[Apollo 11.]

Downey Calif., North American Rockwell Corp, 1969. 4to. (280 x 213 mm.). 330 pp. Richly illustrated. Publisher’s black wrappers, illustrated on front cover. Coloured plastic tabs attached to outer edge of index leaves. ”Carl O Löfman” written in block letters on first page. Some pencil notes and underlinings. The official news reference to the command and services modules of the Apollo spacecraft, published by the manufacturer North American Rockwell in cooperation with NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center. This issue is revised in July 1969, that is, at the time of Apollo 11. The leaves are punched in the inner margin, since the volume was originally published as a loose-leaf system in a ring-binder, which could be updated as the project evolved. All original issues of this news reference are very rare, and as a consequence, a new edition was published in 2011. The first part describes the Apollo program in general and ends with a short section on ”Post-Apollo programs”, including a space station planned for the mid-1970s and early 1980s. The second part describes the command and service modules (the lunar module also gets a brief description), while the third part treats the subsystems, such as displays and controls, docking, launch escape, telecommunications and space suit. The fourth part is dedicated to support, with sections on checkout and final test, reliability and training and Apollo manufacturing. The fifth and final part contains, among other things, sections on the subcontractors for the command and service modules, a list of contracts with costs, biographical summaries (NASA heads, heads of contractors, astronauts etc), an Apollo chronology, a glossary and an index. The present copy was bought directly at the NASA press center by the Swedish photographer and Emmy-awarded tv-producer Carl O. Löfman (1938-2016), who covered the launch of Apollo 13 in April 1970.