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Moonbound: Apollo 11 and the Dream of Spaceflight
On a summer night in 1969, two men climbed down a ladder onto a sea of dust at the edge of an ancient dream. When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first set foot on lunar soil, the moon ceased to be a place of mystery and myth. It became a destination.
Now, on the fiftieth anniversary of that journey, Moonbound tells the monumental story of the moon and the men who went there first. With vibrant images and meticulous attention to detail, Jonathan Fetter-Vorm conjures the long history of the visionaries, stargazers, builders, and adventurers who sent Apollo 11 on its legendary voyage.
From the wisdom of the Babylonians to the intrigues of the Cold War, from the otherworldly discoveries of Galileo to the dark legacy of Nazi atrocities, from the exhilarating trajectories of astronauts―recounted in their own words―to the unsung brilliance of engineers working behind the scenes, Moonbound captures the grand arc of the Space Age in a graphic history of unprecedented scope and profound lyricism.
Now, on the fiftieth anniversary of that journey, Moonbound tells the monumental story of the moon and the men who went there first. With vibrant images and meticulous attention to detail, Jonathan Fetter-Vorm conjures the long history of the visionaries, stargazers, builders, and adventurers who sent Apollo 11 on its legendary voyage.
From the wisdom of the Babylonians to the intrigues of the Cold War, from the otherworldly discoveries of Galileo to the dark legacy of Nazi atrocities, from the exhilarating trajectories of astronauts―recounted in their own words―to the unsung brilliance of engineers working behind the scenes, Moonbound captures the grand arc of the Space Age in a graphic history of unprecedented scope and profound lyricism.
256 pages, Paperback
First published June 4, 2019
22 people are currently reading
1976 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Fetter-Vorm
7 books82 followersJonathan Fetter-Vorm is an author and illustrator. His first book, Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb was selected by the American Library Association as a Best Graphic Novel for Teens in 2013. His Battle Lines: A Graphic History of the Civil War, co-authored with historian Ari Kelman, was published in May of 2015. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Slate, and Guernica. Jonathan lives with his wife and son in Montana.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 115 reviews
July 20, 2019
This is my new favorite graphic novel. It's gorgeously written, well-illustrated, and astonishing in scope. When I requested this book at the library, I thought that it was specifically about the moon landing, but it's so much more. This is the whole history of the Space Race, with interwoven narratives that explore humanity's early fascination with the moon, the scientific development of rocketry and spaceflight, the contemporary social issues that affected NASA and the nation, and many other details that provide historical context and enrich the story.
This book is exquisite, and I can't even imagine how many hours of labor went into creating it. The research, art, and writing are all amazing, and I often slowed down to reread especially beautiful sentences. This book captures both the dream and the reality of spaceflight, and it is an informative and emotional journey. If you can only read one of the new moon-landing books out on the market, read this one.
This book is exquisite, and I can't even imagine how many hours of labor went into creating it. The research, art, and writing are all amazing, and I often slowed down to reread especially beautiful sentences. This book captures both the dream and the reality of spaceflight, and it is an informative and emotional journey. If you can only read one of the new moon-landing books out on the market, read this one.
July 4, 2019
The best of the three graphic novels I have read in the past year about the Apollo 11 Moon landing, Fetter-Vormer crams Moonbound full of facts while keeping the narrative flowing and allowing moments to breathe between the historical deep dives. The art is a little rough and squarish, but capably captures likenesses of the real people involved in putting Neil Armstrong's foot on a rock hundreds of thousands of miles from his birthplace.
September 4, 2019
SUCH a good overview and context-giver of the events leading up to Apollo 11, as well as what happened after. And, as if it were possible, I fell in love with Michael Collins even more.
June 12, 2019
This isn't just a book about astronauts or moonshots. This is a deep-dive into the history of science itself (astronomy, rocketry, everything!). I LOVE these kinds of books and the author handles it all with grace, humor, and a great eye. This book should be on every STEM summer reading list in the country. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!
July 21, 2020
Moonbound is a PHENOMENAL graphic novel that looks at the Apollo 11 moon landing, but also explores the history of astronomy, science, rocketry, and spaceflight that leads up to this historic event.
