Stung by the pioneering space successes of the Soviet Union - in particular, Gagarin being the first man in space, the United States gathered the best of its engineers and set itself the goal of reaching the Moon within a decade. In an expanding 2nd edition of How Apollo Flew to the Moon, David Woods tells the exciting story of how the resulting Apollo flights were conducted by following a virtual flight to the Moon and its exploration of the surface. From launch to splashdown, he hitches a ride in the incredible spaceships that took men to another world, exploring each step of the journey and detailing the enormous range of disciplines, techniques, and procedures the Apollo crews had to master. While describing the tremendous technological accomplishment involved, he adds the human dimension by calling on the testimony of the people who were there at the time. He provides a wealth of fascinating and accessible material: the role of the powerful Saturn V, the reasoning behind trajectories, the day-to-day concerns of human and spacecraft health between two worlds, the exploration of the lunar surface and the sheer daring involved in traveling to the Moon and the mid-twentieth century. Given the tremendous success of the original edition of How Apollo Flew to the Moon, the second edition will have a new chapter on surface activities, inspired by reader's comment on Amazon.com. There will also be additional detail in the existing chapters to incorporate all the feedback from the original edition, and will include larger illustrations.

Uniquely provides in book form the complete story of the technology and techniques used to fly to the Moon and explore its surface

Illustrations.- Author's Preface.- Acknowledgements.- Foreword.- Chapter 1: Apollo - an extraordinary adventure.- Chapter 2: The Apollo Flights - a brief history.- Chapter 3: Launch - a fiery departure.- Chapter 4: Earth orbit and TLI.- Chapter 5: Retrieving the lander.- Chapter 6: Navigating to the Moon.- Chapter 7: Coasting to the Moon.- Chapter 8: Entering lunar orbit  - the LOI manoeuvre.- Chapter 9: Preparation for landing.- Chapter 10: Next stop - the Moon.- Chapter 11: Down in the dust.- Chapter 12: Exploration at its greatest.- Chapter 13: Rendezvous and docking.- Chapter 14: Heading for home.- Chapter 15: Re-entry.- Epilogue.- Glossary.- Appendix 1: Computer programs.- Appendix 2: Mission data.- Further reading.- Index.