What do you think?
Rate this book
The Apollo Missions: The Incredible Story of the Race to the Moon
Long has the moon captured the imagination of world; from science fiction to astrology; howling wolves to lunar calendars.
To President John F. Kennedy, however, the moon was a destination. To put a man on the moon would be to challenge Russia's recent achievements in space exploration and assert the US's technological prowess on the world stage. As we know, the mission was a success, and yet while everyone is familiar with Neil Armstrong's iconic line and his bold tread on the moon's dusty surface, few are privy to the events leading up to this moment.
Former NASA engineer, David Baker, gives a behind-the-scenes account of the space race, including the political impetus behind the mission, the Apollo 8's lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, as well as some of the tale's tragedies. Bursting with fascinating stories, striking photographs of the team and exclusive material provided by NASA personnel, this book perfectly captures the risk, complexity and gravitas of this immense journey.
ABOUT THE Sirius Visual Reference Library brings together wonderfully illustrated reference guides on scientific and historical topics, made bold and fascinating through full-color maps, timelines, photographs, feature boxes and other visual elements.
To President John F. Kennedy, however, the moon was a destination. To put a man on the moon would be to challenge Russia's recent achievements in space exploration and assert the US's technological prowess on the world stage. As we know, the mission was a success, and yet while everyone is familiar with Neil Armstrong's iconic line and his bold tread on the moon's dusty surface, few are privy to the events leading up to this moment.
Former NASA engineer, David Baker, gives a behind-the-scenes account of the space race, including the political impetus behind the mission, the Apollo 8's lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, as well as some of the tale's tragedies. Bursting with fascinating stories, striking photographs of the team and exclusive material provided by NASA personnel, this book perfectly captures the risk, complexity and gravitas of this immense journey.
ABOUT THE Sirius Visual Reference Library brings together wonderfully illustrated reference guides on scientific and historical topics, made bold and fascinating through full-color maps, timelines, photographs, feature boxes and other visual elements.
- GenresSpaceScienceNonfiction
192 pages, Hardcover
Published June 29, 2019
9 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 1, 2019
Certainly an unusual non fiction book!
This was a fanscinating read and took me a little longer than anticipated. It's fairly short but packed!
David Baker, an expert in planetary science, gives a nice overview of the Apollo (and subsequent) Missions with a lot of detailed technical information.
It goes beyong a collection of facts by conveying the vision of interplanetary travel and highlighting the success of space discovery. The narrative is linear and organized by the events that lead up to the foundation of NASA, the start and execution of the historic landmark missions, extremely detailed background on rocket thruster developments, etc. The execution of the book is well done.
The only thing that bothered me, is the amount of details. For me as a non-engeneer the weights, distances and all the other minute nice-to-know facts were bothersome and slowed down my reading.
However, the topic of the Apollo Mission is covered in depth from the American point of view. The race to the moon had more than one participant. It would've been nice to have a better view on the soviet progress in that race. Here the book fails to cover both countries achievements in equal detail, probably due to the lack of information. (?)
By the end of the books are schedules and tables listing food menus, flight durations etc. This was a really interesting addition and fun to read! The chapter about the space suit was great too. All in all, this is a great read for space enthusiasts who crave a more in depth view on the Apollo Missions!
I would like to thank the publisher, Arcturus Publishing, for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was a fanscinating read and took me a little longer than anticipated. It's fairly short but packed!
David Baker, an expert in planetary science, gives a nice overview of the Apollo (and subsequent) Missions with a lot of detailed technical information.
It goes beyong a collection of facts by conveying the vision of interplanetary travel and highlighting the success of space discovery. The narrative is linear and organized by the events that lead up to the foundation of NASA, the start and execution of the historic landmark missions, extremely detailed background on rocket thruster developments, etc. The execution of the book is well done.
The only thing that bothered me, is the amount of details. For me as a non-engeneer the weights, distances and all the other minute nice-to-know facts were bothersome and slowed down my reading.
However, the topic of the Apollo Mission is covered in depth from the American point of view. The race to the moon had more than one participant. It would've been nice to have a better view on the soviet progress in that race. Here the book fails to cover both countries achievements in equal detail, probably due to the lack of information. (?)
By the end of the books are schedules and tables listing food menus, flight durations etc. This was a really interesting addition and fun to read! The chapter about the space suit was great too. All in all, this is a great read for space enthusiasts who crave a more in depth view on the Apollo Missions!
I would like to thank the publisher, Arcturus Publishing, for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
December 19, 2018
This book is fairly short but packs a punch. It covers the Apollo flights up 11 and gives some light detail of the subsequent missions.
Baker packs in a lot of technical details such as when a certain engine fired, for how long and at what point in the mission the engine fired. Although this could come across as fairly dry he livens it up throwing in quips such as, if the engine didnt stop at the exact designated second the mission would have to be aborted or the astronauts would be lost in space etc. This adds the human dimension to proceedings and you can literally feel the thrill and drama as the Apollo 11 mission takes shape and takes flight. That a million people crowded the Kennedy Space Centre and that the American death rate fell dramatically in the months preceding the landings were facts that I did not know.
In some ways I wish this book could have been longer and covered the later missions in as much detail as the first Apollo flights.
I feel there is a lot of ground that could have been covered, there are lots of interesting little snippets of info, for instance one of the spaceraft had to have its thousands of soldered connections to the exact length, if each was just 1/32 of an inch too long the spacecraft would have been too heavy a payload for its rocket. Crazy stuff.
This is well worth a read and serves as a good primer to the Apollo missions.
Baker packs in a lot of technical details such as when a certain engine fired, for how long and at what point in the mission the engine fired. Although this could come across as fairly dry he livens it up throwing in quips such as, if the engine didnt stop at the exact designated second the mission would have to be aborted or the astronauts would be lost in space etc. This adds the human dimension to proceedings and you can literally feel the thrill and drama as the Apollo 11 mission takes shape and takes flight. That a million people crowded the Kennedy Space Centre and that the American death rate fell dramatically in the months preceding the landings were facts that I did not know.
In some ways I wish this book could have been longer and covered the later missions in as much detail as the first Apollo flights.
I feel there is a lot of ground that could have been covered, there are lots of interesting little snippets of info, for instance one of the spaceraft had to have its thousands of soldered connections to the exact length, if each was just 1/32 of an inch too long the spacecraft would have been too heavy a payload for its rocket. Crazy stuff.
This is well worth a read and serves as a good primer to the Apollo missions.
May 22, 2025
A good book for someone not familiar with the history of the Space Race. Unfortunately, the author doesn't take advantage of his NASA experience to offer insights into the Apollo Program. The vast majority of the material in this book is found elsewhere. On the plus side, the photographs were good.
July 2, 2019
Wow! Just my thing this book. A short but extremely interesting read. Packed full of technical data, illustrations and descriptions. This is definitely for anyone who is interested in space travel and would suit a beginner or someone with some knowledge already. Brilliant.
July 14, 2019
There was a lot of technical information that I thought was too technical for me. But I especially enjoyed seeing the diagrams and the photos. I kept thinking about how much my grandson would love them. This was about an historical event that I remember vividly.
November 9, 2021
ótimo livro,explicando um pouco da história do projeto,mas também explicitando a parte técnica,com vários dados
só não dou 4 estrelas porque no meio de uma leitura de uma página,acaba indo prum outro tópico diferente,o que acaba quebrando com o raciocínio,mas de resto tá tranquilo
só não dou 4 estrelas porque no meio de uma leitura de uma página,acaba indo prum outro tópico diferente,o que acaba quebrando com o raciocínio,mas de resto tá tranquilo
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews