The Astronaut Who Painted the Moon

The True Story
of Alan Bean

Orchard Books
(Scholastic)
(pub. 5.28.2019) 
40 pages

A True Tale with

A Cherry On Top   

A uthor: Dean Robbins
      and illustrator:  Sean Rubin

 
C haracter: Alan Bean

O verview: 
     "The  Apollo 12 mission rocketed through the sky, beyond Earth's orbit, and finally landed on the  Moon. Astronaut Alan Bean placed his foot on the ground and became the fourth person to walk on the Moon's beautiful, barren surface. When he returned, Alan began to paint what he saw. He wanted the world to feel the magic and mystery that he felt out there, 240,000 miles away from home.
     The Astronaut Who Painted the Moon is for any reader who has ever longed to know what it is like in outer space, for any reader who has ever created art to express how they feel, and for any reader who has ever wondered what it's like to walk on a new world."

T antalizing taste: 
     "The shaking stopped as the spacecraft gained speed. Alan was in outer space! He had trained for so long as an astronaut and a scientist, and soon he would walk on the Moon! 
     Alan gazed out the window, marveling at the shapes and colors in space. The sky turned to black. The Earth was a blue and white ball glowing in the darkness. The Moon was many shades of gray. Its mountains and craters seemed bigger the closer he got."

And something more: The Author's Note explains that "Bean returned home to a hero's welcome... He flew another mission into space but left NASA in 1981 to work on his painting... Bean's paintings combined his skills as a scientist and an artist. He used exact measurements for the details, but he also used imagination to capture the dizzying sensation of walking on the Moon. By sprinkling his paintings with Moon dust, scraping them with Moon tools, and stamping them with Moon boots, he tried to make a direct connection with his experiences in Space."

Margaret and the Moon

How Margaret Hamilton
Saved the First
Lunar Landing

 Knopf Books for Young Readers
(Random House Kids)

(pub. 5.16.2017)
40 pages

A True Tale with
A Cherry On Top   

A uthor: Dean Robbins
      and illustrator: Lucy Knisley

C haracter: Margaret Hamilton

O verview from the jacket flap: 

     "Margaret Hamilton always had questions,. About bugs. About baseball. About the stars in the sky. She wanted answers, so she sought them out herself.  
     Margaret's curiosity extended from the intricate logic of mathematics to the farthest reaches of the galaxy and eventually led her to NASA. And there, she wrote the code for the computer commands on the Apollo missions.
     A pioneer in her field, Margaret proves that nothing can stop you from finding the answers you seek."

T antalizing taste: 
      

     "For four days, the spacecraft drew nearer to the moon. The lunar module, named the Eagle, split off to make the landing.
     But within minutes left to go, an astronaut entered a command and the master alarm buzzed.
     The Eagle's computer started preforming too many tasks.  OVERLOAD! OVERLOAD!
     The control room panicked. The moon landing was in danger!
     Everyone looked at Margaret. Had she prepared for this problem?
     Of course!
     Margaret's code made the computer ignore the extra tasks and focus on the landing.
     It brought the Eagle closer to the moon's surface.
     Closer ... Closer ... TOUCH DOWN!"

 

and something more: I so clearly remember sitting on the floor of my living room watching the landing of the Eagle and the subsequent events. I was fascinated to learn from the Author's Note that "due to an error on the astronauts' checklist, a switch ended up in the wrong position and and a computer overloaded. It looked like the lunar module might have to turn back - and it might even crash! But Margaret's brilliant programming allowed the computer to zero in on its most important tasks: landing the spacecraft safely on the moon."
      I was pleased to learn that in 2003 Margaret "won NASA's Exceptional Space Act Award for her groundbreaking contributions to the United States Space program."  A true inspiration!