How Apollo Flew to the Moon Book

List of illustrations     xi
Author's preface     xvii
Acknowledgements     xxi
Foreword     xxiii
Apollo: an extraordinary adventure     1
The meaning of Apollo     1
Dreaming of the Moon     5
The Apollo spaceship     7
Which way?     8
Lunar orbit rendezvous     10
Equipment     12
Swords to ploughshares: von Braun's rockets     17
The Apollo flights: a brief history     25
An alphabet of missions     25
Failure of imagination     26
Back in the saddle: Apollo 4     28
The lunar module flies: Apollo 5     29
The Saturn balks: Apollo 6     29
Testing Block II: Apollo 7     31
Gutsy decisions: Apollo 8     32
A complete system test: Apollo 9     34
A dress rehearsal: Apollo 10     36
Task accomplished: Apollo 11     37
Lightning strikes: Apollo 12     40
The successful failure: Apollo 13     41
Try again: Apollo 14     43
Exploration at its greatest: Apollo 15     44
New knowledge: Apollo 16     47
The last hurrah: Apollo17     48
Goodbye Apollo     50
Launch: a fiery departure     53
Preparations for launch     53
Lift-off     63
Getting through the atmosphere     69
Second stage     76
Third stage     87
Earth orbit and TLI     89
Settling into orbit     89
Around the world in 90 minutes     90
Coasting around Earth     95
The route to the Moon     103
Retrieving the lander     111
Leaving Earth     111
Transposition, docking and extraction     113
"No latch, Houston"     119
The fate of the S-IVB     123
Navigating to the Moon     129
Crossing cislunar space     129
Ground-based tracking     134
Navigation from the spacecraft     136
The guidance and navigation system     140
Coasting to the Moon     153
Three men in a submarine     153
Sustaining life     155
The personal bit     158
Cool air     170
PTC: spacecraft on a spit     175
Stirring the tanks: genesis of a failure      176
Communications     178
Telly from the Moon     181
Checking the lunar module     185
Entering lunar orbit: the LOI manoeuvre     189
The service module     189
How not to crash into the Moon     193
Lunar encounter     194
The LOI PAD: it isn't magic     197
The black void     204
Luna close up: burning LOI     207
Preparations for landing     211
Overjoyed     211
The second arrival burn     212
How not to crash into the Moon     213
The joys of lunar orbit     214
In the descent orbit     218
Entering the lunar module     221
Continuing preparations     229
Undocking     231
Next stop: the Moon     241
"Go for the Pro": the landing begins     241
Slowing down: P63     244
"Hey, there it is!": pitchover and P64     249
"Picking up some dust": P66     254
Orbital sojourn: looking at the Moon     259
Luna cognita     259
Unmanned probes     263
Apollo reaches the Moon     265
Science station in lunar orbit      269
Rendezvous and docking     283
Orbital mechanics     284
We have lift-off... from the Moon!     287
Rendezvous techniques     293
Braking and station-keeping     299
A long day     305
The role of mission control     310
Epitaph for the lunar module     314
Heading for home     315
Mission accomplished... nearly     315
Trans-Earth injection     315
Subsatellite     317
The TEI PAD: a worked example     320
Counting down to the burn     323
The long fall to Earth     329
A walk outside: EVA     339
Re-entry     347
A fiery return     347
In we come: entry from start to finish     350
The entry PAD: a worked example     351
Entry REFSMMAT     355
Final four hours     356
Last hour     360
Human shooting star: P63     364
Ensuring capture: P64     366
Aiming for the ships: P67     369
Splashdown     374
Epilogue     381
Glossary     383
Further reading      389
Index     393