The Value of the Moon
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Murray, C., and C. B. Cox. 1989. Apollo: The Race to the Moon. New York: Simon & Schuster.
My favorite book about Apollo. Wonderfully told engineering side of the story, including a nail-biting account of the near-disaster we almost had during the first landing on the Moon. Captures the excitement of the early days like no other book.
Sawyer, K. 2006. The Rock from Mars: A Detective Story on Two Planets. New York: Random House.
The saga of ALH84001, the famous meteorite from Mars in which evidence supposedly was found for ancient fossils. Interesting on the political fallout from the discovery, which was considerable.
Siddiqi, A. A. 2000. Challenge to Apollo: The Soviet Union and the Space Race 1945–1974. NASA SP-2000–4408. Washington, DC: NASA. http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4408pt1.pdf and http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4408pt2.pdf.
Massive and comprehensive history of the Soviet space program. The definitive work.
Wilhelms, D. E. 1993. To a Rocky Moon: A Geologist’s History of Lunar Exploration. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/books/rockyMoon.
The clearest, most complete account of the history of lunar science in the space age. Weak on the early phases (which are well covered in the books by Hoyt and by Sheehan and Dobbins), but unsurpassed for lunar science starting with Baldwin and including geological mapping, astronaut training, and site selection for the Apollo missions.
Wolfe, T. 1979. The Right Stuff. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
The greatest book about the space program, even though space is actually a marginal part of Wolfe’s story. The quintessence of America in spirit and substance, all the more startling in its contrast to the present space program and NASA.
Space Policy and Program History
Catchpole, J. E. 2008. The International Space Station: Building for the Future. Berlin: Springer-Praxis. Harland, D. M., and J. E. Catchpole. 2002. Creating the International Space Station. Berlin: Springer-Praxis.
Comprehensive history of the space station program and operations through its construction and initial operations.
Heppenheimer, T. R. 2002. The Space Shuttle Decision 1965–1972. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
———. The Space Shuttle Decision, 1972–1981. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
The “official” NASA history of the design and construction of the space shuttle, ending with its first flight in 1981. Some who worked in the program have told me that the early history is somewhat distorted.
Hogan, T. 2007. Mars Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Space Exploration Initiative. NASA Special Publication SP-2007–4410. Washington, DC: NASA. http://history.nasa.gov/sp4410.pdf
Brief, superficial history of the declaration and fate of President George H. W. Bush’s Human (Space) Exploration Initiative. Completely misses the Moon-Mars controversy, which arguably helped cause the demise of SEI.
Jenkins, D. R. 2002. Space Shuttle: The History of the National Space Transportation System. Stillwater, MN: Voyageur Press.
Comprehensive and well-written book on the origins, building, and flights of the space shuttle. Nicely illustrated.
Kitmacher, G. H. 2010. Reference Guide to the International Space Station: Assembly Complete Edition. NASA NP-2010–09–682-HQ. Washington, DC: NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/508318main_ISS_ref_guide_nov2010.pdf.
Beautifully illustrated book showing how the ISS was assembled and is operated. The definitive work; I did not fully understand the station until I read this book.
Logsdon, J. M. 2010. John F. Kennedy and the Race to the Moon. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
———. 2015. After Apollo? Richard Nixon and the American Space Program. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Two pieces by the dean of space policy history. Logsdon wrote the definitive work on the JFK Moon decision and aims to do the same for Nixon and the space shuttle, with somewhat less success.
McCurdy, H. E. 1990. The Space Station Decision: Incremental Politics and Technological Choice. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Good history of the policy choices made during the design of Freedom, although ending before its existential crisis and subsequent rebirth as the International Space Station in the 1990s.
McDougall, W. A. 1985. The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age. New York: Basic Books.
Exhaustive study of the politics of the space program and government technology research in general. Emphasis on the early Sputnik days.
Schmitt, H. H. 2006. Return to the Moon: Exploration, Enterprise, and Energy in the Human Settlement of Space. New York: Praxis-Copernicus.
Mostly deals with the programmatic aspects of lunar return, focusing on the mining of helium-3. Jack Schmitt is the only professional scientist to have walked on the Moon.
Shipman, H. L. 1989. Humans in Space: 21st Century Frontiers. New York: Plenum.
Insightful, prophetic book that correctly identified the need to develop and use the resources of space to create new capabilities.
Sietzen, F., and K. L. Cowing. 2004. New Moon Rising: The Making of America’s New Space Vision and the Remaking of NASA. Burlington, ON: Apogee Books.
The sole work on the origins of the Vision for Space Exploration policy. The authors had access to several inside sources, making this an invaluable resource, although it possesses the drawbacks of being an “instant history” effort.
Tribbe, M. D. 2014. No Requiem for the Space Age: The Apollo Moon Landings and American Culture. New York: Oxford University Press.
