———. The Rocket’s Red Glare. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press, 1976.
von Braun, Wernher, and Frederick I. Ordway III. History of Rocketry and Space Travel. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1966.
Von Ehrenfried, Dutch. The Birth of NASA. Chichester, UK: Springer-Praxis. 2016.
Wagener, Leon. One Giant Leap: Neil Armstrong’s Stellar American Journey. New York: Forge, 2004.
Ward, Bob. Dr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2005.
Ward, Jonathan H. Countdown to a Moon Launch. Chichester, UK: Springer-Praxis, 2015.
———. Rocket Ranch. Chichester, UK: Springer-Praxis, 2015.
Watkins, Billy. Apollo Moon Missions: The Unsung Heroes. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2006.
Wendt, Guenter, and Russell Still. The Unbroken Chain. Burlington, Canada: Apogee Books, 2001.
Wilford, John Noble. We Reach the Moon. New York: Bantam, 1969.
Wilson, Andrew. Solar System Log. London: Jane’s Publishing, 1987.
Wolfe, Tom. The Right Stuff. New York: Bantam Books, 1980.
Worden, Al, and Francis French. Falling to Earth. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books, 2011.
Young, Hugo, Bryan Silcock, and Peter Dunn. Journey to Tranquility. New York: Doubleday, 1970.
Young, John, and James Hansen. Forever Young: A Life of Adventure in Air and Space. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2012.
Zimmerman, Robert. Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8. New York: Dell, 1999.
Articles
Agle, D. C. “Flying the Gusmobile.” Air and Space (September 1998).
———. “Riding the Titan II.” Air and Space (September 1998).
———. “We Called It the Bug.” Air and Space (September 2001).
“Armstrong Recalls Moon Landing Details.” Aviation Week, October 13, 1969.
Bledsoe, Jerry. “Down from Glory.” Esquire (January 1973).
Bogo, Jennifer. “Blasting Off the Moon’s Surface.” Popular Mechanics (May 2009).
———, et al. “No Margin for Error: The Untold Story of Apollo 11.” Popular Mechanics (June 2009).
Chaikin, Andrew. “Apollo’s Worst Day.” Air and Space (November 2016).
———. “Bob Gilruth, the Quiet Force Behind Apollo.” Air and Space (March 2016).
———. “How the Spaceship Got Its Shape.” Air and Space (November 2009).
Chow, Denise. “Mystery of Moon’s Lumpy Gravity Explained.” Space.com, May 30, 2013.
Cooper, Henry, S. F. “Annals of Space: We Don’t Have to Prove Ourselves.” New Yorker, September 2, 1991.
Day, Dwayne. “Chasing Shadows: Apollo 8 and the CIA.” Space Review, April 11, 2016.
———. “The Moon in the Crosshairs: CIA Monitoring of the Soviet Manned Lunar Program.” 4 parts. Space Review, December 14, 2015; December 21, 2015; January 4, 2016; January 11, 2016.
———. “Webb’s Giant.” Space Review, July 19, 2004.
Dille, John. “We Who Tried.” Life, May 10, 1963.
Evans, Ben. “Open-Ended: What 1967 Might Have Been.” AmericaSpace.com, February 7, 2015.
French, Francis. “I Worked with NASA, Not for NASA: An Interview with Astronaut Walter ‘Wally’ Schirra.” CollectSPACE.com, February 22, 2002.
Glenn, John. “If You’re Shook Up, You Shouldn’t Be There.” Life, March 9, 1962.
Grissom, Virgil. “If It Goes Wrong I’ll Be Responsible.” Life, June 4, 1964.
Harvey, Brian. “The 1963 Soviet Space Platform Project.” Quest (Fall 1993).
Hedman, Eric. “The Best Reason to Go to Mars.” Space Review, September 6, 2016.
Hix, Lisa. “Laika and Her Comrades: The Soviet Dogs Who Took Giant Leaps for Mankind.” Collector’s Weekly, January 23, 2015.
Houbolt, John C. “Lunar Rendezvous.” International Science and Technology 14 (February 1963).
Kurtzman, Cliff. “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: What I Learned From Max Faget and Joe Allen.” AdAstro.com, October 19, 2004.
Lamb, Lawrence E. “Aeronautical Evaluation for Space Pilots.” Lectures in Aerospace Medicine, February 3–7, 1964.