Let me start my review by saying: I rarely give five stars. I have read 64 books so far this year, and TWO of them earned five star reviews from me. I would like to introduce you to the third book I’ve read this year that deserves a full five stars.
Jonathan Fetter-Vorm makes the history of Apollo 11 come alive. The chapters about the “current” mission Apollo 11 are in full color, while the chapters about the history are in muted pastels. The art is engaging, and specific enough that I could tell the Apollo 11 astronauts apart. The history was so sweeping and informative.
What’s more: the author puts the events in cultural context, reminding readers that the Apollo program was expensive and not entirely popular, especially in the cultural and racial tumult of the 1960s. He highlights some “hidden figures” such as the female computers, software engineers like Margaret Hamilton, and the Mercury 13. Fetter-Vorm is unafraid to call Von Braun a Nazi and point out that the V-2 rocket not only destroyed some of the US’s allies like the UK, but it was built at the cost of lives of prisoners in concentration camps.
Rarely is history one-sided, and space history is no different. The US space program benefited from the Holocaust. The Apollo program ate up 5.5% of the National budget, while the Civil Rights Movement fought for basic rights for blacks. I loved this book because it was inspiring, informative, and honest. I thought it was a great way to experience Apollo 11 history.
Let me start my review by saying: I rarely give five stars. I have read 64 books so far this year, and TWO of them earned five star reviews from me. I would like to introduce you to the third book I’ve read this year that deserves a full five stars.
Jonathan Fetter-Vorm makes the history of Apollo 11 come alive. The chapters about the “current” mission Apollo 11 are in full color, while the chapters about the history are in muted pastels. The art is engaging, and specific enough that I could tell the Apollo 11 astronauts apart. The history was so sweeping and informative.
What’s more: the author puts the events in cultural context, reminding readers that the Apollo program was expensive and not entirely popular, especially in the cultural and racial tumult of the 1960s. He highlights some “hidden figures” such as the female computers, software engineers like Margaret Hamilton, and the Mercury 13. Fetter-Vorm is unafraid to call Von Braun a Nazi and point out that the V-2 rocket not only destroyed some of the US’s allies like the UK, but it was built at the cost of lives of prisoners in concentration camps.
Rarely is history one-sided, and space history is no different. The US space program benefited from the Holocaust. The Apollo program ate up 5.5% of the National budget, while the Civil Rights Movement fought for basic rights for blacks. I loved this book because it was inspiring, informative, and honest. I thought it was a great way to experience Apollo 11 history.
September 23, 2020
Moonbound traces the long history of space flight - starting with Kepler, Copernicus, Galileo, interspersing each chapter of history with "real time" of the Moon landing in July 1969. Michael Collins, pilot of Apollo 11 consulted & wrote the introduction for this book. It's a very detailed history of the path that lead humans to the moon.
Fantastic resource!
Fantastic resource!
October 31, 2025
bardzo dobra, wnikliwa i przystępna rzecz.
w czasach, kiedy publikuje się reportaże bez przypisów, wspaniale widzieć je na końcu komiksu:)
w czasach, kiedy publikuje się reportaże bez przypisów, wspaniale widzieć je na końcu komiksu:)
September 13, 2019
This is pretty much what you’d expect from the cover: the story of the historic Apollo 11 mission in comics form. The saga is interspersed with chapters on the history of humanity's knowledge of the moon, rocketry, and the development of the space program.
Honestly, that's it.
But to merely summarize the story is to do this book a severe injustice. Jonathan Fetter-Vorm tells this story with style. Despite the sizeable cast of characters, they are all distinct and instantly recognizable. The chapters alternate. The ones on the Apollo mission are set in the “present”, and in full color. The historical material is all monochromatic, albeit with a different hue for each chapter. This gives the book a distinctive look, and helps shore up the structure of his narrative.
Yes, some of the history is fairly recent, but Fetter-Vorm does an excellent job of bringing together many threads, some of them new to me. This is a lovely example of nonfiction comics. Recommended!
Honestly, that's it.
