Customer Reviews

Virtual LM: A Pictorial Essay of the Engineering and Construction of the Apollo Lunar Module: Apogee Books Space Series 47

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book on the Apollo Lunar Module is an absolute necessity for any space history collection. This is a companion to Sullivan's earlier book of the same format on the Apollo CSM. If you have read his CSM book, you know how detailed it is, and amazingly this volume is even more detailed.

The book has a general history of Apollo and the LM program, with particular emphasis on the flight mode quandary, and the ultimate decision to use Lunar Orbital Rendezvous (LOR) for expediency, a move that in retrospect seems obvious, but dramatically altered the Apollo program.

This book is a mostly a compendium of incredibly detailed drawings of all components of the LM in extreme detail. The book is so detailed that there is no way a person can absorb all the information in one reading. Both the H and J series spacecraft are detailed, as is the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV, which in my opinion is Boeing's single best piece of engineering work ever.) This volume also comes with a CD of numerous images and files of great interest to an Apollo historian, including Adobe files of the Apollo Operations Handbook for the Lunar Module (volumes one and two), which basically comprise the flight manual for the LM. Think twice before you start to print these two documents, by the way, as they are about 1,800 pages long in combination.

My only complaint about this book is that the entire book (including the text) is printed in landscape format, which makes it much more difficult to read as text is fairly close to the spine. I also sometimes disliked the use of false-color drawings (used to illustrate different materials or complex mechanisms), but Sullivan did an admirable of using color photographs to show the same areas on various Lunar Modules. This book is an Apollo treasure trove, and space program enthusiasts will love it.

Great detailed photos of the ( incredibly small ) interior.

Plus, the bonus CD has more than 1,000 pages of LM checklists

and detailed pilot manuals. After you read them, you

wiill be able to train to fly a LM !!!!! The Lunar Module is one of the greatest machines ever built. All of the younger NASA and aerospace workers should know the detailed history of Apollo ( they don't ).
The trajectories, timelines, methods and mission rules were all decided upon only after tremendous study, that is, they were decided for a reason.
This is a lesson the younger generation should heed.

Apollo geeks like me never tire of new information about the program to land men on the Moon, and this book certainly isn't going to make me start. Sullivan started out with Virtual Apollo, a marvelous guide to the command and service modules. This continues the coverage with what has been called the first true spaceship: the Apollo lunar module, the only manned spacecraft incapable of operating inside an atmosphere. As with the predecessor, there are pages upon pages of meticulously annotated images and diagrams showing every part of the lunar module, as well as the lunar roving vehicle and the astronauts' life support packs.

Those not interested in the subject won't see the point, those who are interested will be unable to imagine not having a copy.

I have heard on very good authority that this book and it's amazing twin "Virtual Apollo" are being bought up everywhere by large aerospace contractor engineers who are probably building America's new moon ship. The pictures and illustrations are so good in 3D high res, I can understand why. Does Burt Rutan have a copy of this? If he does we will probably be on the moon again very quickly.

If you enjoyed Scott Sullivan's Virtual Apollo you'll savor this book just as much. Whether you have an engineering mind and/or a passion for spacecraft you will enjoy being taken into the nuts and bolts of the Lunar Module. Sullivan's precise and meticulous renderings of the LM peel the spacecraft away like layers of an onion allowing you to grasp the brilliant ingenuity of its design. A must have addition to the library of any space enthusiast.

Using the latest techniques in computer aided design (CAD) techniques and the blue prints from the Apollo era, the author developed three dimensional (3D) solid models of the both Apollo Lunar Modules (LM), the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) and Portable Life Support System (PLSS) which is the backpack for the moonwalker's space suits. To supplement the hundreds of solid models, the author also presents numerous photographs of the actual hardware, including behind the scenes photographs taken during the assembly process.

The book opens with the usual introductory chapter which is followed with various views of the combined Lunar Module stack including both the stowed and unstowed (landing) configurations. After these sections, the author begins to graphically peel away the outer layers revealing the inner workings of this highly complex space vehicle. Every system in the vehicle is presented in fine detail and is labeled and colored coded. There are many detailed drawings of everything from the hand controller, to the shock absorbers and even includes diagrams of the propellant lines. About the only hardware that isn't shown are the electronic circuit boards and the fasteners. To further help the reader, many systems have cut-away views and each page contains supplemental text describing the hardware, how it was built and how it works.

The forty pages devoted to the Lunar Roving Vehicle are just as impressive as those that describe the LM. The solid model renderings include both the folded and stowed configuration as well as the unfolded and drivable configuration. Again everything but the nuts and bolts and electronics is shown in fine detail and includes numerous cut-away views and assembly photographs.

In addition to the text, the book contains a bonus CD which is filled with numerous photographs of the Lunar Module Test Article and the Lunar Module Simulator. The CD also contains about 2000 pages of scanned in documents and includes two operations handbook for the LM. These handbooks typically sell for hundreds of dollars at auctions.

I have worked for many years for a NASA contractor at the Johnson Space Center (formerly the Manned Spaceflight Center) and have never seen such detailed drawings of either the Apollo Command or Service Module. Even visiting a museum that has one of the leftover Lunar Modules will not provide the information that one will get in this book.

As we move farther and farther away in time from the actual events, the Apogee series of Mission Reports and detailed analysis of the Apollo hardware becomes more and more essential to the preservation of the National memory of the great space program events of the 60's and early 70's. The Virtual LM book records, for posterity, the details of the vehicle which landed 12 Americans on the moon. Many Americans alive today weren't even born, or old enough to remember those days. May this book rekindle memories for those of us who remember, and inspire a new generation to go to the moon once again. I hope there will be a follow-up volume on the Saturn launch vehicles.

This book nicely complements Virtual Apollo (also highly recommened). The detail of the Apollo LM, Rover, and PLSS presented here by Sullivan is great! It's a great design reference for anyone in the business of designing lunar spacecraft, but because it's a pictoral reference anyone can enjoy it! Internal details of the LM design are hard to come by since these articles were left on the moon so this book provides an opportunity to see the intricate details of the only human operated vehicle to land on the moon. I highly recommend this book.

This book presents hundreds of clear, detailed, full-color images of the Apollo lunar lander. It also includes some explanatory text, but the images are definitely the meat of the volume. The author clearly went to an enormous effort to be both accurate and complete, and has created a remarkable book. It's easy to find "glamour" shots of the LM online, but images that show specific mechanical details of the hatches and viewports, or the layout of the propulsion system, are a lot harder to come by.

In addition to hundreds of renderings of the LM itself, the author also created many showing the lunar rover (LRV) and the life support backpack (PLSS) worn by the astronauts. As an added bonus, the accompanying CD has photographs of many of the LM's systems, and pdf files of the Operations Handbook (think "owner's manual", about 1700 pages all told) and several related documents.

The text includes a few typos, for example referring to hatch and viewport seals as "electromeric" (which probably should be "elastomeric"). But the text is really secondary to the imagery, and overall the book is truly excellent. My only real complaint is that its companion, Virtual Apollo, is out of print and almost impossible to find, but that's hardly the author's fault.

Besides being an immensely useful reference, Virtual LM is also a work of art. You don't need to be a space expert, or even a huge space fan, to enjoy this book. It is a visually stunning look at the first (and so far only) craft to ever land humans on another world. If you have even a passing interest in spaceflight or design, Virtual LM is worth a look.

A picture really does speak a thousand words. A definite must for anyone who wants to know more about the Apollo spaceships and the LM in particular. A truly amazing piece of literature to be sure. Odds-on there will be more than one space industry designer working on the current moon projects that will have this on their home bookshelf.