Project Apollo Annotated Bibliography
CHAPTER 1
GENERAL WORKS
Alexander, T. "The Unexpected Payoff of Project Apollo."
Fortune. 80 (July 1969): 114-117, 150, 153-154, 156. Written
before the first lunar landing, this article argues that Project
Apollo had already restored the damaged self-esteem of the United
States, its original purpose. It had also developed techniques
for managing thousands of individuals from government, universities,
and the private sector to achieve a fixed goal, and it appeared
to have achieved that goal for very nearly the cost projected
at the outset of the project. The article goes on to discuss NASA's
project management system that yielded so successful an outcome.
Anderton, David A. Man in Space [also entitled America
in Space/The First Decade]. Washington, DC: NASA EP-48, 1968.
This pamphlet contains information on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo,
launch vehicles, test vehicles, astronauts, pressure suits, and
space medicine, but it treats each subject in overview fashion.
Andrews, John Williams. A.D. Twenty-One Hundred: A Narrative
of Space. Boston: Branden Press, 1969. This is an epic poem
of Project Apollo. It contains a foreword by Walter Cronkite who
concluded that Williams had turned the space "experience
into meaningful felt reality, as Housman made us feel springtime
in Shropshire, or Frost, wintertime in Vermont." Apollo
in its Historical Context. Washington, DC: The George Washington
University Space Policy Institute, 1990. See under Logsdon, John
M.
"Apollo Midstream." Astronautics and Aeronautics.
3 (April 1965): 26-80. Features include: Joseph F. Shea, "The
Approach to Apollo," 26-29; Roy F. Brissenden, "LEM
Docking in Lunar Orbit," pp. 30-32; Dale D. Myers, "Apollo
Spacecraft--on the Mark," pp. 38-45; Jack G. Gavin, Jr.,
"LEM Design Evolution," pp. 46-51; Owen G. Morris, "Apollo
Reliability Analysis," pp. 52-59; Max Faget, "Apollo--The
Long View," pp. 60-63; William E. Stoney, Jr., "The
Designer Faces Up to Long Mission," pp. 64-69; Willard F.
Libby, "Science and Manned Spacecraft," pp. 70-75; and
Dean N. Morris, "Third Manned Space Flight Meeting,"
pp. 76-80.
Ashworth, William B. The Face of the Moon: Galileo to Apollo,
an Exhibition of Rare Books and Maps, October 13, 1989-February
28, 1990. Kansas City, MO: Linda Hall Library, 1989. This
exhibition catalog shows "how the face of the moon has been
variously delineated [over the centuries] as telescopes improved,
new inventions such as photography were applied, and ultimately,
as space travel led humankind to the very surface of the moon."
Benedict, Howard; Morse, Ralph; and Glenn, Christopher. "Full-Court
Press: Apollo Meets the Media." Air and Space/Smithsonian.
4 (June/July 1989): 82-89. Three members of the media who covered
Apollo and earlier space and missile efforts discuss their recollections
of the American space efforts in the late 1950s and the 1960s.
Benson, Charles D. and Faherty, William Barnaby. Moonport:
A History of Apollo Launch Facilities and Operations. Washington,
DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration SP-4204, 1978.
An excellent history of the design and construction of the lunar
launch facilities at Kennedy Space Center. Of Moon- port,
a reviewer in the Journal of American History said in 1979,
"The authors had access to official documents, letters, and
memoranda, and they have apparently consulted all the relevant
historical, technological, and scientific secondary materials...all
the involved historians obviously spent considerable time studying
and intellectually digesting technical reports and manuals in
order to give their lay readers such lucid accounts of highly
complex procedures and opera- tions...it is important to public
knowledge to have professionally trained historians employ historical
methods to explain significant events and place them in a meaningful
historical context. Here is a broad lesson...that contemporary
society can ill afford to ignore."
Bockstiegel, Karl-Heinz. Editor. Manned Space Flight. Cologne:
Carl Heymanns Verlag, 1993. This collection of papers delivered
at the Institute of Air and Space Law's international colloquium
on human spaceflight in May 1992 is not specifically about Apollo
but includes information about Apollo missions and an extensive
bibliography.
Booker, Peter Jeffrey; Frewer, G.C.; and, Pardoe, G.K.C. Project
Apollo: The Way to the Moon. New York: American Elsevier Pub.
Co., 1969. A popular and readable account prepared in anticipation
of and released just after the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, this
book condenses the essential details of 10 years of American space
activities into a short narrative. It begins with a discussion
of the enormous growth of NASA and the entire space effort in
the early 1960s and ends with speculation on future developments
in human exploration of the Solar System.
Bradbury, Ray. "An Impatient Gulliver Above our Roofs."
Life. 24 November 1967, pp. 31-37. 9 color photos. Story
by Ray Bradbury on assignment for Life at the Manned Spacecraft
Center in Houston and his impressions of the Saturn 5 launch.