But to merely summarize the story is to do this book a severe injustice. Jonathan Fetter-Vorm tells this story with style. Despite the sizeable cast of characters, they are all distinct and instantly recognizable. The chapters alternate. The ones on the Apollo mission are set in the “present”, and in full color. The historical material is all monochromatic, albeit with a different hue for each chapter. This gives the book a distinctive look, and helps shore up the structure of his narrative.
Yes, some of the history is fairly recent, but Fetter-Vorm does an excellent job of bringing together many threads, some of them new to me. This is a lovely example of nonfiction comics. Recommended!
June 3, 2019
The 50th anniversary of "one giant leap for mankind" is July 20, 2019.
This is a tremendous graphic book telling the story of the Apollo 11 moon landing interspersed with a highlights history of the humanity's fascination with space and the dreams of space flight. The book is a terrific introduction for those that were born after or are too young to remember the moon landing. For those of us that remember exactly where we were on that day and at that moment in time it serves as a reminder of an event that made it seem like anything was possible. Buy it for your kids and grandkids...but first read it yourself.
This is a tremendous graphic book telling the story of the Apollo 11 moon landing interspersed with a highlights history of the humanity's fascination with space and the dreams of space flight. The book is a terrific introduction for those that were born after or are too young to remember the moon landing. For those of us that remember exactly where we were on that day and at that moment in time it serves as a reminder of an event that made it seem like anything was possible. Buy it for your kids and grandkids...but first read it yourself.
September 5, 2024
Simply excellent graphic novel of the early Apollo program and the science, history, and culture that led up to it. A good picture of America (and the Soviet Union) at the time as well.
As with Trinity, the art style is both sparse and highly effective. The individuality of the astronauts and others in the program (and out) really comes across well. Loved seeing the contrasting attitudes on important topics - women in both space training and support, then Valentina Tereshkova with the first flight. Couldn't cover *everything*, but there are other books if you want to know more about Ham the astrochimp (and others).
Read Trinity earlier this year and found Moonbound was available at the library also. This is a quick read and a great introduction for anyone who doesn't know the history. Highly recommended!
As with Trinity, the art style is both sparse and highly effective. The individuality of the astronauts and others in the program (and out) really comes across well. Loved seeing the contrasting attitudes on important topics - women in both space training and support, then Valentina Tereshkova with the first flight. Couldn't cover *everything*, but there are other books if you want to know more about Ham the astrochimp (and others).
Read Trinity earlier this year and found Moonbound was available at the library also. This is a quick read and a great introduction for anyone who doesn't know the history. Highly recommended!
September 19, 2019
Fetter-Vorm has written 3 graphic non-fiction books so far. This is the first one I've read and it's excellent. He's a historian. He alternates the story of Apollo 11 with context: early humankind's fascination with the moon; the early astronomers - Kepler, especially; and the military industrial complex that created the rockets that sent humans to space. The drawings are detailed, accurate, and elegant. The dialog is taken from actual NASA recordings whenever possible. The coloring is thoughtfully chosen with the Apollo scenes in full color and historical chapters in single colors from a mid-century palette. I will read more by him.
July 26, 2019
What a tremendous read, especially near the 50th anniversary of the moon landing (I didn't plan it that way, I swear!). If ever there was a book that'll make you yearn for more NASA funding, it's this one. The art is exceptional, the story-telling is engaging and unique, and the story itself is brilliantly exciting, even though we all know the outcome.
Jonathan Fetter-Vorm makes the smart decision to interweave the personal story of the moon landing with a history of the moon, space exploration, and space travel. The tidbits of Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin, and Neil Armstrong in the lunar orbiter and moon lander are wonderfully real and totally absorbing. The historical portions are similarly fascinating and tie in surprisingly well to whatever is going on in the moon landing portion of the tale. I especially appreciated Fetter-Vorm's focus on some of the marginalized or forgotten characters in the space exploration story, like the female calculators and (attempted) astronauts.
