Footprints on the Moon

by Alexandra Siy

Overview

On July 20, 1969, at 3:16 p.m., Commander Neil Armstrong brought the lunar module, Eagle , to a safe landing on the Moon. Millions of television viewers on Earth watched breathlessly as he then became the first man to set foot on the Moon. This amazing achievement was years, even centuries, in the making. The Moon and the heavens have intrigued mankind since ancient times. FOOTPRINTS ON THE MOON chronicles the spirit and determination of visionaries from Galileo to John F. Kennedy, whose dream of reaching the Moon was finally and superbly realized through the efforts of the Apollo missions.

With a compelling and thoroughly researched text, the great vision of the scientists, engineers, and astronauts who struggled to make the dream a reality is brought into sharp focus. The book brings to light great triumphs and tragedies. Readers will learn about the years of determination, experimentation, and risk that gave rise to many space explorations, including 17 Apollo missions. Today the Moon is less of a mystery than in ancient times, but it is still a wonder.

Breathtaking photographs—many from NASA—portray the indescribable beauty of outer space, the Moon, and the wonder of mankind's inspiring vision.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781570914096
Publisher:	Charlesbridge
Publication date:	02/01/2001
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,025,176
Product dimensions:	11.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.13(d)
Lexile:	1030L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Alexandra Siy is the author of several award-winning nonfiction children's books, including SNEEZE!, MOSQUITO BITE, and FOOTPRINTS ON THE MOON. She lives in Fuera Bush, New York.

Editorial Reviews

Footprints on the Moon by Alexandra Siy uses crisp, clear photographs and archival drawings to trace man's early fascination with the celestial sphere (including Stonehenge and Galileo), through to Buzz Aldrin's titular first steps and speculation about other destinations, such as Mars. ( Feb.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 3-6-This outstanding look at our venture to the Moon combines a generous array of full-color photos with lively, if concise, descriptions of the Apollo Program, its predecessors, and the early history of rocketry. A look at the Moon's face in different phases gives way to portraits of Galileo and Robert Goddard's homemade-looking rocket, followed by shots of astronauts posing in and out of their massive spacesuits. Artists' conceptions of futuristic lunar colonies, a composite look at the other planets on our upcoming itinerary, and, finally, a parting view of a dusty, desolate moonscape round out the presentation. Siy binds the illustrations together with summary accounts of several of those long-ago Apollo missions, adding salient details and humorous comments made by the astronauts. Readers with an interest in these dramatic events will welcome the lists of books and Web sites at the end. A wildly exaggerated claim for the magnifying power of Galileo's telescope aside, this title ably captures both the magnitude of the technological achievement, and, even more strongly than Mary Ann Fraser's One Giant Leap (Holt, 1995), that heady feeling of going where none had gone before.-John Peters, New York Public Library Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Alexandra Siy's Footprints On The Moon is the thrilling story of how we have observed and studied the moon from ancient times down to the modern-day astronauts of Apollo 11 which landed on the Moon in 1969. A very highly recommended addition to school and community library children's astronomy collections, Footprints On The Moon is a "reader friendly" and comprehensive chronicle of Moon exploration impressively illustrated with photography and drawings throughout.

paper: 1-57091-406-5 In this glossy photo essay, the author briefly recounts the study and exploration of the moon, beginning with Stonehenge and concluding with the 1998—99 unmanned probe, Lunar Prospector. Most of the dramatic photographs come from NASA and will introduce a new generation of space enthusiasts to the past missions of Project Mercury, Gemini, and most especially the moon missions, Apollo 1—17. There are plenty of photographs of various astronauts in space capsules, space suits, and walking on the moon. Sometimes photographs are superimposed one on another, making it difficult to read. For example, one photograph shows the command module Columbia as photographed from the lunar module and an insert shows the 15-layer space suit and gear Neil Armstrong would wear for moonwalking. That's a lot to process on one page. Still, the awesome images of footprints on the moon, raising the American flag, and earthrise from the moon, cannot help but raise shivers. The author concludes with a timeline of exploration, Web sites, recommended books, and picture credits. For NASA memorabilia collectors, end papers show the Apollo space badges for missions 11—17. Useful for replacing aging space titles. (Nonfiction. 8-11)

Kirkus Reviews