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Apollo to the Moon: A History in 50 Objects
A celebration of the 50th anniversary of NASA's Apollo missions to the moon, this narrative uses 50 key artifacts from the Smithsonian archives to tell the story of the groundbreaking space exploration program.
Bold photographs, fascinating graphics, and engaging stories commemorate the 20th century's most important space NASA's Apollo program to reach the moon. From the lunar rover and a survival kit to space food and moon rocks, it's a carefully curated array of objects--complete with intriguing back stories and profiles of key participants.
This book showcases the historic space exploration program that landed humans on the moon, advanced the world's capabilities for space travel, and revolutionized our sense of humanity's place in the universe. Each historic accomplishment is symbolized by a different object, from a Russian stamp honoring Yuri Gagarin and plastic astronaut action figures to the Apollo 11 command module, piloted by Michael Collins as Armstrong and Aldrin made the first moonwalk, together with the monumental art inspired by these moon missions. Throughout, Apollo to the Moon also tells the story of people who made the journey the heroic astronauts as well as their supporters, including President John F. Kennedy, newsman Walter Cronkite, and NASA scientists such as Margaret Hamilton.
Bold photographs, fascinating graphics, and engaging stories commemorate the 20th century's most important space NASA's Apollo program to reach the moon. From the lunar rover and a survival kit to space food and moon rocks, it's a carefully curated array of objects--complete with intriguing back stories and profiles of key participants.
This book showcases the historic space exploration program that landed humans on the moon, advanced the world's capabilities for space travel, and revolutionized our sense of humanity's place in the universe. Each historic accomplishment is symbolized by a different object, from a Russian stamp honoring Yuri Gagarin and plastic astronaut action figures to the Apollo 11 command module, piloted by Michael Collins as Armstrong and Aldrin made the first moonwalk, together with the monumental art inspired by these moon missions. Throughout, Apollo to the Moon also tells the story of people who made the journey the heroic astronauts as well as their supporters, including President John F. Kennedy, newsman Walter Cronkite, and NASA scientists such as Margaret Hamilton.
304 pages, Hardcover
Published October 30, 2018
7 people are currently reading
139 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
November 19, 2018
I'll never forget the year my middle brother broke his arm. We were at an aunt's house for a Sunday lunch. All it took was a bunk bed and a little too much horseplay. What should have been a fun-filled summer of swimming and beach going was halted by an enormous plaster cast that extended from his wrist all the way to his shoulder. Ever the optimist, my dad canceled our beach vacation, piled us into the family car, and drove us to Houston to tour the Johnson Space Center. It was a summer vacation that I'll always cherish.
Years later, I find myself living in the city that was the home to the famed Mission Control for all of those years. With the privatization of space travel, the once vibrant hub of exploration has become a mere vestige of its former self. The large facilities that housed a myriad of training sequences and high-tech equipment for astronauts have given way to simple museum exhibits that don't really capture the real magic of what used to be there. Fifty years after the first manned mission to the moon, we must turn to books to try to grasp the enormity of that history.
In Apollo to the Moon: A History in 50 Objects, Teasel E Muir-Harmony takes on the daunting task of chronicling the history of that famous space mission. The book focuses upon 50 specific objects. Each one is accompanied by vivid photographs, first-hand accounts, and detailed descriptions of their origin/significance. There isn't an overarching narrative to the presentation of the objects, which can sometimes make the book more of a textbook than narrative history. Still, the focus on the people behind the project gives a human touch to the sprawling mission and the objects. While a book can never truly provide the same experience as seeing historical artifacts firsthand or witnessing the history unfold, this one does a fine enough job in relating the events and massive effort of the space program.
Years later, I find myself living in the city that was the home to the famed Mission Control for all of those years. With the privatization of space travel, the once vibrant hub of exploration has become a mere vestige of its former self. The large facilities that housed a myriad of training sequences and high-tech equipment for astronauts have given way to simple museum exhibits that don't really capture the real magic of what used to be there. Fifty years after the first manned mission to the moon, we must turn to books to try to grasp the enormity of that history.
In Apollo to the Moon: A History in 50 Objects, Teasel E Muir-Harmony takes on the daunting task of chronicling the history of that famous space mission. The book focuses upon 50 specific objects. Each one is accompanied by vivid photographs, first-hand accounts, and detailed descriptions of their origin/significance. There isn't an overarching narrative to the presentation of the objects, which can sometimes make the book more of a textbook than narrative history. Still, the focus on the people behind the project gives a human touch to the sprawling mission and the objects. While a book can never truly provide the same experience as seeing historical artifacts firsthand or witnessing the history unfold, this one does a fine enough job in relating the events and massive effort of the space program.
