Why to write about space now?

I’ve been long fascinated with space exploration, especially with Apollo Lunar program. So far I’ve read a dozen of books and watched more than dozens of documentaries, interviews and movies on the subject. I have to tell you my enthusiasm is not even close to be exhausted. As you may know this year will mark 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 first Moon landing that took place on July 20th, 1969, 20:17 UTC. It’s not  strange that last year we saw the First Man movie about Neil Armstrong hitting the theaters across the globe. This year on March 8th long awaited Apollo 11 documentary featuring never before seen hi quality video along with re-mastered videos was released in IMAX format in theaters. It seems like more is to come when we get closer to July 20th of 2019.

What books do I recommend?

I recommend Flight: My Life in Mission Control by Christopher Kraft. In my mind it is one of the most interesting books written about American space program by the founding father of mission control.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also find Sunburst and Luminary: An Apollo Memoir book by Don Eyles very interesting from an engineer-programmer point of view. He describes in detail how the Lunar Module (LM) software was designed and behaved in practice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is hard to not recommend The Last Man on the Moon book by Eugene Cernan who was the last man so far on the Moon. I find this book very inspirational thanks to Cernan’s insightful thoughts and his deep personality. He was able to describe his emotions while being on the Moon with vivid colors. It feels like you join him there. 

What documentaries and movies are worth watching?

Actually, there are quite a lot documentaries that are available for free on YouTube. But there are a number of very good ones that worth the money to pay for them. I’ll mention only a number of them. Others may be found in my earlier Deep Space, Do You Copy? post.

I recommend you to watch Apollo 11 documentary that was released recently (at time of writing) in IMAX if possible. It successfully conveys the enormity of the event that unfolds before your eyes. It is possible at times to forget that you are watching the movie. I would also mention the sound track for the film by Matt Morton that helps this film to stand out.

It turns out that Apollo 11 documentary stands upon shoulders of another, today long forgotten For All Mankind documentary from 1989 by Al Reinert. It is also accompanied by very impressive sound tracks of Brian Eno and provides interesting interviews with Apollo astronauts along with nice video of them having fun on the way to the Moon and on the surface. 

Conclusion

The manned space exploration is again an exciting topic since Israeli Beresheet space craft is on its way to the Moon and a Chinese vehicle is exploring the Moon as I write these lines. US SpaceX and Canadian Space Agency partnering with NASA and others to built Gateway a Lunar Space Station for a long stay on Moon orbit and on the Moon surface on our way to Mars.  So, book your next flight with Virgin Galactic, take a seat, fasten your belts, check oxygen level and prepare for a liftoff to space.