Heavily cratered regions like these, photographed by the Apollo XVII crew, dominate the far side ... the country that led the world in the manufacture of cars also sent them to the moon.

Originally Lovell had been assigned to the Apollo 8 backup crew. But when Mike Collins had to drop out for surgery on his spine, Lovell was reunited with his Gemini commander, Borman, for Apollo 8.

Fearful that the Russians would continue their lead in the space race and be the first to put a man on the moon, NASA felt an enormous pressure to push the Apollo Program forward as quickly as ...