Apollo History

It pleases the human spirit to dream. As a youngster, I dreamt of spaceflight - and watched as these dreams became a reality in front of my eyes. Now, thanks to the internet, I have been able to immerse myself in an aspect of that dream.

Having signed up to the internet, I offered my enthusiasm and spare time to NASA to prepare versions of a series of books they published in the wake of the Apollo program, in a form suitable for the web. These History Series publications are now available online at the NASA History Web Site, along with two volumes covering Apollo's predecessor programs; Gemini and Mercury.

Each of 8 books were scanned, converted into electronic text, proofread and set out as simple HTML pages. Appropriate links were added to footnotes and the large lists of source notes included with most of them. Two further volumes were supplied to me in electronic form. These were checked and, once the source notes had been scanned and converted, links were added to them also. All the photographs for two of the books were scanned, balanced and sized to be included in the web version of each book.
In all, ten of what I consider to be the most interesting of NASA's history publications about their finest period are available for all via the world wide web.

They are:-
 
The Apollo Spacecraft - A Chronology. (All four volumes)
This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury.
On The Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini
Moonport: A History of Apollo Launch Facilities and Operations.
Chariots for Apollo: A History of Manned Lunar Spacecraft.
Where No Man Has Gone Before: A History of Apollo Lunar Exploration Missions.
The Partnership: A History of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
A full list of NASA's History series is available.

In October 1997, I was delighted and honoured to receive the NASA Headquarters Special Service Award for my work. The Award was presented by NASA Administrator Dan Goldin at NASA Headquarters.


I am centre with NASA Administrator Dan Goldin on the left and Michael Christensen, Associate Administrator for Headquarters Operations on the right.


Anne and I talking with Dan Goldin at a reception after the award. Mr Goldin kindly added a message to this picture.

Before commencing the above project, I had become enthralled with the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal, a wondrous work which takes the reader into the workings of Apollo's exploration of the Moon to such detail that a sense of 'being there' is imparted. The ALSJ covered the surface portions of the Moon flights. With a newly gained library and knowledge of Apollo, I decided to extend the range of this work and so have begun compiling and writing the Apollo Flight Journal.

The Apollo Flight Journal is an annotated transcript of the air/ground communications of an Apollo flight from launch to splashdown, except for portions of the mission already covered by the ALSJ. The team of myself and Frank O'Brien comment on the journey throughout, using the Flight Plan as a guide.

As an example of a full up, completely nominal, advanced mission, Apollo 15 has been covered first. Apollo 8 and, thanks to the work of Tim Brandt, Apollo 16 are both coming online. Existing transcripts have been converted to electronic text, error checked where possible and cross-referenced with a wide range of parallel material to give the reader as full an appreciation of the complexities of spaceflight to the Moon 30 years ago, as possible.

The Apollo Flight Journals are now online on NASA's History Website alongside the Surface Journal.

Last updated 2006-11-11.