With luck, the return to the Moon is finally under way. After a failure to launch in late August, the Artemis launch vehicle will be headed to the Moon on September 3, carrying the first spaceship to pave a new path to the Moon. The Orion capsule will be unmanned, but will test the processes which will hopefully return a crew to the lunar surface within the next few years. The importance of the event cannot be understated, as it will mean that once more mankind is reaching out beyond Earth, not just with remote probes, or sophisticated imaging devices, but with actual astronauts, the first since the final Apollo mission in the seventies.
Once the Moon has been regained and the logistics of travel and return have been established, a much greater prize awaits - the ruddy jewel of Mars beckons seductively, turning its parched face towards us and offering to share its secrets to the first manned mission in history. For now though, a return to lunar exploration is more than I could hope for, having seen the first landing and the subsequent decline of the space race, as for various reasons, the drive to explore space began to fade.
The Moon Landing and the attendant race for achievement in space, is the chief inspiration behind this blog. As so much was promised in the early sixties, so many plans proposed and designs projected, only to dissipate over time as finance and interest turned elsewhere. I sincerely hope that the impetus behind the Artemis mission is sustained and increases over the next few years, so that I will see a return to the Moon and possibly a landing on Mars in my lifetime.
Meanwhile, the Moon features heavily in my space book library, especially since the recent celebration of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing rekindled interest, at least temporarily, for a different generation. Naturally, it was perceived as a money spinner and a lot of new merchandise appeared, chiefly in the form of printed materials. This was an ideal situation for me, as an enthusiast of space exploration collectibles.
Rather than look at some of the vintage books and materials again, I have chosen to look at some of the more modern and contemporary books which grace my shelves.
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| Moonshots by Piers Bizony |
Moonshots is a large format exploration of the original images gathered across the Apollo missions, using the modified Hasselblad Medium Format cameras. rather than just reprint existing copies of the shots, the authors have gone back to the original negatives and had them re-mastered, resulting in extremely high quality visuals. The large format pages, allow the images to shine and the reader can see small, previously unnoticed details in he images.
A smaller hardback volume by Deborah Ireland, takes a similar tack, but focuses more on the cameras themselves, as well as the process by which they were modified and developed to be used on the lunar surface.
As there are a finite number of shots from the Apollo missions, there is a little duplication in the two volumes, but the presentation is slightly different and the technical coverage in Irelands's book, presents a much broader view than Bizony's book.
Completing a trio of Hassleblad themed items is the vintage brochure from the company itself, complete with a 'Blue Marble' postcard and an order form, to buy prints of he major photographs, direct from the company.
From the sublime, we move to the more art focussed and a dutch museum publication about the Moon in Photographs, from 1840 to the present. The text is mostly dutch, but the large pages host a variety of stunning and very unusual images of moon themed material, most of which is captioned in English, making identification easier.
Some of the information relates to the technical aspects of moon observation and exploration, but the book also looks at the notion of the moon in cinema, theatre and literature, with some very novel representations.
Very early telescopic photographs of the lunar surface are included, as well as sketches and drawings made during observations.
Probably one of the finest and definitely one of my favourite books is Michael Light's Full Moon. Using original NASA negatives and film from the 9 Apollo missions and imagery from the Gemini project, Light has compiled a masterful edition showing the Moon in awesome detail.
The book was produced in a smaller digest sized edition, shown above - with a page size of about 8" and also a larger coffee table edition, with fold out panoramas and a dust jacket.
The books show a combination of full colour and monochrome images, but as colour is significantly lacking in the arid lunar desert, it is sometimes difficult to make the distinction, until the tiny red and blue of a flag on the astronauts suit is picked out. The level of detail on the re-scanned high definition plates is stunning and the large crisp pages really show the photographs to their best effect.
A triptych of images shown in a large format fold out in the coffee table edition of Full Moon.
Probably the grandest publication of all is Taschen's massive hardback - Moonfire, by the late Norman Mailer. At 350 pages it is a large and very heavy volume, which traces the history of the moon race and its socio-political context, as well as the actual technical preparations for the moon landings.
Mailer's journalistic expertise covers every aspect of the era, in exacting detail and includes many behind the scenes photographs of the missions. As you would expect from Taschen, the quality is very high and the large format pages are given over to excellent photographs.
Originally the book would have included a companion cd, but as my copy is second hand, this was not included. Even so, the book is a comprehensive and fascinating history of the exciting period in world history, documented by one of the most renown journalists.
I hope that a successful launch of the Artemis/Orion Mission will result in a renewed interest in space travel and new publications to cover the project.
Mission Update - second launch attempt for Artemis has been scrubbed, due to a fuel line leak. So we won't be going back just yet!
Mission Update 2 - Third Launch attempt was aborted, due to a hurricane an the Atlantic seaboard.
Mission Update 3 - next launch date has been set for mid November.
