Contents
Introduction: the Emu in the Sky
The German rockets of World War II
Chapter 2: The First Man in Space
Why does the Moon look bigger on the horizon than when it’s high in the sky?
What is the difference between a moon and a planet?
Chapter 3: A Tech Kid Grows Up
Why does the Moon look the same size as the sun?
Why does the Moon have different shapes?
Chapter 4: The First Computers
How the journeys to the Moon created the internet
Chapter 5: Australia Gazes at the Universe
What does it take to become an astronaut?
Chapter 6: Canberra, Tidbinbilla and Honeysuckle Creek
Why can we sometimes see the Moon during the day?
Chapter 7: Science in the Wilderness
Chapter 8: The Apollo Missions Begin
What would happen if you were thrown out of a spacecraft into space?
Chapter 9: Orbit Around the Moon
How does the Moon make the tides rise and fall?
Chapter 10: Destination: Moon Landing
Chapter 11: Preparing for the Moon
Chapter 12: The Journey to the Moon
What time did the astronauts use?
What does it feel like to be weightless in space?
What does space look like from a spacecraft?
How do you go to the toilet on a spacecraft?
Would Apollo 11 sink in moon dust?
The lone woman in the control room
Chapter 16: The Eagle has Landed
The long days and nights on the Moon
Chapter 17: The Day the World Remembers
Moon Myth: The Parkes radio telescope was the first to send pictures of the moon walk to the world
Chapter 18: Ready and Waiting!
Chapter 19: Showing the Moon to the World
Moon Myth: The journey to the Moon never happened
Chapter 20: Strolling on the Moon
What are the strange lights on the Moon?
Chapter 21: Working on the Moon
Can crops be grown on the Moon?
Chapter 22: Returning to Earth
Have astronauts ever seen any aliens or UFOs?
Colin Cochran’s story: The rocket in the bedroom!
Chapter 25: The Final Missions
Can the Moon tell us how Earth and other planets began?
Chapter 26: Goodbye to Honeysuckle Creek
Women in the Australian space program
Why the women stayed invisible
Chapter 28: Apollo and the Information Age
Where is the Honeysuckle Creek dish now?
Chapter 29: The Technical Legacy of Apollo
The men who really did invent the internet
Broadband internet connections
Chapter 30: Soaring to the Stars
Chapter 31: One Small Blue Planet, Spinning in the Black
Surviving the sixth great extinction
Chapter 33: Back to the Tracking Station