Difference between revisions of "July 6, 2013"
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| − | <em>Apollo 11 image [http://history.nasa.gov/ap11ann/kippsphotos/6642.jpg | + | <em>Apollo 11 image [http://history.nasa.gov/ap11ann/kippsphotos/6642.jpg 6642] showing LM approaching command module while passing over Mare Smythii.</em><br /> |
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| − | I'm 21 years late but I just finished reading Mike Gray's totally engaging 1992 book, <em>[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/039332513X/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=1535523722&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B006U5S9HK&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0JB9QMBNDVKZEWYDN5N0 | + | I'm 21 years late but I just finished reading Mike Gray's totally engaging 1992 book, <em>[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/039332513X/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=1535523722&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B006U5S9HK&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0JB9QMBNDVKZEWYDN5N0 Angle of Attack - Harrison Storms and the Race to the Moon.]</em> Although it has the hyper-enthusiasm of a 1950s boy's adventure story with a hero and his true-blue companions, the stories of the technical problems that were solved to produce the Apollo success are astonishing. I grew up with the excitement of space, and devoured the Apollo science chronicle of Don WIlhelms' <em>[http://lpod.wikispaces.com/July+22%2C+2010 To a Rocky Moon]</em>, but I simply did not appreciate the engineering complexity of the spacecraft and the Saturn rockets that took the crews to the Moon and brought them home safely. I recommend this book, and now am starting Mike Collins' <em>[http://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Story-Americas-Adventure-Space/dp/0802131883/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373073544&sr=1-8&keywords=liftoff Liftoff]</em> to get the astronaut perspective. There have been so many new space machines since Apollo that I suppose technological problems now have solutions that were inconceivable 60 years ago. But I bet the heart attack-provoking and divorce-causing obsessive dedication and vision of Harrison Storm and cohorts are still required.<br /> |
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| − | <em>[mailto:tychocrater@yahoo.com | + | <em>[mailto:tychocrater@yahoo.com Chuck Wood]</em><br /> |
Note: Science may not be Gray's strength for there are a few errors including the last page saying that Apollo samples confirmed that tektites were blasted out of lunar volcanoes; they weren't, they are ejecta from Earth impacts.<br /> | Note: Science may not be Gray's strength for there are a few errors including the last page saying that Apollo samples confirmed that tektites were blasted out of lunar volcanoes; they weren't, they are ejecta from Earth impacts.<br /> | ||
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Revision as of 17:06, 11 January 2015
Manufacturing Dreams
Apollo 11 image 6642 showing LM approaching command module while passing over Mare Smythii.
I'm 21 years late but I just finished reading Mike Gray's totally engaging 1992 book, Angle of Attack - Harrison Storms and the Race to the Moon. Although it has the hyper-enthusiasm of a 1950s boy's adventure story with a hero and his true-blue companions, the stories of the technical problems that were solved to produce the Apollo success are astonishing. I grew up with the excitement of space, and devoured the Apollo science chronicle of Don WIlhelms' To a Rocky Moon, but I simply did not appreciate the engineering complexity of the spacecraft and the Saturn rockets that took the crews to the Moon and brought them home safely. I recommend this book, and now am starting Mike Collins' Liftoff to get the astronaut perspective. There have been so many new space machines since Apollo that I suppose technological problems now have solutions that were inconceivable 60 years ago. But I bet the heart attack-provoking and divorce-causing obsessive dedication and vision of Harrison Storm and cohorts are still required.
Chuck Wood
Note: Science may not be Gray's strength for there are a few errors including the last page saying that Apollo samples confirmed that tektites were blasted out of lunar volcanoes; they weren't, they are ejecta from Earth impacts.
