“TEAM MOON: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon” by Catherine Thimmesh.
Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, 2006, 80 pages, 5-8.
On October 4, 1957, the old Soviet Union (Russia and its conquered countries) launched the first satellite into outer space. It was named “Sputnik,” which can be translated to ‘Satellite One’ in English. This event had enormous implications for world history, as the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in what is known in history as the Cold War.
Ideologically, the question was whether Communism or Democracy was the better form of political government. Educationally, Sputnik shocked Americans into believing that somehow their schools were failing. Math and science funding rose dramatically after Sputnik. In May of 1961, President Kennedy proclaimed that the United States should commit itself to landing a man on the moon before the end of the decade. All of this started the “Space Race.”
Catherine Thimmesh has written an insightful account of the American space program and the massive effort of thousands of people to successfully land Apollo 11 on the moon. The name of this award-winning book is “TEAM MOON: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon.”
The building of the Apollo spaceships and the development of the astronaut corps to fly them was a gigantic undertaking. The Apollo 11 astronauts (Latin for ‘sailors of the stars’) were the highly talented pilots Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin. They had been handpicked from the most talented pilots in the American military.
The Grumman Aerospace Corporation developed a team of 7,500 who worked to build the lunar landing module known as “the LEM.” When it was finally constructed it was named the “Eagle.” The prime contractor for the command module was the North American Rockwell Corporation, and 14,000 people at Rockwell worked on the project. This included designers, engineers, mathematicians, welders and electricians. They hired more than 8,000 other companies to do various parts of the building project.
At Kennedy Space Center, some 17,000 engineers, mechanics, soldiers, contractors and other workers finally set up the enormous missile for the launch. The three astronauts finally went into the command module July 16, 1969. The countdown began, and at exactly 9:32 a.m., the missile was hurled into the heavens. Neil Armstrong, the flight commander radioed to the command center that “the Eagle has wings.”
Now the wait began. Upon arrival at the moon, Apollo 11 began its orbits. The crusty, no-nonsense director of mission control in Houston, Gene Kranz, told the moon directors to check over all their last calculations.
Finally, it was time. Kranz gave the word to the astronauts to begin the descent to the surface of the moon. As they began their final 30,000-foot descent, computer alarms began going off. The descent slowed to a crawl as mission control tried to figure out if the spaceship was going to crash. With the alarms still sounding, the spaceship hovered over the lunar landscape. Then another alarm sounded. The spaceship now had only 60 seconds of fuel left. Neil Armstrong had to decide whether to try to land the craft or abort the mission. Their own lives and the years of work by 400,000 people depended on their decision.
What happened? What was their decision and how was it made? What was the famous statement made by Neil Armstrong after the landing? To find out the answers to these and other questions, go to the library and check out this award-winning book “TEAM MOON” by Catherine Thimmesh.
This is a terrific book about one of the greatest accomplishments in the 20th century. It is very appropriate for reading and science study in Grades 5-8. I hope you can encourage students you know to study this interesting text. The writing and photographs are great. Enjoy!
