| ||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Destination Moon: The Apollo Missions in the Astronauts' Own Words for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Born of the Cold War, the Apollo space programme was the largest technical undertaking of all time, and led to the greatest adventure of the twentieth century. Travelling to the most forbidding environment known to man, twelve courageous individuals stepped out of their tiny spaceships and onto another world. And with that, the history of humankind was irrevocably changed. And then, as suddenly as it had blossomed, the lunar programme was gone. By 1972 it was all over, and NASA moved on to more mundane activities. But the adventures live on. "Destination Moon" tells the significant, spectacular and intriguing story of the Apollo space programme through first-person accounts by the astronauts themselves, explained and put into context with expert commentary by Rod Pyle. In addition the book contains over 100 accompanying images - many of which are rarely seen - drawn from original NASA film. The result is a remarkable book that will transport readers to a world they have never seen like this before.
About the Author
Rod Pyle is a writer, documentary filmmaker and college professor. He has written for numerous science and science fiction magazines and periodicals, including the Astronautics Notebook, Foundation Journal (for the World Space Foundation), Starlog and DreamWatch. In 2002 he wrote and co-produced In Their Own Words: The Space Race, a seven-hour audio book about the US Space Programme. Rod lives in California with his wife and son.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A nicely packaged 8-inch square hardback. Lots of photographs throughout, many full page and in colour. Starts with the Kennedy speech and the horror of Apollo 1. Missions 7, 8, 9 and 10 receive a few pages each but it is only with 11 onwards that the book brings in any detail.
From Apollo 11 on, there is a chapter per mission, combining more good photos and transcripts of the conversations recorded from space and Mission Control.
Finishes with two useful chapters: an interview with the eminently likeable Alan Bean, one-time Apollo 12 Lunar Module Pilot and now artist, plus a set of brief mission profiles of each of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo flights. Perhaps coverage of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project may have been a worthwhile addition?
Little new here for the Apollo anorak, but a very good and very visual summary for the new enthusiast.
From Apollo 11 on, there is a chapter per mission, combining more good photos and transcripts of the conversations recorded from space and Mission Control.
Finishes with two useful chapters: an interview with the eminently likeable Alan Bean, one-time Apollo 12 Lunar Module Pilot and now artist, plus a set of brief mission profiles of each of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo flights. Perhaps coverage of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project may have been a worthwhile addition?
Little new here for the Apollo anorak, but a very good and very visual summary for the new enthusiast.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is well presented and gives a record of the manned moon mission in pictures.
Not much on Apollo 7, 8, 9 and 10 - which were amazing missions in their own right and I would have liked to have seen more from them. Good but not great pictures of Apollo 11 onwards.
A good buy.
Not much on Apollo 7, 8, 9 and 10 - which were amazing missions in their own right and I would have liked to have seen more from them. Good but not great pictures of Apollo 11 onwards.
A good buy.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Another Illustrated History of the Apollo Program
3 Feb 2006
Format:Hardcover
Like clockwork celebratory books like "Destination Moon" appear in print just in time for the holiday shopping season. These books on the space program always take advantage of the stunning imagery of the Apollo missions to the Moon to capture the impressive nature of that undertaking. "Destination Moon" does this exceptionally well, and prints both iconic images burned into the public memory as well as less well-known photographs of the Apollo adventure. Compiler Rod Pyle couples striking visuals with excerpts from the voice communications between the astronauts and Mission Control in Houston. It is important to note that transcripts of those communications are also readily available on-line at NASA Johnson Space Center's history portal: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/mission_trans/mission_transcripts.htm. For each of the missions, which are listed chronologically, there are usually several different transcripts.
"Destination Moon" is a capable book and one that will be helpful to those unfamiliar with the Apollo program; it provides an accessible introduction to the Apollo Moon landings. It is, unfortunately, quite cursory as a work of history. Individuals who already understand the Apollo story will not learn much new here. If you want to understand the history of the program two other books are much better: Andrew Chaikin's "A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts (Viking, 1994), and Charles Murray and Catherine Bly Cox's "Apollo: The Race to the Moon" (Simon and Schuster, 1989), both of which have been reprinted several times and are readily available. Even so, the imagery is worth the price of the book.