Brian, William L., II. Moongate: Suppressed Findings of the
U.S. Space Program, the NASA-Military Cover-up. Portland,
OR: Future Science Research Pub. Co., 1982. As the title suggests,
this is a sensationalistic expos arguing that "the
true circumstances surrounding the Apollo missions and related
discoveries were carefully suppressed from the public." The
author claims that far from NASA's space program being a civilian
effort as advertised, "the military had almost complete control
over it and...many NASA findings were withheld from the public."
The title of Chapter 10, "Evidence of Extraterrestrial Interference
in the Space Program," will suggest the highly speculative
and tenuous tenor of the book, much of which is quite technical,
to boot. Lightly footnoted with references alike to scholarly
sources and The National Enquirer, the work should be consulted
with great caution by those without a solid grounding in space
history and technology.
Brueton, Diana. Many Moons: The Myth and Magic, Fact and Fantasy
of Our Nearest Heavenly Body. New York: Prentice Hall Press,
1991. An excellent discussion of the Moon in human legend, lore,
science, and popular culture.
Bruno, Leonard C. "We have a sporting chance": The
Decision to go to the Moon, An Exhibition at the Library of Congress,
July 16-September 16, 1979. Washington: Library of Congress,
1979. This catalog for the tenth anniversary exhibit commemorating
Apollo 11 provides an overview in narrative and photos of the
background to the mission that carried out President Kennedy's
pledge in 1961 to land Americans on the Moon within the decade
and return them safely to Earth. Also included is a retrospective
reflection on the mission. A good overview with excellent photographs.
Burgess, Eric. Outpost on Apollo's Moon. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1993. This heavily illustrated new book argues
that employing Apollo hardware on the Moon could permit permanent
settlements that would benefit science, humanity, and business.
Contains an evaluation of the successes and failures of Apollo
as well as how they could be adapted to today's needs.
Burrows, William E. Exploring Space: Voyages in the Solar System
and Beyond. New York: Random House, 1990. This journalistic
account covers Apollo only in passing but has intelligent things
to say about it.
Butler, S.T., and Messel, H. Editors. Apollo and the Universe:
Selected Lectures on the U.S. Manned Space Flight Program and
Selected Fields of Modern Physics and Cosmology. New York:
Pergamon Press, 1968. Most of this small but not short book has
nothing to do with Apollo, but the first lecture, "Space
Rocketry and a Man on the Moon," by NASA Associate Administrator
for Manned Space Flight George E. Mueller devotes a chapter to
the Mercury and Gemini programs and another to Apollo as it had
evolved until 1968.
Chamberland, Dennis. "Splashdown!" Proceedings of
the U.S. Naval Institute. 115 (1989): 36-43. Covers the evolution
of spacecraft recovery techniques from Mercury through Apollo.
Chappell, Russell E. Apollo. Washington, DC: National Aeronautics
and Space Administration, 1974. Heavy on spectacular photographs,
this is an overview not only of Apollo through the lunar landing
in July 1969 but also Mercury and Gemini before it.
Chester, Michael, and McClinton, David. The Moon: Target for
Apollo. New York: Putnam, 1963. Illustrated with photos and
line drawings by Robert Bartram. A pre-Apollo 11 account of what
humans learned about the Moon from the third century B.C. to the
lunar probes (Pioneer through Ranger).
Closets, Francois de. La lune est
vendre; essai.
Paris: Denoel, 1969. Entitled in English "the Moon is for
sale; essay," this little book provides readers of French
some thoughtful reflections on humanity's conquest of lunar space.
Collins, Michael. Liftoff: The Story of America's Adventure
in Space. New York: Grove Press, 1988. This book, a general
history of the U.S. space program for a popular audience written
by one of the three participating astronauts in the Apollo 11
flight. He begins with an account of that flight, then flashes
back to the post- World War II beginnings of the United States'
interest in space and traces the evolution of the space program
through the founding of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) in 1958 and its launching of the Mercury and Gemini programs
to the history of the Apollo program itself. These sections account
for roughly two-thirds of the book, with the remainder taking
the story of U.S. space exploration through Skylab to the Challenger
accident and the prospects for space efforts as they looked in
the late 1980s.
Cooke, Hereward Lester, with the collaboration of Dean, James
D. Foreword by J. Carter Brown. Preface by Thomas O. Paine. Eyewitness
to Space: Paintings and Drawings Related to the Apollo Mission
to the Moon Selected, with a Few Exceptions, from the Art Program
of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (1963 to
1969). New York: H.N. Abrams, 1971. A collection of 258 paintings
and drawings in reproduction, created by a variety of artists
ranging from Norman Rockwell to Chesley Bonestell. A magnificent
and variegated collection.
Cortright, Edgar M. Editor. Apollo Expeditions to the Moon.
Washington, DC: NASA SP-350, 1975. This large-formatted volume,
with numerous illustrations in both color and black and white,
contains essays by numerous luminaries ranging from NASA administrator
James E. Webb ("A Perspective on Apollo") to astronauts
Michael Collins and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. ("'The Eagle Has
Landed'"). By no means a scholarly work, this collection
consists rather of the recollections of participants and one correspondent
(Robert Sherrod). Among the perspectives offered are those of
Robert R. Gilruth on engineering, Wernher von Braun on Saturn,
George M. Low on the spaceships, Christopher C. Kraft on mission
control, Samuel C. Phillips on the shakedown cruises, and George
E. Mueller on "Getting It All Together."
The Early Years: Mercury to Apollo-Soyuz. Washington, DC:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1988. This 14-page
information summery contains brief accounts of projects Mercury,
Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, and Apollo-Soyuz with appendices about
manned spacecraft and launch vehicles.