Fetter-Vorm's art is perfect for the story and the format. He switches between monochrome for history and full color for the present, keeping it fairly clear which time period you're reading about. The drawings are all crisp and detailed too, which is especially appealing in a science/engineering-focused tale. I can't get over how well-put-together Moonbound is - the art, the panelwork, the lettering, the writing itself. This book is a near perfect work of graphic history.
Jonathan Fetter-Vorm makes the smart decision to interweave the personal story of the moon landing with a history of the moon, space exploration, and space travel. The tidbits of Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin, and Neil Armstrong in the lunar orbiter and moon lander are wonderfully real and totally absorbing. The historical portions are similarly fascinating and tie in surprisingly well to whatever is going on in the moon landing portion of the tale. I especially appreciated Fetter-Vorm's focus on some of the marginalized or forgotten characters in the space exploration story, like the female calculators and (attempted) astronauts.
Fetter-Vorm's art is perfect for the story and the format. He switches between monochrome for history and full color for the present, keeping it fairly clear which time period you're reading about. The drawings are all crisp and detailed too, which is especially appealing in a science/engineering-focused tale. I can't get over how well-put-together Moonbound is - the art, the panelwork, the lettering, the writing itself. This book is a near perfect work of graphic history.
October 28, 2019
This is a terrific graphic novel that goes beyond the story of Apollo 11. It includes the early astronomers, rocket scientists, engineers, and all who have contributed to space exploration. I did notice that the forward credit on the Goodreads link does not link to Astronaut Michael Collins but a different author. I have no clue how to report this to Goodreads site people, but it would be nice to credit the right guy with the right stuff. Update: Goodreads fixed it, thanks Goodreads!!
November 29, 2019
Accessible story of how 400,000 (roughly) people put three men into lunar orbit and two on the moon. Much of the historical aspects (starting from 1500's to 1969) is more interesting then the mission itself, but both stories interesting. Epilogue deals with modern history to today. Last page does become a bit poetic, taking reader out of the theme.
Read
December 14, 2022A history of how human beings got to the moon, after being intrigued with the moon since prehistoric times. After the Chinese invented the rocket as a firework centuries ago, other scientists envisioned the possibilities of the technology to propel people off the planet. First they had to figure out the physics and science of the whole affair, (leave that to Kepler, Brahe, Galileo, et al) Robert Goddard, who tested rockets early in the twentieth century, and several Russian scientists and dreamers who worked out the problem of how to use liquid propellant to force rockets up out of the atmosphere. The book does a great job of chronicling the Soviet space scientists and their space program but neglects to mention why the Soviets never were able to pull off a manned moon mission; (they had plenty of other firsts including the first satellite, the first man--and woman--in space, the first space walk and the first actual unmanned probe that landed on the moon in 1965. Interesting characters abound, and the uncomfortable truth was that NASA's program was led mostly by Werner von Braun and his team of German rocket scientists, who of course had developed the V-2 rockets for the Nazis during the war, using slave labor to build them. Interspersed in all of this background information is the actual Apollo 11 mission itself, and the three men who flew on it, detailing their every move from training to return. A very good book!
July 3, 2022
A stunningly moving work of graphic nonfiction. Moonbound gives every aspect of the story of space flight its due and never lets you forget the sheer impact left by the actions of those like Kepler and Galileo who looked to the stars in ages past and set this all in motion. It pays homage to the enormity of the challenges that were the Apollo missions and the rightfully glorified achievements of every oft-forgotten person who helped make them possible without downplaying the political facets of space flight present then and since. Most importantly, it is a remarkably thoughtful and well-crafted story.
July 27, 2019
So this was amazing. A graphic novel that tells the story, not only of Apollo 11, but the ancient moon mythology, the early history of physics and astronomy, the birth of rocket science, the space race with the Soviet Union, and the politics of the space program. Nothing felt too technical or boring. The illustrations really added to the book in a way that made the whole thing feel completely accessible for anyone. Highly recommend!
July 1, 2019
Engaging, well-written history of the July, 1969 Apollo 11 NASA spaceflight, the first landing of human beings on the Moon. The book also details some of the science and cultural background that preceded the epic event. The book is well illustrated. I recommend it for those from pre-teen to senior in age. Four stars!