January 14, 2019
I’ve read a lot of books on the Apollo program, and after a while you start to hear the same stories and information over and over and over again. Apollo to the Moon contains a fair bit of familiar stuff, but it also includes a ton of tidbits I hadn’t heard before. Its fun structure—a list of 50 short essays, each centered on a specific Apollo-era artifact from the Smithsonian’s collections—lets the author focus on some neat niches that you don’t see anywhere else. That also means you get a bunch of great images of those artifacts!
March 20, 2019
Great resource for anyone interested in the Apollo Program who wants to get a solid overview.
April 3, 2019
Great book with beautiful photographs and great short articles about each object.
December 17, 2018
Fifty key objects, selected from the collection of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, represent the momentous enterprise that took America’s astronauts to the lunar surface. Each of the fifty sections offer readers full-color pictures of the related artifact and includes detailed information about the chosen artifact and its place in the overall history of manned spaceflight.
From the connection between the Wright Brothers airplane and Apollo 11 to the Apollo 11 F-1 Engine Parts, In recognition of the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, readers can explore the connection between the Wright Brothers airplane and Apollo 11 or take a close look at the Apollo 11 F-1 Engine Parts. Each artifact carries with it a unique story; the book also contains an Apollo timeline and suggestions for further reading. In addition, the Barnes and Noble Special Edition contains stickers [accompanied by a brief mission overview] for twelve Apollo missions. Readers are certain to find much to enjoy in this unputdownable book from National Geographic and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
Highly recommended.
From the connection between the Wright Brothers airplane and Apollo 11 to the Apollo 11 F-1 Engine Parts, In recognition of the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, readers can explore the connection between the Wright Brothers airplane and Apollo 11 or take a close look at the Apollo 11 F-1 Engine Parts. Each artifact carries with it a unique story; the book also contains an Apollo timeline and suggestions for further reading. In addition, the Barnes and Noble Special Edition contains stickers [accompanied by a brief mission overview] for twelve Apollo missions. Readers are certain to find much to enjoy in this unputdownable book from National Geographic and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
Highly recommended.
April 11, 2024
As we approach the 50th anniversary of the lunar landing, National Geographic gives us an illustrative book about this landmark event, filled with photographs and information about America's journey to the moon.
This book opens with a foreword from Michael Collins, a Gemini 10 and Apollo 11 pilot and the director of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum from 1971 to 1978. He is the photographer who took one of the most iconic images of space exploration, showing the Apollo 11 lunar module above the moon's surface with Earth in the background; a photo which Collins named "Three Billion Plus Two". Collins provides a good introduction to this book, effectively summarizing the space program and some of the key individuals involved in space travel. He acts as a reliable narrator of the early days of space travel.
This book is divided into nine sections: The Early Days, New Challenges, The Assembly, Liftoff!, In Flight Moonwalking, Lunar Science, Overcoming Catastrophe, and Return to Earth. Each section begins with an introduction and is filled with artifacts pertinent to that stage of the space program. Quite appropriately the first artifact following Collins's foreword is a plaque containing fabric and a piece of wood from the plane of the Wright Brothers that took flight in 1903, the fragments of which Neil Armstrong took with him into space aboard the lunar module Eagle in July 1969, on that famous flight that put man on the moon.
Some of the artifacts in the book are a given, things like the Vanguard TV-3 Satellite, the first satellite launch that failed spectacularly in 1957 following the equally successful launch by Russia of their first satellite Sputnik. Or the Freedom 7 Mercury Capsule, which launched the first American into space on May 5, 1961.
Some items are more intimate and personal, like the Ansco camera that John Glenn bought at a drug store and used to catch photos from space in 1962, or the "Urine Collection and Transfer Assembly" that was used by astronauts on the Apollo 11 flight for...well, urine collection during space travel. And the museum collection includes the more mundane, like small plastic toy astronauts and lunar roving vehicles from the '70s.
At the end of the book you will find a detailed Apollo timeline, as well as further reading suggestions.