Fairley, Peter. Man on the Moon. London: Arthur Barker
Limited, 1969. Yet another popular, undocumented account published
soon after Apollo 11's conclusion, this volume covers not only
that mission but the background to it, the Apollo 204 fire, and
the missions yet on the agenda. It also discusses the race with
the Soviets.
Freeman, Marsha. How We Got to the Moon: The Story of the German
Space Pioneers. Washington, DC: 21st Century Associates, 1993.
The author of this book tries to make the German emigrees who
came to the United States with Wernher von Braun in 1945 the central
force behind the success of Project Apollo. Freeman traces all
spaceflight ideals and imagination to a German group formed by
Hermann Oberth and Willy Ley and including Wernher von Braun,
among others, in the first part of the twentieth century, who
created the U.S. space program and the "glory" of Apollo.
In so doing, she concentrates on such ancillary stories as the
development of the V-2 by von Braun's "rocket team"
for Germany in World War II, totally ignoring the contributions
of other people and nations to the overall space effort.
Fries, Sylvia D. NASA Engineers and the Age of Apollo.
Washington, DC: NASA SP-4104, 1992. This book is a sociocultural
analysis of a selection of engineers at NASA who worked on Project
Apollo. It analyzes the manner in which different personalities,
perspectives, backgrounds, and priorities came together to inform
the direction of NASA during the 1960s. The author makes extensive
use of oral history in this study, providing both a significant
appraisal of NASA during its "golden age" and important
documentary material for future explorations.
Furniss, Tim, "One Small Step"--The Apollo Missions,
the Astronauts, the Aftermath: A Twenty Year Perspective.
Somerset, England: G.T. Foulis & Co., 1989. Developed for
a retrospective celebration on the twentieth anniversary of the
lunar landing, this book tries to recreate the exhilaration of
the Apollo missions.
Gregory, William H. "Project Apollo in Retrospect."
In Ordway, Frederick I., III and Liebermann, Randy. Blueprints
for Space: Science Fiction to Science Fact. Washington, DC:
Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992. Pp. 155-65. Provides a good,
brief overview of the entire Apollo program from background through
inception to its completion with the splashdown of Apollo 17 on
19 December 1972. It covers the major management decisions, technological
achievements, and political contexts as well as providing perspective
on the program from the vantage point of two decades after the
events. Also includes a brief bibliography.
Hallion, Richard P., and Crouch, Tom D. Editors. Apollo: Ten
Years Since Tranquility Base. Washington, DC: Smithsonian
Institution Press, 1979. This is a collection of essays developed
for the National Air and Space Museum, commemorat- ing the tenth
anniversary of the first landing on the Moon, July 20, 1969. It
consists of sixteen articles, mostly written directly for the
National Air and Space Museum by a variety of experts, that range
from Roger E. Bilstein's overview entitled, "The Saturn Launch
Vehicle Family," to Kerry M. Jols' "Apollo and
the 'Two Cultures'." Other contributions by such luminaries
as John M. Logsdon; Frederick C. Durant, III; Farouk El-Baz; and
Rocco A. Petrone, not to mention the two editors, attempt to set
the Apollo missions in historical perspective and to explain such
matters as operational support, the command and service modules,
the lunar module, and the Apollo space suit. Dominick A. Pisano
has provided a selective bibliography at the conclusion of the
volume.
Hechler, Ken. Toward the Endless Frontier: History of the Committee
on Science and Technology, 1959-1979. Washington, DC: U.S.
House of Representa- tives, 1980. This lengthy tome contains the
best account to date of Congressional wrangling over Project Apollo,
and demonstrates the bipartisan nature of both Apollo support
and opposition.
Hirsch, Richard, and Trento, Joseph John. The National Aeronautics
and Space Administration. New York: Praeger, 1973. A popularly
written overview of the agency in Praeger's Library of U.S. Government
Departments and Agencies, this critical but by no means scholarly
account offers one chapter and scattered other references to Apollo.
Holmes, Jay. America on the Moon. Philadelphia: L.B. Lippincott,
1962. This popular account without scholarly apparatus provides
an early look at the Apollo program and its background. Useful
for its perspective on how Apollo in its beginnings looked to
one investigator.
"How An Idea No One Wanted Grew Up To Be the LEM." Life.
14 March 1969, pp. cover, 20-27. 8 color photos, 1 color painting,
4 B&W sketches. A fascinating look at the evolution or the
Lunar Excursion Module. Also discusses how the lunar rendezvous
scheme was picked.
Hoyt, Edwin P. The Space Dealers: A Hard Look at the Role of
Business in the U.S. Space Effort. New York: The John Day
Co., 1971. This book describes the intricate interrelationships
between government organizations such as NASA and the aerospace
industry. Not specifically focused on Apollo, it uses that program
as a test case in looking at the larger question of government/industry
relations.