August 4, 2019
Really enjoyed this--very well done!
November 26, 2020
Very well told story of this impressive mankind accomplishment! The back and forth between the historical science discoveries in studying the moon and the mission itself was very well knit together!
January 6, 2022
Hienoin lukemani sarjakuvaromaani - tai tietokirjahan tämä on. Aivan valloittava tapa kuvata avaruuskilpaa ja kuvitus on täydellistä.
August 28, 2023
I enjoyed this graphic novel. I learned a few things that I never knew before.
May 30, 2025
WOW! I'm at a loss for words but I'll write some anyway. This book is one of the most accurate and unbiased book discussing not only the Lunar landing but EVERYTHING leading up to that point, it discusses the atrocities committed by not just the USSR and Nazi Germany but even by the US to a degree. It explains the science behind Lunar or even spaceflight in general starting all the way with Kepler and Brahe and discusses the principle theories of Tsiolkovsky and the genius of those unseen from Korolev to Lovelace. JUST READ THE BOOK, don't let it being a graphic novel or anything for that matter diswaid you.
January 23, 2020
A beautiful book. I had no idea it was a graphic novel when I downloaded it. Very informative. Switches seamlessly between the events the 1969 landing to telling mankind's fascination with the moon through history.
October 5, 2019
I liked the way the author mingled history with the attempts to get to the moon. This graphic novel was good, but the art was a little confusing, and it was a bit dry at times.
February 5, 2020
As a big time reader of everything Apollo, I was totally astounded by this book. The author/illustrator distills a vast amount of history about not only the first moon landing but also the wider space age, including its cultural context, into an incredible graphic novel format. The art, while not hyper-detailed, fits the telling well, and Fetter-Vorm takes clever advantage of the images to explain concepts, draw out juxtapositions, and even include fun visual gags. One thing I wasn’t expecting was for the writing to be so sharp—it easily tops most of the books that I’ve read about Apollo in its focused insight and often poetic quality. It doesn’t (and can’t) go into as much depth as non-graphic novels, but it works wonderfully well for what it is. Just when I thought I was jaded about moon-landing books, Moonbound came along and completely blew me away.
December 1, 2021
Trigger warnings for eugenics, the Holocaust, genocide, mass hangings (depicted on page), nazis, concentration camps.
I struggled to get through all of the science talk, but I found the history and politics of the moon landing to be fascinating. I appreciate that the author didn't sugar coat or try to justify the darker parts of it, like operation paperclip ect.
I struggled to get through all of the science talk, but I found the history and politics of the moon landing to be fascinating. I appreciate that the author didn't sugar coat or try to justify the darker parts of it, like operation paperclip ect.
November 13, 2021
Dang it. I wanted to finish 2021 with a sprint through a backlog of graphic novels to clear space on my shelves, but here I am so impressed by Moonbound that I don't want to let it go.
I expected a linear walk through the Apollo 11 mission, from conception to after effects. Given that its publication was timed for the 50th anniversary of the mission (in 2019), I expected something pretty uplifting and focused on the feel-good. Given that it's published by Hill and Wang, a division of the "serious" literary publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux, I expected some pretty deep and esoteric facts about the science behind the journey and the philosophical implications of spaceflight and exploration.
But while Moonbound does have some of these things, it's also much more.
We start the book with the moon landing, with the pages in full color. From there, the chapters alternate between full-color pages about the moon mission (and, later, what did and did not come after) and "flashbacks" in shades of a single color that explore the history behind humanity's relationship to the moon and the science that might get us there, from ancient beliefs to Renaissance and Jules Verne's science and speculation, to the experiments and atrocities that built the first large-scale rockets, to the unsung people and forgotten might-have-beens behind the U.S. space program. There are women, people of color, Nazis and their victims, Soviets and their situationally whiplashed scientists. So many U.S. stories about our space program focus only on us; author/illustrator Fetter-Vorm makes clear that our program did not and could never have existed in inspirational isolation from the world or from socio-political forces.
