Mercury, Gemini & Apollo missions book

[ShredderXLE]

Hello,

I'm currently reading A Man on the Moon by Andrew Chaikin about the Apollo missions which im really enjoying although I find as I'm getting through it I find its lacking in some more of the technical aspects I would like to know more about - ie the details of the parts that make up the stages of the modules and boosters and the manoeuvres carried out during the various stages of each mission and a more in depth description of what each mission involved.

The book Chariots for Apollo (by Courtney Brooks) is noted as being the more in depth guide to the Apollo missions and spacecraft but Id also like to learn more about the technical aspects of the preceeding Mercury and Gemini missions - any recomendations?

Ideally with plenty of technical drawings, diagrams of the orbits and trajectories and photos etc

Thanks!

[ridds]

It's not print but this YT channel has some great info on the missions.

Homemade Documentaries

[ShredderXLE]

Bit late back to this.....to be honest I dont get on to well with Youtube but watched a couple of clips then found out about a series of DVDs called "From the NASA Archives". Theres a Gemini one and a few Apollo / Saturn ones so I bought them on ebay. They are really good......theres hours and hours of original footage which is very good quality. Sadly most of it doesnt have any sound as I assume its cinefilm type stuff. But Ive found it very compelling just watching an hour of silent film footage of a space suit gloved hand flipping switches and turning some dials.

Ive also seen that Haynes do a series of books on the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions and craft - has anyone seen what these are like? Worth a read or are they a bit light on the detail?

[Yertis]

Not specifically what you're looking for but 'Carrying the Fire', by Michael Collins, is gives a very good first hand account of his part in the Gemini and Apollo missions.

[Turtle Shed]

I've got at least 80 books covering the Apollo missions.

I guess John Young's book "Forever Young" is quite technical, but in my opinion the technical stuff made it all a bit dull. Sounds like your taste would differ though.

Another one that I suppose contains quite a bit of technical stuff is Lost Moon (The Apollo 13 one).

"Flight - my Life in Mission Control" by Kris Kraft is probably quite technical, but it's been a long time since I read it.

One of the best though, but I don't recall it being very technical, is "All American Boys" by Walt Cunningham, well worth a read.

Finally "Chariots for Apollo" is all about the spacecraft, again, a very long time since I read it, but it might be the book you are looking for. It's for sale on Amazon.

[MesoForm]

NASA has some free eBooks if that's any good?
https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/index.html
I read a couple of the aeronautics ones and they were quite technical, not sure if they gave any of the early space missions you're after though.

[generationx]

If you want to go deep into the operations side these two are comprehensive (but definitely not light reading):

Gateway to the Moon (Charles Benson)

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Charles-D-Benson/dp/081...

Moon Launch! (same author)

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Charles-D-Benson/dp/081...

[RizzoTheRat]

Yertis said:

Not specifically what you're looking for but 'Carrying the Fire', by Michael Collins, is gives a very good first hand account of his part in the Gemini and Apollo missions.

Not read everyone's but that and Gene Cernan's "Last Man On The Moon" are the best Apollo era biographies I've read.


The podcast "13 minutes to the moon" is interesting, it goes over all the audio for the final 13 minutes of Apollo 11's approach and landing on the moon, explaining what each radio call means.

[dr_gn]

Apogee books do a series of “Mission Reports”, which include some technical details, and transcripts of astronaut de-briefs etc. bit dry but I thought they were really good:







I think the Haynes manuals are a great balance between value, the ‘story’, images and technical info:

[Fusion777]

Not so much these specific missions, but if you're looking for a quality print resource on space and space missions, the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Space (although old), is EXCELLENT. Very, very comprehensive, well written and clear. Don't let the age put you off.