From the Back Cover
The Apollo Spacecraft: Evolution, Engineering, and Flight Operations' is the definitive description of the spacecraft and the technologies used for the journey to the Moon. The spacecraft that eventually landed on the Moon did not spring fully formed because of Kennedy's May 1961 challenge. 'The Apollo Spacecraft' begins by tracing its origins from 1959 when contract bids were already being prepared for a lunar spacecraft. Caught unprepared for a full lunar landing mission, von Braun and other NASA engineers recognized that the spacecraft already under development could never be reconciled with the mission architectures under consideration. Changing the mission architecture and introducing a new spacecraft, the Lunar Module, threw the development of the Apollo CSM into a lurch by requiring significant modifications to the vehicle. The resulting spacecraft, while pushing the limits of the possible, became a complex set of compromises. By tracking the spacecraft's development with its numerous fits and false starts, 'Apollo Spacecrafts' describes how the final mission design and flight operations reflected these early engineering decisions.
About the Author
Throughout his teenage years watching the Apollo missions, Frank O'Brien was extraordinarily fortunate to have access to the complete set of Apollo technical manuals. These documents, coupled with taking several engineering courses in college, allowed him to understand the design and operation of the spacecraft on an especially detailed level. In the mid-1990's, O'Brien discovered Eric Jones's Apollo Lunar Surface Journal and began contributing both technical information and stand-alone articles on spacecraft systems and flight operations. Over time, O'Brien established himself as an authority on both the Lunar Module and the Apollo Guidance Computer. Soon afterwards, he was an early editor of the Apollo Flight Journal and David Woods, expanding the Apollo Journal equity from lunar surface operations to the entire mission. With this background, O'Brien assisted the curatorial staff at the Cradle of Aviation Museum, preparing their Lunar Module simulators for exhibit. He provided technical assistance for a Lunar Module simulator program (EagleLander 3D) and advisor/digital content creator for Virtual Lunar Module (2004, Apogee Press). O'Brien now manages an Apollo Guidance Computer exhibit at the Infoage Science/History Center, and regularly lectures on computer and space related topics to diverse groups, from NASA's computer engineering conferences, the IEEE/ACM, computer festivals and university student groups. His latest book, "The Apollo Guidance Computer" was published by Springer in 2010.
