Apollo on the Moon in Perspective

Science & Math

Ronald A. Wells

Astronomy & Space Science

Apogee Books (US)

Even fifty years later there are still important stories waiting to be told about how humans first walked on another world; such as the one in this book. Take a trip back to the 1950s when the Chance Vought Company, builders of some of America's top fighter aircraft, were quietly figuring out how to get men to the moon using something they called Project MALLAR. It is the story of a team of engineers who built some of the most sophisticated space simulators in the world, where almost all of the Mercury and Gemini astronauts learned the art of spaceflight. This same team produced the first serious plan to use modular spacecraft and a technique called Lunar Orbit Rendezvous to make it possible to get to the moon. This book also reveals how for several years rocket genius Wernher von Braun overlooked his own ideas, before having them reintroduced back to him because of Project MALLAR, and how Vought's fighter aircraft weaved in and out of the Apollo story and then contributed to almost every major airliner in the sky today. Included are rare illustrations, some from recently declassified reports, of the earliest designs for the rockets and spacecraft that led to the greatest technological achievement in human history. In Manned Lunar Landing And Return, Robert Godwin takes the reader back to the time long before President Kennedy made his famous proclamation to reach for the moon and reveals one critical thread in the trail of genius which ended in the Sea of Traquility.

Manned Lunar Landing And Return

Robert Godwin

At the end of World War II, the U.S. government transferred Dr. Wernher von Braun and his team of scientists from Germany to America. No one could have imagined that the greatest engineering feat in human history would result. Working together, the Germans and their American counterparts became the Apollo team capable of responding to a presidential challenge issued in 1962 to take mankind to the Moon before the decade's end. NASA's Mashall Space Flight Center was the platform and team think thank that produced one of the most awe-inspiring machines ever built, the Saturn V rocket. In 1969, the Apollo/Saturn V team and their miracle of engineering landed two men on the Moon and provided the means of returning the three-man crew safely to Earth. Like the fire and billowing smoke of the mighty Saturn V, the fusion of German, American and Apollo cultures became evidenced in the surrounding economic, academic and social environments. One of the most advanced engineering and scientific communities in the world emerged: Huntsville, Alabama, Rocket City USA. Kenny Mitchell, a retired NASA engineer and consultant, began his career in Huntsville in 1959 as a co-op student at the Army Ballistic Missle Agency located at Redstone Arsenal. He worked his way up the ladder and managed many NASA projects, including establishing the first NASA office in Moscow, Russia as a U.S. diplomat. Mitchell lived the Apollo era firsthand, meticulously documenting his experience while also conducting exhaustive research into the contributions made by the men and women of Marshall Space Flight Center. Complete with untold stories of historical accounts, this book is a valuable resource for the next generation of space explorers whose contributions will continue the legacy. It gives special insight into the origins of the unique character of the city known as "the Cradle of American Space Exploration."

The Cradle of American Space Exploration

Kenny Mitchell

Gemini 8 - The NASA Mission Reports

Apogee Books

Imagine Huckleberry Finn grew up to be a Jack Kerouac character, but instead of wandering aimlessly in search of a purpose he joined the military and decided he wanted to be Flash Gordon...read on. This is the life-story of Robert C. Truax - a story that could only have happened in the United States of America. Told entirely in his own words American Rocketman takes the reader on a trip through the 20th century  from the hardships of pioneering on the frontier of the American West, to the Final Frontier. Robert Truax grew up shoeless, living in a log cabin built entirely by his father and mother using only basic tools and their bare hands. His story of dauntless entrepreneurialism, duty to his country and creative genius epitomizes the American spirit. Big dreams and big accomplishments are tempered by the roadblocks put in the way of reaching for the stars. If you ever wondered who really proposed the United States Space Force; or who designed the biggest rocket ever conceived; or who came up with the critical components that made the Space Shuttle engines work; or who outcompeted Robert Goddard, the inventor of the liquid fuelled rocket  read on. From abject poverty, to leading the team that brought the United States some of its most important Cold War missile deterrents, to the hi-jinks of trying to launch daredevil Evel Knievel across a massive river canyon in front of a live TV audience, Truax navigates the reader through his remarkable life of adventure with his own personal brand of humour and optimism.

American Rocketman

Biographies & Memoirs

Robert C Truax

Professionals & Academics

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Apogee Books (US) publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Apogee Books (US)