20 ASTRONOMY • DECEMBER 2018
ifty years ago, men traveled a quarter of a
million miles through space, and set foot for
the first time on our planet’s Moon. Today,
this outrageously bold adventure seems as
shiny and new as if it were yesterday. It still
captures the imagination of kids of all ages
— witness the ever-popular LEGO model of
a Saturn rocket and the capsules that took
men on an epic voyage.
In retelling the story of the space race, its
tragedies and triumphs, the Moon landing in
July 1969, and the missions that followed, we
will take you on a journey in a way never pos-
sible before. In our new book, Mission Moon
3-D, we give perspectives on both sides of that
scramble to reach the Moon, including stories
that could never be told until now. And for
the very first time, those stories can also be
told through 150 newly created Victorian-
style stereo pairs of photographs, viewable
in glorious 3D. You can use the OWL stereo
viewer that comes with our book, or order
one through http://www.MyScienceShop.com
(where the book is also available).
Here is just a sampling of the images
and a brief glimpse of the narrative text.
On these pages, you will see some “mono”photographs that need no special apparatus
to view. But interspersed among them are
the side-by-side pairs of photographs that
will give you a uniquely powerful three-
dimensional perspective — which Charlie
Duke himself has described as making him
feel almost as if he were back on the surface
of the Moon, as he was in 1972.The challenge
The whole enterprise began as a rare thing,
when John F. Kennedy addressed a joint
session of Congress on May 25, 1961. “I
believe that this nation should commit itself
to achieving the goal,” said the president,Above: Astronauts
acting as commu-
nicators monitor
the Apollo 13
emergency in
Houston’s Mission
Control. Seated, left
to right, are Deke
Slayton, director
of flight crew
operations; Jack
Lousma, capsule
communicator; and
John Young, backup
commander.
Standing, left
to right, are Ken
Mattingly and
Vance Brand. NASA/JSC