Apollo 11: The Inside Story - Softcover

Whitehouse, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1785786180 ISBN 13: 9781785786181

Publisher: Icon Books, 2019

Synopsis

Informed by extensive interviews with astronauts such Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Gene Cernan, David Scott, John Young, Alan Shepard, Charlie Duke, Al Bean, Gordon Cooper, Al Worden, Walt Cunningham, Tom Stafford, Dick Gordon, John Glenn, Pete Conrad, Edgar Mitchel, James Irwin, Stu Roosa, Ron Evans, Deke Slayton, Wally Schirra, as well as key politicians and NASA personnel

Fifty years ago in July 1969, Apollo 11 became the first manned mission to land on the moon, and Neil Armstrong the first man to step onto its surface. President Nixon called it the greatest week since creation.

In the most authoritative book ever written about Apollo, David Whitehouse reveals the true drama behind the mission, telling the story in the words of those who took part - based around exclusive interviews with the key players.

This enthralling book takes us from the early rocket pioneers to the shock America received from the Soviets' launch of the first satellite, Sputnik; from the race to put the first person into space, through President Kennedy's enthusiasm and later doubts, to the astronauts' intense competition to leave the first footprint.

Here is the story as told by the crew of Apollo 11 and the many other astronauts who paved the way or went to the moon themselves after Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins. Astronauts, engineers, politicians, NASA officials, Soviet rivals - all tell their own story of a great moment of human achievement.

The full list of interviewees includes NASA employees such as James Fletcher, Roco Petrone, Brainerd Homes, Bob Gilruth, George Mueller, James Webb, John Houbolt, Robert Seamans, Max Faget, Director of the NASA Jet Propulsion Labratory William Pickering and Sergei Khrushchev, son of Soviet Premier.

About this title

About the Author:

David Whitehouse is a former BBC Science Correspondent and BBC Science Editor and has worked for NASA. He is the author of five books including 'biographies' of the moon and the sun, and has written for many newspapers and magazines including The Times of London, The Guardian, Focus, New Scientist and The Economist. He also appears on many TV and radio programmes. Asteroid 4036 Whitehouse is named after him.

Review:

"Written by a career astronomer and science correspondent who covered the people involved in all aspects of the first moon landing, this title's narrative relies on the author's old notes and tapes, press kits he stashed away in his archive, and his own perspective, honed over the course of his 40-year career, on what the journey meant to the astronauts themselves."--Publishers Weekly

About this edition

• Publisher: Icon Books
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1785786180
• ISBN 13: 9781785786181
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 322