Lang, Daniel. “A Reporter at Large: A Romantic Urge.” New Yorker, April 21, 1951.
Launius, Roger D. “Heroes in a Vacuum: The Apollo Astronaut as Cultural Icon.” Florida Historical Quarterly 87 (Fall 2008).
Lear, John. “The Hidden Perils of a Lunar Landing.” Saturday Review, June 7, 1969.
Logsdon, John M. “Selecting the Way to the Moon: The Choice of the Lunar Orbital Rendezvous Mode.” Aerospace Historian 17 (June 1971).
Mallon, Thomas. “Moon Walker.” New Yorker, October 3, 2005.
McMichael, W. Pate. “Losing the Moon.” St. Louis, July 28, 2006.
Oberg, James E. “Max Faget, Master Builder.” Omni (April 1995).
———. “Russia Meant to Win the Moon Race.” Spaceflight 17 (May 1975).
Pesavento, Peter. “A Review of Rumoured Launch Failures in the Soviet Manned Program, Part 2: The Lunar Project/1968–1969.” Journal of the British Interplanetary Society 4, no. 9 (September 1990).
Pyle, Rod. “Apollo 11’s Scariest Moments: Perils of the 1st Manned Lunar Landing.” Space.com, July 21, 2014.
Reichardt, Tony. “The Luna 1 Hoax Hoax.” Air and Space (January 2013).
Sawyer, Kathy. “Neil Armstrong’s Hard Bargain with Fame.” Washington Post Magazine, July 11, 1999.
Schanche, Don. “The Astronauts Get Their Prodigious Chariot.” Life, December 14, 1969.
Shepard, Alan, Jr. “The First Step to the Moon.” American Heritage 45, no. 4 (July/August 1994).
Siddiqi, Asif. “A Secret Uncovered.” Spaceflight 46 (May 2004).
Smith, Morgan. “Can You Survive in Space Without a Spacesuit?” Slate, August 1, 2007.
Teitel, Amy Shira. “Mercury Astronaut Scott Carpenter and the Controversy Surrounding Aurora 7.” Popular Science, October 13, 2013.
Vick, Charles, and Dwayne Day. “A Taste of Armageddon.” Parts 1 and 2. Space Review, January 3 and 8, 2017.
Vine, Katy. “Walking on the Moon.” Texas Monthly (July 2009).
von Braun, Wernher. “Space Travel and Our Technological Revolution.” Missiles and Rockets (July 1957).
Wasser, Alan. “LBJ’s Space Race: What We Didn’t Know Then.” Space Review, June 20, 2005.
Wentworth, J. Jason. “A History of Surveyor.” Quest (Winter 1993).
White, Ron. “It’s Time to Go.” Quest (Summer/Fall 1994).
———. “The Right Stuff, the Wrong Story.” Quest (Fall 1993).
Wilson, Keith T. “Mercury Atlas 10: A Mission Not Flown.” Quest (Winter 1993).
Young, Anthony. “Apollo 10: ‘To Sort Out the Unknowns.’” Space Review, May 16, 2016.
Online Resources
AirSpaceMag.com
AmericaSpace.com
CollectSPACE.com
Davis-Floyd, Robbie, and Kenneth J. Cox. 2000. Space Stories: Oral Histories from the Pioneers of America’s Space Program, a set of interviews resulting from an oral history project carried out under the auspices of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the NASA Alumni League, and Johnson Space Center. Interviewees include Paul Dembling, author of the 1958 Space Act; Eilene Galloway, senior specialist in space research for the Library of Congress, 1956–1975; Chris Kraft, Apollo engineer and director of Johnson Space Center; Caldwell Johnson, designer and draftsman for the early space program; Guy Thibodaux, rocket scientist; Max Faget, father of spacecraft design; and Paul Purser, former manager, Langley Research Center. The full texts of the edited interviews appear at www.davis-floyd.com.
Encyclopedia Astronautica (Mark Wade)
Eyles, Don. “Tales from the Lunar Module Guidance Computer.” NASA Office of Logic Design, 2004.
