On the Moon: The Apollo Journals (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration) [Paperback]

Grant Heiken (Author), Eric Jones (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0387489398 | ISBN-13: 978-0387489391 | Publication Date: April 13, 2007 | Edition: 1

This book explains how the Apollo crews learned to work on the lunar surface. Its lively and informative text draws heavily on transcripts and photographs to illustrate points. It puts the reader on the lunar surface with the astronauts, sharing their observations, excitement, and frustrations. The book describes the challenging yet exhilarating lunar environment facing the Apollo astronauts, and reveals their courageous, sometimes creative and occasionally humorous adaptation to the field conditions on another planet. Recent interviews with the astronauts are included in which they recall their thoughts after more than 25 years of reflection.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Aus den Rezensionen: "… ‘On the Moon’ bietet dem Leser die Möglichkeit, sich detailliert darüber zu informieren, was während der Mondausflüge geschah und ist eine gute Quelle zu diesem Thema. Es ist demjenigen, der sich für die APOLLO-Flüge intensiv interessiert, sehr zu empfehlen." (Tilmann Althaus, in: Sterne und Weltraum, 2008, Issue 4, S. 106)

About the Author

Grant Heiken worked for NASA during the Apollo and Skylab Programs, in the Lunar Receiving Laboratory, as a geology instructor in the astronaut training program, and conducting independent research on lunar surface processes, including volcanism. He is a co-editor of "Lunar Sourcebook—A User’s Guide to the Moon" (Cambridge University Press). In 1975 he moved to the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (now the Los Alamos National Laboratory) in New Mexico, where he worked in geothermal exploration and development, volcanic hazard analysis, the uses of volcanic rocks, basic research in explosive volcanism, and integrated urban science. Eric Jones has a lifetime background in space exploration-related science. He visited NASA Johnson in 1988 to examine transcripts of the Apollo missions in an effort to understand what is involved in getting work done on the Moon. Subsequent discussions with Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt led to the idea of creating the "Apollo Lunar Surface Journal" to document the activities of the Apollo lunar surface crews in a manner analogous to the exploration journals of Captain James Cook and others. During 1989-92, he conducted minute-by-minute mission reviews with nine of the twelve moonwalking astronauts so that readers of the could understand, in detail, what was done, how it was done, and how the crews trained before hand. Portions of the Journal first appeared on the World Wide Web in 1995 and, although all of the transcripts and astronaut comments had been added by 1998, photographs, background documents, and additional commentary are still being added in mid-2006. The Journal is hosted by NASA at http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj and is generally considered to be the authoritative source for information about the activities of the lunar surface crews. In Heiken and Jones we have the ideal authors for this project.

Product Details

• Paperback: 498 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (April 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387489398
• ISBN-13: 978-0387489391
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #973,735 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not good for Kindle, March 1, 2009

By 

Alan Moore - See all my reviews

This review is from: On the Moon: The Apollo Journals (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration) (Kindle Edition)

This booked looked very interesting from the Amazon web site and so I sent a sample to my Kindle. Sadly the content looks as though it has been scanned in from the original printed work and doesn't work at all. I had to stop reading after a few paragraphs. I don't believe that quality is worth the price tag for the electronic edition.