"“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind...” On 20 July 1969, Neil Armstrong made the historic first steps on the Moon. This book takes a look back on the innovative program that made one of humanity’s greatest achievements possible. The project was a shining example of what can be achieved when humanity works towards a common goal. In less than ten years, Project Apollo developed the technologies and spacecraft that would take humans to the Moon. Discover the missions that paved the way for Apollo 11’s historic journey, the astronauts who followed in Neil Armstrong’s first footsteps, and the brave crews that risked their lives in the name of exploration and space science. Beyond the Moon missions, Apollo technologies were instrumental in launching and maintaining the International Space Station. With NASA now setting its sights on sending astronauts back to the Moon in this decade, Apollo’s legacy is alive and well."
Welcome to the APOLLO MISSIONS
All About Space Apollo Mission
THE APOLLO ERA • How NASA put man on the Moon in less than a decade
Launching Project Apollo
THE ORIGINS OF APOLLO • To beat the Soviet Union to the surface of the Moon, America needed something big. Project Apollo was the answer
The road to Apollo
SHOOTING FOR THE MOON How NASA trained its Apollo astronauts • From battling river rapids and weathering sandstorms to scaling walls and flying spacecraft propelled at eye-watering speeds, preparing to be the first on the lunar surface wasn’t for the faint-hearted
Apollo highlights: getting mission-ready
Apollo astronaut hall of fame • From Apollo 1 to Apollo 17, these pioneers of spaceflight have earned a place in the history books
The Apollo spacesuit • Inside the suits that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin wore on the Moon during Apollo 11
SATURN V • Inside NASA’s orbit-shattering titan that made the Apollo missions possible
INSIDE THE APOLLO SPACECRAFT • Explore the tech that took Apollo 11 to the Moon
INSIDE THE APOLLO LUNAR MODULE • Take a look inside a lunar spacecraft, at the control systems that allowed astronauts to put successive Apollo missions onto the Moon
The control panel
Small Steps
The tragedy of APOLLO 1 • How NASA’s first fatal space disaster shaped the future of the programme
The lost APOLLO MISSIONS • The program’s numbering skips straight from Apollo 1 to Apollo 4. But why?
APOLLO 7 “We have lift-off” • How the first successful test of both spacecraft and crew paved the way to the Moon
APOLLO 8 flight to the Moon • Just two months after the first manned Earth-orbit tests, Project Apollo made an ambitious leap
Earthrise
The Lunar Module’s debut APOLLO 9 • The Earth-orbiting mission that tested vital equipment and paved the way for humankind’s first step onto the Moon
APOLLO 10 The dress rehearsal • Apollo 10 headed for the Moon with arguably more risk, but did not make the cut for a lunar touchdown
Giant Leaps
APOLLO 11 One giant leap for mankind • What really happened the day we landed on the Moon?
Was Buzz Aldrin meant to be the first man on the Moon?
BUZZ ALDRIN • After returning to Earth, hardly any shots of the first man on the Moon led Buzz Aldrin to be questioned
APOLLO 11 The mission as it happened
Mission control loses contact with Apollo 11 • Alarms, loss of communication and system failures plagued the first mission to land on the Moon
HOW TO… Use a felt-tipped pen to escape from the Moon • After a circuit breaker switch broke off in all the too-ing and fro-ing in the cramped environment of the lunar module, Buzz Aldrin had to improvise in order to escape the Moon
APOLLO 12 The...