Jones, Eric M. “The First Lunar Landing.” Apollo 11 Lunar Surface Journal, 1995. Last revised July 7, 2016.
thespacereview.com
Thibodaux, Josep
h, Jr. “Reflections of Joseph ‘Guy’ Thibodaux Jr.” www.lsu.edu/eng/docs/HOD/joseph_thibodaux.pdf
Magazines
Aerospace Historian
Air and Space
Astronautics and Aeronautics
Aviation Week
Life
Look
Missiles and Rockets
Newsweek
Popular Mechanics
Quest
Space News Roundup
Spaceflight
Space Review
Time
Papers, Reports, Memoranda, Et Cetera
Cheatham, Donald C., and Floyd Bennett. “Apollo Lunar Mobile Landing Strategy,” in Apollo Lunar Landing Symposium, June 25–27, 1966. NASA Technical Memorandum X-58006. Washington, DC: NASA, 1966.
Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. “United States and Soviet Progress in Space: Summary Data Through 1979 and a Forward Look.” Report Prepared for the Subcommittee on Space Sciences and Applications of the Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives, Ninety-Sixth Congress, Second Session. Washington, DC, April 1980.
Gemini Program Mission Report: Gemini VIII. Washington, DC: NASA, 1966.
Kraft, Christopher C., Jr. Robert R. Gilruth, 1913–2000. Washington, DC: National Academics Press, 2003.
Landis, Geoffrey A. “Human Exposure to Vacuum.” GeoffreyLandis.com, August 7, 2007.
Mercury Project Summary, Including the Results of the Fourth Manned Orbital Flight, May 15–16, 1963. Washington, DC: NASA, October 1963.
“Report of Apollo 204 Review Board.” NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.
Results of the First U.S. Manned Suborbital Space Flight. Washington, DC: NASA, 1961.
Results of the First United States Manned Orbital Space Flight. Washington, DC: NASA, 1962.
Results of the Second U.S. Manned Suborbital Space Flight. Washington, DC: NASA, 1961.
Results of the Second United States Manned Orbital Space Flight. Washington, DC: NASA, 1962.
Results of the Third United States Manned Orbital Space Flight. Washington, DC: NASA, 1962.
Sheldon, Charles S. “The Soviet Challenge in Space.” NASA Technical Memorandum, TM-X-53518. Huntsville, AL, September 15, 1966.
Voas, Robert B. “Project Mercury: A Description of the Astronaut’s Task in Project Mercury.” Presented at the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Human Factors Society, Boston, MA, September 14, 1960.
von Braun, Wernher. “Concluding Remarks by Dr. Wernher von Braun about Mode Selection for the Lunar Landing Program,” June 7, 1962, Lunar-Orbit Rendezvous File, NASA History Reference Collection, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.
Other
Friedlander, Charles D. and Diane M. Friedlander. Chuck and Diane Friedlander Memoirs. Privately published manuscript.
Kraft, Christopher C., Jr. “The View from Mission Control.” Unpublished manuscript. Christopher C. Kraft Papers, Virginia Tech.
Sherrod, Robert. Untitled manuscript on the history of NASA. Sherrod Archives, NASA History Office, Washington, DC.
Williams, Walter. “Go!” Unpublished manuscript. NASA History Office, Washington, DC.
Interviews
John Aaron
Buzz Aldrin
Steve Bales
Alan Bean
Ed Buckbee
Bob Carlton
Jerry Carr
Maurice Carson
Michael Collins
Maddie Aldrin Crowell
Walt Cunningham
Jerry Elliot
Chuck Friedlander
Jack Garman
Dick Gordon
Fred Haise
Bill Helms
Al Jackson
Sy Liebergot
Jim Lovell
Ken Mattingly
Edgar Mitchell
Sam Ruiz
Joe Schmitt
Rusty Schweickart
Reuben Taylor
Tom Weichel
Al Worden
Photos
Sputnik 1, launched on October 4, 1957, by the USSR, weighed a mere 184 pounds. The beachball- size sphere was the first artificial satellite, and its launch triggered the space race. (All photos courtesy NASA unless otherwise indicated)
On November 3, 1957, a month after Sputnik 1 went up, the first living being to orbit the Earth was launched into space aboard Sputnik 2. Laika died within hours from overheating and stress.
in The V-2 rocket developed by Wernher von Braun’s team at Peenemünde was the first longrange guided ballistic missile. (Author's Collection)
The V-2 was capable of inflicting horrific damage—this photo shows the results of the last one to hit London, on March 27, 1945. (Author’s collection)
Von Braun (center, with cast) surrendered to the U.S. Army on May 2, 1945. At left is Charles Stewart, CIC agent; Magnus von Braun is at right in leather jacket. The others are members of von Braun’s rocket team.