"Destination Moon" is a capable book and one that will be helpful to those unfamiliar with the Apollo program; it provides an accessible introduction to the Apollo Moon landings. It is, unfortunately, quite cursory as a work of history. Individuals who already understand the Apollo story will not learn much new here. If you want to understand the history of the program two other books are much better: Andrew Chaikin's "A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts (Viking, 1994), and Charles Murray and Catherine Bly Cox's "Apollo: The Race to the Moon" (Simon and Schuster, 1989), both of which have been reprinted several times and are readily available. Even so, the imagery is worth the price of the book.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Apollo was the forerunner.
16 Nov 2005
Format:Hardcover
The years from 1961 to 1969 seem like almost magical years. The country had a purpose that united and excited the interests of an almost overwhelming percentage of the the people. As President Kennedy said, 'landing a man on the moon and return him safely to the earth.'
To be sure there were other problems during those years, the ongoing sore of Viet Nam, and the civil right issues that were just beginning to disrupt the south, and of course Kennedy's trip to Dallas. But perhaps we can overlook those issues and look with pride on what we did accomplish with the Apollo program.
This book is the Apollo story. Everything from the Apollo 1 and the Grisson/Chaffee/White fire to the splash down of Apollo 17. Most of the text of the story comes from the words of the astronaut's words. The absolutely beautiful pictures are mostly taken in space or on the surface of the moon.
Whatever happens with the new NASA program to return to the moon, Apollo was the forerunner. From here we began.
To be sure there were other problems during those years, the ongoing sore of Viet Nam, and the civil right issues that were just beginning to disrupt the south, and of course Kennedy's trip to Dallas. But perhaps we can overlook those issues and look with pride on what we did accomplish with the Apollo program.
This book is the Apollo story. Everything from the Apollo 1 and the Grisson/Chaffee/White fire to the splash down of Apollo 17. Most of the text of the story comes from the words of the astronaut's words. The absolutely beautiful pictures are mostly taken in space or on the surface of the moon.
Whatever happens with the new NASA program to return to the moon, Apollo was the forerunner. From here we began.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Great Book about the Lunar Landings
28 Jan 2006
Format:Hardcover
Combining both famous and virtually unknown photographs from the Apollo missions with selected portions of the transcripts from the Apollo moon missions and informational text, the author attempts to recreate that magical time in history when mankind first walked on the surface of the moon. And he does a great job of doing just that.
The book opens with the tragedy of the Apollo 1 fire and then moves quickly to the early test flights of Apollo 7 through Apollo 10. After this brief introductory section, a chapter is devoted to each of the moon landing missions, including the failed Apollo 13 mission. Each chapter presents some of the best photographs obtained from each moon landing using what appears to be the same technique used by Michael Light in his book Full Moon thereby producing some very stunning pictures. Since the transcripts are the words of the astronauts and the photographs were taken on the moon by same individuals (probably while speaking these words), the reader gets a glimpse of what the astronaut must have seen and felt as they explored the moon.
While the serious collector of Apollo books and memorabilia may not find or learn much that is new, this is an excellent overview book with great photographs for anyone interested in the moon landings.
The book opens with the tragedy of the Apollo 1 fire and then moves quickly to the early test flights of Apollo 7 through Apollo 10. After this brief introductory section, a chapter is devoted to each of the moon landing missions, including the failed Apollo 13 mission. Each chapter presents some of the best photographs obtained from each moon landing using what appears to be the same technique used by Michael Light in his book Full Moon thereby producing some very stunning pictures. Since the transcripts are the words of the astronauts and the photographs were taken on the moon by same individuals (probably while speaking these words), the reader gets a glimpse of what the astronaut must have seen and felt as they explored the moon.
While the serious collector of Apollo books and memorabilia may not find or learn much that is new, this is an excellent overview book with great photographs for anyone interested in the moon landings.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
