Apollo Moon Missions by Billy W Watkins
In 1961 President John F. Kennedy challenged the United States to land a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth before the end of the decade. It seemed like an impossible mission and one that the Russians-who had launched the first satellite and put the first man into Earth orbit-would surely achieve before the Americans. However, the ingenuity, passion, and sacrifice of thousands of ordinary people from all walks of life enabled the space program to meet this extraordinary goal. This is the story of fourteen of those men and women who worked behind the scenes, without fanfare or recognition, to make the Apollo missions successful. Billy Watkins is a features writer with the Jackson (MS) Clarion-Ledger, where his work has earned him more than forty regional and national awards. Fred Haise was the lunar module pilot on the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission in 1970, and he served on the backup crews for Apollo 8, 11, and 16. Haise also conducted test flights of the space shuttle Enterprise.
"Project Apollo was one of the greatest achievements of the 20th centuryIn the 1960s, the US developed its space program from suborbital flights to lunar missions. Much has been written about the astronauts, flight directors, and other high-level officials who were instrumental in the Apollo program, but this book focuses on others at lower levels who played important roles in the successes of Apollo. For instance, guidance officer Steve Bales made a critical call during Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing. As the lunar module descended, several alarms sounded, but Bales decided within seconds that these were due to computer data overloads and that it was safe to continue the landing. The images from Apollo were stunning; Richard Underwood was the NASA chief of photography who trained the astronauts in this important skill. Others featured include members of the Navy recovery team, public affairs officials, telemetry and communications technicians, and the designer of the Lunar Rover, among others....Recommended. General readers." - Choice
"Journalist Watkins takes advantage of decades of close attention as he recounts the stories of some of the thousands of men and women who made getting to the moon their daily work and uncanny passion. He includes the story of a publicist who lobbied for a television camera on Apollo 11, without which we would not have seen Neil Armstrong take that step, specialists on signal-jamming USSR submarines and lightening, and the lucky folks who got to design the Moon Rover. It is clear Watkins would like to acknowledge the efforts of all (picking just 14 must have been agonizing) but those appearing here are truly representative of a breed of scientist and engineer, whose pie-in-the-sky thinking actually worked." - SciTech Book News
"Journalist Watkins takes advantage of decades of close attention as he recounts the stories of some of the thousands of men and women who made getting to the moon their daily work and uncanny passion. He includes the story of a publicist who lobbied for a television camera on Apollo 11, without which we would not have seen Neil Armstrong take that step, specialists on signal-jamming USSR submarines and lightening, and the lucky folks who got to design the Moon Rover. It is clear Watkins would like to acknowledge the efforts of all (picking just 14 must have been agonizing) but those appearing here are truly representative of a breed of scientist and engineer, whose pie-in-the-sky thinking actually worked." - SciTech Book News
Billy Watkins a lifelong Mississippian, has been a newspaper reporter for three decades in his home state, telling the stories of its people. After earning a journalism degree from the University of Mississippi, he was a sportswriter from 1975 to 1990 at The Meridian Star, Jackson Daily News and the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. He was voted by his peers the state's Sportswriter of the Year three times. He then moved to general features at the Clarion-Ledger, where his work has earned him more than 40 regional and national awards. He proudly reminds people that the Saturn V rockets, which powered our astronauts on their way to the moon, were all tested in Mississippi, at Stennis Space Center.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780275987022 |
| ISBN 10 | 0275987027 |
| Title | Apollo Moon Missions |
| Author | Billy W Watkins |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing Plc |
| Year published | 2005-12-30 |
| Number of pages | 224 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |