The First Men on the Moon: The Story of Apollo 11 (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration) (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: lunar material, instrument unit, lunar rocks, Neil Armstrong, Mission Control, Tranquility Base (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews:

"Space historian Hartland begins with background about the astronauts and the mission, but mostly focuses on the actual time line and events of Apollo II. … The book includes an excellent selection of full-page black-and-white photographs, a section of color images, and several interesting table about the mission. The conclusion mentions the world tour taken by the Apollo II crew and some of the geological results obtained from the lunar samples. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers." (J. Z. Kiss, CHOICE, Vol. 44 (9), May, 2007)

"The First Men on the Moon is a timely clarion call to turn our eyes again to the stars (or at least the Moon and Mars). … This will be a ‘must’ for serious space buffs who want to have an archive of all the facts and figures of a pioneering mission and a nostalgic read for older buffers who fondly remember those heady days. At under £20 it is good value, well produced … ." (David Stickland, The Observatory, Vol. 127 (1200), October, 2007)

"The prolific Mr Harland is back again with this detailed account of the flight of Apollo 11. … The book is well illustrated throughout, and there’s even a nice selection of colour plates … . This is the first in series of books by Harland on each Apollo mission that will be published by Springer-Praxis in the coming years. If they are all as good as this one, then they will be welcome additions to any Apollo fan’s library." (Liftoff, Issue 238, March-April, 2007)

"I have read many books on the Apollo program … ‘The First Men on the Moon’ by David Harland is definitely on the top rung. … suitable for anyone, from a senior aerospace engineer to someone totally new to reading about space exploration, and therein resides the genius of this book: the newcomers have things methodically explained in a logical manner allowing them to understand the intricacies of the mission … . it is a very high quality product with excellent illustrations … ." (Robert I. Hedges, Customer Reviews, September, 2009)

Product Description

The First Men on the Moon offers a lively definitive account of the Apollo 11 mission based on the in-flight transcripts post-flight debriefing, with illustrative contextual pictures, especially featuring recent scans of the original Hasselblad film and including conversations among the crew in the spacecraft that were not transmitted. The introductory chapters review the motivation to land on the Moon by the end of the 1960s, the development of the Saturn V rocket and the Apollo spacecraft as the means of doing so, the selection of potential landing sites, the precursor missions, and the backgrounds of the three men who were to fly Apollo 11. The final chapters will discuss what was learned of the moonrocks, and review the follow-on missions. In addition to having many ‘small’ in-line black-and-white illustrations with the text running around them, the book features the high-resolution scans recently produced by NASA from the original Hasselblad film, reproduced in a substantial color section. David Harland's impressive expertise in, and considerable experience wriring about, the Moon landings shines through and seemlessly unites the myriad details

From the reviews of Harland's Exploring the Moon:

"A detailed guide to what the astronauts did during their stays on the lunar surface. Walk(s) the reader through the prospecting excursions and then incorporate(s) decades of subsequent analysis to put the explorations of dust, rocks, craters, and rilles into geologic context."
SKY & TELESCOPE

"Very well illustrated… All aficionados of the Apollo program will find much to appreciate in [this book].”

"…this is an interesting account of one of the most extraordinary decades in history…a very different book. David Harland probably knows more about the nuts and bolts of the Russian and American space programs than any other author and it shows.”

LUNAR & PLANETARY INFORMATION BULLETIN

Product Details

• Paperback: 380 pages
• Publisher: Praxis; 1 edition (October 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387341765
• ISBN-13: 978-0387341767
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #636,939 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The latest, but is it the greatest?, December 14, 2006

By	Dsinned (Northern California) - See all my reviews

I just picked this one up at the book store yesterday, so have not yet finished reading it. Since nobody else has yet reviewed this book, I'll volunteer to go first to make a few first observation comments.

First, this new book is quite factual and chronologically accurate. It is also very well organized, with an uncustomary, but fully detailed ToC. Atypical for such books, it has LOTS of full page photos, and illustrative figures (mostly B&W, but one whole section devoted to color of this Apollo mission). Many of the pictures are unusual in that I have yet to see them published elsewhere in similar books on the same subject. For this reason alone I recommend this new book by David Harland, "The First Men on the Moon: The Story of Apollo 11".

I'm sure it is somewhat repetitive of other books on this and other Apollo Moon Missions, but still appears much more focused on this specific amazing and most historic spaceflight. It is seemingly much more technically detailed with factual information as well. The bibliography listed references is impressive, so the author must have thoroughly researched Apollo 11 in preparing this book.

I have read (and reviewed on this website) several other excellent books on Project Apollo, particularly those written by the Astronauts and key players within Mission Control, plus watched all the currently available (DVD) videos as well. This one may turn out to surpass all other sources of information, including NASA's archives, with respect to the first Moon landing. However, I will have to return to update my review at a future date, after reading it to completion.

So far, the only criticism I have of this and other related space exploration books published by Springer Praxis, is that they are quite expensive, especially in paperback. Nevetheless, my first impression is you get what you pay for, and though paperback, this book just may DELIVER on its lofty price as an authoritative and exhaustive work, infused with much technical (and accurate) information, yet easy to read. Certainly, the wealth of picture content serves a useful purpose in complementing the actual reading material, so that it becomes more meaningful and interesting to the average reader, non-rocket science types, such as myself.

Stay tuned . . .

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent account of Apollo 11, June 11, 2007

By	David Shomper "Apollo engineer" (Boulder, CO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I worked on the Apollo 11 launch at Kennedy and therefore have a more than passing interest in the subject. This is the first book I have found that is (as far as I can tell) technically perfect. I was sorry when I ran out of book. I especially enjoyed the way Harland included the on-board voice transcripts interspersed with his explanations of what was going on. Lots of good photos and explanatory diagrams. I would rate this 10 stars if it were possible.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Same Story base, new pictures and information, March 29, 2007

By	Saturn V (Bensenville, Illinois USA) - See all my reviews

My review is similar, in part, to the first reviewee from California. I had seen this one listed but did not purchase it immediatley. I read and collect books on the Mercury to Apollo space program but I had to weigh the price-to-new-presentation format factor of this book before deciding to aquire it.
The first review was enough to make me want to get it and add it to my collection. Some new pictures, in color, were good to see. (Also noted was the fact that there are pictures of Neil Armstrong on the moon. This seems to be mis-represented in other books. The two pictures are of him in the background and not a "tourist" style shot.)
What I liked the most was the commentary between the astronauts and Mission Control. I had not read as complete of a dialoge from lift off to splash down as I had in this book. This type of material may have been covered in other books that I have not yet discovered or read, such as the NASA Mission Report book series by Robert Goodwin.
I enjoyed the layout and informative interpretation of the material. I thought that it was another good version of an "old" story.