Destination Moon; The Apollo Missions in the Astronauts' Own Words

192 pages. Illustrations (many in color). Appendix. Index. Format is 8.5 inches by 8.5 inches. This is a Smithsonian Books product. It was made in association with First Person Productions. From an on-line posting by the author: My goal . is to bring you readable, compelling, and entertaining narratives of space exploration, technology, and the amazing people that make it happen. Like many of my generation, I was enthralled by the flights of Mercury, Gemini, and especially Apollo. As those ghostly images came down from the moon, improving on each flight. Viking landings and journey of the Pioneers and Voyagers to the outer planets followed shortly thereafter. Writing narrative space history books, as well as space journalism for NASA/JPL, Caltech, and many other outlets, has been my passion for over a decade. This is a thrilling time for space exploration and I hope to share this excitement with many more readers. The Apollo space program was the largest technological undertaking of all time, and let to the greatest adventure of the 20th century. Born of the cold war, it was moved forward by the passion of 100,000 workers and $20 billion over ten years. Over that time, 12 courageous individuals stepped out onto the lunar surface and thus changed the history of humankind, changing us into a space-faring civilization. And then, it was gone. Three years, 9 missions, six men on the surface of the moon. They explored, they experimented, and they came home. Here in one volume are the transcripted voices of the participants, with expert commentary and retrospective reminiscences, explained and put into context. From the triumphs of Neil Armstrong to Buzz Aldrin, to the near disaster of Apollo 13, it's all here -- the science, the adventure, the glory, the letdown. One of the great stories of humankind's reaching for the stars.…