Footprints on the Moon, by the Writers and Editors of the Associated Press
New York: The Associated Press, 1969. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Quarto (approximately 9.25 inches by 12.25 inches). [8], 24, [3]6 pages. Illustrated endpapers. profusely illus. in color. Index. Ex-library with the usual library markings. The DJ has some wear and soiling and is in a plastic sleeve that is attached to the boards. It’s a journalistic countdown leading to the day and the hour when astronaut Neil Armstrong took “one small step” for man on the lunar surface, the inside story of how America won its race to the moon. Initially running 214 pages, “Footprints on the Moon” was first published by AP in 1969, after the Apollo 11 mission that took Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins on their historic journey. Indeed, the book was dedicated to the three men “and their myriad technical experts who made the flight possible.” John Barbour, AP’s lead writer on the book, covered the nation’s manned space missions, including the 1969 triumph. "After centuries of superstition and ignorance, man looked up to the crescent moon and realized it was within his grasp. How did it happen? It started with a little thing. The world's two most powerful nations were facing each other on a hundred subtle battlefields when the one that everyone deemed less ingenious and knowledgeable and powerful suddenly hurled into space the first man-made satellite, weighing only 184 pounds. The other great power, America, and its young President, took up the challenge. A dozen years and 25 billion dollars later, their acceptance, stemming from the appearance of a tiny sputnik, would yield man's finest hour. Two men walked the lunar surface and others would follow. And all of man's past explorations, all of his attainments, seemed frail. For the first time his foot left prints on another heavenly body. And this was only the beginning. "Footprints on the Moon" is the story of how man forged the weapons to free himself from the bonds that hold him to his native planet. In it the events of the past decade flick by like a master countdown for the day and hour and second of the final shot. These were moments that we lived sporadically, forgetfully, with our mind distracted by other pressing matters. Now, we have here the inside story of how America won its race to the moon, the story of the men who died and the other men who sweated to make man's greatest enterprise succeed. And it is the story of the promise the effort holds - the promise that men at last know where the earth, moon and sun began, and where life began, and where it exists, and whether mans is unique in the universe. The success of the astronauts has been more than a national victory. It is a victory for all mankind, and no other moment will seem as big until man reaches beyond the moon for other planets, other stars." - from the inner front jacket flap By the writers and editors of The Associated Press. Condition: Good / Good.
Keywords: Space Exploration, NASA, Lunar Landing, Moon, Astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Spacecraft, Wernher von Braun, Alan Shepard, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins
[Book #91034]
Price: $45.00