My final word: This book is essential to anyone interested in the history of the space program. It's tough to do a book like this and not have it feel like a text book. This one walks that line. It's informative, but it also humanizes the artifacts and offers you a personal look inside space exploration. A wealth of knowledge and a little better understanding of why we did what we did and how America became the first to put a man on the moon, while acknowledging its failures and embarrassments along the way.
This book opens with a foreword from Michael Collins, a Gemini 10 and Apollo 11 pilot and the director of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum from 1971 to 1978. He is the photographer who took one of the most iconic images of space exploration, showing the Apollo 11 lunar module above the moon's surface with Earth in the background; a photo which Collins named "Three Billion Plus Two". Collins provides a good introduction to this book, effectively summarizing the space program and some of the key individuals involved in space travel. He acts as a reliable narrator of the early days of space travel.
This book is divided into nine sections: The Early Days, New Challenges, The Assembly, Liftoff!, In Flight Moonwalking, Lunar Science, Overcoming Catastrophe, and Return to Earth. Each section begins with an introduction and is filled with artifacts pertinent to that stage of the space program. Quite appropriately the first artifact following Collins's foreword is a plaque containing fabric and a piece of wood from the plane of the Wright Brothers that took flight in 1903, the fragments of which Neil Armstrong took with him into space aboard the lunar module Eagle in July 1969, on that famous flight that put man on the moon.
Some of the artifacts in the book are a given, things like the Vanguard TV-3 Satellite, the first satellite launch that failed spectacularly in 1957 following the equally successful launch by Russia of their first satellite Sputnik. Or the Freedom 7 Mercury Capsule, which launched the first American into space on May 5, 1961.
Some items are more intimate and personal, like the Ansco camera that John Glenn bought at a drug store and used to catch photos from space in 1962, or the "Urine Collection and Transfer Assembly" that was used by astronauts on the Apollo 11 flight for...well, urine collection during space travel. And the museum collection includes the more mundane, like small plastic toy astronauts and lunar roving vehicles from the '70s.
At the end of the book you will find a detailed Apollo timeline, as well as further reading suggestions.
My final word: This book is essential to anyone interested in the history of the space program. It's tough to do a book like this and not have it feel like a text book. This one walks that line. It's informative, but it also humanizes the artifacts and offers you a personal look inside space exploration. A wealth of knowledge and a little better understanding of why we did what we did and how America became the first to put a man on the moon, while acknowledging its failures and embarrassments along the way.
January 1, 2019
Did the Apollo astronauts really land on the moon? After reading this book, I still don't know. Apparently there were no impressive artifacts actually from the moon worth discussing in the book. They did talk about setting up experiments on the moon - but nothing about experimental results. No pictures or graphs or anything. And they do have a picture of a moon rock. But I have no way of telling it is a moon rock. Heck, maybe it is the rare greenstone called Pillow Rock from Ely, Minnesota. See page 283.
I am also still curious about the rationale for using a 100% oxygen atmosphere. Did they really use that in all missions up until the accident on Apollo 1 in which three astronauts were killed?
I am also still curious about the rationale for using a 100% oxygen atmosphere. Did they really use that in all missions up until the accident on Apollo 1 in which three astronauts were killed?
January 9, 2020
Very interesting and informative book full of excellent historical details and stories about the Apollo missions and some information about the previous missions. Lots of wonderful photographs. Each object/artifact is explained how it was used or related to the missions. The book also describes a few important people who contributed to the Apollo missions, besides the obvious and more well known astronauts. I learned a lot reading this book.
February 22, 2025
Very informative. With each object mentioned, we are reminded of the extraordinary feats of engineering and the courage of the astronauts and ground teams that made these missions possible. This makes for a fun table topper and it comes with stickers. 🤓
June 15, 2019
Superb.
September 8, 2019
Such cool artifacts.
September 16, 2019
Fascinating!
November 8, 2019
Great, unique stories from Smithsonian's Teasel Muir-Harmony.
September 21, 2020
It's basically a religious text for any NASA spaceflight fan. Gorgeous photos, great details, interesting anecdotes. I love that the home of each artifact is listed.
November 18, 2018
Originally published at Reading Reality
It is very rare for me these days to read a book in print – but for this I’m glad that I made the exception. It’s gorgeous, in its own geeky-techie-nostalgic way, and I am glad to have it on my shelves to pick up and dip into, over and over again.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, than this book is worth all the words, or at least all the words about the Apollo Space Program. It may not be the next best thing to being there – in space that is – but it does feel like the next best thing to being there at the National Air and Space Museum seeing these exhibits in person.
