J. L. Pickering – författare

A detailed visual record of the Apollo 1 tragedy. The Apollo Photo Archive series comprises the most comprehensive pictorial record of America’s moon-landing program ever published. In January 1967, the Apollo 1 command module caught fire on the launchpad, claiming the lives of astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. Apollo 1, expected to be a triumphant first manned mission for the program, thus ended in tragedy and devastation. With more than 500 photos, this volume includes the arrival and assembly of the rocket and spacecraft, crew selection and training, preflight activities, the launchpad fire, and subsequent investigation.

More than 700 images capture the history of the Apollo 7 mission, America's triumphant return to manned spaceflight. The Apollo Photo Archive series comprises the most comprehensive pictorial record of America’s moon-landing program ever published. The series continues with Apollo 7’s launch in October 1968. Crewed by Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, and Walt Cunningham, it was the first successful Apollo space flight. Less than two years after the Apollo 1 disaster in January 1967, the success of Apollo 7 helped redirect the course of the Apollo program and, therefore, space history. Readers will enjoy more than 700 photos, which feature the arrival and assembly of the rocket and spacecraft, crew selection and training, preflight activities, mission countdown, launch, the flight itself, splashdown, and subsequent crew appearances and related activities.

An unprecedented photographic study of the Apollo 8 mission, the first manned spaceflight to escape Earth's gravity and orbit the moon.  The Apollo Photo Archive series comprises the most comprehensive pictorial record of America’s moon-landing program ever published. The series continues with the Apollo 8 launch in December 1968. Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders achieved several historic firsts on this flight. Apollo 8 was the first manned flight to escape Earth’s gravity, and the first to orbit another celestial body (the moon). Launched by the Saturn V rocket, the crew of Apollo 8 reached 24,593 mph, setting both manned speed and distance-from-Earth records. The Apollo Photo Archive features images of spacecraft and rocket assembly, crew selection and training, preflight activities, mission countdown, launch, the flight itself, splashdown, and subsequent crew appearances and related activities. This particular volume includes more than 800 images.

Apollo 9 proved the viability of several technologies necessary to land on the moon, including the lunar module itself. This volume includes more than 800 images of the mission. The Apollo Photo Archive series comprises the most comprehensive pictorial record of America’s moon-landing program ever published. This fourth volume covers Apollo 9, a risky but critical step in the space race with the Soviet Union. Commander Jim McDivitt and command module pilot Dave Scott, both Gemini veterans and Air Force pilots, were joined by civilian rookie Rusty Schweickart as lunar module pilot. While orbiting Earth for 10 days, they achieved the first rendezvous and docking with the lunar module. Schweickart took the first Apollo spacewalk, proving the viability of the spacesuit and backpack for the lunar surface. The 12-volume Apollo Photo Archive features images of spacecraft and rocket assembly; crew background and training; the countdown, launch, mission, and splashdown; and subsequent crew appearances and activities. This volume, Apollo 9 in Photos, includes more than 800 images, of which many pre- and postflight photos have never been published.

The race to space between the United States and the Soviet Union captured the popular imagination. On April 12, 1961, the USSR launched cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on a one-orbit flight, making him the first human in space. Three weeks later, American astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. flew 116 miles above Earth before splashing down in the Bahamas. Over the next twenty years astronauts emerged as national heroes.This book tells the story of the people and events of Projects Mercury and Gemini with hundreds of unpublished and rare photographs—both colour and black-and-white. Unlike other publications, which illustrate the space race with well-known and easily accessible images, this history draws from the authors’ private library of over one hundred thousand (and growing) high-quality photos of the early U.S. manned-space program.Collected over a lifetime from public and private sources—including NASA archives, fellow collectors, retired NASA and news photographers, and auction houses—the images document American space missions of the Cold War era more comprehensively than ever before. Devoting a chapter to each flight, the authors also include detailed descriptions, providing new insight into one of America’s greatest triumphs.

Rare views of the beginnings of a historic space programAfter the excitement of the first Moon landing, the U.S. space program took an ambitious new direction closer to home: NASA's Space Shuttle program promised frequent access to Earth orbit for medical and scientific breakthroughs; deploying, repairing and maintaining satellites; and assembling a space station. Picturing the Space Shuttle is the first photographic history of the program's early years as the world's first space plane debuted.Showcasing over 450 unpublished and lesser-known images, this book traces the growth of the Space Shuttle from 1965 to 1982, from initial concept through its first four space flights. The photographs offer windows into designing the first reusable space vehicle as well as the construction and testing of the prototype shuttle Enterprise. They also show the factory assembly and delivery of the Space Shuttle Columbia, preparations at the major NASA field centers, and astronaut selection and training. Finally, the book devotes a chapter to each of the first four orbital missions, STS-1 through STS-4, providing an abundance of seldom seen photos for each flight.Mostly selected from J. L. Pickering's personal archive, the world's largest private collection of U.S. human space flight images, the high-quality photographs in this book are paired with veteran journalist John Bisney's detailed descriptions and historical background information. The book also includes images of NASA and Shuttle contractor booklets, manuals, access badges, and press kits, as well as a foreword by Robert Crippen, the pilot of the first Space Shuttle flight. Picturing the Space Shuttle recreates the excitement of an era in which the possibilities of space exploration seemed limitless.