Friends of Montclair Library

Today is the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, on July 20, 1969. The next day, Neil Armstrong became the first human to step onto the lunar surface, followed by Buzz Aldrin. A third member of the mission, Michael Collins, piloted the command spacecraft in lunar orbit until Armstrong and Aldrin returned to it for the trip back to Earth.

If you’d like to know more about the Apollo missions and life in space, check out these selections from the Montclair library.

And don’t forget that your library card can get you a free Family Pass to the USS Hornet Museum in Alameda through the Discover & Go program. On July 24, 1969, the Hornet recovered astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins and their spacecraft Columbia when they returned to Earth after the first moon walk.

For adults:
First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong by James R. Hansen (BIO ARMSTRONG)

One Giant Leap: Neil Armstrong’s Stellar American Journey by Leon Wagener (LT BIO ARMSTRONG)

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach (571.0919 ROACH)

In the Shadow of the Moon [videorecording] (DVD 629.454 IN)
In this documentary about the United States’ manned missions to the Moon, the surviving crew members from NASA’s Apollo missions tell their story in their own words.

For kids:
Neil Armstrong: A Space Biography by Carmen Bredeson (J BIO ARMSTRONG)

Reaching for the Moon by Buzz Aldrin (BIO ALDRIN)

Astronaut Handbook by Meghan McCarthy (J 629.45 McCARTHY)
Discusses the requirements for becoming an astronaut.

Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 by Brian Floca (J 629.454 FLOCA)
The story of the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon during the summer of 1969.

Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon by Catherine Thimmesh (J 629.454 THIMMESH)
Culled from direct quotes from the people behind the scenes, NASA transcripts, national archives and NASA photos, the whole story of Apollo 11 and the first moon landing emerges.

Mission Control, This is Apollo: The Story of the First Voyages to the Moon by Andrew Chaikin, with Victoria Kohl (J 629.454 CHAIKIN)

Mission to the Moon by Alan Dyer (J 629.45 DYER)

Eight Days Gone by Linda McReynolds (J 629.454 McREYNOLD)
Depicts the 1969 Apollo 11 mission when man first walked on the moon.

Moon Over Star by Dianna Hutts Aston (J PICBK ASTON)
On her family’s farm in the town of Star, eight-year-old Mae eagerly follows the progress of the 1969 Apollo 11 flight and moon landing and dreams that she might one day be an astronaut, too.

Photo: Apollo 11 Astronaut Footprint by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center via Flickr