'And the Moon came nearer...' To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing, Taschen has paired Norman Mailer's seminal text with spectacular photography - from the archives of NASA, "Life" magazine, and many other sources - to create a unique tribute to the defining scientific mission of our time. It has been called the single most historic event of the 20th century: On July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins met John F. Kennedy's call for a manned Moon landing by the end of the 1960s. A decade of tests and training, a staff of 400,000 engineers and scientists, a budget of $24 billion, and the most powerful rocket ever launched all combined in an unprecedented event watched by millions of people the world over. And no one captured the men, the mood, and the machinery like Norman Mailer. One of the greatest writers of the 20th century, Norman Mailer, was hired by "Life" in 1969 to cover the moon shot. His three-part feature was the longest nonfiction piece the magazine had ever published.
He enhanced and extended his reportage with deeper reflection in the brilliantly crafted book, "Of a Fire on the Moon", excerpted here for the first time. Equally adept at examining the science of space travel and the psychology of the men involved - from Saturn V rocket engineer Wernher von Braun to the crucial NASA support staff to the three astronauts - Mailer provides provocative and trenchant insights into this epoch-making event. Illustrating this volume are hundreds of the best photographs and maps from the NASA vaults, magazine archives, and private collections. Many of them previously unpublished, these images document the development of the agency and the mission, life from inside the command module and out on the Moon's surface, and the world's jubilant reaction to the mission's success. This new edition includes an original introduction by Colum McCann and captions by leading Apollo 11 experts which explain the history and science behind the images, citing the mission log, post-flight interviews with the astronauts, and publications of the day.
- ISBN10 3836511797
- ISBN13 9783836511797
- Publish Date 25 July 2009
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 16 October 2013
- Publish Country DE
- Imprint Taschen GmbH
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 350
- Language English