Apollo and America's Moon Landing Program - Apollo Expeditions to the Moon (NASA SP-350 Illustrated Edition) - First-Hand Accounts by Astronauts and Managers Including Von Braun, Aldrin, and Collins

Book excerpt: This official NASA history document is an enthralling compilation of first-hand accounts and essays from the leading figures of the Apollo program: astronauts (Aldrin, Collins, Schmitt, Conrad, Shepard, Lovell) along with managers and engineers (Seamans, Webb, Gilruth, von Braun, Low, Petrone, Kraft, Phillips, Mueller). The editor's note states: "In planning this history we set out to record the story of Apollo before the colors fade and memories blur. At first we aimed to restrict ourselves to the actual expeditions to the Moon. But it soon became clear that this approach could not capture the scope and spirit of so far-reaching an enterprise. So we decided that the breadth of Apollo would be shown best from the differing perspectives of the people directly concerned. Each chapter author was encouraged to recount his part of the story as he remembered it. We refrained from homogenizing these contributions, although we recognized that they are necessarily personalized and slightly duplicative. But they do offer the viewpoints of some of the people who made Apollo happen, and thus may provide fresh insights into that incredible project." Contents include: Foreword * JAMES C. FLETCHER / Introduction * ROBERT C. SEAMANS, JR. / Chapter 1 A Perspective on Apollo - The forces that set us on the path to the Moon * JAMES E. WEBB / Chapter 2 "I Believe We Should Go to the Moon" - Engineering what had never been done before * ROBERT R. GILRUTH / Chapter 3 Saturn the Giant - Building the boosters to send men beyond Earth * WERNHER VON BRAUN / Chapter 4 The Spaceships - Building the first craft to cross an ocean of space * GEORGE M. LOW / Chapter 5 Scouting the Moon - Mechanical explorers went before human ones * EDGAR M. CORTRIGHT / Chapter 6 The Cape - The new shipyard of space created for Apollo - ROCCO A. PETRONE / Chapter 7 "This is Mission Control" - How men on Earth aided men in space * CHRISTOPHER C. KRAFT, JR. / Chapter 8 Men for the Moon - How they were chosen and trained * ROBERT SHERROD / Chapter 9 The Shakedown Cruises - Bold steps preceded 'one small step' * SAMUEL C. PHILLIPS / Chapter 10 Getting It All Together - Critical tests of the total system * GEORGE E. MUELLER / Chapter 11 "The Eagle Has Landed" - A goal attained, men on the Moon - MICHAEL COLLINS and EDWIN E. ALDRIN, JR. / Chapter 12 Ocean of Storms and Fra Mauro - Exploring on foot, emplacing automatic laboratories * CHARLES CONRAD, JR. and ALAN B. SHEPARD, JR. / Chapter 13 "Houston, We've Had a Problem" - A crippled bird limps safely home * JAMES A. LOVELL / Chapter 14 The Great Voyages of Exploration - Scientific expeditions return a rich harvest * HARRISON H. SCHMITT / Chapter 15 The Legacy of Apollo - New understanding of ourselves and our world * HOMER E. NEWELL