Table of Contents
Introduction viii
Acknowledgments xi
4.5 Billion Years Ago Formation of the Moon 1
4.5 Billion Years Ago Moon-Earth Pulling Begins 3
4.3-3.7 Billion Years Ago The Moon and the Origin of Earth Life 5
4.3-3.9 Bullion Years Ago Impacts Carve into Lunar Crust 7
3.9-3.1 Billion Years Ago A Lunar Facelift 9
3.8-3.5 Billion Years Ago Peak of Lunar Volcanic Activity 11
3.2-1.1 Billion Years Ago Eratosthenian Period of Lunar Geological Time 13
1.1 Billion Years Ago Copernican Period of Lunar Geological Time Begins 15
450 Million Years Ago Impact Forms the Aristarchus Crater 17
440-1.5 Million Years Ago Lunar Assistance for Intelligent Land Life 19
c. 8,000 BCE Mesolithic Lunar Calendar 21
23rd Century BCE Humanity's First Author 23
22nd Century BCE Moon Meets the Sun Over China 25
22nd-21st Centuries BCE Sumerian Lunar Calendars 27
18th-17th Centuries BCE Complex Lunar Calendar Systems 29
c. 900-700 BCE Lunar Cults in the Bible 31
763 BCE Assyrian Eclipse 33
747-734 BCE Nabonassar Standardizes the Lunar Calendar 35
c.7th Century BCE Earliest Mention of Selene 37
6th Century BCE Beginnings of Nom religious Astronomy 39
6th Century BCE Thales Stops a War 41
6th Century BCE Spherical Harmony 43
5th Century BCE Anaxagoras Stands Trial 45
5th Century BCE Greeks Understand Lunar Phases 47
c.350 BCE Earth's Curved Shadow on the Moon 49
c.350 BCE Heavenly Perfection Corrupted 51
Early 3rd Century BCE Library of Alexandria 53
3rd Century BCE Aristarchus Measures Lunar Diameter and Distance 55
3rd Century BCE Quarter-Phase Moon and Heliocentrism 57
3rd Century BCE Eratosthenes Calculates Earth's Circumference 59
3rd Century BCE The Hand Reckoner 61
2nd Century BCE Applying Math to the Lunar Orbit 63
c.100 BCE The Antikythera Mechanism 65
1st-2nd Century CE On the Pace in the Moon's Orb 67
c.150 The Almagest 69
500-800 Eastern Astronomers Keep Looking Up 71
9th-11th Centuries Shukuk 73
11th Century Seeing the First Sliver of a New Moon 75
13th Century A New Model for Lunar Motion 77
14th Century Lunar Brightness to Estimate Stellar Distances 79
14th Century Adjusting Lunar-Distance Variation 81
1543 The Moon Orbits Alone 83
1570s Moon and Sun Orbit Earth 85
1581 A Dream of a Lunar Voyage 87
1609 Telescopic Study of the Moon Begins 89
17th Century Advancing Telescopes Eye the Moon More Closely 91
Late 17th Century The Moon Inspires Isaac Newton 93
18th Century Improving Instruments Advance Lunar Astronomy 95
Late 18th Century A Lunar Society in Birmingham 97
1824 Another Doctor Turns His Eyes to the Moon 99
1370s Verne Inspires the father of Astronautics 101
1873-1909 Scientists Consider Lunar Origins 103
1914-22 The Moon Proves General Relativity 105
1926 First Liquid-Fueled Rocket 107
1929 Woman in the Moon 109
1938 BIS Lunar Spaceship Design 111
1930-44 Origins of the Saturn V Moon Rocket 113
1945 Operation Overcast 115
1943-60 New Understanding of Craters 117
1957 Sputnik 119
1958 Explorer I 121
1958-59 A New Discovery and a New Agency 123
1959 First Pictures of the Moon's Far-side 125
1961 Humans Enter Space 127
1961 An American in Space 129
1962 Planning Lunar Missions 131
1962 The Moon Speech at Rice Stadium 133
1963 Human Computers 135
1963-64 Saturn Architecture Takes Shape 137
1964 Two's Company, Three's a Crowd 139
1964 Beginning's of Lunar Science 141
1964-65 Astrogeology 143
1965 Improving Space Capabilities 145
1965-66 Learning to Rendezvous and Dock 147
1966 Neutral Buoyancy 149
1966 Tragedies 151
1967 Apollo 1 Fire 153
1967 Reengineering Apollo 155
1967 Declaring Peace on the Moon 157
1968 Lunar Tortoises 159
1968 Reaching for the Moon 161
1968 Earthrise 163
1969 Dress Rehearsals 165
1969 One Giant Leap 167
1969 Beginnings of Lunar Field Science 169
1969 Making Moonquakes 171
1969 The Lunar Receiving Laboratory 173
1970 A Successful Failure 175
1971 Return to the Moon 177
1971 Extended Missions 179
1972 Descartes Highland 181
1972 Mission to Taurus-Littrow 183
1972 Apollo Biostack 185
1972-74 Cancelled Apollo Missions 187
1970s-80s Elucidating Lunar History 189
1980s-90s Studying Lunar Resources 191
1998 Lunar Prospector and Surface Ice 193
2003-13 New Generation of Moon Probes 195
2018 Preparing for New Missions 197
2019-44 Building a Lunar Infrastructure 199
References 200
Index 209
Image Credits 211
About the Author 212
