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Author
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Topic: NASA Artemis-era publications in hard copy
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Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3995
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 10-07-2026 10:27 AM
  
Will NASA publications like Artemis II Preliminary Lunar Science Report be available in traditional printed format for those of us who would like to thumb through it, pick the most interesting parts out first, and place the volume on our bookshelves alongside the six Apollo (lunar landing) Preliminary Science Reports? And, if so, will it be available to foreigners? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 57241
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-07-2026 11:06 AM
There is no mention of hard copies being available to order. The reports do have NASA publication IDs, e.g. the preliminary science report is NP-2026-9-641-GSFC, but a search of the Government Printing Office store shows no results.Based on the trends of the last decade, I would suspect if you want a hard copy, you will need to download the PDF and either print it yourself or take it to your local office store/print shop to have it produced and bound. In addition to the report itself, NASA released nearly 1,000 new images and 521 minutes of crew audio available at the same link above. |
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3995
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 10-13-2026 08:39 PM
Sadly, I don't think a self-printed copy (even if the ink doesn't fade!) will become a future collectors' item.
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oly
Member Posts: 1580
From: Perth, Western Australia
Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 10-14-2026 06:31 AM
Do hard copies actually exist? Many documents these days do not get printed, existing only in digital form. Many organisations try to avoid print copies of documents. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 57241
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-14-2026 07:15 AM
If there are physical copies, they may be limited to science team members and may be identical were you to print them at your local office shop. Time may tell.As a possible point of comparison, during the crew's training, the science team created the Artemis II Lunar Science Passport, a 90-page, pocket-sized field guide and study manual. It was not until after the mission that NASA posted the PDF, but a colleague was able to get one of the science team-used passports for me. By appearance, there is nothing that separates it from being printed by FedEx. |
Headshot
Member Posts: 1507
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 10-14-2026 10:18 AM
For me, at my advanced age, I enjoy reading the printed page far more than reading the same material off the computer screen. I seem to retain information off the printed page better than from the screen. So, I had one copy of the NASA Artemis II science documents professionally printed. That way I was able to choose the paper weight, brightness, and finish. It is at the bookbinder now.This "project" also gave me the opportunity to create my own cover. To that end I modeled it after the covers of NASA's Special Publications for the Apollo 8 (SP-201) and Apollo 10 (SP-232). Costly? A bit. Rewarding and fun? You bet. I look forward to sitting down by the fireplace this winter to read exactly what the Artemis II crew saw.  |
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3995
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 10-14-2026 12:12 PM
We seem to have entered an ephemeral era in which nothing is made to last, or be kept or collected (something which ought to be of concern to anyone signed up to a forum which is literally called 'collectSPACE.') I have colour photos taken in the back garden in 1968 which are as fresh and clear as the day they were taken. Who will be able to view (or find) pictures taken on a phone last year which only exist digitally and are stored in the "cloud?" I hope the contents of the "cloud" are more durable than the corpses of those in the 1970s who had themselves frozen after death in the hope of later revival. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 57241
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-14-2026 02:08 PM
If I had to guess, it is not for total lack of a desire, but rather, in part, resources. When NASA shuttered its media resource lab at Johnson Space Center years ago and more recently let ago a number of the center historians, it was because of budget cuts. There are fewer people working today whose job it is to turning out books. And when you couple that with a growing trend of digital media and keeping smaller personal footprints, you see this result. |
Jim Behling
Member Posts: 2074
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 10-14-2026 03:03 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Blackarrow:
I hope the contents of the "cloud" are more durable...
Cloud? I use my own storage devices and have hourly, daily and quarterly backups (the quarterly one is kept offsite).The issue with printed matter is storage space and environment; and maintenance. I volunteer at two different space museums. Both have large archives and issues finding and paying for dry storage space. The other is not having an archivist on staff. I spend several hours each week going through the documents to find "rare" ones (ones I have never seen). I then scan them and share the files. I even buy documents at auctions, scan them and then try to resell them to offset the cost. I have contributed a large amount of scanned documents and photos (340 GB and 60 GB) to the Space 3.0 archive, I found that I don't want the document, I want the information. I have a large collection of books and documents that is slowly shrinking as I find soft copies. Another thing is that scanned documents are easier to search and mine data. |
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3995
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 10-14-2026 04:19 PM
Jim, I think the American expression is "You and me both." Everything important on my computer is backed up on two external hard-drives. But that's the stuff I want to preserve. I was also addressing the vast number of photos — both trivial and important — taken by people who seem to believe that their precious family memories will always be safe and always available floating somewhere in the "cloud." I'm not the first to point out that we live in an era which has seen the most photographs ever taken, and probably the fewest which will be accessible to future generations. I agree that is very helpful for research to be able to access and search through a digital document online. But if I want to read the document, or maybe just dip in to a favourite part, give me the hard copy book or pamphlet every time. I still remember the thrill of receiving Viking bulletins from JPL which told me the story of the landings and the first pictures of Mars in a way that I could never find in the news. And I still have those Viking bulletins! quote:
Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
If I had to guess, it is not for total lack of a desire, but rather, in part, resources.
Robert, I'm sure you're right that it's a lack of resources and funding. I bemoan the direction of travel, but I understand that nothing gets done without funding. I wonder if NASA could reach some sort of agreement with Amazon to allow such documents to be printed-on-demand? |
Jim Behling
Member Posts: 2074
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 10-15-2026 11:09 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Blackarrow:
...give me the hard copy book or pamphlet every time.
I use a desktop, laptop or tablet to do the same thing. Quicker and easier. |
Headshot
Member Posts: 1507
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 10-15-2026 12:19 PM
Unless your batteries die during a power failure. |
Jim Behling
Member Posts: 2074
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 10-16-2026 02:45 PM
Same goes for lights for reading.
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 57241
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-16-2026 02:50 PM
At the end of the day, it is personal preference. Personally, I cannot read anything close to book-length on a digital device. There is something about flipping the page and seeing the progress made by the stack of pages on the left grow greater than the stack on the right that serves as a personal motivator to get through the text.But the question really isn't one about reading format. It is about filling a bookshelf and having that impressive display of titles lining a wall. That is what we are losing by going all digital... |
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