Thus begins a meditation on the Apollo programme, the dryness of lunar soil and the rhythm of tides.

ECONOMIST: Twirls and swirls from outer space

Space enthusiasts, politicians and the public are, almost half a century later, still living in the shadow of the magnificent achievements of the Apollo programme achievements which seem all the more incredible as the years pass.

ECONOMIST: The space shuttle

Mr Carter has a good feel for the arc America traced from the buoyant post-war optimism of the Apollo programme across the bridge of the Vietnam war to the pessimism surrounding Nixon's fall from power.

ECONOMIST: New fiction

Mr Nelson has conducted extensive interviews with members of the Apollo space programme and combed through NASA archives, newly declassified CIA documents and oral histories.

ECONOMIST: The race to the moon

Since the end of the Apollo missions, the manned programme has drifted without any purpose to guide it.

ECONOMIST: The recent past

He interviewed all of the Apollo astronauts and was friends with Wernher von Braun, the architect of Nasa's moon programme.

BBC: Reg Turnill: Veteran BBC aerospace correspondent dies