In planning this photo history we set out to record the
story of Apollo before the colors fade and memories blur. At
first we aimed to restrict ourselves to the actual expeditions to
the Moon. But it soon became clear that this approach could not
capture the scope and spirit of so far-reaching an enterprise. So
we decided that the breadth of Apollo would be shown best from
the differing perspectives of the people directly concerned. Each
chapter author was encouraged to recount his part of the story as
he remembered it. We refrained from homogenizing these
contributions, although we recognized that they are necessarily
personalized and slightly duplicative. But they do offer the
viewpoints of some of the people who made Apollo happen, and thus
may provide fresh insights into that incredible project.
To help develop the idea into a book, I turned to Frank
Rowsome, NASA's technical publications chief, with whom I had
collaborated on an earlier book, Exploring Space with a Camera.
Others who helped were Sandra Scaffidi, photo editor; Kay
Voglewede, copy editor; and Harry Samuels, art director. Special
research was done by George Abbey, William R. Corliss, James
Daus, Leon Kosofsky, Andrew Ruppel, and Ray Zavasky. Volta Torrey
and David Anderton aided on Chapters 1, 10, and 12. Robert
Sherrod not only wrote Chapter 8 but also drew on his extensive
Apollo knowledge to give assistance on Chapters 6, 9, and 13.
Harold Pryor of NASA's Scientific and Technical Information
Office lent us people, facilities, and support.
We offer this book as a grateful memento to the hundreds of
thousands of people who worked on Apollo, and as a fond tribute
to our fellow Americans who gave the program such steadfast
support. Apollo is worth remembering not only for what it did,
but for what it taught us we can do.
EDGAR M. CORTRIGHT Director
NASA Langley Research Center