I should be clear that this is primarily a history book, not a science book, so my fears that I would get lost in engineering jargon were not met. At the same time, Fetter-Vorm doesn't neglect the fundamental physics of spaceflight; science nerds should go somewhere else for details, but history nerds will know enough to appreciate both the simple elegance and technological complexity of navigating gravity. (He also differentiates science and engineering, which makes me feel a tad guilty categorizing this book as "science", but I kind of use that tag as a STEM catch-all.)
It's impossible not to be inspired by the size of the U.S. space program, its dedication to its mission, the forthright attitude of the astronauts to their job, and, of course, the whole going-where-no-man-has-gone-before. At the same time, Fetter-Vorn doesn't let us forget everything lost along the way: the human toll of the Nazi rocket-building program, the casually cruel Soviet attitudes toward its scientists, the repeated "losses" of firsts to the Soviet program (and dang, I didn't realize that they sent Gagarin to space only one month before the U.S. got Shephard up there), the squandering of human potential when NASA dismissed women and people of color. He also touches on how controversial the space race actually was and, because the book was published so recently, is able to briefly talk about the current outlook for spaceflight going private.
All in all, I enjoyed this book far more than I expected to and I highly recommend it for anyone who knows a little and wants to know more without getting bogged down on technical details.
Quote Roundup
p. 44) Note to self: look up Johannes Kepler's The Dream, which Fetter-Vorm describes as the first work of science fiction.
p. 84) "The V-2 rocket was a novel, if not particularly [relatively] deadly, weapon. Actually, in one way, it was quite deadly. For every one person killed by V-2 strikes, two workers died on the assembly line at Mittelwerk."
I'd known that Werner von Braun was a Nazi but I'd never heard about the Nazi V-2 program.
I expected a linear walk through the Apollo 11 mission, from conception to after effects. Given that its publication was timed for the 50th anniversary of the mission (in 2019), I expected something pretty uplifting and focused on the feel-good. Given that it's published by Hill and Wang, a division of the "serious" literary publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux, I expected some pretty deep and esoteric facts about the science behind the journey and the philosophical implications of spaceflight and exploration.
But while Moonbound does have some of these things, it's also much more.
We start the book with the moon landing, with the pages in full color. From there, the chapters alternate between full-color pages about the moon mission (and, later, what did and did not come after) and "flashbacks" in shades of a single color that explore the history behind humanity's relationship to the moon and the science that might get us there, from ancient beliefs to Renaissance and Jules Verne's science and speculation, to the experiments and atrocities that built the first large-scale rockets, to the unsung people and forgotten might-have-beens behind the U.S. space program. There are women, people of color, Nazis and their victims, Soviets and their situationally whiplashed scientists. So many U.S. stories about our space program focus only on us; author/illustrator Fetter-Vorm makes clear that our program did not and could never have existed in inspirational isolation from the world or from socio-political forces.
I should be clear that this is primarily a history book, not a science book, so my fears that I would get lost in engineering jargon were not met. At the same time, Fetter-Vorm doesn't neglect the fundamental physics of spaceflight; science nerds should go somewhere else for details, but history nerds will know enough to appreciate both the simple elegance and technological complexity of navigating gravity. (He also differentiates science and engineering, which makes me feel a tad guilty categorizing this book as "science", but I kind of use that tag as a STEM catch-all.)
It's impossible not to be inspired by the size of the U.S. space program, its dedication to its mission, the forthright attitude of the astronauts to their job, and, of course, the whole going-where-no-man-has-gone-before. At the same time, Fetter-Vorn doesn't let us forget everything lost along the way: the human toll of the Nazi rocket-building program, the casually cruel Soviet attitudes toward its scientists, the repeated "losses" of firsts to the Soviet program (and dang, I didn't realize that they sent Gagarin to space only one month before the U.S. got Shephard up there), the squandering of human potential when NASA dismissed women and people of color. He also touches on how controversial the space race actually was and, because the book was published so recently, is able to briefly talk about the current outlook for spaceflight going private.
All in all, I enjoyed this book far more than I expected to and I highly recommend it for anyone who knows a little and wants to know more without getting bogged down on technical details.
