This story is part of a series commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.

Humanity had yet to set foot on the moon in 1968, but Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke were already envision­ing commercial space liners and a lunar research base on the big screen. Like many sci-fi films, 2001: A Space Odyssey undershot the timeline a bit. It’s been nearly 48 years since human beings last left low-Earth orbit to visit the moon’s surface, but if you’ve sensed a resurgence in spacebound hopefulness, you’re not a lunatic. At the annual meeting of the National Space Council in March, Vice President Mike Pence directed NASA to return to the moon within the next five years, and the private space industry has accumulated more than $20 billion in investments since 2009.

WIRED SERIES Apollo 11 , the Moon, and the Future of Space Exploration

Whether you’re old enough to remember watching Neil Armstrong make that first footprint in the lunar soil or learned about it in history class, there are almost certainly a number of stories you didn’t hear. With this being the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, dozens of new titles on the subject hit bookshelves this year, and we’ve sorted through the stacks to bring you the most stellar examples. These books reach back to that July day in 1969, yes, but many also explore the beginnings of space travel in our collective imagination and speculate on where the hell we’re heading next. Many dive into the lives of little-known characters who played pivotal roles in the space race, and all deliver a new layer of insight into the significance and implications of those first steps.

When you buy something using the retail links in our stories, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Read more about how this works.

Buy on Amazon Hill and Wang

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin may take center stage in this beautiful graphic novel, but Fetter-Vorm takes an expansive approach to storytelling. The writer and illustrator, whose previous book Trinity chronicled the creation and testing of the first atomic bomb, regularly strays from the main narrative to explore the complex and diverse stories of the people who made the moon landing possible. He devotes chapters to lesser-known characters like NASA’s nearly all-female team of "computers"—a term that historically referenced not a machine but a type of job, as depicted in the film Hidden Figures—and dives into tangential subjects like geology, rocket propulsion, and humanity’s mythological regard for the moon. Whereas many books on the Apollo program seem uncomfortable invoking the ethically dubious realities of the space race, Fetter-Vorm dwells thoughtfully on these ambiguities, touching on critiques of the program, including antipoverty protests led by Ralph Abernathy at Cape Canaveral. In a glowing forward, Apollo 11 astronaut and self-professed comic book fan Michael Collins says Moonbound is the most enjoyable book he’s ever read on the historic mission.

Best for: Spaced-out comic book fans

Buy on Amazon Ballantine Books

A companion book to the recently released American Experience documentary on PBS of the same name, this historical look at the Apollo program begins and ends with Arthur C. Clarke. One of the most renowned science fiction writers of the 20th century, Clarke stumbled on a copy of The Conquest of Space, the first nonfiction book on the possibility of spaceflight. Decades later Clarke said Conquest changed his life, setting his imagination ablaze with notions of space travel and a wholly different version of humanity. Stone and Andres illustrate how outliers from Clarke to unsung figures like mathematician Poppy Northcutt, the first woman to work in mission control, inspired and made possible the first moon landing. The book expands on the documentary series with new archival information and firsthand accounts, including interviews with Bill Anders, the Apollo 8 astronaut who shot the iconic “Earthrise” photo. The result of a “lucky accident” that produced the first-ever color photo of Earth floating precariously in space, Anders’ image is credited with bringing about the concept of “spaceship Earth” and is printed in an eight-page photo insert.