The Lunar Exploration Scrapbook - A Pictorial History of Lunar Vehicles (Paperback)

In 1938 a committee of the British Interplanetary Society drew up the first serious plans for a manned lunar spacecraft. The BIS moon ship would be the first in a long line of designs that would ultimately lead to Tranquility Base and beyond. Working alongside engineers and scientists from Britain, Canada and Germany, the elite of American industrial engineers turned their attention to not only reaching the moon but to establishing a long-term presence there. Between 1958 and 1971 millions of man-hours and untold amounts of money were spent to try and create the hardware necessary to accomplish this unprecedented goal. In this book for the first time in one place, is a pictorial register of many of these incredible designs. A remarkable story of what might have happened if the mighty Saturn V rocket had not been relegated to the status of an historical footnote. In his latest book, "The Lunar Exploration Scrapbook", noted editor and writer Robert Godwin, has distilled years of research into an unprecedented look at the many machines considered by the United States for lunar exploration. Combining the blueprints of the 1950s and 1960s with modern computer graphics, Godwin has brought to life many of the past, and packed them all into one tightly woven package of colour and facts. The Lunar Exploration Scrapbook features colour texture-wrapped renderings of dozens of designs that never left the drawing board, creating a unique look at what might have happened if money had been no object, and humanity had gone to the moon to stay.