Quote Roundup
p. 44) Note to self: look up Johannes Kepler's The Dream, which Fetter-Vorm describes as the first work of science fiction.
p. 84) "The V-2 rocket was a novel, if not particularly [relatively] deadly, weapon. Actually, in one way, it was quite deadly. For every one person killed by V-2 strikes, two workers died on the assembly line at Mittelwerk."
I'd known that Werner von Braun was a Nazi but I'd never heard about the Nazi V-2 program.
June 8, 2025
Third comic book from him I've read. American Civil war was spectacular. Trinity about the atomic bomb was by the numbers. Not bad, just overly predictable. This one is good overall, but it does feel stretched out because of how it's structured.
The author decides to present the moon landing step by step as is happens. And then after a few pages we jump back in time to read about old books, ideas, concepts, some research presented in a shallow way. It's never bad. Yet this flashback style got old very fast. I wanted to see people reacting to the moon landing all over the world instead. You can cut to people on earth giving their opinions. Instead he just told us about some polls being done years later. But this is exactly how you cut away. You don't jump in time. You jump locations and always move forward in time. The historical concepts should have been presented first. There are plenty of interviews and opinion pieces that could have made this feel big. Instead it ends up looking like a small project.
I didn't learn too much new stuff here. But I'm happy he went over the whole Operation Paperclip. It adds context many won't have. We follow the Soviet space program a bit. And see how Americans warrant spending billions on a pointless project. They want to photograph USSR from space. Yet it's not quite clearly explained we just get single lines of dialogue telling us deeper things were happening. I think documentaries do it better. The TV show From the Earth to the Moon (1998) was amazing.
The author also very often goes into other tangents besides the historical stuff. He has a great need to bring up gender and race. And when we finally get going and get excited he goes into a story about a women who feels like she doesn't quite belong in NASA and feels the male leaders are not listening to her. Did it happen? I can believe there is some crude leader in NASA. Yet it's not important to the moon landing and the technology itself. What did she do? It's described yet not presented. Of course not as the page count is not spent wisely. We even get a story about a nurse and how heroic she is. What does she do? We don't actually know. We don't get to explore her work. Why bring up Black people in a historical context when you don't even present what they actually did?
The moon landing is an extremely fascinating thing. I love everything around it. The tech, history, the human wit, 60's setting, the people looking on, the wives feeling a tad sad and confused. Reading more is fun. I wonder how one could go deeper into the science? In a book format only? This just feels too shallow for my liking. It's not children book shallow. Yet not for people who know many details. I did enjoy it, but won't recommend it over the old documentaries. Stay away from anything modern it becomes a huge debate about politics instead like in this book.
The author decides to present the moon landing step by step as is happens. And then after a few pages we jump back in time to read about old books, ideas, concepts, some research presented in a shallow way. It's never bad. Yet this flashback style got old very fast. I wanted to see people reacting to the moon landing all over the world instead. You can cut to people on earth giving their opinions. Instead he just told us about some polls being done years later. But this is exactly how you cut away. You don't jump in time. You jump locations and always move forward in time. The historical concepts should have been presented first. There are plenty of interviews and opinion pieces that could have made this feel big. Instead it ends up looking like a small project.
I didn't learn too much new stuff here. But I'm happy he went over the whole Operation Paperclip. It adds context many won't have. We follow the Soviet space program a bit. And see how Americans warrant spending billions on a pointless project. They want to photograph USSR from space. Yet it's not quite clearly explained we just get single lines of dialogue telling us deeper things were happening. I think documentaries do it better. The TV show From the Earth to the Moon (1998) was amazing.
The author also very often goes into other tangents besides the historical stuff. He has a great need to bring up gender and race. And when we finally get going and get excited he goes into a story about a women who feels like she doesn't quite belong in NASA and feels the male leaders are not listening to her. Did it happen? I can believe there is some crude leader in NASA. Yet it's not important to the moon landing and the technology itself. What did she do? It's described yet not presented. Of course not as the page count is not spent wisely. We even get a story about a nurse and how heroic she is. What does she do? We don't actually know. We don't get to explore her work. Why bring up Black people in a historical context when you don't even present what they actually did?
