Apollo 19: The Final Lunar Mission

by Todd Fries

According to history as we know it, Apollo 17 was the last manned mission to the Moon. However, the truth may be far different. When Luna 12 was launched, it captured some of the first photos of the lunar surface and within those, a grainy image appeared, which was confirmed by future Apollo missions as being an archaeological site of incredible interest to mankind. Amidst a veil of secrecy, the US and the Soviets conspired to explore the location at any cost, sending a team to the Moon, to excavate, document and retrieve artifacts of great value. In 1975, using the Apollo/Soyuz mission as a distraction, they executed one of the greatest adventures of discovery in human history. Fresh off of the Apollo Moon missions, the infrastructure and equipment were still in place to achieve the goal, and amidst a perfect storm of coincidence and opportunity, they took a giant leap into the unknown. The only evidence? An object named 2010 KQ. It is a smoking gun that remains in solar orbit, as an unwelcome reminder of this politically charged battle for control of information, which could have changed the balance of world power at the time. While the mission was a success, the needs of the time dictated a policy of absolute secrecy. This story reveals their intriguing saga of courage and hope. Join their adventure as they travel into the unknown, searching for the answer to one of the greatest questions of mankind. Are we alone?

332 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 3, 2016

Reviews

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm being very generous giving this book 3 stars. It has a very interesting premise and the plot is intriguing. However, the editing is atrocious.

Did anyone, even the author, bother to edit this? Grammatical errors, misspellings, punctuation, and factual errors are throughout the book. Spell check is a tool, use it.

SPOILER ALERT Continuing on, the Apollo-Soyuz astronauts were mentioned by name 3 times in the book, twice they were incorrect. The characters were very flat and were portrayed as if they were random people pulled off the street to go to the moon. What time frame are we looking at? The astronauts of that period were highly intelligent, confident, and capable. Not so much with these three. It seemed as if they were just winging it. Another point that got me was that the LMP flew the LM to the moon's surface. Really? The CDR didn't do it like on all of the other Apollo missions? Also, the astronauts "decided" on the moon that the CDR would be the first out. This was not an option on the LM as the door swung inward and it was physically impossible for the LMP to be the first out. Later in the book the LMP was the first out. Again, an impossibility if the CDR and LMP were in their stations.

I plowed through the book as I'm interested in this genre and there are so few books available. If you can get past the poor editing, lack of solid characters, and way more fiction than science, you may enjoy this.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story! I loved reading it and there were times I didn't want to put it down. It does need an editor to fix some issues but in spite of that this is a great book. While the science may not be on par with Andy Weir's "The Martian", I thought the story was right up there. I would love to see this made into a movie! It looks like Todd is planning a sequel, I'll definitely be looking for it!