Hurt, Harry, III. For All Mankind. New York: Atlantic Monthly
Press, 1988. Another attempt, really quite a lame one by a correspondent
for Newsweek, to provide a compelling and convincing narrative
of Project Apollo.
Kane, Francis X. "The NASA Program." Air University
Review. 14 (Winter- Spring 1962-3): 189-204. This undocumented
article by an Air Force officer discusses especially Air Force
support for NASA programs, including but not focussing exclusively
on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo.
Kaysing, Bill and Reid, Randy. We Never Went to the Moon: America's
30 Billion Dollar Swindle. Cornville, AZ: Desert Publications,
1981. This curious and cheaply-put-together compilation concludes
without documentation or real evidence that "THE TRIP TO
THE MOON WAS A HOAX"--to use the typography as well as the
words in the authors' conclusions. Hardly definitive!
Knight, David C. Compiler. American Astronauts and Spacecraft:
A Pictorial History from Project Mercury through Apollo 13.
New York: F. Watts, 1970. This (mostly black and white) pictorial
history consists almost entirely of photos, some of them with
lengthy captions. It does contain useful biographies of the astronauts
and a lengthy glossary of space terms.
Launius, Roger D. NASA: A History of the U.S. Civil Space Program.
Melbourne, FL: Krieger, 1994. A short book in the Anvil Series,
this history of U.S. civilian space efforts consists half of narrative
and half of documents. It contains three chapters on the Apollo
program plus two others on the Sputnik crisis and the events leading
up to the creation of NASA and one dealing with the rise of space
science and technology. While coverage consists more of overview
than detailed analysis, the approach is broadly analytical and
provides the most recent general treatment of its topic, designed
more for the student or general reader than for the specialist.
Levine, Arthur L. The Future of the U.S. Space Program.
New York: Praeger Publishers, 1975. Despite its somewhat misleading
title, most of this book by a long- time NASA employee who later
moved to academia deals with the history of the agency. Chapters
4 and 5 cover the space program during roughly the Apollo period.
Lewis, Richard S. Appointment on the Moon: The Inside Story
of America's Space Adventure. New York: Viking, 1969. Perhaps
the first book to capitalize on the success of Apollo 11 in 1969,
this history appeared within days of the "splashdown."
_____. The Voyages of Apollo: The Exploration of the Moon.
New York: Quadrangle, 1974. This popularly written but not nontechnical
account covers the background to the Apollo mission seen as an
exploration of the Moon. It then discusses the changes in our
perceptions of that heavenly body as succeeding Apollo missions
added to our knowledge. Without scholarly apparatus, this is clearly
a non- scientist's interpretation of lunar science, but it presents
an informed series of perspectives as of the time it was written.
Life in Space. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1983. A look
at the U.S. space program from Project Mercury through the Space
Shuttle and planetary explorers. Tremendous collection of photos,
most culled from the Life collection. Covers all manned
missions.
Lindbergh, Anne Morrow. Earth Shine. New York: Harcourt,
Brace & World, 1969. A republication of the article described
below and one on East Africa together with some reflections on
how the two are linked together.
_____. "The Heron and the Astronaut." Life. 28
February 1969, pp. 1, 14-27. Impressionistic story about Cape
Kennedy, the launch of Apollo 8, and what Apollo 11 means for
mankind, complete with a number of photographs.
Logsdon, John M., et al. Apollo in its Historical Context.
Washington, DC: George Washington University Space Policy Institute,
1990. This edited version of remarks presented at a 1989 symposium
includes articles by Logsdon on "Evaluating Apollo";
Walter A. McDougall on "Apollo and Technocracy"; Daniel
J. Boorstin on "The Rise of Public Discovery"; and Frank
White on "Apollo in a Millennial Perspective." Concludes
with a discussion based on questions from the audience at the
symposium. Useful for the perspectives offered by the four eminent
participants.
_____. "An Apollo Perspective." Astronautics &
Aeronautics. 17 (December 1979): 112-116. This brief article
analyzes the situation facing the U. S. space program in 1979
in the light of Apollo and concludes that the base of support
for a major national investment in space, such as the one that
existed for Apollo in 1961 simply did not exist 18 years later
and was unlikely to emerge again for a consider- able time in
the future.
_____. "From Apollo to Shuttle: Policy Making in the Post
Apollo Era." Unpublished typescript, Spring 1983, copy in
NASA History Office Reference Collection. This lengthy "Partial
and Preliminary Manuscript" is concerned primarily with the
"decisions taken during the 1969-1972 period on what the
United States would do in space after landing on the moon."
However, since these decisions were made in the context of Apollo
the author does discuss it as well.
_____. "What Made Apollo a Success? Introduction." Astronautics
and Aeronautics. (March 1970): 36-45. This brief article by
the NASA deputy administrator at the time and former manager of
the Apollo spacecraft program discusses a range of issues involved
in Apollo's successes to date, including spacecraft design and
development, mission design and planning, flight-crew and flight
operations, spacecraft test activities, and management's control
of spacecraft changes. Although not entirely free of jargon, this
is generally a readable and well- written analysis. It concludes
that the preeminent factor in Apollo's success was attention to
detail coupled with dedication.
