Like many people who buy this book I'm old enough the remember the Saturn V launches, although for me it was the very end of the programme, the Apollo/Suyuz mission that I was transfixed by, being a little too young for the Moon landings. So I'll start with the pictures of those missions, which are spectacular. They make you realise just how marginal the whole programme was, some of the dented and crumpled panels and wonky lines of rivets made you understand just how risky the whole thing was, which is lost in the myriad words written about Apollo. Anyone who really wants to understand Apollo, and what happens when political ambition and nationalistic fervour drive something both mad and glorious needs this book. Otherworldly both literally and literary. So what's the flaw? My copy had the first half of Apollo 13 missing, about 30 pages replaced by a duplicate of the second half of Apollo 11. Sadly I bought this book a LONG time ago and didn't actually READ it when it arrived, just dipped in and out, so it wasn't until I sat down to read it cover to cover that I noticed the gapping hole in it. By which time the return window had long closed. A shame for a £60 full price item. If all the pages had been there, 5 stars for sure.

Having seen other reviews for this book, here and elsewhere, I must say this: Either there is something awry with my eyesight, or, I must have a duff copy. Given that the title contains the description "remastered" and words such as 'clarity' and 'painstaking' have been used in write-ups, I am a little disappointed. Why? Well, there are several images that appear smudged, definitely blurred - well out of focus - a lot of which contain "stacked and processed" in the description. There is even one page, that appears to be blank apart from the text at the foot of page, but on careful inspection, does have a vague image of something, which I assume it might be the moon. Because the book has no page numbers, I can't tell you those to which I refer, though the blank image is within the chapter dealing with Apollo 13. Furthermore, the use of tiny grey-coloured font on black pages is irritating and does make it difficult to read unless you point the book toward a light source, which gives the biceps a good workout as the book is quite heavy. Oh, and since my copy arrived in, what I can only describe as a thin cardboard 'sleeve' the corners are bumped, which is again, disappointing. All that said however, overall, this a beautiful and hefty tome, that has given subject matter the full reverence it deserves. But I cannot give it a full five stars for the reasons I stated above.

Such an iconic and fabulous book. On August 28th 2022 I ordered three copies, one for each of my children and their children and one for me. I am a member of the Apollo Generation but my children and grandchildren are of the Artemis generation. So sad then when one copy arrived badly damaged in transit. After weeks of attempting to get a response from Waterstones Customer Service Team eventually on Oct 7th a real person emailed me to confirm a replacement would be arriving in the nest few days. Hoorah? No because here I am on November 2nd and still no replacement has arrived. Come on Waterstones, you used to be so good and reliable, what on earth has happened to your service???