84 Scientific American, July 2019
RECOMMENDED
By Andrea Gawrylewski
© 2019 THE LEGO GROUP, USED BY PERMISSIONApollo’s Muse:
The Moon in the Age of Photography
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
On exhibit July 3–September 22, 2019
(general admission, $25)When Italian scientist Galileo
Galilei peered at the moon
through his homemade tele-
scope, he sketched its surpris-
ingly craggy surface, published
his drawings in 1610 and launched a new field of
astronomy called selenography. They were cer-
tainly not the first pictures of the moon but per-
haps a more scientific iteration of the age-old hu -
man captivation with Earth’s satellite. This summer
the Metropolitan Museum of Art will display an
enchanting collection of moon images, from
daguerre o types—including two from the 1840s
that were previously undiscovered—to the epic
portrait of Buzz Aldrin in his mirror-faced space hel-
met taken by Neil Armstrong on the lunar surface in- And, of course, Galileo’s famous originals.
The Moon: A History for the Future
by Oliver Morton. Economist Books, 2019 ($28)Humankind’s fascination
with the moon came long
before two American astro-
nauts first walked on its
surface. “It defines the sky,”
science writer Morton says in The Moon. “It
completes the Earth.” In tribute, he thoughtfully
describes the history of this intimate relation, from
earlier generations that depended on the natural
satellite as a utility to illuminate the night sky to
the triumph of the Apollo missions and the possi-
bility of commercial space travel. Morton also
reflects on the influence of science fiction in soci-
ety before the moon landing—lunar-settlement
stories represented the future, he writes, some-
times idyllic, sometimes terrible. Today the moon
continues to inspire us: our species harbors new
ambitions to return to our planet’s closest com-
panion and use it as a stepping-stone for further
exploration of the universe. — Sunya BhuttaOne Giant Leap: The Impossible
Mission That Flew Us to the Moon
by Charles Fishman. Simon & Schuster,
2019 ($29.99)
Landing astronauts on the
moon was, by some estimates,
the greatest achievement of
the 20th century and has been
painstakingly chronicled. But
many of the behind-the-scenes stories of the Apol-
lo 11 mission remain surprisingly unknown. Journal-
ist Fishman shares details such as the fact that the
moon smells like wet ashes or that while Buzz Aldrin
took the first moon walk, one of the engineers who
developed his spacesuit watched in silent horror,
fearing Aldrin would trip, tear the suit and doom the
mission. Fishman also gives an account of heated
conversations in late 1962 between President John F.
Kennedy and nasa chief James E. Webb, revealing
that Kennedy was annoyed by the budget and diffi-
culties of the Apollo program. In the end, the lunar
mission succeeded against the odds. — Jim Daley
LEGO Ideas nasa
Apollo Saturn V
Building set ($119.99)In the early morning hours of July 16, 1969, technicians at
the Kennedy Space Center loaded upward of 750,000 gal-
lons of fuel into the 363-foot Saturn V rocket that would suc-
cessfully propel the Apollo 11 spacecraft toward the moon. It
would be one of 13 Saturn V launches between 1967 and 1973.
This vehicle remains the tallest, heaviest and most powerful
rocket ever in operation. In honor of the 50th anniversary of
Saturn V’s famous flight, this month’s column focuses on all
things Apollo 11. As for the rocket, pick up this 3.3-foot-high
feat of LEGO engineering, which includes three removable
stages, as well as the lunar lander and command module.
Even with 1,969 pieces (get it?), it is by no means the largest
LEGO set ever created, but it’s a handsome and fun tribute to
one of nasa’s most accomplished workhorses of space travel.1969APOLLO 11ANNIVERSARY50 2019
years