Lutman, C. C. "The Apollo Program." Air University
Review. 16 (May-June 1965): 16-21. This short, undocumented
article by an Air Force officer who had served in NASA concentrates
on spacecraft, guidance and navigation systems, instrumentation
and scientific equipment, and operations with emphasis on the
fact "that the Apollo program is not aimed solely at the
successful completion of a lunar landing but rather is a tool
employed to obtain and keep U.S. supremacy in space."
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. Apollo Program Summary Report.
Houston, TX: Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, 1975. This lengthy
report summarizes the principal activities during Apollo and provides
references for those seeking greater detail. It is divided into
sections on the flight program, science, vehicle development and
performance, spacecraft development testing, the flight crew,
mission operations, biomedical matters, spacecraft manufacturing
and testing, launch facilities and operations, and the lunar receiving
laboratory, which initially quarantined astronaut crews and handled
lunar samples. Illustrations and appendices supplement the text.
This report probably gives the most complete overview of the program
to be found anywhere and may be the best single place for researchers
new to Apollo to begin.
Mailer, Norman. "A Dream of the Future's Face." Life.
9 January 1970, pp. 56- 57, 60, 62, 62-63, 64, 66, 68, 70, 72,
74. 2 color photos. Part III of Norman Mailer's Fire on the
Moon examines some "philosophical" questions on
where society is headed.
______. "A Fire on the Moon." Life. 29 August
1969, pp. cover, 1, 24-42. 4 color photos. Part I of Norman Mailer's
personal study of the U.S. space program. Includes transcripts
of the Public Affairs Officer's Apollo 11 countdown. Also, "Men
In Space," p. 46A.
______. Of a Fire on the Moon. Boston: Little, Brown, 1970.
London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1970. New York: New American
Library, 1971. One of the foremost contemporary American writers,
Mailer was commissioned to comment on the first lunar landing.
What he wrote was this rather confused and confusing account that
is written as a series of almost stream-of-consciousness ruminations
about spaceflight. They do provide some insights, most importantly
as Mailer with his 1960s countercultural mindset meets its antithesis,
a NASA steeped in middle class values and reverence for the American
flag and culture. Mailer was forced, grudgingly, to admit that
NASA's approach to task accomplishment--which he sees as the embodiment
of the Protestant Work Ethic--and its technological and scientific
capability got results with Apollo. He rails at NASA's closed
and austere society, one where he says outsiders are distrusted
and held at arm's length with a bland and faceless courtesy that
betrays nothing. For all of its skepticism, for all of its esotericism,
the book captures some interesting insights into rocket technology
and the people who produced it in Project Apollo, but it is heavy
going to extract them from this dense book.
Manno, Jack. Arming the Heavens. New York: Dodd, Mead,
1988. This sparsely documented volume with an extensive annotated
bibliography begins the account by tracing the "Nazi legacy"
of the space program back to Wernher von Braun and the ballistic
missile program at Peenemnde. The book's thrust is suggested
by the concluding paragraph to Chapter 16, "The Space Warriors
Return," referring to the presidency of Ronald Reagan and
the end it signalled to "U.S. efforts even to pretend that
American space activities would be devoted to peaceful purposes.
That paragraph reads: "The new arms race in space is but
another example--perhaps the last one--of leaders refusing to
accept the limits of military power, of trying therefore to bring
military solutions to bear on what are global political and social
crises. The only real hope for national security in the Space
Age lies in international security. Global social and political
solutions must be sought for the global social and political problems
that lead to war." Many readers may disagree with this approach,
but the author presents a reasoned if not scholarly argument in
support of it.
Mansfield, John M. Man on the Moon. New York: Stein and
Day, 1969. Written by a BBC television producer, this book begins
with ancient conceptions of the Moon and continues with theoretical
foundations for the space age in the works of science fiction
authors and theoreticians. The book's capstone is a discussion
of NASA and Project Apollo.
Masursky, Harold; Colton, G.W.; and El-Baz, Farouk. Apollo
Over the Moon: A View from Orbit. Washington, DC: National
Aeronautics and Space Administration SP- 362, 1978. This is an
excellent encapsulation of the Apollo program with striking photography.
A large-formatted book, it contains an introduction discussing
the objectives, methods, and results of Apollo lunar photography.
It follows this with discussions of the regions of the Moon and
explanations of individual photographs. Contains a glossary and
bibliography.
Messel, H., and Butler, S. T. Editors. Pioneering in Outer
Space. London: Heinemann, 1971. This published series of lectures
contains historical material on all human space flights up to
Apollo 13. The core of the book consists of chapters by G. Hage,
vice president for development at Boeing; G. E. Mueller, then
vice-president of general dynamics but previously NASA associate
administrator for manned space flight; and Lee B. James, director
of lunar operations at the Marshall Space Flight Center, dealing
with U.S. spaceflights, including accounts of the development
of the Saturn launch vehicles and the Apollo spacecraft, astronaut
selection and training, the individual Apollo missions, their
scientific results, and their impact on Earth plus projections
for the future. Intended for advanced high school students, the
prose is pedestrian but clear with numerous black and white illustrations.
