Apollo
Ten Years Since Tranquillity Base
Hallion, Richard P. (Editor) - Crouch, Tom D. (Editor)
First Edition
"Tranquillity Base here the Eagle has landed."
Those words were radioed from the moon on July 20,1969, by Neu Armstrong, mission commander of Apollo 11, the first manned spacecraft in history to land on the lunar surface. Some six hours later - as an astonished 600 million people watched on television - Armstrong climbed down the Lunar Module's ladder and became the first human being to walk on the moon. About an hour later he was joined by Edwin Aldrin, and the two astronauts unveiled a plaque which was mounted on the spacecraft, reading it aloud for a world below: "Here men from the planet earth first set foot on the moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind." It was the triumphant hour of the Apollo mission, an endeavour which historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., described as the beginning of "a new epoch in the history of man."
On the tenth anniversary of that historic voyage for all mankind the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum has developed this collection of essays about the Apollo program which attempts to put it in a historical perspective from the vantage point of a decade later. They discuss America's belated entry into space exploration after the awakening caused by Sputnik I in 1957, and they describe the reasons for President Kennedy's pledge to put a man on the moon before 1970. The authors also outline the mammoth effort involving hundreds of thousands of people which was required to reach the moon. Even more important, is the discussion of the ultirnate benefits of the mission as viewed ten years later: the scientific harvest reaped from Apollo 11 and the five subsequent moon landings and the Skylab missions; the growth of human knowledge; and the general benefits to mankind's quest for advancement and progress. Also included are a chronology of the Apollo 11 mission; a description of the spacecraft involved and the spacesuits worn by the astronauts; and a photographic essay of 58 photos which vividly chronicles that amazing conquest of space. A selective bibliography offers a guide to written and photographic material currently available about the Apollo missions.
The unusual combination of perceptive essays, collateral material, and photographs now allows the reader to appreciate fully the importance and far-reaching consequences of that historic journey a decade ago, the epochal flight to the moon which has for all time expanded man's universe.
Hardcover with dust jacket, large format
174 Seiten / pages
many photos
book very condition, dust jacket good condition, with a namesticker of the previous owner
Washington D.C. - 1979 - National Air and Space Museum - Smithsonian Institution
Art.Nr. 25561
