The most beautiful and influential photographs ever made were of the whole earth seen from space. They were taken from the moon,almost as an afterthought,by the astronauts of the Apollo space programme. They inspired a generation to think more seriously about our responsibility for this tiny oasis in space,the'blue marble'falling through empty darkness. This is a book about the long road to the capture of those unforgettable images. It is a history of the space programme and of the ways in which it transformed our view of the earth and changed the lives of the astronauts who walked in space and on the moon. It is the story of the often blemished visionaries who inspired that journey into space: Charles Lindbergh,Robert Goddard and Wernher Von Braun,and of the courageous pilots who were the first humans to escape the Earth's orbit.
MEDIA REVIEWS
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLCISBN: 9781784974336Number of pages: 464Dimensions: 198 x 129 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
An elegantly written history of man's efforts to reach space... (Potter) has taken a considered risk in retelling the tale of how we first came to see our planet from the outside. It pays off beautifully. The result is a fresh and elegantly wrought account of mankind's journey from firing lumps of jerry-rigged metal from cabbage fields to crunching around in the dust of another world... The Earth Gazers is a terrific piece of writing'Well written and takes a different,more personal viewpoint than many others on the subjectIntriguing and originalPotter's history of the great adventure nicely catches the tension between the sublime escape represented by space travel and the hideous detail of getting there; the euphoria of great ambition and the bleak anticlimax of touchdownClearly illustrates the contrasts,contradictions and egos in those involved in the space race and is completely fascinatingAn enthralling account of the golden age of manned space travel that emphasizes the transcendent experiences of everyone involved,and he makes a convincing case that America lost something vital when it endedPotter has distilled (the feeling that man always looks just beyond his reach and strives to get there) and on each page of cataloguing endeavour gives a hint of the joy those 24 men had when they looked out the window and saw Home... In hardback,Head of Zeus have created a truly beautiful edition to go with such an inspiring tale'
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