The Lunar and Planetary Institute: http://www.lpi.usra.edu
Maintains an unparalleled resource of historical documents and lunar data. The section on the Moon contains lunar atlases, image libraries, maps, documents, and other materials related to the exploration of the Moon, past and future.
The Apollo Lunar Surface Journal: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj
Transcripts of missions operations, one of the premier documents the Apollo voyages of lunar exploration, images, videos, audios, and hundreds of other goodies. To simply call it glorious is to damn it with faint praise—exploring it merits many hours of your time.
Apollo Image Gallery: http://www.apolloarchive.com/apollo_gallery.html
The site I always go to when I need a specific digital picture from one of the Apollo missions. Organized by mission, this collection is a wonderful asset.
History of Space Policy: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/spdocs.html
A collection of various policy papers, documents, and reports that detail national policy on civil space over time.
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera Quickmap: http://target.lroc.asu.edu/q3
Web-based GIS system that allows you to view any spot on the Moon from a great distance or close-up. Overlays include nomenclature, other data sets (e.g., Mini-RF radar, topography), and even current lighting conditions. A dream site for fans of the Moon.
Film and Video
Documentaries and History
Documentary films can be an enjoyable way to absorb and understand technical information about the history of the space program and lunar exploration. The following are some of the ones that I enjoyed.
For All Mankind. 1989. National Geographic Video, 79 min.
A documentary made up of footage from all of the Apollo missions, artistically combined into a single continuous narrative on how we explored the Moon.
In the Shadow of the Moon. 2007. Discovery Films, 100 min.
The oversized role of the Apollo missions on the lives of those who flew them. Includes many interviews with the astronauts.
Moon Machines. 2008. Discovery Channel, 6 episodes, 60 min. each.
Series on the major pieces of the Apollo system—the launch vehicle, the spacecraft, and guidance computers. The history of an engineering marvel.
To the Moon. 1999. Nova, WGBH-Boston, 120 min.
The story of the Moon race of the 1960s. Includes interviews with all the principals: engineers, managers, astronauts, and scientists.
When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions. 2008. Discovery Channel, 6 episodes, 60 min. each.
Series that compiles thousands of hours of NASA film and video into a narrative of humankind’s first steps into the cosmos.
Lunar Feature Film Classics
Let us finally pay homage to the power of imagination. These movies are at the top of my list.
Destination Moon. 1950. Sinister Cinema Video, 91 min.
Based on a Robert Heinlein short story, this film, produced by George Pal, tried to “educate” the public back at the dawn of the space age about things to come. A milestone science-fiction film that includes wonderful space art by the great Chesley Bonestell. Listen to the description of the Moon by the spaceship crew and compare it to the uncannily similar words of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, only twenty years (but an emotional lifetime) later.
2001: A Space Odyssey. 1968. MGM Video, 139 min.
The ultimate space movie—philosophical, intellectual, emotional, profound. The film, a masterpiece by Stanley Kubrick, takes great pride in getting every technical detail right, even down to the subtleties of weightlessness and artificial gravity. So how come the Moon changes its phase forward, backward, and in eight-day leaps during the voyage between the space station and Clavius Base (a lousy place for a lunar outpost, by the way)? During the scene at Tycho, having the Earth appear so low on the horizon is also wrong (Tycho is at 43°S latitude, so the Earth would appear halfway between the horizon and directly overhead). Still, there’s nothing like it for the “feel” of spaceflight.
Apollo 13. 1995. Universal Pictures, 130 min.
This film, directed by Ron Howard, captures the spirit and substance of Apollo spaceflight. The space scenes are realistic (many were filmed in real “microgravity” of the NASA KC-135 aircraft) and gripping. As usual with films about the Moon (except for Destination Moon), many liberties are taken with lunar geography; for example, while flying over Tsiolkovsky, on the far side, crew says that they “can look up towards Mare Imbrium,” which is on the opposite, near side hemisphere.
From the Earth to the Moon. 1998. HBO Films, 12 episodes, 60 min. each
Excellent TV miniseries telling the saga of the Apollo program, from its birth to its end. A few clunker episodes (for example, the Apollo 13 episode focuses on the media and is pretty worthless—watch the film Apollo 13 instead).
ILLUSTRATION CREDITS
Unless listed below, tables and figures were created by the author.
Figure 1.1 LRO Camera Team, Arizona State University
Figure 2.1 LRO Camera Team, Arizona State University (Image LROC NAC M1123519889)
Figure 2.2 NASA (Image AS16–109–17804)
Figure 3.1 LRO Camera Team, Arizona State University/NASA
Figure 5.1 LRO Mini-RF Team, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/NASA
Figure 6.1 Jack Frassanito and Associates
Figure 6.2 LRO Camera Team, Arizona State University (Images LROC NAC M1101573334 and LROC NAC M1096850878)
Figure 7.1 Mark Maxwell, courtesy Skycorp, Inc.
Figure 7.2 Mark Maxwell, courtesy Skycorp, Inc.
Figure 7.3 Mark Maxwell, courtesy Skycorp, Inc.
Figure 9.1 Lunar and Planetary Institute
Figure 9.2 Mark Maxwell, courtesy Skycorp, Inc.
Figure 9.3 Jack Frassanito and Associates
INDEX
3-D printing, 6.1, 9.1
90-Day Study, 3.1, 4.1, 7.1
absorption band
Aerospace Corporation
agglutinates
aggregate (construction material), 6.1, 9.1
Aldridge, Edward (Pete), 4.1, 5.1
Aldridge Commission, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 8.1
Aldrin, Edwin Eugene “Buzz,” 2.1, 5.1
ALH84001 (meteorite), 4.1, 4.2
Altair spacecraft, 5.1, 5.2, 7.1, 9.1
Alvarez, Luis
Alvarez, Walter
America’s Space Prize
ammonia, 6.1, 9.1
anorthosite, 2.1, 3.1
Anaxagoras
Ansari X-Prize
Antarctica
antisatellite warfare (ASAT), 8.1, 8.2
Apollo Applications Program
Apollo program, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 7.1, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 9.1, 10.1; Apollo program cost, 2.6; Apollo 1 fire, 2.7, 10.2; Apollo 8, 2.8, 3.5; Apollo 11 mission, 2.9, 2.10, 3.6, 8.5; Apollo 12 mission, 2.11; Apollo 13 mission, 2.12, 2.13, 6.2; Apollo 14 mission, 2.14; Apollo 15 mission, 2.15; Apollo 16 mission, 2.16; Apollo 17 mission, 2.17, 10.3; extended (“J-missions”), 2.18; mode decision, 2.19; public support for, 2.20, 3.7, 8.6; samples, 1.2, 1.3, 2.21, 2.22, 2.23, 3.8, 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, 4.1, 6.3, 9.2; uniqueness of, 2.24
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP)
Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3
architectures, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 9.1, 10.1, 10.2
Arecibo radio telescope, 4.1, 4.2
Aristarchus of Samos
Aristarchus (crater)
Aristotle
Asteroid Return Mission (ARM)
atomic bomb, 8.1, 8.2
Augustine, Norman
Augustine Committee, 4.1, 5.1, 7.1, 9.1
Baldwin, Ralph, 2.1
basalt, 1.1, 2.1, 6.1
basins, 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1; filling, 1.3; impact melt
, 1.4
bedrock, 2.1, 9.1
bent biconic
Bhandari, Narendra
Bigelow Aerospace
Bolden, Charles, 5.1, 8.1
bombardment, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 6.1, 6.2; early, 1.2, 2.3, 6.3, 9.1; periodic, 6.4;
Bonestell, Chesley
breccia, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3; fragmental, 2.4
Brahe, Tycho
Brand, Vance
bricks
Brilliant Pebbles program, 3.1, 3.2
Buran (Soviet shuttle)
Bush, President George H. W. (“41”), 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 7.1
Bush, President George W. (“43”), 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3
carbon dioxide, 4.1, 6.1
carbon monoxide, 6.1, 9.1
carbothermal reduction
ceramics, 6.1, 9.1
Cernan, Eugene
Challenger accident, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 7.1, 8.1, 10.1
Chandrayaan-1 mission, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 9.1
Chang’E-2 mission
China, 1.1, 7.1, 8.1, 8.2; and antisatellite warfare, 8.3; and the Moon, 1.2, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6; cislunar capabilities, 7.2, 8.7, 8.8; space program, 1.3, 7.3, 8.9
chondrites
circular polarization ratio (CPR), 3.1, 4.1
cislunar space, 1.1, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 7.7, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 9.1, 9.2, 10.1; defined, 1.2; transfer stage (CTS), 7.8; value of, 1.3, 6.2, 7.9, 7.10, 8.5, 8.6, 9.3
Clarke, Arthur C.
clay, 2.1, 6.1, 6.2
Clementine mission, 1.1, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4
Clinton, President William, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3
cold traps, 1.1, 1.2, 3.1, 5.1, 6.1, 9.1
Cold War, 2.1, 3.1, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6
Collier’s, 2.1, 3.1
Colorado School of Mines
Columbia accident, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 7.1
Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB), 4.1, 4.2, 5.1
comets, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 3.1, 6.1, 9.1, 9.2
Command-Service Module (CSM), 2.1, 5.1, 6.1
Commercial Cargo and Crew program
Conrad, Pete
Constellation, Project, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 9.1
Coon Butte (see Meteor Crater)
Copernicus Crater
Copernicus, Nicholas
core, lunar, 1.1, 6.1
cosmic rays, 2.1, 6.1, 6.2
craters, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 9.1, 9.2, 10.1
Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) boundary, 1.1, 2.1
Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 7.1
Crippen, Bob
cryogenic, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 9.1
Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA)
delta-v, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 10.1
Descartes Mountains
Design Reference Mission (Mars)
differentiation, 6.1, 6.2, 9.1
Discovery program, 3.1, 4.1
Disney, Walt, 2.1
Disneyland (TV series)
deuterium
Duke, Charlie
Duke, Michael, 3.1, 4.1
dust, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1, 7.2, 9.1, 9.2
Eagle (Apollo 11 Lunar Module)
eclipse, 7.1, 10.1
Ehricke, Krafft
elements, volatile, 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3
energy, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 7.1, 8.1, 9.1, 9.2, 10.1; power beaming, 3.4, 9.3; production, 1.4, 3.5, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 6.5, 6.6, 6.7, 7.2, 9.4, 10.2; solar at poles, 1.5, 5.7, 5.8, 6.8, 7.3, 7.4, 9.5, 9.6, 10.3
entry-descent-landing (EDL) problem, 4.1, 6.1
environment, lunar, 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3; polar 12, 3.3, 4.2, 5.2, 6.4, 7.4, 7.5
erosion
eruptions, solar
eruptions, volcanic, 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 9.1
Europe, lunar missions of, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2
exploration, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 10.1, 10.2; during Apollo 15, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 8.4; field, 2.7, 2.8, 9.4; human, 2.9, 3.3, 3.4, 4.4, 4.5, 5.4, 5.5, 7.4, 8.5, 8.6, 9.5, 9.6; reconnaissance, 9.7; robotic, 5.6, 7.5, 9.8, 9.9
Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS), 5.1, 5.2
Explorer 1 mission
extinctions, 1.1, 2.1, 9.1
extravehicular activity (EVA), 1.1, 7.1, 7.2
far side of Moon, 1.1, 3.1, 3.2, 5.1, 6.1, 9.1; astronomy from, 6.2
Faster-Better-Cheaper (FBC) paradigm, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
federally funded research and development center (FFRDC)
feedstock, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, 9.1
Fiorina, Carly
Flexible Path, 5.1, 9.1
Foote, Albert
Fra Mauro
fuel, rocket (see propellant)
fusion power, 3.1, 6.1, 9.1
Gagarin, Yuri, 8.1
Galileo
Garver, Lori
Gemini program, 2.1, 3.1
Genesis rock
geological activity, 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 6.1, 9.1
geology, 2.1, 2.2, 4.1, 9.1
geosynchronous orbit (see orbit)
Gilbert, Grove Karl, 1.1, 2.1
glass, 2.1, 6.1, 9.1, 9.2; black-and-orange, 2.2; green, 2.3; pyroclastic, 2.4, 9.3
global positioning system (GPS), 7.1, 8.1, 8.2
Goddard, Robert
Goddard Space Symposium
Goldin, Daniel, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 5.1
gold rush of 1849 (California)
Goldstone radio telescope, 3.1, 4.1
Gold Team, 4.1, 5.1
Google Lunar X-Prize
Gore, Vice President Albert
Griffin, Michael, 5.1, 5.2
Hadley Rille
helium-3 (3He), 3.1, 6.1, 9.1
heavy lift vehicle, 3.1, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6
Heiss, Klaus
highlands, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 (see also terrae)
HLV (see heavy lift vehicle)
Holdren, John, 5.1, 5.2
Horowitz, Scott (“Doc”)
