TO THE MOON// Building in InDesign

This post is all about the construction of the book in InDesign and the realisation of the layout.
The pages here will all be in order however only a few from each chapter will be shown as all pages follow the same grid. As a result the major time consumer here has been the writing of the publication. Most of the information for each mission I have sourced off of the NASA image database or the Wikipedia entry for each mission. This has depended on what I was writing about, NASA provided more of the hard facts about each mission and Wikipedia often links in with stories and side notes, some of which are quite interesting.

The grid I have used contains 10 columns, however I have planned to only use 9 as a rule leaving the ones closest to the spine free for the fold in the perfect bound document. This is true for everything except the image of each spacecraft, which runs into the fold like a full bleed image.

Above is the contents page for the whole book, which is split up into a the three chapters, one for each program devised for the Moon Race; Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. It is important to note that I have used official designations for each mission so the switching between Roman and Arabic numerals is intentional.

The start of each chapter has a cover sheet containing a list of all the missions, manned and unmanned what were undertaken by the particular program as well as the programs goals and outcomes.
 

 The first program 'Mercury' flew missions with only one pilot. I had to design this grid layout so that extra pilots could be added to the 'crew' section as the missions grew in size. I decided to go with a full page image on the right page and all other information on the left page for each spread.

I have also decided to add the missions patch to each spread. This is another element of the mission which can be used to distinguish it from others. The only downside of this is that they are all irregular shapes, thus it has been hard to maintain a solid grid and also included them all. 

 The other addition of the cover pages for each chapter is an official cutaway drawing for each spacecraft that flew the mission. Here is the Gemini capsule, a two man spacecraft. I have also introduced the Key Terms list to this section, explaining some terms that may be used in the text to make sure readers can understand what is going on.

The Gemini chapter of the book features two pilots per mission so the grid compensates for the extra information. Other than that everything moves on as normal.

 The only other minor thing that is altered is in the Mission panel, where a run-down of the mission parameters is detailed. Here the old tab 'Alt Name' is replaced with 'Callsign' as NASA cancelled alternative names for flights after Gemini 5.

The Apollo program chapter cover features the most detailed cutaway drawing of the Saturn V and Apollo vehicle produced. I included it because it is a testament to the complexity of the machine and also because of how interesting it is.The Apollo program had so many unmanned test missions that I had to alter the way that the list is presented here, which also allowed me to include a few more entries to the key terms section, which was a bonus.

 The Apollo pages contain three astronauts per mission so the grid has accommodated for the extra man by opening up the left two columns. It is important to note that the content further down the page is centralised and leaves a wide space open on the left. This is so the reader has a place to hold the publication and still be able to view everything without hands getting in the way. 

 Here is an example of an Apollo mission page without the grid. I have tried to pick a photo for each mission which summarises it in the most interesting way possible. For example here I have used an image of Apollo 10's lunar lander detaching from the command module. Apollo 10 never landed on the moon however this was the pivotal test of the mission, and a less well known photograph that I believe sums it up in the best visual way possible.

 After the entry for the Apollo 11 mission I break away from the format and include two extra images of the most impressive and famous space mission of all time. I have taken text from the plaque that was left on the moon and used it on the right page and a statement by a group of British scientists regarding the mission and placed it on the right page.

This is the final entry in the book, the Apollo 17 mission, the final manned mission to go beyond low earth orbit.

As a final page I include the final shot taken of the moon by the Apollo 17 crew as they flew back to earth. Again with a quote from the crew as they did so.