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Author Topic:   Apollo: Through the Eyes of the Astronauts
cspg
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posted 10-22-2008 08:32 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for cspg   Click Here to Email cspg     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Apollo: Through the Eyes of the Astronauts
by Robert Jacobs, Michael Cabbage, Constance Moore and Bert Urlich
Foreword by Stephen Hawking and Lucy Hawking
Apollo is a photographic commemoration of the Apollo lunar missions as seen through the eyes of the astronauts. Each of the surviving 21 astronauts from the Apollo missions has chosen a favorite photograph from his space flight especially for this book. These selections are accompanied by other iconic photographs from the Apollo missions. Bestselling astrophysicist Stephen Hawking and his daughter Lucy Hawking contribute a foreword on the meaning of the space exploration. July 20, 2009, marks the 40th anniversary of the first manned landing on the Moon by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin of Apollo 11. Apollo is the only photographic book on the Apollo missions to be created by NASA, and is the perfect commemorative volume about this epochal program, where legendary achievement was recorded in powerful images.
  • Hardcover: 132 pages
  • Publisher: Abrams; 1 edition (June 1, 2009)
  • ISBN-10: 0810921464
  • ISBN-13: 978-0810921467

Cover image updated: April 27, 2009

Jay
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From: Bloomington, Illinois, USA
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posted 10-22-2008 08:44 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Jay   Click Here to Email Jay     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
It is never a good sign when the cover photo has been printed in reverse. This just seems to be another in a growing list of books showing up to commemorate the Apollo 11 anniversary cash cow.

cspg
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posted 10-22-2008 08:50 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for cspg   Click Here to Email cspg     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
It's in reverse? Well, then, why don't you email the publisher? The book hasn't been printed yet.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

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posted 10-22-2008 08:53 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Robert Jacobs is the Deputy Assistant Administrator for Public Affairs at NASA. Michael Cabbage is NASA's News Services Division Director. Constance Moore is a NASA Visual Information Specialist and Bertram Ulrich is the curator of the NASA Art Program.

As the description notes, this is NASA's commemorative volume for the 40th anniversary of Apollo and all of the living astronauts have taken part in its creation. I think that should sufficiently distinguish this book from being labeled as just another title "cashing in" on the celebration.

The cover image is AS12-47-6897, Pete Conrad with the flag during Apollo 12. I don't agree that their artistic choice to reverse the frame is in error. I would just suggest it be noted inside the book.

marsguy
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posted 10-22-2008 09:54 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for marsguy   Click Here to Email marsguy     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I can accept the artistic choice viewpoint on occasion. However, some reversed images certainly stand out more than others. There are times when I really don't see the gain.

One instance of that was when the flim "For All Mankind" came out in 1989. I think it was a great film, but in one scene the image of the lunar module on orbit was reversed. Very glaring to my eye since the LM is so assymetrical.

I was at a special screening when the movie first came out where Director Al Reinert was present. Afterwards he did a Q&A with the audience. I asked him if he was aware that the LM image was reversed.

He replied yes he was aware of that and they did it for artistic reasons. To this day I don't see how reversing the LM improved any artistic flow in the movie.

I guess that's what separates the artists from the historians.

gliderpilotuk
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posted 10-22-2008 10:51 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for gliderpilotuk   Click Here to Email gliderpilotuk     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
What a great challenge to try and get as many signatures as possible from the 21 on this book.

I enjoy looking at "The View from Space: American Astronaut Photography 1962-1972" which I managed to get signed by most of the contributors.

marsguy
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posted 10-22-2008 02:16 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for marsguy   Click Here to Email marsguy     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
You've got to love this message forum. So I've had the question for nearly two decades, why the LM image was reversed in "For All Mankind".

After I posted this today, noted space exploration author David Harland emailed me with the explanation. It makes perfect sense now and was something that I did not know.

David graciously consented to letting me post his answer.

I too wondered why everyone showed that in reverse, thinking it must have been due to carelessness early on in producing 'stock footage' for the media. But then I checked the flight plan, and saw that for such shots Collins fitted the 16mm camera sideways to the window and installed a 45-degree mirror, which reversed the image. So that's why it is reversed. Of course, what should have been done was that all such footage should've subsequently been reversed by NASA for release to the press to make it 'correct' - but they didn't.
There you have it, after nearly 20 years, one of my questions has been answered.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

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posted 10-22-2008 03:01 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Jay:
It is never a good sign when the cover photo has been printed in reverse.
Discussing the cover with Bob Jacobs today, it turns out that NASA's archives have the photo in question in both orientations.

