Mission Moon: How 50 Years of Space Exploration Defined Houston

Flight attendants enter the international arrivals area at Hobby Airport in December 1967. Arrivals are greeted with a “Welcome to HOUSTON SPACE CITY, U.S.A.” sign over the door. Courtesy Richard Pipes/Houston Chronicle

The original seven Mercury astronauts pose in their spacesuits in 1961. From left, first row: Walter Schirra Jr., Donald Slayton, John Glenn and Scott Carpenter. Back row: Alan Shepard, Jr., Virgil Grissom and Gordon Cooper. CourtesyNASA

Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, module pilot; and Buzz Aldrin, lunar module pilot, pose for their NASA portrait in 1969. CourtesyNASA

Former President Lyndon B. Johnson and then-Vice President Spiro Agnew are among the spectators at the launch of Apollo 11, which lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on July 16, 1969. CourtesyNASA

Apollo 11 launches from Kennedy Space Center on July 16, 1969. The mission fulfilled President John F. Kennedy’s vow to reach the moon before the end of the decade. CourtesyNASA

With a half-Earth in the background, the Lunar Module with moon-walking astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin approaches for a rendezvous with the Apollo Command Module, manned by Michael Collins. The Apollo 11 liftoff from the moon came early, ending a 22-hour stay by Armstrong and Aldrin. CourtesyNASA

View of the Moon with Earth on the horizon. This image was taken before the separation of the LM and Command Module during the Apollo 11 Mission.

Buzz Aldrin poses beside the U.S. flag planted on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. CourtesyNASA

Apollo 11 astronauts presented this picture when they arrived aboard their mobile quarantine facility at Ellington AFB. Neil Armstrong gives the A-OK sign. Buzz Aldrin hams it up for friends and Michael Collins just grins. CourtesyNASA

Thousands of Houstonians turned out to honor Apollo astronauts and NASA’s space team after the Apollo 11 moon landing at a ticker-tape parade in downtown Houston. The Apollo 11 astronauts with their families were in the most decorated cars. Neil Armstrong rides in the first car, followed by Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins in red convertibles. CourtesyHouston Chronicle

It was purely symbolic, but manager Luman Harris hoped to send his Astros into space in 1965 — or at least to an altitude beyond the prior year’s ninth-place finish in the National League. From left, Bob Bruce, pitcher; John Bateman, catcher; Bob Lillis, shortstop; Jimmy Wynn, centerfield; Bob Aspromonte, third base; Walt Bond, first base; Rusty Staub, right field; Al Spangler, left field; and Joe Morgan, second base. Harris put the torch to the Astrorocket. CourtesyOwen Johnson/Houston Chronicle

Flight controllers gather around the console of Glenn Lunney (seated left), flight director, in the Mission Control Center at the Manned Spacecraft Center. They study a weather map of the proposed landing site in the Pacific Ocean. Among those looking on is Chris Kraft, deputy director, MSC. The Apollo 13 mission had been canceled, and the problem-plagued Apollo 13 crew members were in trans-Earth trajectory attempting to bring their crippled spacecraft back home. CourtesyNASA

The Apollo 13 Command Module is hoisted aboard the USS Iwo Jima. April 17, 1970. CourtesyNASA

Astronaut Donald Slayton and cosmonaut Aleksey Leonov in the Soyuz orbital module during the joint U.S.-USSR Apollo-Soyuz Test Project docking in Earth orbit mission, July 1975. CourtesyNASA

Gene Cernan maneuvers the Lunar Roving Vehicle during Apollo 17 on Dec. 11, 1972. The photograph was taken by astronaut Harrison Schmitt. CourtesyNASA

An aerial view of Johnson Space Center Rocket Park on March 18, 2019, in Houston shows how much the facility has grown from what once was donated pastureland miles from Houston. CourtesyMarie D. De Jesús/Houston Chronicle

“Isn’t it a shame that if we had been doing what we should have been doing, we’d have had men on the moon commercially at least 25, maybe 30 years ago?” Chris Kraft said at age 95. CourtesyMarie D. De Jesús/Houston Chronicle

Visiting Kennedy Space Center in 1995 as invited guests of STS-63 pilot Eileen Collins are (from left): Gene Nora Jessen, Wally Funk, Jerrie Cobb, Jerri Truhill, Sarah Ratley, Myrtle Cagle and Bernice Steadman, all members of the First Lady Astronaut Trainees. The program was not sanctioned by NASA and was shuttered in the early 1960s. Courtesy NASA

“We need a significant breakthrough in propulsion,” says Glynn Lunney at his home office in Houston. CourtesyMelissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle

Dr. Dorit Donoviel in front of a model of the International Space Station. CourtesyLeroy Gibbins

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Mission Moon: How 50 Years of Space Exploration Defined Houston

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About the book

Commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1969 moon landing and its impact on Houston

Name: Mission Moon: How 50 Years of Space Exploration Defined Houston
Brand: Houston Chronicle (Houston, TX)
SKU: 9781597258678
Price: 44.95 USD
Availability: InStock

Nearly 50 years have passed since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon.

The July 20, 1969, moon landing changed the world and forever changed Houston. The Houston Chronicle presents "Mission Moon," a hardcover collector’s book that explores how the country came together to fulfill President John F. Kennedy’s goal of reaching the lunar surface by 1970, NASA's bold missions — and crippling tragedies — since that historic day, the future of space exploration and the fate of Houston as America's "Space City."

Specifications

Title: Mission Moon: How 50 Years of Space Exploration Defined Houston
Hardcover, collector's edition
ISBN:
160 pages
Size: 9.25" x 12.25" x 0.5"
Published by Pediment Publishing
Printed in North America
Available now

Presented bY

Specifications

Title: Mission Moon: How 50 Years of Space Exploration Defined Houston
Hardcover, collector's edition
ISBN:
160 pages
Size: 9.25" x 12.25" x 0.5"
Published by Pediment Publishing
Printed in North America
Available now

Presented bY

About the book

Commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1969 moon landing and its impact on Houston

Nearly 50 years have passed since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon.

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