Apollo to the Moon by Teasel E Muir-Harmony

I'll never forget the year my middle brother broke his arm. We were at an aunt's house for a Sunday lunch. All it took was a bunk bed and a little too much horseplay. What should have been a fun-filled summer of swimming and beach going was halted by an enormous plaster cast that extended from his wrist all the way to his shoulder. Ever the optimist, my dad canceled our beach vacation, piled us into the family car, and drove us to Houston to tour the Johnson Space Center. It was a summer vacation that I'll always cherish.

Years later, I find myself living in the city that was the home to the famed Mission Control for all of those years. With the privatization of space travel, the once vibrant hub of exploration has become a mere vestige of its former self. The large facilities that housed a myriad of training sequences and high-tech equipment for astronauts have given way to simple museum exhibits that don't really capture the real magic of what used to be there. Fifty years after the first manned mission to the moon, we must turn to books to try to grasp the enormity of that history.

In Apollo to the Moon: A History in 50 Objects, Teasel E Muir-Harmony takes on the daunting task of chronicling the history of that famous space mission. The book focuses upon 50 specific objects. Each one is accompanied by vivid photographs, first-hand accounts, and detailed descriptions of their origin/significance. There isn't an overarching narrative to the presentation of the objects, which can sometimes make the book more of a textbook than narrative history. Still, the focus on the people behind the project gives a human touch to the sprawling mission and the objects. While a book can never truly provide the same experience as seeing historical artifacts firsthand or witnessing the history unfold, this one does a fine enough job in relating the events and massive effort of the space program.

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This review is part of a TLC Book Tour. See the full tour schedule here.

(2018, 39)