Customer Reviews

Apollo 12: The NASA Mission Reports Vol 1: Apogee Books Space Series 7

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Once again another great book in the series. It puts in one place many of the most significant documents related to the flight of Apollo 12. It has a complete library of all of the 70mm photos. Most I suspect have never been published before. I've already come across some facts that I hadn't read before, such as the fact that Al Bean got knocked on the head by a camera during landing. Like it's companions in the series it is a wonderful source for space buffs. I just hope the series continues to document all the flights through Apollo 17.

Yet another volume in this valuable series. Apollo 12 advanced on the first moon landing mostly by doing more: more geology (including two moonwalks instead of one), a pinpoint landing (within walking distance of Surveyor III), and more surveying for possible future sites. The major excitement was the Saturn V being struck by lightning shortly after liftoff, or, as the official report included in this volume euphemistically puts it, "an electrical potential discharge from the clouds through the space vehicle to the ground." That and the loss of the television camera early in the first EVA, which I think contributed significantly to the loss of interest back home.

The contents are by now just about standard: the press kit, the pre-mission report, the post-mission report, and the crew debriefing. I was glad to see the return of the latter after missing it on Apollo 9. (It's not in volume 1 of the Apollo 11 coverage, but I assume it's in volume 2.) That was a bit more jargon-filled than usual but still worthwhile to skim. Another one for the completist.

This has just about everything associated with the preparation and chronology of the Apollo 12 mission- crew bios, debriefings, diagrams etc. As great as all that is, it lacks analysis of the mission itself, and its importance in the history human space exploration. So, its more like a press kit. the details with and the CD with photos are EXTREMELY valuble, although almost all of the information (including photos- most with better resolution) can be found on the WWW. Such is progress.

This is the finest compilation of materials in one book that can or could be offered to date; on a particular space mission from the past! Boy! You really get your moneys worth on these mission reports! I happen to think Apollo 12 is the best; because: it was a perfect/pinpoint landing, close to Surveyor; sent there 2 tears previous, and the great culmination of photos--alone, makes these mission reports a real feast--a feast of all that you want to know about a particular mission in complete detail, like never before! Thanks Amazon.com for offering these to consumers! They've been a long time coming!

Very nice collection of the NASA documentation of the mission. A must for any follower of the Apollo programs. A person could gather all of this off the web for his or her collection, but this package has almost all of what you would want. I thank the author for doing a tremendous job of gathering and assembling the press release, reports, video and pictures of the mission.

The book is a valuable reference of the planned mission goals and what they actually achieved. Original drawings and diagrams show exactly what the mission was. Yes, it has many techincal numbers and diagrams that means something to the techincal-minded, but would be dry reading for others. It is a great historical reference that I am proud to keep on my bookshelf.

For myself, a person old enough to remember the space flights to the moon happening, but young enough to not have vivid memories of the television coverage, the CD-ROM is gold. I will comment that the video is disappointingly crude, but then again, television back then was not what it is today. The feel of the moment is not lost, however.

The post-flight debriefing is more entertaining than it first might sound. This is the part of the book that, yes is technical, but brings the human aspect of the mission out. They performed a daring job, with a sense of humor and awe that comes out when reading the interview.

Robert Godwin and Apogee Books have over the years compiled a variety NASA documents, press kits, crew interviews and the like, which recount the early days of the space race, focusing on the Apollo missions. This time, they have released the first volume of information dedicated in the second lunar landing, Apollo 12, which followed the first lunar landing conducted by Apollo 11. This mission was commanded by Charles "Pete" Conrad who was accompanied to the surface by Alan Bean with Dick Gordon as the Command Module pilot.

The book opens with the usual NASA mission press kit which provides a general, but descriptive overview of the mission. The next portions of the book contain the pre- and post-flight operations reports. The pre-flight report, an in-house NASA report, describes the planned activities of the mission, while the post-flight operations report, another NASA in-house report, documents the actual events and describes any discrepancies between the planned and actual activities.

The final section, the debrief section, which is over 100 pages, contains the crew comments and feelings about various parts of the mission and contains a fair amount of the technical language and acronyms that many NASA documents include. The crew debrief contains crew comments from the suiting up phase to the landing, plus comments about the training (was it adequate). In this section there are numerous pages devoted to the precision landing made by the crew, the investigation of the Surveyor III lunar lander and the two moonwalks. I always find the crew debriefing quite enjoyable, because it is the closest thing to being there.

The book also includes a CD which features a 30th anniversary interview with Command Module Pilot Captain Richard "Dick" Gordon and the NASA produced "Pinpoint For Science" and the entire EVA television transmissions. In addition, the CD includes the in flight press conference, five Quicktime panoramas of the landing site and over 2100 still black and white and color photographs.

Some general information that might be useful.

1) This report is a set of scanned-in documents from a previously released NASA document. In order to preserve the spirit of the original reports, all typographical and grammatical errors have NOT been fixed.

2) Proceeds from the book goes to "The Watch" an asteroid impact research project of the Space Frontier Foundation. In other words, Apogee Books is making very little off the sale of US government produced books and documents.

3) Many people have asked why the post mission science reports are not included. Since NASA has published several books with hundred of pages each, the NASA Special Publications Series, it would be difficult to include this voluminous amount of data.

anyone that loves to read about the apollo expeditions to the moon; would be a fool not to invest in these mission reports! for the very small price they cost, you get so mush for with them. a lovely well-done book on that particular mission, along with a cd/rom that has volumes and unendless info; all on one small diskette. and finally, a sturdy/quality paperback book,that tells many of we space buffs,about certain missions, that previously were not covered [IN-DEBTH] AT THAT TIME IN HISTORY; WHETHER IT BE TELEVISION COVERAGE,NEWSPAPER COVERAGE,ETC... well! these reports will really refresh your memories,bring back memories,and tell us what we already wanted to know about a particular mission! all i and others i've showed this and other nasa mission reports to others and all hey and my wife and i can say about them is: very interesting!

Charles"pETE" Conrad, Alan Bean and Richard F. Gordon were; to me, the nicest-most, down-to-earth of all lunar astros.! They were brilliant aviators and men-above-men who knew how to get a job done with remarkable precision; yet know how to be human, and have fun while being the best at what they do! Apollo 12 mission report is a necessity; because camera burnt out--1st color camera on moon coverage; and having this mission report is essential, because there was little coverage on film; due to their camera not working! I only wish that there could even be more done on Apollo 12/mission/men who made 1st and best pinpoint landing on lunar surface-The Ocean Of Storms, on November ' 69. i COULD OWN 1000 MORE OF SUCH REPORTS ON aPOLLO 12!