This illustrated volume traces America's Moon odyssey from its earliest origins to its ultimate conclusion. In APOLLO Reynolds takes the reader along on the adventure of the century but also places the Apollo project in its social and historical context. To gain personal experience Reynolds stepped inside an original Lunar Module trainer cockpit, tried on lunar surface gloves, sat at the helm of a Lunar Rover and climbed backwards down a Lunar Module landing stage retracing the steps of Neil Armstrong. Reynolds also directed the creation of beautiful new illustrations for APOLLO, which show in detail the lunar landing sites, launch and re-entry trajectories, and the inner workings of Apollo hardware, including a four-page gatefold of the Saturn V. APOLLO is lavishly illustrated with hundreds of full-color images, including many rare and some never-before-published images. "My intent with this book is to make the Apollo achievement more accessible to a broad audience," Reynolds says. "Instead of technical jargon, I explain things in plain terms. I call NASA's 'Integrated Thermal and Micrometeoroid Garment,' the 'white spacesuit cover layer,' for instance. As long as you define your terms, there's no reason not to use plain English in cases like this. Any Apollo fan knows what the R.C.S. is, but when I say 'maneuvering thrusters' a lot more people understand right away. For space enthusiasts, I've packed the book with detail including non-traditional topics like military space plans of the 1960's and plans for canceled Apollo missions, including unpublished NASA artwork from the Apollo X program. I commissioned spacecraft and rocket models for this book, and have included the spectacular lunar surface imagery created by space historian David Harland, who has seamlessly stitched together original Apollo photography into new panoramas." NASA's Chief Historian Roger Launius has called the book "a major contribution to Apollo literature." Apollo astronauts Wally Schirra and Gene Cernan contributed the Foreword and Afterword, and the introduction is by Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum Aviation Curator Von Hardesty.