Annoying book about the “whiners of Apollo,” those “experts” who continually complained about and denigrated the effort to go to the Moon throughout the 1960s. A must-read, but take Dramamine before plunging in.
Zubrin, R., and R. Wagner. 1996. The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must. New York: Free Press.
The definitive exposition of the “Mars Direct” architecture by its originator.
Major Committee Reports on Space Policy
These are presented in chronological order, without comment. All may be accessed and read free on the Internet. They contain the good, the bad, and the ugly of space policy.
Space Task Group. 1969. The Post-Apollo Space Program: Directions for the Future. Washington, DC: NASA. http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/taskgrp.html.
National Commission on Space (Paine Report). 1986. Pioneering the Space Frontier. New York: Bantam Books. http://history.nasa.gov/painerep/begin.html.
Ride, S. K., et al. (Ride Report). 1987. Leadership and America’s Future in Space. Washington, DC: NASA. http://history.nasa.gov/riderep/main.PDF.
NASA (90-Day Study). 1989. Report of the 90-Day Study on Human Exploration of the Moon and Mars. Washington, DC: NASA. http://history.nasa.gov/90_day_study.pdf
Augustine, N. R., et al. (Augustine Report). 1990. Advisory Committee on the Future of the U.S. Space Program. Washington, DC: NASA. http://history.nasa.gov/augustine/racfup1.htm.
Synthesis Group (Stafford Report). 1991. America at the Threshold: The Space Exploration Initiative. Washington, DC: NASA. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/strategies/Threshold.pdf
Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management and Organization (Rumsfeld Commission). 2001. Report of the Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management and Organization. Washington, DC: US Department of Defense. http://www.dod.mil/pubs/space20010111.pdf.
Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB). 2003. Report of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. Washington, DC: NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/columbia/home/CAIB_Vol1.html.
President’s Commission on the Implementation of Space Exploration Policy (Aldridge Report). 2004. Journey to Inspire, Innovate and Discover. Washington, DC: US Governmen
t Printing Office. http://www.nss.org/resources/library/spacepolicy/2004-AldridgeCommissionReport.pdf.
National Research Council. 2007. The Scientific Context for Exploration of the Moon. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11954.
Review of Human Spaceflight Plans Committee (Augustine Committee). 2010. Seeking a Human Spaceflight Program Worthy of a Great Nation. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. http://www.nss.org/resources/library/spacepolicy/HSF_Cmte_FinalReport.pdf.
National Research Council. 2014. Pathways to Exploration: Rationales and Approaches for a U.S. Program of Human Exploration. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=18801.
Lunar Classics
Baldwin, R. B. 1949. The Face of the Moon. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
The study by Baldwin that got it all so right, so early. This book inspired Harold Urey’s interest in the Moon and greatly influenced many early lunar scientists.
Hartmann, W. K., R. J. Phillips, and G. J. Taylor, eds. 1986. Origin of the Moon. Houston, TX: Lunar and Planetary Institute Press. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/books/origin-of-the-moon.
Proceedings of the great Kona Moon origin conference and hence, the definitive statement of the giant impact model for the origin of the Moon. Review papers by Wood, Drake, and Hood are particularly worthy; also see the history of the study of lunar origin by Brush.
Mendell, W. W., ed. 1985. Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century. Houston, TX: Lunar and Planetary Institute Press. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/books/lunar_bases.
———. 1992. Second Conference on Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century. Washington, DC: NASA. http://www.nss.org/settlement/moon/library/lunar2.htm.
The proceedings of two conferences in 1984 and 1988. Great fun. A collection of wild fantasies about the advent of another Apollo program, come to save us all from the purgatory of space mediocrity.
Mutch, T. A. 1970. The Geology of the Moon: A Stratigraphic View. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Wonderfully written and illustrated account of the stratigraphy (layered rocks) of the Moon. Although it is five decades old, many of the basic concepts (e.g., mapping relative ages) it describes remain current.
Schultz, P. H. 1976. Moon Morphology: Interpretations based on Lunar Orbiter Photography. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Massive compilation of Lunar Orbiter images of just about every imaginable lunar feature, classified by type of landform. Images are well reproduced on quality paper.
Readable, Reliable Popular Accounts of Lunar Science and Exploration
Cortwright, E. M., ed. 1975. Apollo Expeditions to the Moon. NASA Special Publication 350. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. http://history.nasa.gov/SP-350/toc.html.
A collection of essays on all aspects of the Apollo program, from booster rockets to lunar science, written by participants. Illustrated with many color photographs.
Crotts, A. 2014. The New Moon: Water, Exploration and Future Habitation. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Massive review of recent lunar exploration results, with considerable (perhaps too much) attention paid to Lunar Transient Phenomena.
Lewis, J., M. S. Matthews, and M. L. Guerrieri, eds. 1993. Resources of Near-Earth Space. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/onlinebks/ResourcesNearEarthSpace/contents.php.
