Here at Space.com, we're obviously obsessed with the Moon landings. There is a barrage of books explaining, analyzing, and grappling with humankind's first foray to another world. Get excited by space travel again with the books below, which are just some of the many, many books looking back at this pivotal milestone and forward to future moon missions.
Carrying the Fire
Orbiting the moon on Apollo 11
This autobiography of astronaut Michael Collins, who orbited the moon alone while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the lunar surface, sets the standard for astronaut-authored memoirs and provides a definitive but personal account of Apollo 11. "Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journey" has been re-released as a 50th-anniversary edition.
Moonbound
A trip of a lifetime
"Moonbound: Apollo 11 and the Dream of Spaceflight" is a full-color graphic novel that tells the story of Apollo 11, starting way back when the movements of the planets were calculated and speeding through to the development of new technology and science that made the first steps on the moon possible.
Reaching for the Moon
An autobiography of a legend
Books for kids will appear in an upcoming list, but we just had to mention this new autobiography by NASA computing legend Katherine Johnson. Johnson's story was publicized by the recent book and movie "Hidden Figures," and through her work with early NASA she had an inside view of the new science and mathematics developed for the epic moonshot.
Johnson's work made the Apollo missions possible, and this book will surely inspire children (mathematically-inclined and otherwise) to reach for the stars.
Moon
Pictures of our neighbor
From the moon's formation 4.5 billion years ago to potential lunar colonies, "Moon: An Illustrated History" steps through 100 past (and near-future) milestones for our neighboring world.
The moon has fascinated humanity for millennia, prompting ancient cults, scientific developments and much more. With this book, and its rich illustrations, astrobiologist David Warmflash weaves a tale of lunar geology and humanity's relationship to the dusty orb.
The Moon
What other secrets does it hold?
In "The Moon: A History for the Future," Oliver Morton poetically explores how human understanding of the moon has shaped our knowledge of Earth, and how it's spurred technological growth and scientific thought as well as flights of science fiction fancy.
Heroes of the Space Age
Incredible stories of the men and women who took humanity to the stars
Space author (and Space.com contributor) Rod Pyle profiles the pilots, scientists, and engineers who worked behind the scenes to make Apollo possible, as well as the people in front of the space race spotlight. Some examples from the promotional material: "Joe Engle was a daring test pilot who set multiple records in the dangerous X-15 rocket plane and later commanded the space shuttle three times.
Margaret Hamilton was an accomplished mathematician and one of the first female software engineers to design programs for spaceflight software that proved critical to the success of the moon landing.
John Casani was a brash young engineer who took over the struggling Voyager program to reconnoiter the outer planets at a time when success was far from certain. And Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman to travel into space aboard Soviet spacecraft Vostok 6." Pyle also includes profiles of more well-known figures, such as Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Yuri Gagarin.
Chasing the Moon
The People, the Politics, and the Promise
This companion book to the upcoming PBS series "Chasing the Moon," which will air in three parts from July 8-10, provides a deeper look at the "science fiction writers, filmmakers, military geniuses and rule-breaking scientists" whose imagination led to the Apollo missions. The book folds in science and history — as well as those key personalities — to tell the story of the historic moment.
Picturing Apollo 11
Rare Views and Undiscovered Moments
In the new book "Picturing Apollo 11: Rare Views and Undiscovered Moments," spaceflight historian J.L. Pickering and journalist John Bisney paint an incredible, vivid picture of what it was really like to be a part of the Apollo 11 mission.
The book features a wealth of images from 1969, primarily from January through the lunar landing in July, which shows lesser-seen scenes from the Apollo program. From difficult training moments to mundane meetings, the images in this book really humanize the larger-than-life Apollo 11 astronauts. It is easy to look back at Apollo 11 through a romanticized lens, but this book makes it clear just how gritty, funny, and real the mission really was.
First on the Moon
The Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Experience
"First on the Moon: The Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Experience," with a foreword by Buzz Aldrin, combines firsthand accounts of the mission, archival photos, reproductions of mission documents and more to tell the story of the Apollo program, the technology created to make it happen and the forces driving it.
The book also features exclusive interviews with adult children of the Apollo 11 astronauts. Experienced space writer (and Space.com contributor) Rod Pyle weaves it all together with a deft hand to tell the story of an era.
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