Rick Houston is a journalist with twenty years of experience and a special interest in spaceflight history. He is the author of Wheels Stop: The Tragedies and Triumphs of the Space Shuttle Program, 1986–2011 (Nebraska, 2013) and NASCAR’s Greatest Race: The 1992 Hooters 500. He was also the associate producer and consultant for the documentary film Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo.¿Milt Heflin worked for NASA for nearly half a century, including on the prime recovery ships during splashdown and post-landing activities for Apollo 8, Apollo 10, Apollo 16, Apollo 17, each of the three Skylab flights, and the Apollo-SoyuzTest Project. He later became a flight director who led the mission control team during the flight of STS-61, widely considered one of the most important missions of the entire thirty-year Space Shuttle program. At the time of his retirement, he served as associate director (technical) at Johnson Space Center. John Aaron is a legendary former flight controller widely credited with saving the Apollo 12 flight and playing an instrumental role in the safe return of the Apollo 13 crew.

List of Illustrations Foreword Introduction 1. Who Did What 2. Tampa, Tranquility Base Here … 3. Growing Up 4. We’re Going to Make It Right 5. Merry Christmas from the Moon 6. Dress Rehearsals 7. A Bunch of Guys about to Turn Blue 8. "Great Job, Young Man" 9. "We’ve Got More Than a Problem" 10. Living on the Moon 11. The End of an Era 12. Legacy Epilogue Sources