When von Braun and his rocketeers were brought into the U.S. as part of Operation Paperclip (above, with von Braun in the first row, seventh from the right), they spent years assembling and launching V-2s, built from parts shipped from Germany, and improving their rocket expertise. The Redstone and Jupiter missiles were essentially larger V-2s with extra stages.
On January 31, 1958, von Braun’s Redstone launched the first American satellite, Explorer 1. At a celebratory press conference, von Braun (right) raises a model of the rocket with Jet Propulsion Laboratory director William Pickering (left) and scientist James Van Allen.
Bob Gilruth (right), an inspiring manager as well as a brilliant aeronautical engineer, was picked to head the fledgling Space Task Group; Chris Kraft (left), who did more than anyone to create the space-age Mission Control Center, was among its first members.
The idiosyncratic designer Max Faget, seen here in his navy whites during World War II, when he served as executive officer on a submarine. (Courtesy Carol Faget)
The Mercury Seven, the test pilots chosen to battle the Red Menace (from left to right): Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton.
Once the astronauts began staying at the Cape’s Starlite Motel, with its spacethemed lounge, it quickly became a Cocoa Beach hot spot. (Author’s collection)
Nurse Dee O’Hara, seen here with John Glenn, was hired to attend to the Mercury Seven’s medical needs. She stayed with the manned spaceflight program through the early seventies.
Sergei Korolev (left), shown here in 1956 with academician Mstislav Keldysh, was the lead rocket engineer and spacecraft designer for the Soviet space program until his untimely death in January 1966. Keldysh would later play a part in the Apollo 8 mission. (Alamy)
The diminutive (five-two) Yuri Gagarin (left), shown here with Korolev, was the first human in space and, on April 12, 1961, in Vostok 1, the first to orbit the Earth. (Author’s collection)
Headlines like this one blared from every newspaper in the U.S. the next morning. (Author’s collection)
Ham was one of several chimps who flew into space before their astronaut counterparts. His January 31, 1961, flight on a Mercury-Redstone assured NASA officials that it would be safe for a human to fly.
On May 5, 1961—twenty-five days after Gagarin’s flight—Alan Shepard became the first American in space. His Mercury craft Freedom 7 was boosted into space by one of von Braun’s Redstone rockets. Shepard reached an altitude of 101 miles in a flight that lasted fifteen minutes.
Three days later, President John F. Kennedy presented Shepard with NASA’s Distinguished Service Medal in a Rose Garden ceremony at the White House. NASA administrator Jim Webb, at Kennedy’s left shoulder, looks on.
On May 25, 1961, three weeks after Shepard’s successful mission, President Kennedy stood before Congress and threw down a massive challenge: “This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon an
d returning him safely to the earth.”
Suit technician Joe Schmitt (left) prepares Gus Grissom for his July 21, 1961, Liberty Bell 7 mission, a virtual repeat of Shepard’s fifteen-minute flight.
Mercury Control Center at Cape Canaveral, here seen during John Glenn’s February 20, 1962, flight, was a relatively simple setup. The mission’s three orbits are plotted on the screen.
Scott Carpenter’s May 24, 1962, mission was essentially the same as Glenn’s, but Carpenter ran afoul of Chris Kraft, who vowed he would never fly again. Carpenter never did.
Wally Schirra, seen here with pad leader Guenter Wendt, “Der Pad Führer,” flew his Sigma 7, a textbook engineering flight, on October 3, 1962
Only Cooper’s superb piloting allowed Faith 7 to splash down safely on May 16, 1963, after urine short-circuited several systems.
Valentina Tereshkova, a former textile-factory worker and amateur skydiver, was chosen from five “cosmonettes” to be the first woman in space on Vostok 6, launched June 16, 1963. Before the flight, she was inducted as a lieutenant into the Soviet air force and later promoted to the rank of major (as shown here, in 1969). (Courtesy RIA Novosti)
“Missile Row” in 1964 on the Cape’s Merritt Island, looking north. NASA shared Cape Canaveral with the air force, and the first few (lower) sites visible were air force nuclear launchpads, followed by Mercury and Gemini sites, with midconstruction Apollo complexes in the far distance.
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