists to think more seriously about our responsibility for this tiny oasis in space, this “blue marble” falling through empty darkness.The Earth Gazers is a book about the long road to the capture of those unforgettable images. It is a history of the space program and of the ways in which it transformed our view of the earth and changed the lives of the astronauts who walked in space and on the moon. It is the story of the often blemished visionaries who inspired that journey into space: Charles Lindbergh, Robert Goddard and Wernher Von Braun, and of the courageous pilots who were the first humans to escape the Earth's orbit. These twenty-four people saw Earth in all its singular glory, and the legacy of the stories of these "Earth Gazers," resonate richly even today.

'IMPRESSIVE AND ILLUMINATING' TOM HANKS This is the definitive account of the heroic Apollo programme. When astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took their 'giant leap for mankind' across a ghostly lunar landscape, they were watched by some 600 million people on Earth 240,000 miles away. Drawing on hundreds of hours of in-depth interviews with the astronauts and mission personnel, this is the story of the twentieth century's greatest human achievement, minute-by-minute, through the eyes of those who were there. From the tragedy of the fire in Apollo 1 during a simulated launch, Apollo 8's bold pioneering flight around the moon, through to the euphoria of the first moonwalk, and to the discoveries made by the first scientist on the moon aboard Apollo 17, this book covers it all. 'An extraordinary book . . . Space, with its limitless boundaries, has the power to inspire, to change lives, to make the impossible happen. Chaikin's superb book demonstrates how' Sunday Times 'A superb account . . . Apollo may be the only achievement by which our age is remembered a thousand years from now' Arthur C. Clarke 'The authoritative masterpiece' Los Angeles Times