Customer Reviews

The Apollo 11 Moon Landing: 40th Anniversary Photograhic Retrospective

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With all of the books cashing in on the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, it's nice to see one that focuses on the "mundane," but still crucial, aspects of the mission. This "photographic retrospective" contains around 200 pictures, most of them in color. While a good chunk of these photographs are well known, there are many that will fascinate serious space buffs. These show the crew in training, the Saturn V being stacked, the CSM and LM being "processed," and post-flight quarantine. Some "new" photographs (to me) include an X-ray image of Aldrin's lunar boots, Michael Collins undergoing centrifuge training, a few shots of the crew in the Lunar Receiving Lab, the Vehicle Assembly building being constructed, a couple shots of Langley's Lunar Landing Research
Facility, and the CM being prepared for display at the Smithsonian. There are some excellent panoramas of Tranquility Base as well, seamlessly composited from existing images.

The photo quality is excellent throughout, with rich blacks, vibrant reds, and virtually flawless detail. As always, Dennis R. Jenkin's attention to detail is fanatical - be sure to read the photo captions and not just the text. This is a nicely produced, low-key tribute marred only by some weird typos (the Apollo 1 fire happened in 1964?) and the unnecessary inclusion of a six-page addendum on Project Constellation. Not quite as good as the STS-114 scrapbook published by Jenkins and Frank in 2006, but more than worth the asking price.

As with his Hypersonic and X-15 scrapbook, Jenkins, along with Frank in this one, came up with another quality book. I was a bit apprehensive in buying this book because I was affraid it might turn out to be another 're-hash'. Not buying it would have been a mistake. As stated by another reviewer there are a number of new photographs that I've never seen before. And I have many, many books on the early space programe. For the money? Buy it, I really feel you won't be disappointed. Not only some of the photographs but a good bit of the text is fresh too. The only thing, I wish it had been in a hard back. But I don't take away any points for that.

A book well worth putting on your shelf.

C. Moss
Mobile, AL

Following the purchase of this Appolo 11 book I was so impressed I purchased 3 more for my children and grand children. They were not alive when the Apollo 11 mission launched and landed on the Moon. If pictures were worth 1000 words then this book would be worth a million words. It's well worth the money to provide the history of our landing on the Moon to those who did not witness Apollo 11.

The photos in this book are stunning. They are laser sharp, and I have spent many happy minutes just looking and learning. The photos of the moon surface alone are well worth the price of admission.

If you love the Apollo program, and have wondered about the moon, purchase this book, it has the best photos of the surface of the moon I have seen anywhere

It's a very good photographic retrospective on the moon landing. Many photos are original NASA phots taken behind the scenes leading up to the return of Apollo 11. The last chapter touches upon the old notion/goal or returning to the moon via the Constellation Project which was ultimately cancelled. Although the book was labeled as new, it did arrive with corner bent and I noticed the pricing is cheaper nowadays (otherwise 5 stars). It is worth purchasing.