The captivating true story of NASA's effort to land the first man on the Moon is told through powerful free verse and stunning illustrations. An inspiring testament to American grit, teamwork, and ingenuity, Countdown presents exhilarating, informative, and accessible free verse by award-winning author Suzanne Slade paired with historic photographs and detailed illustrations by New York Times best-selling illustrator Thomas Gonzalez. Together, they capture the gripping historic story of NASA's twentieth century efforts to conquer a new space frontier. Through triumph and tragedy, success and failure, an entire nation is glued to the high-stakes, 2,979-day mission as eighteen astronauts climb into spacecraft; three men die before even leaving the ground; eight rockets soar into space; and four hundred thousand people―engineers, technicians, scientists, mathematicians, and machinists―join Project Apollo in pursuit of making a dream a reality.