Nonfiction Monday is hosted today at Stacking Books.
For Nonfiction Monday -- "Team Moon How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 OnThe Moon" by Catherine Thimmesh.
Everyone
knows about the Apollo 11 mission and the names Armstrong, Aldrin, and
Collins. But it took a team of four hundred
thousand people to make that historic flight a success. From flight directors, rocket designers, software
experts, engineers, geologists, doctors and aerospace technicians to builders,
programmers, electricians, painters, welders, and seamstresses (who put together
twenty-two layers of fabric for each space suit) -- each contribution was
essential in landing the first human on the moon.
Thimmesh creates a compelling narrative woven throughout
with direct quotes and
vintage photographs that bring the story to life with the drama that captured
the attention of the world. Beginning
with "The Dream . . . And the Challenge"
she takes readers from imagination,
through development, creation, and testing of the command module, lunar module
and rockets.
She
shares little known facts: the top-secret "Fate Has Ordained" speech
written for President Nixon in the event that the astronauts died in the moon
landing, the emergencies that the astronauts and the mission control staff on
earth faced and solved and the extraordinary focus that went into every phase of the project.
The
book's rich detail is supported with an appendix with sections titled:
Sources, Chapter Notes, Additional Sources,
Photo Credits, For Further Exploration and Index.
Common Core
recommended.