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As part of his experiments on soil mechanics, Buzz Aldrin took these photos of his footprint in the powdery and soft lunar soil.
Credit: London Stereoscopic Co.
Fifty years ago, NASA launched America in the space race with the birth of the Apollo program – an eleven-year initiative that sent 33 spaceflights to the moon, six of which landed on the lunar surface.
This incredible story is highlighted in a new book, "Mission Moon 3D: A New Perspective of the Space Race" (The MIT Press, 2018), offering a new vision of the challenge that has galvanized space agencies in the United States the former Soviet Union and brought the first inhabitants to the moon.
And it does so with a unique and extensive collection of archival photos featuring astronauts, cosmonauts, spacecraft and lunar landscapes, presented in stereoscopic pairs so that images can be viewed in 3D. [See Spectacular Lunar Mission Images in 3D (Photos)]
Written by David Eicher, editor of Astronomy magazine, the book brings together for the first time the memories of many astronauts. And, intriguingly, the book includes stories of Soviet cosmonauts – many of which were not available in the last 50 years, Eicher told Live Science.
"The Soviets have set up an aggressive lunar landing program, which has been out of breath because of some tragedies: an explosion on the launch pad, key deaths of very important engineers," said Eicher. . "By the time Apollo 8 happened – our lunar lunar flight – the momentum of the Soviet program was really stuck, but we tried to tell the story from both sides," he said.
"Moon Mission 3D" brings together the largest collection of stereo images of the race to space.
Credit: The MIT Press
In addition to descriptions of space travel, the "Mission Moon 3D" images provide astronauts with a bird's eye view of the corpse in 3D. Many stereoscopic photos of the book are extremely well-known and iconic even in 2D, such as Buzz Aldrin's footprint in lunar soil – an image that is often mistakenly considered to represent Neil Armstrong's imprint, has said Eicher.
NASA astronauts were trained to take stereoscopic photos while they were in space, and the photographic archives of Apollo missions were brimming with 3D photos, Eicher said. The selection of images for the book was organized and supervised by astrophysicist and guitarist Queen Brian May, long-time enthusiast of stereoscopy. For decades, May has collected old stereoscopic maps and captured her own stereoscopic photos. Since 2006, he is director of the London Stereoscopic Co., which provides information and resources to modern and historical stereoscopic enthusiasts.
"Moon Mission 3D" even includes a stereoscopic 3D viewer of May's own design, called Lite Owl.
"My geekiness is bottomless when it comes to stereo," said May at the Telegraph in 2014.
The landing on the moon of the 1969 Apollo 11 was without a doubt one of the most dramatic and memorable moments in the history of space exploration. And yet, it was the last moon trips that provided the most interesting discoveries, Eicher said. Analysis of lunar rocks collected during the final missions revealed isotopes similar to those of terrestrial rocks, suggesting that the moon came from fragments of debris floating around the Earth after massive impact, Eicher explained.
"This came out of the Apollo program.The analysis of the moon's history, its origin – all this happened later in the program during the last mission", has -he declares.
A close-up view of the sample of astronaut Charlie Duke collected at Plum Crater shows the reflected image of fellow astronaut John Young in Duke's visor, taken during the 1972 Apollo 16 mission.
Credit: London Stereoscopic Co.
Fifty years have passed since the start of the Apollo program and NASA's recent missions have seen unexploited spaceships explode beyond the moon, while New Horizons explodes to Pluto and exceeds the limits of our solar system. However, much remains to be learned about the future of space exploration by revisiting its history, particularly with respect to missions involving human crews, Eicher told Live Science.
"We can learn a lot about what we will have to do to move on to the next step: a return to the moon or a mission to Mars, which represents a leap forward beyond the Moon in terms of ambition, danger and expense, "he said. . "It will take international cooperation among nations – and between governments and private companies – to take another step in the solar system."
"Mission Moon 3D: A New Perspective of the Space Race" is available for sale on Amazon and at other booksellers.
Originally publishedon live science.
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