The publisher didn't reverse the shot for artistic reasons (as I had incorrectly assumed) but rather used the photo as provided by NASA.

NASA is now identifying the original version of the photograph and Abrams has said it will modify their cover to match. The power of collectSPACE strikes again!

randyc
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posted 10-22-2008 03:18 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for randyc   Click Here to Email randyc     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The same type of 'photo reversal' can be seen in the photo of Jack Schmitt next to the flag with the LM and Lunar Rover in the background. In the 'original' photo the flag is 'waving' to the left, but there are versions with the flag 'waving' to the right. I forgot who I asked at NASA about this, but the answer I got was that the public is used to seeing the U.S. flag pointing to the right (for example, most, if not all U.S. flag stamps have the flag oriented that way), as well as the flags on spacecraft and spacesuits, so they reversed the image to make it look more like what the public is used to seeing. That may also be the reason for the reversal of the Apollo 12 image.

Jay
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posted 10-22-2008 03:49 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Jay   Click Here to Email Jay     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
Discussing the cover with Bob Jacobs today, it turns out that NASA's archives have the photo in question in both orientations.


It might be worth noting that the photo on the left is a NASA re-issue from the 1970's and the other from the 2000 timeframe. I have come across more than a few of these very recent re-issues that have been printed backwards. I have always assumed that it was a result of someone possibly younger doing the printing who figured it was just backwards.

I also wanted to apologize for my "cash-cow" comment earlier. Any book dedicated to the topic of space history deserves a place on the shelf... especially from NASA PAO.

gliderpilotuk
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posted 10-22-2008 04:21 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for gliderpilotuk   Click Here to Email gliderpilotuk     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I must be missing something here. THE most famous space photo - Earthrise - has been consistently shown in the wrong orientation without too many complaints!

FFrench
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posted 10-23-2008 12:24 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for FFrench     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Apollo is a photographic commemoration of the Apollo lunar missions as seen through the eyes of the astronauts. Each of the surviving 21 astronauts from the Apollo missions...
Being somewhat pedantic here...

...is it me, or is 21 survivors an odd number to fix on?

If I count only "Apollo lunar missions" in its strictest sense, that is Apollos 8, and 10-17, I come up with 18 surviving people.

If I add in Apollo missions that did not go to the moon (not strictly 'lunar') but were nevertheless called Apollo missions, I add in Apollos 7, 9 and ASTP - and get 22 (adding in Skylab missions, which used Apollo spacecraft, would take us even higher).

The only way I hit 21 is if I count missions 7-17. I don't quite understand a rationale of "Apollo lunar missions" that includes the Earth-orbiting 7 and 9, but not the Earth-orbiting Apollo of ASTP.

Am I missing something? Or, as it took place post-lunar-explorations, is ASTP somehow not considered as Apollo-esque as the other Apollo Earth orbital missions?

cspg
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posted 10-23-2008 12:32 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for cspg   Click Here to Email cspg     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Statistics, bloody statistics!

Anyway, maybe they ought to rephrase the following: "Apollo is a photographic commemoration of the Apollo lunar missions" to "Apollo is a photographic commemoration of the Apollo Moon program." Apollo 7 and Apollo 9 would then fit (more or less).

Robert Pearlman
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posted 10-23-2008 12:41 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
As was underscored NASA Administrator Michael Griffin during the recent (but long overdue) presentation of the Distinguished Service Medal to the Apollo 7 crew, Apollo 7 and Apollo 9 were "Apollo lunar missions" because their flights were critical to landing men on the Moon.
If we had not debugged all of the flight systems to go to the Moon, the navigation, guidance, communications, tracking, the orbital calculations to produce launch windows that people would be betting their lives on and windows of orbit injection around the Moon that people were betting their lives on, if we hadn't gone through all of that in the timeframe that we did, Apollo 11 couldn't have happened.
Skylab and ASTP were, by definition, applications of the Apollo hardware, but cannot be counted among the lunar missions.

FFrench
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posted 10-23-2008 02:59 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for FFrench     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Figured as much... but odd, as it puts Vance Brand in a rather strange limbo (and who knows, he could have had a killer favorite shot to finish off the book!).
quote:
Originally posted by cspg:
...maybe they ought to rephrase the following: "Apollo is a photographic commemoration of the Apollo lunar missions" to "Apollo is a photographic commemoration of the Apollo Moon program."
Yes, that would take care of it perfectly and be far more accurate.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

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posted 10-23-2008 04:11 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The authors today consulted with the photographer who took their cover photo as to its proper orientation.

