Chariots for Apollo: A History of Manned Lunar Spacecraft

NASA SP-4205 in the NASA History Series, published in 1979 by the Scientific and Technical Information Branch, with a foreword by General Samuel C. Phillips, USAF (Ret.), the Apollo Program Director, dated December 1978. Fourteen chapters, prepared under contract with the University of Houston, trace the design, development, and operational history of the Apollo command, service, and lunar modules — from “Concept to Challenge” and the contending mission-mode debate, through the qualification of both spacecraft, the January 1967 Apollo 1 fire recounted in “Tragedy and Recovery,” and the race to land, ending with “Trip to Tranquility” and Apollo 11. Eight appendices cover the Manned Spacecraft Center site selection, astronaut assignments, the Apollo flight program, Apollo 11 experiments and lunar samples, major spacecraft component manufacturers, and program funding as of June 30, 1969. Two hardcover copies of this 1979 printing are held in the collection.