The moon landing is an extremely fascinating thing. I love everything around it. The tech, history, the human wit, 60's setting, the people looking on, the wives feeling a tad sad and confused. Reading more is fun. I wonder how one could go deeper into the science? In a book format only? This just feels too shallow for my liking. It's not children book shallow. Yet not for people who know many details. I did enjoy it, but won't recommend it over the old documentaries. Stay away from anything modern it becomes a huge debate about politics instead like in this book.
November 6, 2019
It’s nearly impossible to believe but fifty (!) years ago Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, relying on computer systems and technology that didn’t have as much combined sophistication as the iPhone I’m typing this review on, set foot on our closest celestial neighbor: the moon (thereby kicking off half a century of “we can put a man on the moon but we can’t...” gripes). In his thoroughly-researched and enthralling account of the long road to that momentous achievement, Jonathan Fetter-Vorm pays his respects to the nearly countless heretic astronomers, dogged scientists, brilliant engineers, and others whose shoulders Neil and Buzz stood on - metaphorically, of course - to reach the moon. If you don’t finish “Moonbound: Apollo 11 And The Dream Of Spaceflight” having learned at least a dozen new things about lunar matters, you must already work for NASA or something.
America’s little pop in on our rocky space neighbor began not with JFK’s audacious challenge for his space agency to beat the Ruskies to the lunar surface, but centuries prior when Renaissance thinkers began paying closer attention to the twinkly sparkly things up in the atmosphere. From curious clergymen to WWII-era German physicists looking for redemption to hotshot military test pilots, the cast of “Moonbound” are an eclectic bunch. Fetter-Vorm does an excellent job keeping the chronology clear and concise, doling out just the right amount of information in chapters that alternate between the history of the field and the events of the mission itself. The text is far from dry; it’s a lively and engrossing comic. And because it’s a comic, I have to also point out how wonderful Fetter-Vorm’s art compliments his research. As crisp and straightforward as his writing, his pages are a joy to explore, whether he’s illustrating behind-the-scenes dweebiness or sweeping extraterrestrial vistas. He also does some fantastically inventive things with his page layouts and panel angles. I know I’m gonna sound corny but, from front to back, “Moonbound” is out of this world.
Smart and factual enough to easily be a part of school curriculum but fun enough to enjoy reading for pleasure, “Moonbound” is a worthy tribute to the virtual army that made Armstrong’ and Aldrin’s moonwalk such an indelible moment in American history. Detailed and awe-inspiring, reading Jonathan Fetter-Vorm’s wonderful book is almost like being right there in the Eagle cockpit, staring across the dusty lunar seas. It’s epic.
America’s little pop in on our rocky space neighbor began not with JFK’s audacious challenge for his space agency to beat the Ruskies to the lunar surface, but centuries prior when Renaissance thinkers began paying closer attention to the twinkly sparkly things up in the atmosphere. From curious clergymen to WWII-era German physicists looking for redemption to hotshot military test pilots, the cast of “Moonbound” are an eclectic bunch. Fetter-Vorm does an excellent job keeping the chronology clear and concise, doling out just the right amount of information in chapters that alternate between the history of the field and the events of the mission itself. The text is far from dry; it’s a lively and engrossing comic. And because it’s a comic, I have to also point out how wonderful Fetter-Vorm’s art compliments his research. As crisp and straightforward as his writing, his pages are a joy to explore, whether he’s illustrating behind-the-scenes dweebiness or sweeping extraterrestrial vistas. He also does some fantastically inventive things with his page layouts and panel angles. I know I’m gonna sound corny but, from front to back, “Moonbound” is out of this world.
Smart and factual enough to easily be a part of school curriculum but fun enough to enjoy reading for pleasure, “Moonbound” is a worthy tribute to the virtual army that made Armstrong’ and Aldrin’s moonwalk such an indelible moment in American history. Detailed and awe-inspiring, reading Jonathan Fetter-Vorm’s wonderful book is almost like being right there in the Eagle cockpit, staring across the dusty lunar seas. It’s epic.
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