July 20, 1969, marked one of the climactic moments in our history, the day Apollo 11 landed on the moon. But it is only one piece of a magnificent story. Mission Control, This Is Apollo, by the acclaimed Andrew Chaikin recounts space history from the Mercury missions through Apollo 17 and beyond. It is illustrated with stunning full-color paintings by astronaut Alan Bean, who walked on the moon with Pete Conrad on Apollo 12 and has devoted his post-NASA life to creating art. Handsome, informative, and dramatic, this is no textbook, it is the tale of humankind's greatest adventure in the last frontier: space.

The sites of the Apollo Moon landings -- Apollo 101: a quick review -- A word from the artist -- Introduction: who were the astronauts? -- Apollo One -- Apollo Seven: when you gotta go, you gotta go -- Apollo Eight: all this and turkey, too -- Apollo Nine: the dark side of zero-G -- Apollo Ten: the Moon rocket -- Apollo Eleven: the group brain -- Apollo Twelve: clothes make the Moonwalker -- Apollo Thirteen: a last-minute swap -- Apollo Fourteen: lunar germs? -- Apollo Fifteen: live from the Moon -- Apollo Sixteen: left behind -- Apollo Seventeen: the Moon rocks (and what happened to them after they got to Earth) -- Epilogue -- About the paintings -- The write stuff: how we wrote this book -- On research and sources -- Index.