Milne, Donald Stewart. Footprints on the Moon. Auckland:
Wilson & Horton, 1969. This cheaply-produced volume by a journalist
from New Zealand covers the background to space exploration, the
Soviet space program, and Project Apollo. One of many popular
accounts with numerous newsprint-quality photos.
Moore, P. Moon Flight Atlas. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1970.
This 64-page "atlas" contains many photographs as well
as maps and descriptive materials describing what was known about
the Moon shortly after the first lunar landing. It also contains
material and diagrams about the Apollo program and its hardware,
followed by run-downs of Apollo missions.
Murray, Bruce. Journey into Space: The First Three Decades
of Space Explora- tion. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1989.
This highly personal account by a former director of the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory makes only occasional reference to Apollo but does
have some interesting reflections about it and its legacy for
NASA.
Murray, Charles A., and Cox, Catherine Bly. Apollo, the Race
to the Moon. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989. Perhaps the
best general account of the lunar program, this history uses interviews
and documents to reconstruct the stories of the people who participated
in Apollo.
NASA. America's Next Decades in Space: A Report for the Space
Task Group. Washington, DC: NASA, 1969. Mostly about the future
after Apollo, this report contains a lengthy chapter on "Current
Program and National Capabilities" that gives considerable
attention to Apollo and its infrastructure.
NASA History Office [authors vary, with many of the volumes sponsored
by the NASA Historical Staff but prepared by the Science and Technology
Division of the Library of Congress], Astronautics and Aeronautics
. . . [title varies]. Washington, DC: NASA SPs-4004 to 4020,
1963-1975. This series--which was preceded by NASA reports for
1961 and 1962 to the Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S.
House of Representatives, published as committee prints entitled
Astronautical and Aeronautical Events of . . . --does not
focus exclusively on Apollo by any means. But the annual chronologies
do contain much information about specific events relating to
Apollo and provide a handy reference tool.
NASA Office of Manned Space Flight. Apollo Reliability and
Quality Assurance Program Plan. Washington, DC: National Aeronautics
and Space Administration, 1966. This document, prepared by the
Apollo Program Office, outlines the require- ments for hardware
development under the Apollo program. While it makes dull and
bureaucratic reading, it outlines the procedures followed until
the Apollo 204 fire the following year and thus provides a baseline
against which to measure the changes introduced in reliability
and quality assurance in its aftermath. (See Apollo Accident Report
and the congressional committee prints [listed under U.S. House
below in Chapter 5] on that incident and its results for NASA
procedures.)
NASA Office of Manned Space Flight. Apollo Terminology.
Washington, DC: NASA SP-6001, 1963. A glossary of terms used in
the program with their definitions. In view of the inclination
of even popular accounts of the program to use acronyms and technical
terms, this is a virtually indispensable reference work for those
not already familiar with the terminology.
NASA Office of Manned Space Flight. NASA's Manned Space Flight
Program. Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
29 April 1969. Describes the efforts of NASA to place men in orbit
and on the Moon. It also discusses the next phase of manned flight,
the development of a reusable spacecraft for movement of people
and supplies to and from orbit. A reprint of part of NASA testimony
to Congress during budget authorization hearings for fiscal year
1970.
NASA Office of Public Affairs. "In this decade . . .":
Mission to the Moon. Washington, DC: NASA, 1969. This public
relations brochure with lots of photos and a somewhat breezy style
nevertheless provides considerable information about the Apollo
program on the eve of the first lunar landing.
NASA Space Task Group. The Post-Apollo Space Program: Directions
for the Future. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office,
September 1969. Mostly about the future, this report includes
background material on Apollo and its effects.
The Next Decade in Space: A Report of the Space Science and
Technology Panel of the President's Science Advisory Committee.
Washington, DC: President's Science Advisory Committee, March
1970. This important report reviews the development of the space
program in the United States through the Moon landing and projects
some future objectives for the President.
Newman, Joseph. U.S. on the Moon. Washington, DC: U.S.
News and World Report Inc., 1969. This popular account of the
Apollo program through Apollo 11, with coverage of its background
and of the race with the Soviets, provides a fair summation in
understandable language of what was known at the time.
One Giant Leap for Mankind, with Introduction by Eugene
Cernan. Largo, FL: Rococo International, Inc., [1994]. This glossy
25th anniversary publication contains a series of articles by
Karl E. Kristofferson and others dealing with NASA's Centers,
"The Rocket Meisters," projects Mercury through Apollo,
Apollo-Soyuz, "Buggy On The Moon," "The Lunar Machines,"
"How Television Made it to the Moon," and several other
non-Apollo-related topics. Without notes or other scholarly apparatus,
this is intended for a popular audience.
"One Last Fiery Hurrah for Apollo." Life. 19
December 1972, pp. 6-8C. Includes several entries covering not
just Apollo 17 but the Apollo program as a whole, including hardware.
