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.