It’s been a busy week for the star gazers. Super computers have modelled the universe using just one small piece of fairy cake, the Ares 1-X prototype blasted off into suborbital space and the Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter has been exploring the Apollo 17 landing site.

Since NASA have moved onto the Ares 1-X, that can only mean that the Saturn V rocket is out of copyright, way out. So feel free to build your own with the Haynes NASA Apollo 11 Owner’s Workshop Manual. With today’s technology and ingenuity, you can probably build your own for thruppence ha’penny and a couple of old 386 DX 25 PCs. The book is US$21.75 from Amazon. [Thanks Nick]

This is the story of the Apollo 11 mission and the “space hardware” that made it all possible. From the evolution and design of the Saturn V rocket, the Command, Service Modules, and the Lunar Module are described. Launch procedures are described, “flying” the Saturn V, navigation, course correction “burns”, orbital rendezvous techniques, flying the LEM, moon landing, moon walk, take-off from the moon, and earth re-entry procedure.

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