On the Moon: The Apollo Journals [Paperback]

Public interest in the first lunar landing transcended political, economic and social borders  the world was briefly united by the courage of the crew, and the wonder of the accomplishment. Prompted by the rivalry of the Cold War, Apollo 11 and the five missions that subsequently landed on the Moon were arguably the finest feats of exploration in human history.

But these were more than exercises in flags and footprints, because the missions involved the crews making geological field trips on a low gravity site while wearing pressure suits, carrying life-support systems on their backs and working against an unforgiving time line. The missions delivered not only samples of moonrock, but also hard-learned lessons for how to work on the surface of another planet, and this experience will be crucial to planning the resumption of the human exploration of the Moon and going on to Mars.

Adapting to a New World.- Pinpoint Landing, Great Science, and a Lot of Fun.- A Damned Hard Walk Followed by a Little Golf.- The Lunar Dune Buggy.- Drilling Troubles.- The Descartes Highlands  High Land But No Volcanoes.- The Volcanoes of Taurus-Littrow  Explosive Volcanism on the Moon.- Boulder Rolling  the Last Apollo EVA.- Lessons from Apollo for Future Operations on the Moon.

From the reviews:

Jones and Heiken have chosen key parts of the Apollo surface expeditions for this book. & There are introductions to each mission section, explaining why the particular landing site was selected. & This would be a good book to have handy while youre watching the Spacecraft Films Apollo DVD sets, especially the ones for the final three lunar missions. & overall the book provides a very good introduction to the ALSJ and to a deeper understanding of the crews activities on the lunar surface. (Liftoff, Issue 244, March-April, 2008)

Grant Heiken worked for NASA during the Apollo and Skylab ProgrlC%