Reading these descriptions, accompanied by the carefully chosen pictures, gave this reader the feeling that I was touring the museum with the best tour guide in the universe standing at my elbow, telling me everything I wanted to know.
I kind of wish I’d had this book when I listened to Apollo 8 by Jeffrey Kluger, because these artifacts provide the perfect images to go along with the story as it played in my ears. I think this book could serve as the ���accompanying illustrations” for many books about the Apollo Program.
The explanations that go with each picture of each artifact, explaining what it is, what it was for, and most importantly, who designed or created it and who they were and what brought them to the Space Program, brings to light, and back to life, the entire decade of the “Space Race” that put men on the the surface of the Moon.
The sheer scope of the project will make any reader wonder how we managed to accomplish so much in so short a time – and what a waste it is that we not only have not managed to capitalize on those achievements, but that we seemed to have actively turned away from the belief in the power of science that made the journey possible.
Reality Rating A-: I’m tempted to call this an “Escape” rating, or at least to wish that it was. Because I feel like we should be continuing the journey to escape this planet – and we’re not. It feels as if we are about as far from that possibility as we could be, with so many people refusing to believe in science, in the real science that both fueled and was fueled by the Space Program.
This is not a book with a continuous narrative – except the one in my head that says that we should have kept reaching outward. Instead we drew back, and are now amazed that a project this big and this long managed to not only get started but actually successfully completed. And then it petered out.
If you read science fiction, or science fact, have a “thing” for the space program (as I do) or just wish that we were still reaching for that “final frontier”, this book will fill you with nostalgia and sorrow.
But at least this book, and the artifacts that it so accurately and lovingly describes, will remain to speak to the future.
It is very rare for me these days to read a book in print – but for this I’m glad that I made the exception. It’s gorgeous, in its own geeky-techie-nostalgic way, and I am glad to have it on my shelves to pick up and dip into, over and over again.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, than this book is worth all the words, or at least all the words about the Apollo Space Program. It may not be the next best thing to being there – in space that is – but it does feel like the next best thing to being there at the National Air and Space Museum seeing these exhibits in person.
Reading these descriptions, accompanied by the carefully chosen pictures, gave this reader the feeling that I was touring the museum with the best tour guide in the universe standing at my elbow, telling me everything I wanted to know.
I kind of wish I’d had this book when I listened to Apollo 8 by Jeffrey Kluger, because these artifacts provide the perfect images to go along with the story as it played in my ears. I think this book could serve as the ���accompanying illustrations” for many books about the Apollo Program.
The explanations that go with each picture of each artifact, explaining what it is, what it was for, and most importantly, who designed or created it and who they were and what brought them to the Space Program, brings to light, and back to life, the entire decade of the “Space Race” that put men on the the surface of the Moon.
The sheer scope of the project will make any reader wonder how we managed to accomplish so much in so short a time – and what a waste it is that we not only have not managed to capitalize on those achievements, but that we seemed to have actively turned away from the belief in the power of science that made the journey possible.
Reality Rating A-: I’m tempted to call this an “Escape” rating, or at least to wish that it was. Because I feel like we should be continuing the journey to escape this planet – and we’re not. It feels as if we are about as far from that possibility as we could be, with so many people refusing to believe in science, in the real science that both fueled and was fueled by the Space Program.
This is not a book with a continuous narrative – except the one in my head that says that we should have kept reaching outward. Instead we drew back, and are now amazed that a project this big and this long managed to not only get started but actually successfully completed. And then it petered out.
If you read science fiction, or science fact, have a “thing” for the space program (as I do) or just wish that we were still reaching for that “final frontier”, this book will fill you with nostalgia and sorrow.
But at least this book, and the artifacts that it so accurately and lovingly describes, will remain to speak to the future.
October 19, 2024
Really well done, the pictures are awesome and the author does a great job of explaining difficult concepts as well as making many seemingly insignificant ones interesting. She does a great job staying neutral, although one topic I wish she wasn't so neutral on was Wernher von Braun, a Nazi missile creator turned NASA scientist without any retribution for his heinous crimes, like working concentration camp prisoners to the death to make missiles. I think the science of the Apollo project is very important, but the American government had a vast array of problems during the duration of it. Best to keep the politics out of science now and forever.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews