One giant leap : the impossible mission that flew us to the Moon / Charles Fishman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fishman, Charles, 1961- author.

Contributor:

Class of 1924 Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Project Apollo (U.S.)--History.

Project Apollo (U.S.).

Space flight to the Moon--History.

Space flight to the Moon.

Space flight to the moon.

History.

Cloth or Hardcover.

Technology & Industrial Arts.

Aeronautics & Astronautics.

Space Science.

United States--20th Century.

Local Subjects:

Cloth or Hardcover.

Technology & Industrial Arts.

Aeronautics & Astronautics.

Space Science.

United States--20th Century.

Physical Description:

xiii, 464 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Simon & Schuster, 2019.

Summary:

Shares the story of the remarkable NASA scientists and engineers who created America's space program and fulfilled President Kennedy's mandate to put a man on the Moon before 1970.

"President John F. Kennedy astonished the world on May 25, 1961, when he announced to Congress that the United States should land a man on the Moon by 1970. No group was more surprised than the scientists and engineers at NASA, who suddenly had less than a decade to invent space travel. When Kennedy announced that goal, no one knew how to navigate to the Moon. No one knew how to build a rocket big enough to reach the Moon, or how to build a computer small enough (and powerful enough) to fly a spaceship there. No one knew what the surface of the Moon was like, or what astronauts could eat as they flew there. On the day of Kennedy's historic speech, America had a total of fifteen minutes of spaceflight experience--with just five of those minutes outside the atmosphere. Russian dogs had more time in space than U.S. astronauts. Over the next decade, more than 400,000 scientists, engineers, and factory workers would send 24 astronauts to the Moon. Each hour of space flight would require one million hours of work back on Earth to get America to the Moon on July 20, 1969. Fifty years later, One Giant Leap is the sweeping, definitive behind-the-scenes account of the furious race to complete one of mankind's greatest achievements. It's a story filled with surprises--from the item the astronauts almost forgot to take with them (the American flag), to the extraordinary impact Apollo would have back on Earth, and on the way we live today. Charles Fishman introduces readers to the men and women who had to solve 10,000 problems before astronauts could reach the Moon. From the research labs of MIT, where the eccentric and legendary pioneer Charles Draper created the tools to fly the Apollo spaceships, to the factories where dozens of women sewed spacesuits, parachutes, and even computer hardware by hand, Fishman captures the exceptional feats of these ordinary Americans. One Giant Leap is the captivating story of men and women charged with changing the world as we knew it--their leaders, their triumphs, their near disasters, all of which led to arguably the greatest success story, and the greatest adventure story, of the twentieth century."--Dust jacket.

President John F. Kennedy astonished the world on May 25, 1961, when he announced to Congress that the United States should land a man on the Moon by 1970. No group was more surprised than the scientists and engineers at NASA, who suddenly had less than a decade to invent space travel. Over the next decade, more than 400,000 scientists, engineers, and factory workers would send 24 astronauts to the Moon. Each hour of space flight would require one million hours of work back on Earth to get America to the Moon on July 20, 1969. Fishman provides a behind-the-scenes account of the furious race to complete one of mankind's greatest achievements. -- adapted from jacket

Contents:

Preface: The mystery of moondust

Tranquility Base & the world we all live in

The Moon to the rescue

"The full speed of freedom"

The fourth crew member

The man who saved Apollo

JFK's secret space tapes

How do you fly to the moon?

NASA almost forgets the flag

How Apollo really did change the world.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [423]-445) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Class of 1924 Book Fund.

ISBN:

9781501106293

1501106295

OCLC:

1103313680