Ordway, Frederick I., III, and Sharpe, Mitchell R. Foreword by
Wernher von Braun. The Rocket Team. New York: Crowell,
1979. This is an important, popularly- oriented, and somewhat
apologetic discussion of the activities of the group of German
engineers under the leadership of Wernher von Braun who developed
the V-2 in World War II, came to the United States in 1945, and
worked at the Marshall Spaceflight Center at Huntsville, Alabama,
to develop the Saturn V launch vehicle used in Project Apollo.
______; Adams, Carsbie C.; and Sharpe, Mitchell R. Dividends
from Space. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1972. This is an
attempt to show that the costs of the space program have been
more than returned in benefits to humanity, both tangible and
intangible. The authors discuss at length the use of space systems
to improve weather forecasting, facilitate communications, and
inventory Earth resources. They also emphasize the development
of the technological base with such major programs as Project
Apollo.
Peterson, Robert W. Space: From Gemini to the Moon and Beyond.
New York: Facts on File, 1972. A now obviously dated reference
work summarizing events related to space from 1965-1971 in a topical
format with each section organized chronologically. Does provide
the perspective as of nearly the end of the Apollo program.
Peterson's Book of Man in Space. Los Angeles, CA: Petersen
Pub. Co., 1974. 5 volumes. In essentially magazine format with
lots of photos, this series of articles carries the story of humans
in space from accounts of the spaceflight pioneers Robert H. Goddard
and Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky through Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo.
Petroski, Henry. To Engineer is Human: The Role of Failure
in Successful Design. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1985.
This books offers a series of reflections upon the relationship
between engineering and risk. The author comments on the development
of a special faith attached to modern technology in the public
mind, and the effect recent disasters, from Three-mile Island
to Chernobyl, had on that confidence. This book is not simply
a chronicle of accidents, but seeks to look at the process of
engineering and its creative aspects apart from its scientific
ones. Petroski notes that the design process accepts failure and
seeks to test and gradually develop a system, whatever it might
be, that has an acceptable level of risk to operate. He cautions
that nothing is error free. He ends with a discussion of structural
failures and their causes, dividing them into several categories.
He notes that many recent failures are not due to engineering
but to poor construction, inferior materials, inadequate attention
to detail, or poor management and oversight.
Rabinowitch, Eugene, and Lewis, Richard S. Editors. Man on
the Moon: The Impact on Science, Technology, and International
Cooperation. New York: Basic Books, 1969. The editors have
assembled articles that provide a range of views on the impact
of the exploration of space on science, technology, and international
cooperation. Each author approaches the subject from a particular
perspective, speculating on the meaning of the Apollo lunar landing
and offering prognostications for the future.
Rover and Men on the Moon: Man's Greatest Adventure. Bonita
Springs, FL: Holland Posters, 1971. A picture book, largely about
the Apollo program, with shots of the lunar roving vehicle.
Ryan, Peter. Invasion of the Moon, 1969: The Story of Apollo
11. Harmonds- worth, UK: Penguin, 1969; second ed. published
in 1971 under title: The Invasion of the Moon, 1957-1970.
This book capitalizes on the excitement of the first Apollo landing,
proving a recitation of the expedition for a popular audience.
Rather more detailed than many popular accounts, this book went
into a second edition that carried the narrative through Apollo
13. Also covers the Soviet space program.
Shelton, William Roy. Man's Conquest of Space. Washington,
DC: National Geographic Society, 1974. A popular account with
many photographs of the entire human spaceflight effort to 1974,
including Apollo but also science fiction, the alien environment
of space, the Soviet space program, and much else.
Society of Automotive Engineers. Apollo: A Program Review.
New York: The Society, 1964. "Papers presented verbally at
the 1964 National Aeronautic and Space Engineering meeting held
in Los Angeles, California."
Spirit of Apollo: A Collection of Reflective Interviews Commemorating
the 20th Anniversary of the First Manned Lunar Landing. Washington,
DC: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in cooperation
with the AIAA Houston Section, 1989. This glossy collection of
interviews with 15 astronauts, managers, and others involved in
the Apollo program provides some perspective on the events 20
years after the landing on the Moon. Among the interviewees were
Eugene Cernan, Aaron Cohen, Maxime Faget, Robert Gilruth, Christopher
Kraft, and Donald "Deke" Slayton.
Sullivan, Walter. Editor. America's Race for the Moon: The
New York Times Story of Project Apollo. Foreword by D. Brainerd
Holmes. New York: Random House, 1962. This is a collection of
articles that appeared in the Times. Probably its only
value today lies in giving a sense of the information available
to the interested lay reader at the time.
Sutton, Felix. Conquest of the Moon. New York: Grosset
& Dunlap, 1969. This 63-page picture book has for its text
sixty questions and answers about Earth's natural satellite and
the program to reach it.
Swenson, Loyd S., Jr. "The Fertile Crescent: The South's
Role in the National Space Program." Southwestern Historical
Quarterly. 71 (January 1968): 377-92. A discussion of the
NASA centers established in the South, especially those associated
with Project Apollo (Marshall Space Flight Center, Kennedy Space
Center, Mississippi Test Facility, and Manned Spacecraft Center
[later Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center]), and their impact on the
region.
