One Giant Leap: The Extraordinary Story of the Moon Landing [Hardcover]

Tim Furniss (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 28, 2002 | ISBN-10: 1858686059 | ISBN-13: 978-1858686059

In 1969, the greatest technological feat of the twentieth century was achieved: the first men landed on the moon, this momentous occasion is celebrated in the informative and fascinating story of Apollo, from the earliest days of the space race, through each of the lunar missions to the aftermath of the program. One Giant Leap highlights the tragedies and successes of those involved and how they and the world have been affected by the great moment in history.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

TIM FURNISS wrote his first book in 1970, and has since written more than 30 titles. He covered the launches of Apollo 15 and several Shuttle missions from the Kennedy Space Center, and in 1988 was one of the first journalists to report on the launch of cosmonauts from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. In 1994, he joined the Space Shuttle crew of mission STS 62 during their training, including launch and landing simulations.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Carlton Books (October 28, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1858686059
• ISBN-13: 978-1858686059
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,034,936 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Small But Enjoyable Book on the Space Race to the Moon, June 7, 2002

By 

John R. Keller (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: One Giant Leap: The Extraordinary Story of the Moon Landing (Hardcover)

The author, Tim Furniss, is a prolific author of twenty books about spaceflight, spacecraft and the space program in general, as well as the author of numerous magazine articles about various aspects of space flight. In this book, the author presents an overview of the space race from the launching of the first Russian and US satellites until the first moon landing of Apollo 11, using numerous photographs, artist's renditions and graphs and a reasonable amount of supporting text. Even though much of the book, about a third, focuses of the first moon landing of Apollo 11, the remainder of the book covers the space race up to this point.

While many of the NASA photographs are the classic pictures from the Apollo program, the book also includes a good number of rarely seen pictures from the testing and buildup phases, as well as some photographs taken by the unmanned robotic explorers sent to the moon, which I found quite interesting. Oftentimes, the testing and buildup stages of any space launch is ignored and I found it refreshing the author did not forget this important part of the Apollo program. Furthermore, unlike many other texts on the USSR-US space race to the moon, this author provides many fascinating pictures of the Russian hardware, such as the N-1 moon rocket and the Vostok, which better helps depict the space race.

One final thought, I found the last chapter, "Where are They Now?" which describes the moon walkers post-Apollo lives, a fitting tribute and ending for the book.

Even though Amazon lists this book as no longer in print, I have seen this book still for sale at several local bookstores.