Moonshots And Snapshots Of Project Apollo

Winner of the Bronze Medal for Science in the 2016 Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Awards In this companion volume to John Bisney and J. L. Pickering’s extraordinary book of rare photographs from the Mercury and Gemini missions, the authors now present the rest of the Golden Age of US manned space flight with a photographic history of Project Apollo. Beginning in 1967, Moonshots and Snapshots of Project Apollo chronicles the program’s twelve missions and its two follow-ons, Skylab and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. The authors draw from rarely seen NASA, industry, and news media images, taking readers to the Moon, on months-long odysseys above Earth, and finally on the first international manned space flight in 1975. The book pairs many previously unpublished images from Pickering’s unmatched collection of Cold War–era space photographs with extended captions—identifying many NASA, military, and contract workers and participants for the first time—to provide comprehensive background information about the exciting climax and conclusion of the Space Race.

"Picturing Apollo 11 is an unprecedented photographic history of the space mission that defined an era. Through a wealth of unpublicized and recently discovered images, this book presents new and rarely-seen views of the people, places, and events involved in the pioneering first moon landing of July 20, 1969."--Amazon.com.

The race to space between the United States and the Soviet Union captured the popular imagination. On April 12, 1961, the USSR launched cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on a one-orbit flight, making him the first human in space. Three weeks later, American astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. flew 116 miles above Earth before splashing down in the Bahamas. Over the next twenty years astronauts emerged as national heroes. This book tells the story of the people and events of Projects Mercury and Gemini with hundreds of unpublished and rare photographs—both color and black-and-white. Unlike other publications, which illustrate the space race with well-known and easily accessible images, this history draws from the authors’ private library of over one hundred thousand (and growing) high-quality photos of the early US manned space program. Collected over a lifetime from public and private sources—including NASA archives, fellow collectors, retired NASA and news photographers, and auction houses—the images document American space missions of the Cold War era more comprehensively than ever before. Devoting a chapter to each flight, the authors also include detailed descriptions, providing new insight into one of America’s greatest triumphs.

"In this engaging and inspiring work, John Bisney and J.L. Pickering have written and illustrated a thorough history of John F. Kennedy's role in developing the United States' space program. Ironically, despite his close association with the race to space, Kennedy initially thought the space program was too expensive and did not support a manned space flight until the Russians sent Yuri Gagarin into orbit just a few months after Kennedy's inauguration. Now, a century after Kennedy's birth, the United States has reached the moon, sent probes into deep space, and had its astronauts spend extended time in space, all of which are a legacy of Kennedy's presidency, Surprising, though, there hasn't been a photographic history of Kennedy's involvement in the space race despite the visual glamour associated with the space race and Kennedy's presidency until this engaging book by two widely respected chroniclers of the race to space"--

Moonshots presents stunning photos of space and Earth from NASA's archives - taken by Gemini, Apollo, Space Shuttle, and ISS astronauts using Hasselblad cameras - in the large format they deserve.

In 1961 President Kennedy issued a challenge to land a person on the moon and return safely to Earth before the end of the 1960s, a bold proclamation at the time, given that only one US astronaut had been to space, for just 15 minutes. The race to the moon was part of the larger Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, a race where the Russians appeared far ahead of the Americans. Apollo was a complicated, dangerous and expensive adventure involving 400,000 people across the nation. Before it was over, NASA had made 11 Apollo flights, six of which landed on the moon, and eight astronauts had lost their lives. But it was also fun, and the crews never missed a chance to enjoy the trip or pull off a prank 240,000 miles from home. The Apollo Missions for Kids tells the story from the perspective of those who lived it—the astronauts and their families, the controllers and engineers, the technicians and politicians who made the impossible possible.

An illustrated commemoration of Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon on July 20, 1969, with historical notes, anecdotes, and other space lore.

That's one small step for man... The Moon has always fascinated humans, and thoughts on how to get there occupied minds for hundreds of years. During the space race, setting foot on the Moon was the ultimate goal and the Apollo missions to the Moon are amongst the most successful and well-remembered manned space flights that NASA ever accomplished. In Project Apollo Norman Ferguson reveals fascinating facts and figures, and recounts amazing stories about the astronauts and their spacecraft, and how they made the giant leap for mankind.