Thomas, Davis. Editor. Moon: Man's Greatest Adventure.
New York: H.N. Abrams, 1970. A large-format, illustrated work
whose centerpiece consists of three major essays. One, by Fred
A. Whipple, Harvard University astronomer, describes the possibilities
of space flight for scientific inquiry. Another by Silvio A. Bedini,
of the Smithsonian Institution, deals with the Moon's role in
human affairs. A final article by Wernher von Braun of NASA analyzes
Project Apollo and its execution in the 1960s.
United States House, Committee on Science and Technology, Subcommittee
on Space Science and Applications. United States Civilian Space
Programs, 1958-1978. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing
Office, 1981. This more than 1,000-page report has the usual introduction
and summary, followed by a list of issues for congressional consideration,
a history of NASA and its relation to American space policy, and
accounts of "NASA Facilities and Tracking Systems,"
"Launch Vehicles and Propulsion," "Manned Space
Flight Through 1975," and a variety of other topics, most
of them unrelated to Apollo. In the introduction and summary written
by Marcia S. Smith, one comment is that the "manned space
program, which saw six two-man crews land on the surface of the
Moon and return safely to Earth, has received the most media and
public attention . . ." but adds that it is only one part
of the space program.
United States Information Agency. Effect of the Moon Landing
on Opinions in Six Countries. Washington,DC: USIA, 1969. Copy
in the NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA Headquarters,
Washington, DC. This research report, which was not made available
to the general public until 1971, contains 7 tables and 11 charts
in addition to 15 pages of text. It concluded from opinion surveys
conducted immediately before and after Apollo 11 that the "U.S.
standing in science" and space exploration improved considerably
following the successful Moon landing in Great Britain, India,
France, Japan, Venezuela, and the Philippines but that opinions
of U.S. military strength rose only in Britain, France, and Japan,
and there only slightly.
Van Dyke, Vernon. Pride and Power: The Rationale of the Space
Program. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1964. This
analysis of the overall rationale of the Apollo program came to
the conclusion that the "most powerful motives" behind
it involved competition with the Soviet Union. "Motives such
as the promotion of scientific, technological, and economic progress"
were "less compelling in political circles" though elsewhere
one or the other of them may have been more central. Although
mostly about these motivations, this carefully researched book
by an academic, also discusses organizational arrangements; relations
among NASA, the business world, and universities; international
cooperation; and NASA's public information programs. Although
his research is certainly dated, Van Dyke's conclusions hold up
surprisingly well after the passage of 30 years.
von Braun, Wernher. First Men to the Moon. New York: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, 1966. A popular account of Apollo based
of a series of articles appearing in This Week magazine.
Its greatest strength is the inclusion of easily understood diagrams
of scientific phenomena and hardware.
______, and Ordway, Frederick I., III. History of Rocketry
and Space Travel. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1969, 2d edition.
This is a large-format, illustrated history that emphasizes the
history of the U.S. space program and Project Apollo. It was written
by one of the most significant popularizers of space flight and
one of his leading space information specialists.
______, Space Travel. New York: Harper & Row, 1985.
This update of History of Rocketry & Space Travel contains
an excellent summary of the early visions of space flight.
Weaver, Kenneth F. "What the Moon Rocks Tell Us." National
Geographic Maga- zine. 136 (December 1969): 788-91. A popular
rather than scientific account of the moon rocks. Together with
"Next Steps in Space" by NASA Administrator Thomas O.
Paine (pp. 792-7), this rounds out the "First Explorers on
the Moon" series in this issue (see Chapter 5, Apollo 11).
What Made Apollo a Success? Washington, DC: NASA SP-287,
1971. A reprint of articles by George M. Low, Kenneth S. Kleinknecht,
Scott H. Simpkinson, Christopher C. Kraft, and others from the
March 1970 issue of Astronautics & Aeronautics. Each
of these articles is discussed separately in the appropriate sections
of this bibliography.
Wilbur, Ted. "Support Forces." In Wilbur, Ted. Space--And
the United States Navy. Prepared by the Editors of Naval
Aviation News (November 1970): 73-77. Covers various support
the Navy provided for NASA during Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo
ranging from satellite information through recovery following
splashdown of spacecraft.
Young, Hugo; Silcock, Bryan; and Dunn, Peter. Journey to Tranquillity:
The History of Man's Assault on the Moon. Garden City, NY:
Doubleday, 1970. A ponderous "anti-Apollo" broadside,
this book seeks to cast aspersions on the entire space program.
Handled deftly by investigative journalists who are writing an
expos, the first chapter sets the stage by characterizing
Wernher von Braun as a self-righteous traitor and John F. Kennedy
as an adolescent exhibitionist. They then describe a conspiracy
of bureaucrats, industrialists, and politicians who promote space
as a means of feathering their own nests. The authors used the
Apollo fire that killed three astronauts as the evidence that
"proves" the dishonesty and criminal behavior of NASA
and other space advocates. The authors were journalists with the
London Sunday Times and they provided a fast-paced if highly
critical analysis of Project Apollo.
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