Thirteen
by Henry S. F. Cooper Jr. |
Chariots for Apollo
by Joshua Stoff |
All We Did Was Fly to the Moon
by Dick Lattimer |
Countdown
by T. A. Heppenheimer |
Men From Earth
by Buzz Aldrin | 
This New Ocean
by William E. Burrows | 
Moon Shot
by Alan Shepard | 
The Last Man on the Moon
by Eugene Cernan | 
A Man on the Moon
by Andrew Chaikin | 
Digital Apollo
by David A. Mindell | 
Failure Is Not an Option
by Gene Kranz |
We Reach the Moon
by John Noble Wilford | 
Liftoff
by Michael Collins | 
Carrying the Fire
by Michael Collins |
We Have Capture
by Thomas P. Stafford | 
The Code Book
by Simon Singh | 
The Botany of Desire
by Michael Pollan | 
The Gene: An Intimate History
by Siddhartha Mukherjee | 
The Sixth Extinction
by Elizabeth Kolbert | 
Cod
by Mark Kurlansky |
Chief engineer Thomas J. Kelly gives a firsthand account of designing, building, testing, and flying the Apollo lunar module. It was, he writes, "an aerospace engineer's dream job of the century." Kelly's account begins with the imaginative process of sketching solutions to a host of technical challenges with an emphasis on safety, reliability, and maintainability. He catalogs numerous test failures, including propulsion-system leaks, ascent-engine instability, stress corrosion of the aluminum alloy parts, and battery problems, as well as their fixes under the ever-present constraints of budget and schedule. He also recaptures the exhilaration of hearing Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong report that "The Eagle has landed," and the pride of having inadvertently provided a vital "lifeboat" for the crew of the disabled Apollo 13.