Cambridge University Press
9780521819305 - The International Atlas of Lunar Exploration - by Philip J. Stooke
Frontmatter/Prelims

The International Atlas of Lunar Exploration

Bringing together a wealth of information from many sources, including some material never before published, this atlas is a comprehensive reference on lunar exploration. It tells the story of every spacecraft mission to the Moon since the dawn of the space age, illustrating each account with a unique combination of maps and annotated photographs. Many of the illustrations were created especially for this atlas, including panoramic photographs from every lunar mission. The missions are listed in chronological order, providing readers with an easy-to-follow history of lunar missions.

Special attention has been given to describing the processes involved in choosing landing sites for Apollo and its precursors. The atlas also includes missions that were planned but never flown, before looking ahead to future missions as the world’s space agencies prepare for a new phase of lunar exploration.

PHILIP STOOKE is Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Western Ontario. He is also a planetary cartographer and has won the National Geographic Society Award in Cartography. He has contributed numerous maps and data to NASA’s Planetary Data System, and helped locate the Viking Lander 2 on Mars and several spacecraft on the Moon.

The International Atlas of Lunar Exploration

PHILIP J. STOOKE

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo

Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK

Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521819305

© P. Stooke 2007

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2007

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library

ISBN 978-0-521-81930-5 hardback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or
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in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such
websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

Passus uno homini parvus
Humanitati gradus magnus

NASA: Apollo 11 image AS11-40-5877

Contents

Foreword

Exploration of the Moon had long been a dream, then became reality in the 1950s through advances in rocketry and motivation by the East–West Cold War. Both the United States and the Soviet Union made early moonward moves but the Soviets got there first when Luna 2 scored a direct hit in September 1959. Then successes and failures were traded in a one-upmanship contest between more Soviet Lunas and Zonds and American Rangers, Surveyors and Lunar Orbiters. This space race culminated in December 1968 when Apollo 8 carried three Americans into lunar orbit and in July 1969 when Apollo 11 landed the first two Moon walkers. The United States figured it had won the race, so allowed Apollo exploration to expire after five more landings of two men each. Robotic Luna orbiters and landers continued to fly until August 1976. In the ensuing lull, astronauts, engineers, scientists, journalists and sundry historians wrote of the spirited contest from their respective viewpoints. Some have written about what was learned from it all, for example, my 1993 book, To a Rocky Moon: A Geologist’s History of Lunar Exploration. But there remained much more to tell.

A major topic missing from all these histories, including mine, has been a full account of the maps that are vital guides and documents for the exploration of any new territory. Now this gap has been filled by a magnificent volume chock-full of maps expertly assembled by Canadian geographer and cartographer Philip Stooke. By an obviously determined effort, Stooke has pried rare treasures from obscure archives and personal collections, including mine. Traveling to Russia, he has reconstructed the target zones of Soviet missions whose fates have been obscure. If certain maps were not clear in their original form he has redrawn, annotated or reprojected them himself. He has traced the operations of landed Lunas, Surveyors and Apollos and illustrated them with personally mosaicked photographs as well as maps.

But the book is much more than an atlas, and this lunar geologist and historian stands in awe of it. Stooke has given us an extraordinarily thorough history of the planning and execution of some 100 (!) missions through 1976 that included 43 successes. He lays them out in a steady chronological march interspersed with early musings and stillborn programs, historical punctuations such as President Kennedy’s May 1961 call to land a man on the Moon, more mundane but essential planning and site selection meetings, and post-mission analyses. Maps and photographs show intended or actual impact or landing sites. A series of otherwise unpublished tables somehow unearthed by Stooke documents the steps leading to the choice of targets for orbital imaging and surface landings – an important element of lunar exploration that I wish I could have covered in To a Rocky Moon as thoroughly as Stooke has.

You are unlikely ever to find a more complete, better documented, and better organized history of lunar exploration than this one. Stooke also looks beyond the intensive first wave of lunar interest to a renewal since 1990 by Japan, the United States, and Europe (ESA), and towards plans for the future by China, India and Russia as well. Anyone who has wondered how it was all done and how it is developing owes a huge debt to Philip Stooke and Cambridge University Press for investing the time, labor, and expense finally to put it all together.

Don E. Wilhelms
San Francisco

Lunar missions and events – chronological list

© Cambridge University Press