Compilation of review papers covering the material resources of space, focusing on the Moon and near-Earth objects. Written before the discovery of lunar polar ice.
Light, M. 1999. Full Moon. New York: Knopf. http://www.michaellight.net/fm-intro.
Magnificent coffee-table book of Apollo photographs.
Masursky, H., G. W. Colton, and F. El-Baz, eds. 1978. Apollo over the Moon: A View From Orbit. NASA Special Publication 362. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. http://history.nasa.gov/SP-362/contents.htm.
Collection of the best photographs taken from lunar orbit during the Apollo missions, each one presented with a geologically oriented caption by a relevant expert.
Powell, J. L. 1998. Night Comes to the Cretaceous: Dinosaur Extinction and the Transformation of Modern Geology. New York: W. H. Freeman.
Accessible account of the development and path of the revolution in geology caused by the recognition that a giant impact 65 million years ago caused the extinction of many species, including most famously, the dinosaurs.
Wingo, D. 2004. Moonrush: Improving Life on Earth with the Moon’s Resources. Burlington, ON: Apogee Books.
Discusses the concept of finding large amounts of platinum-group metals on the Moon to serve a hydrogen-based energy economy on Earth. I have some technical issues with this idea but agree that the Moon can serve the terrestrial economy.
Wood, C. A. 2003. The Modern Moon: A Personal View. Cambridge, MA: Sky Publishing.
Nicely illustrated tour of the near side of the Moon for the amateur astronomer, punctuated by some brief geological narratives and anecdotal stories of various lunar scientists.
Lunar Atlases and Maps
Bowker, D. E., and J. K. Hughes. 1971. Lunar Orbiter Photographic Atlas of the Moon. NASA Special Publication 206. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/lunar_orbiter.
The definitive collection of Lunar Orbiter pictures, showing almost the entire lunar surface, both near and far sides. Its value is somewhat hampered by relatively poor reproduction of some of the photographs. Now available in an online edition.
Bussey, B., and P. D. Spudis. 2012. The Clementine Atlas of the Moon. Revised edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
The best and most comprehensive atlas of the Moon (if I do say so myself), showing the surface and nomenclature of the entire lunar surface at a consistent scale and degree of detail. Includes a brief history and description of the findings of the Clementine mission, which revolutionized our understanding of the Moon.
Hare, T. M., R. K. Hayward, J. S. Blue, and B. A. Archinal. 2015. Image Mosaic and Topographic Map of the Moon. US Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 3316. Washington, DC: US Geological Survey. http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/sim3316.
The current “official” version of the USGS maps based on images and topographic data returned by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission. Topographic map (sheet 2) is virtually worthless because of poor selections for color rendering.
National Geographic Society. 1976. The Earth’s Moon. Second edition. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society.
The best map of the Moon, showing both near and far sides (with major feature names) on a single sheet at a scale of 1:10,000,000. Margins are filled with fascinating facts and drawings about the Moon and an index of named formations.
Rükl, A. 1990. Hamlyn Atlas of the Moon. London: Hamlyn.
Excellent atlas of the near side of the Moon, particularly useful for amateur astronomers and observers. Each map in the atlas gives a brief entry on the people for whom craters were named.
Stooke, P. J. 2007. The International Atlas of Lunar Exploration. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Compilation of maps showing the results of all lunar missions to date, at a variety of scales. Essential for the true lunar fanatic.
Whitaker, E. A. 1999. Mapping and Naming the Moon: A History of Lunar Cartography and Nomenclature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
The history of the mapping of the Moon by one of the great scholars of that field. Definitive and authoritative.
Moon Lore and Cultural History
Brunner, B. 2010. Moon: A Brief History. New Haven: Yale University Press.
A collection of miscella
ny, myths, lore, and legends dealing with the Moon. Entertaining and fast paced.
Montgomery, S. L. 1999. The Moon and the Western Imagination. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
Fascinating story of the role of the Moon in the history of culture and science. Well written and interesting.
Sheehan, W. P., and T. A. Dobbins. 2001. Epic Moon: A History of Lunar Exploration in the Age of the Telescope. Richmond, VA: Willman-Bell.
The story of the astronomers who devoted themselves to learning as much about the Moon as possible in the years before we could actually go there.
Online Resources
The advent of the Internet has made a multitude of historical and scientific documents available for reference and enlightenment. Here are a few Web sites that contain useful information that expands upon and adds to the ideas presented in this book.
Spudis Lunar Resources: http://www.spudislunarresources.com
My personal site, containing papers, documents, graphics, and audiovisual materials supporting the ideas discussed in this book. A special section labeled on the home page (“Links”) consists partly of unpublished documents that make up critical parts of the history of the Vision for Space Exploration. I also write blog posts that discuss current issues in space science and policy.
Develop Cislunar Space Next: http://www.cislunarnext.org
A Web site that I created devoted to the development of cislunar space, including the utilization of lunar resources to create new spacefaring capabilities.