NASA launches a yearlong celebration of its 50th anniversary in the fall of 2007, and Abrams is privileged to publish this visual history of its many achievements in manned and unmanned space travel. Written and edited by a team of experienced NASA staffers, and illustrated with many unpublished and rare photographs from the voluminous NASA archives scattered across the country, America in Space offers an unparalleled vision of half a century of exploration and discovery. The story of America’s space age is told with more than 400 carefully selected images. The story begins in the 1950s with intrepid test pilots venturing ever faster and higher, and opens out into the now-legendary Mercury and Apollo missions of the 1960s that made astronauts into national heroes. The space shuttle era shows us what everyday space travel might look like, while grand vistas of the universe expand our sense of wonder. The large format of the book captures both the human drama and the vast scale of NASA’s projects. America in Space is a photographic record of the greatest adventure of our time. America in Space is the work of many people. The main contributors to the project are Steven Dick, NASA Chief Historian; Robert Jacobs, NASA Media Services Director; Constance Moore, NASA Visual Information Specialist; and Bertram Ulrich, Curator, NASA Art Program. Astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first human to set foot on the moon. The lunar crater, Armstrong, located near the Apollo 11 landing site, was named in his honor.