Houbolt, John
Hubble Space Telescope, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 8.1, 8.2, 10.1
hydrogen, 1.1, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 8.1, 9.1, 9.2, 10.1
hydrogen sulfide
Imbrium basin, 1.1, 2.1
impacts (natural), 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 9.1, 9.2
India, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2; Chandrayaan-1 mission, 3.2, 4.3, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 9.1
in situ resource utilization (ISRU), 1.1, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2
Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM)
International Space Station (ISS), 1.1, 1.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 6.1, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 10.1
Interstate Highway System
Irwin, James
Jackson, Michael, 5.1
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) mission
Joint Strike Fighter program
Kaguya (see SELENE mission)
Karman line
Keaton, Paul
Kennedy, President John F., 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 5.1, 8.1, 8.2
Kepler, Johannes, 1.1, 2.1
Kerwin, Joe
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
Kubasov, Valeri
Kuiper, Gerard
landing: lunar, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 8.1, 8.2, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3; martian, 4.1, 5.4, 6.3, 9.4; sites, 2.4, 2.5, 5.5, 5.6, 7.4, 9.5
launch: costs, 6.1, 7.1; windows, 1.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4
lava, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 6.1
L-points (Libration, Lagrangian), 4.1, 6.1, 9.1
Lavoie, Anthony (Tony), 5.1, 7.1, 7.2
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 3.1, 3.2
, 4.1
Leonov, Alexsei, 2.1, 3.1
Leshin, Laurie
Lincoln, President Abraham
life, extraterrestrial, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3
Lucian of Samosota
Luna 2 mission
lunar base (outpost), 1.1, 2.1, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 6.1
Lunar Architecture Team (LAT), 5.1, 7.1
Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE)
Lunar Base Symposium
lunar exploration, 1.1, 2.1, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, 7.1
Lunar Module (LM), 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2, 9.1
lunar orbit rendezvous
Lunar Orbiter program, 1.1, 3.1
Lunar Polar Orbiter (LPO) mission, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1
Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), 1.1, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, 9.1, 9.2
Lunar Prospector (LP) mission, 1.1, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 5.1, 5.2
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission, 1.1, 2.1, 3.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 6.1, 9.1
lunar return, 1.1, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 8.1, 8.2, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3; analogy to American West, 8.3; first steps 7.5; reasons for, 6.2, 6.3
Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) (see rover)
Lyles, Les
magnetic fields, 1.1, 2.1, 3.1, 6.1
magnetosphere
Manhattan Project
maps, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 9.1; chemical, 3.3, 5.3; geological, 2.2; gravity, 3.4; mineral, 3.5, 5.4; radar, 3.6, 4.3, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7; topographic, 3.7
Marburger, John, 4.1, 5.1, 8.1
Mare Nectaris
maria, 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 6.1, 6.2; ages of, 1.3, 1.4, 6.3; scarcity on far side, 1.5
Mars, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1, 7.2, 9.1, 9.2, 10.1; Design Reference Mission (DRM), 2.5; Direct, 4.4, 4.5; distance from earth, 6.4; human missions to, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 3.5, 3.6, 4.6, 4.7, 4.8, 5.9, 5.10, 5.11, 5.12, 5.13, 5.14, 5.15, 5.16, 6.5, 6.6; life on, 4.9, 4.10, 5.17, 6.7; meteorites on, 4.11; requirements for colonization, 4.12, 4.13, 5.18, 5.19, 5.20, 6.8, 6.9, 6.10, 7.3, 7.4, 10.2; robotic missions to, 3.7, 3.8, 4.14, 4.15, 5.21, 6.11, 9.3, 9.4, 10.3; Shergottite-Nahklite-Chassignite (SNC), 4.16
The Value of the Moon Page 27