Product Description

CD-ROM and Book. On 21 December 1968 the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration sent three men to orbit the moon. Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders were to be the first people to enter deep space. It was the boldest step yet taken in the quest to fulfill President John Kennedy's goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade. To accomplish the task the world's biggest and most complex rocket was built by a syndicate of America's leading aerospace manufacturers. Capable of throwing over 100,000 pounds to the moon it was at that time the most complex machine ever devised by the hand of man. The Apollo-Saturn V was a goliath and the flight of Apollo 8 proved it was an incredible vehicle. The Apollo 8 NASA Mission Reports finally puts in one place four of the most important documents from this triumphant odyssey, The Apollo 8 Press Kit, The Apollo 8 Pre-Mission Report and Objectives, The Apollo 8 Supplemental Technical Report and The Apollo 8 Post Flight Summary. These four documents show the staggering proportions of the undertaking required to send men into lunar orbit. It is a testament to the ingenuity of the American people and the bold courage of three men. Includes 40 pages of new information.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #352402 in Books
• Published on: 2000-08-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 232 pages

Review
"Likely to appeal to someone who likes to delve deeply into the workings of NASA..." -- Astronomy Now, August 2001. "An essential read, Apogee should be applauded for producing this material in such an attractive format..." -- Spaceflight, August 2002.

About the Author
Robert Godwin, Editor

Customer Reviews

Puts you right in the middle of Apollo
Back in the thrilling days when we were about to see science fiction dreams come true [and foolishly believed that we were taking the "first steps out of the cosmic cradle", who could have believed that we would simply drop the ability once we acieved the goal] the news people would have all sorts of information at their finger tips, which would [often inaccurately] be distilled in newspapers and magazines. This book [and the available books on Apollo 9 and 10] contain the press kits and other material which the general public didn't have. The are full of technical information which you simply can't get anywhere else, and if you are a real space fan, they are absolutely invaluable. While general readers would find this material "dry" and "overly technical" [to say the least- e.g. did you wonder about the function of each of those "service arms" which retracted from the Saturn V at launch? you'll find that kind of thing here] space fans will find this a treasure trove. Sure the formatting is sloppy, no slick presentations here, but this is a reproduction of the actual material NASA produced, and I don't think the quality of the pictures [which have an early xerox look to them] was ever better in the press materials. If you want great pictures get "Full Moon," if you want the personal stories of the astronauts, get Andrew Chaikin's A Man on the Moon, this material is different and valuable in a different way [and if you're a space nut you'll want all of these and more.

The CD ROMs in each of these books are the "official" NASA films on the missions and have the pompous feel of such material, [they're shown endlessly in off times on the NASA channel, incidentally]. They are a good companion to the technical material in the books. Incidentally the books say the CD ROMs only play on Windows machines, but if you have a Mac with up to date web browser, and Quick Time you can play these as well.

The thing which really gets me about these is that they place you back in those days, most of the posts are pre-launch material talking about the missions in future tense. If you think these missions were routine, just check out the material on the different aborts and "alternate missions" which might have taken place if something had gone wrong.

Another great spaceflight book from Apogree
Like all of the Mission Reports Series Apollo 8 is just perfect. It really takes the reader back into the late 1960's. I almost get the impression the next mission Apollo 9 has not yet taken off!


Packed with technical information, pictures, great CD and loads more this is the book for anyone who wants to know more about Apollo 8.

Research Material for Apollo 8
This book is very similar to those in the same series about Apollos 9 and 10. All three of these provide good basic information about early Apollo systems, and an excellent outline of mission plans, objectives and alternate missions (malfunction scenarios). They also suffer the same drawback when compared to the excellent books about the actual landings/attempt (AS-13). The deficiency is the absence of the Technical Crew Debriefing specifically, or in more general terms any crew comments at all.

Overall, good technical back-ground to the first human space-flight around another planet, but far from providing the whole story.