One Giant Leap

Fraser ( On Top of the World ; Ten Mile Day ) offers a concise liftoff-to-splashdown chronicle of the historic Apollo 11 mission, including, of course, Neil Armstrong's ``giant leap for mankind.'' Her fast-paced account opens on July 16, 1969, with a digital clock announcing ground elapsed time (the time from launch) of minus two hours, 28 minutes and 11 seconds (this figure is updated on each spread). At Florida's Cape Kennedy, Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins enter the spacecraft which, along with the Saturn V rocket on which it perches, ``had taken more than 300,000 people eight years to plan, test, and build.'' As Fraser details the astronauts' manifold maneuvers, brief quotes from NASA's air-to-ground voice transcripts give her narrative a thrilling immediacy--especially when recounting such hair-raising moments as Armstrong's frantic search for a landing site for the Eagle lunar module, which had only 30 seconds' worth of fuel remaining. Similarly, Fraser supplements her realistic paintings with precise diagrams of the various components of the spacecraft and rockets, the space suit worn by the mission's participants and Apollo 11's flight pattern. Ages 8-12. (Nov.)