Alan Bean confirmed that the photograph was flipped. He advised them, "Stop looking at the U.S. flag and start looking at Pete". The pocket on his right leg should be on the left and portable life support system (PLSS) connectors were reversed as well, as can be confirmed in other photos such as this one:

To avoid any future confusion, NASA will remove from its archives any copies of the flipped photo and the publisher will reverse their cover, as mocked up here:

Go4Launch
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posted 10-23-2008 06:15 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Go4Launch   Click Here to Email Go4Launch     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by gliderpilotuk:
I must be missing something here. THE most famous space photo - Earthrise - has been consistently shown in the wrong orientation without too many complaints!
You're only missing something if you have mirrors for retinas. There's a big difference between rotating a correctly-printed image and being able to visualize a reversed one backwards.

driftingtotheright
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posted 10-23-2008 07:17 PM           Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The image projected upon the retina is inverted and reversed by our eyes' lens; it is the brain that interprets the image properly. Thus literally "through the eyes of the astronauts" would make for some really strange photos.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 10-30-2008 11:41 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Hot off the press (so to speak), I have updated the cover image in the first post with the revised artwork released by the publisher.

FFrench
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posted 10-30-2008 12:08 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for FFrench     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Hopefully they might also update the book description to Chris's excellent and much more accurate one, if you recommend it to them.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

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posted 10-30-2008 12:24 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Indeed, they have said that moving forward, they will refer to the Moon program versus lunar missions in their promotional material.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

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posted 04-27-2009 04:07 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Abrams release
The Essential Book from NASA on the Apollo Missions to the Moon
Apollo: Through the Eyes of the Astronauts

Foreword by Stephen Hawking and Lucy Hawking
Edited by Robert Jacobs, Michael Cabbage, Constance Moore, and Bertram Ulrich

"First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space..." -- John F. Kennedy, May 25, 1961

July 20, 2009 marks the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11's first manned landing on the moon. Arriving to coincide with this milestone anniversary, Apollo: Through the Eyes of the Astronauts (Abrams; June 2009; hardcover), is the extensive and profusely illustrated account of nine Apollo missions, created by NASA. Featuring a foreword by Stephen Hawking and Lucy Hawking, Apollo is the first book by NASA to tell the stories of the astronauts on the Apollo missions in vivid photographs and a detailed text.

Apollo arrives at a time when American and international focus is turned to NASA's next step in its human space exploration program. As we say good-bye to the space shuttle and hello to the Constellation program, which promises future trips to the moon, now is the perfect time to take a detailed look at NASA's groundbreaking Apollo missions, which first brought us to our lunar neighbor.

Edited by Robert Jacobs, Michael Cabbage, Constance Moore, and Bertram Ulrich, Apollo looks at its namesake missions through the eyes of the astronauts that manned them. Each of the surviving twenty-one astronauts from the missions has selected a favorite photograph from his space flight especially for this book. The result is a visually compelling and authoritatively written book on a landmark endeavor in American history.

About the Authors:
Stephen Hawking is the bestselling author of A Brief History of Time and the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, England. Lucy Hawking is a journalist and novelist.

From NASA, Robert Jacobs is Deputy Assistant Administrator for Public Affairs; Michael Cabbage is Director, News Services Division; Constance Moore is Head Photo Researcher; and Bertram Ulrich is Curator and Multimedia Manager.

Apollo: Through The Eyes Of The Astronauts
80 full-color illustrations, 132 pages; 10 x 10"
June 2009; Abrams
US $24.95; CAN $32.50
Hardcover
ISBN 978-0-8109-2146-7

JPSastro
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posted 06-27-2009 09:57 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for JPSastro   Click Here to Email JPSastro     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Nice error on page 96 in the Apollo 14 section. Unless I missed something the full page photo of the Antares (LM) shows as the caption stating...
The landing crew is safely aboard KITTY HAWK and the uninhabited ANTARES drifts into space.
I was under the impression the decent stage was sort of left on the moon. Hate when that happens.

Trying to remember what book I read earlier in the year that has Armstrong piloting the X-15 from the B-29.

Max Q
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posted 06-27-2009 09:57 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Max Q   Click Here to Email Max Q     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Maybe the caption should have read:

"It followed me home from the Moon. Deke can I keep it?"

heng44
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posted 06-27-2009 09:58 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for heng44   Click Here to Email heng44     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Also, I think the Apollo 13 photo on page 80 could have been reproduced better. Still, it's a nice book.

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