Chariots for Apollo: The NASA History of Manned Lunar Spacecraft to 1969

Marc Notes:
Originally published: Washington, D.C.: NASA, 1979.;This text tells NASA's official history of the Apollo spacecraft and lunar modules. It traces the design of the vehicles, their development, and their operation in space. Photographs and illustrations highlight the text, beginning with NASA's origins and concluding with the triumphant Apollo 11 moon mission.

Biographical Note:
Courtney Brooks is affiliated with International Business Machines and a research associate in the History Department of the University of Houston. James Grimwood has been NASA Johnson Space Center Historian since 1962. Loyd S. Swenson, Jr., is Professor of History at the University of Houston.

Table of Contents:
INTRODUCTION TO THE DOVER EDITIONFOREWORDPREFACECONCEPT TO CHALLENGEPROJECT PLANNING AND CONTRACTINGCONTENDING MODESMATCHING MODULES AND MISSIONSCOMMAND MODULE AND PROGRAM CHANGESLUNAR MODULESEARCHING FOR ORDERMOVING TOWARD OPERATIONSTRAGEDY AND RECOVERYRACE WITH THE DECADETASTES OF TRIUMPHTHE TRAILBLAZERSTO LAND ON THE MOONTRIP TO TRANQUILITYEPILOGUEAPPENDIX A. MANNED SPACECRAFT CENTER SITE SELECTION PROCEDUREAPPENDIX B. ASTRONAUT ASSIGNMENTSAPPENDIX C. APOLLO FLIGHT PROGRAMAPPENDIX D. Apollo 11 EXPERIMENTSAPPENDIX E. Apollo 11 LUNAR SAMPLESAPPENDIX F. MAJOR SPACECRAFT COMPONENT MANUFACTURERSAPPENDIX G. APOLLO PROGRAM RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE MANNED SPACE CENTERSAPPENDIX H. FUNDING-AS OF 30 JUNE 1969SOURCE NOTESBIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTEINDEXLIST OF NASA PHOTOGRAPH NUMBERS

Publisher Marketing:
Millions around the world watched as the Apollo 11 astronauts "came in peace for all mankind" to take humanity's first steps on the moon. Their mission's triumph was equally attributable to a less visible crew of nearly 400,000 people in hundreds of different organizations. This official NASA history reveals the human story behind an epic achievement. Written by a trio of experts, it chronicles the engineering and management contributions to the success of Project Apollo, starting with the creation of NASA itself and tracing the design and development of the project's spacecraft and lunar vehicles as well as their operation in space.
Refreshingly free of jargon and technical language, this accessible account focuses on the coordination of efforts behind the production of the Apollo service, command, and lunar modules. It covers three phases of spacecraft evolution: defining and designing the necessary vehicles; developing and qualifying them for the task; and operating them to achieve their objectives. The authors conducted numerous interviews with the project's participants and relied heavily on NASA's extensive archives. In addition to several appendixes, the text is supplemented with more than 100 photographs and illustrations that recapture the efforts of the dedicated team of thousands who reached for the moon.