Moon Men Return

This book documents the role played by USS Hornet (CVS-12) in the recovery of the Apollo 11 Command Module after its splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on 24 July 1969. The book covers a period of time leading up to the recovery of Apollo 11, from approximately 5 June – 24 July 1969, during which crewmen of USS Hornet plus specialized NASA and DoD spaceflight recovery units prepared for the recovery operation. It offers a detailed account of those preparations, drawn from both historical records and the personal memories of 80 men who served on board USS Hornet and directly participated in the recovery operation. The purpose of this book is to document for future generations the Navy’s role in the successful final phase of the historic flight of Apollo 11 – the manned spaceflight which culminated in man’s first walk upon another celestial body, the moon.

Former NASA Astronaut Harrison Schmitt advocates a private, investor-based approach to returning humans to the Moon—to extract Helium 3 for energy production, to use the Moon as a platform for science and manufacturing, and to establish permanent human colonies there in a kind of stepping stone community on the way to deeper space. With governments playing a supporting role—just as they have in the development of modern commercial aeronautics and agricultural production—Schmitt believes that a fundamentally private enterprise is the only type of organization capable of sustaining such an effort and, eventually, even making it pay off.

July 2019 marks 50 years since Neil Armstrong took his famous first steps on the surface of the Moon. As people around the world celebrate the anniversary of this great American achievement, they might wonder why there have been no further human missions to the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. This book assesses the legacy of the Apollo missions based on several decades of space developments since the program’s end. The question of why we haven’t sent humans back to the Moon is explored through a multidisciplinary lens that weaves together technological and historical perspectives. The nine manned Apollo missions, including the six that landed on the Moon, are described here by an author who has 50 years of experience in the space industry and whose work spanned the Apollo 8–13 missions. The final section of the book provides a comprehensive assessment of today’s programs and current plans for sending humans to the Moon.

This volume collects a range of early tales from Greco-Roman Antiquity down to the dawn of the Victorian Age that imagine encounters with creatures on or from the moon. These stories span the centuries and come from cultures as far afield as ancient Greece, medieval Japan, early modern Britain, and nineteenth-century America. Each tells an interesting tale of not just of the adventure inherent in encountering moon creatures but also of the cares and concerns of the people who projected their hopes and fears onto the lunar orb.Just as real space exploration had to take small steps to our closest neighbor, the moon, before venturing outward into the vastness of space, so too did science fiction need to start close to home before venturing across the cosmos into the depths of the unknown.Read on, and start retracing that journey across the sands of time and through the depths of space.With tales from Lucian, Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, Richard Adams Locke, and more...

This is a designer’s story from the Golden Age, of Firebirds and Moonmen. It is the author’s story of how, through chance and circumstance, he was to live a 13-1/2 year odyssey, working with the most talented people in General Motors, on two of the most exciting projects that anyone could ever dream of. At GM Styling, under Harley Earl, to become responsible for the design of the Firebird III, the gas turbine experimental car that, half a century later, can arguably be considered the arch-typical representation for the concept car. Then, to follow that, to become involved in the earliest serious development of manned and unmanned vehicles for lunar exploration, and for hardware that rests on the moon today. The story is told in three parts. First is the early period, where hardships and family bonds temper and condition a polio survivor to abandon his high school preparation, to become a mechanical engineer, and to accept a college scholarship to study Industrial Design, an art curriculum, at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. This period continues, almost as a condensed course, on the fundamentals of design. Key elements evolve around the teachings of mentors Alexander Kostellow and Rowena Reed. In the second phase, the author is in Detroit and the methods and politics of General Motors Styling, during the height of the Motoramas, are detailed. The design of the Firebird III is the heart of the book and is its reason for existing. As the last surviving member of the four principals in its design (Harley Earl, Bob McLean and Stefan Habsburg being the others), the author feels obligated to assure that the story behind those closed studio doors is told. The story progresses from the Firebird III’s inception, as a Harley Earl vision, through its design and build phase then to its Motorama film production, for presentation in the main ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria. In the third phase, the author makes a career change, transferring to an aerospace organizational structure and accepting his role as a team player, responsible for carrying out his skills in the support of team objectives. Industrial design, conceptual and drawing skills are applied in the Mechanisms Group for the formulation of mechanical systems on manned and unmanned lunar exploration vehicles. The excitement of realizing that the group was “in on the ground-floor” of lunar exploration is only tempered now by a déjà vu feeling: of realizing that NASA is once again at that same point in time, planning for a return to the moon in 2024. During this period, the author served under Sam Romano, who would later become the head the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) program, with Dr. Greg Bekker as the Chief Scientist and Ferenc Pavlics as the mobility expert. These people, and others, are the Moonmen. Of Firebirds & Moonmen is heavily documented with photographs, illustrations and graphics, which were prepared at General Motors as proposal and contract deliverables. They are supplemented with personal photographs and other graphics collected or prepared specifically for the book. All illustrations, corporate and personal, are by the author. ****** The book is a fun read, and many amateurs old enough to remember the early days of spaceflight will relate to the path James followed as a telescope maker and amateur astronomer -Dennis di Cicco- SkyandTelescope.com ****** Excerpts from the book are included in GM’s online living history – Generations of GM Wiki, in celebration of their centennial anniversary in 2008. The author’s contribution is on the Firebird III, its inception as defined by Harley Earl and its first "flight," in filming for the 1959 Motorama in Mesa, Arizona.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy issued a challenge to the nation: land astronauts on the moon by the end of the decade. The Apollo program was designed by NASA to meet that challenge, and on July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin Aldrin. Apollo 11's prime mission objective: "Perform a manned lunar landing and return." Four days after take-off, the Lunar Module "Eagle," carrying Armstrong and Aldrin, separated from the Command Module "Columbia," and descended to the moon. Armstrong reported back to Houston's Command Center, "The Eagle has landed." America and the world watched in wonder and awe as a new chapter in space exploration opened. Through verse and informational text, author Rhonda Gowler Greene celebrates Apollo 11's historic moon landing.

In this haunting debut novel, Michael Smolij and his friends are unable to leave the blue-collar Detroit neighborhoods abandoned by their fathers. They stumble through their teens into their 20s until the restlessness of the fathers blooms in them, threatening to carry them away.

The basis of the 2014 award-winning feature-length documentary! A revealing and dramatic look at the inside of the American Space Program from one of its pioneers. Eugene Cernan was a unique American who came of age as an astronaut during the most exciting and dangerous decade of spaceflight. His career spanned the entire Gemini and Apollo programs, from being the first person to spacewalk all the way around our world to the moment when he left man's last footprint on the Moon as commander of Apollo 17. Between those two historic events lay more adventures than an ordinary person could imagine as Cernan repeatedly put his life, his family and everything he held dear on the altar of an obsessive desire. Written with New York Times bestselling author Don Davis, The Last Man on the Moon is the astronaut story never before told - about the fear, love and sacrifice demanded of the few men who dared to reach beyond the heavens for the biggest prize of all - the Moon.