The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) program of lunar and planetary exploration produced a flood of scientific information about the moon, planets and the environment of interplanetary space. This book is an account of the people, machines, and the events of this scientific enterprise. It is a story of organizations, personalities, politics, and perceptions of the golden era of solar system exploration. The engineering problems and outstanding accomplishments of the missions are narrated. Both failures and successes during the development and flights of the spacecrafts are highlighted. Although this book is not primarily a scientific report, it does include technical aspects of space flight and conveys some of the excitement about creating and deploying lunar and planetary spacecraft. (ML)