Back to the Moon Back to the Moon Back to the Moon is a science fiction novel and Homer Hickam's first fictional book. Published in June 1999, Hickam wrote Back to the Moon using insider information he learned from NASA. The prologue of the novel begins with a dramatized account of the second EVA of Apollo 17. Astronaut Jack Schmitt discovers orange soil in Shorty Crater at the very end of the EVA and gathers samples in a race against time to get back to the LEM. Meanwhile, Wernher von Braun is watching the end of the mission on TV with other NASA engineers.
12 to the Moon The International Space Order has organized the first manned landing on the Moon, with the goal of claiming it as 'international territory'. The crew of spaceship Lunar Eagle 1 comprises 12 people from around the world - 10 men and two women, all scientists with different specialties - accompanied by a small menagerie, including two cats. The spaceship is commanded by an American, John Anderson (Ken Clark). Historical and international tensions flare up in-flight. Feodor Orloff (Tom Conway), a Russian, struts about, annoyingly claiming that all scientific advancements were invented by the Soviets. Israeli David Ruskin (Richard Weber) warns Feodor