Richard Wiseman - Shoot for the Moon

Shoot for the Moon

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Also by Richard Wiseman

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Title

Copyright

This ebook edition first published in 2019 by

Quercus Editions Ltd

Carmelite House

50 Victoria Embankment

London EC4Y 0DZ

An Hachette UK company

Copyright 2019 Richard Wiseman

The moral right of Richard Wiseman to

be identified as the author of this work has been

asserted in accordance with the Copyright,

Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication

may be reproduced or transmitted in any form

or by any means, electronic or mechanical,

including photocopy, recording, or any

information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the publisher.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available

from the British Library

HB ISBN 978 1 78747 443 7

TPB ISBN 978 1 78747 444 4

Ebook ISBN 978 1 78747 446 8

Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders.

However, the publishers will be glad to rectify in future

editions any inadvertent omissions brought to their attention.

Quercus Editions Ltd hereby exclude all liability to the extent

permitted by law for any errors or omissions in this book and for any loss,

damage or expense (whether direct or indirect) suffered by a

third party relying on any information contained in this book.

Author photo by Brian Fischbacher

Ebook by CC Book Production

Cover design 2018 Dan Mogford

www.quercusbooks.co.uk

Dedication

This is dedicated to the Moon.

Thank you for helping us to look up, think big and travel far.

Epigraph

We choose to go to the Moon in this decade, not because that will be easy, but because it will be hard because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.

President John F. Kennedy, September 1962 1

CONTENTS

TIMELINE

October 1957

Soviets launch Sputnik

November 1957

Sputnik 2 carries Laika the dog into space

April 1961

Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbits the Earth

May 1961

Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space

May 1961

Kennedy announces to Congress that America will put a man on the Moon before the decade is out

September 1962

Kennedy delivers his We choose to go to the Moon speech at Rice University

January 1967

Tragic Apollo 1 fire results in the death of three astronauts

December 1968

Apollo 8 becomes the first manned mission to the Moon

16 July 1969

Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins begin their historic journey to the Moon

21 July 1969

Armstrong sets foot on the lunar surface, declaring: Thats one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind