After that chance meeting in 1969, Chaikin's passion for astronomy continued to develop, leading him to the field of planetary science at Brown University. He even got a position as an intern in a jet propulsion lab, working on the first Mars landing in 1976. But a couple of years after college, Chaikin decided he didn't want to do science but rather write about science instead.

What put Chaikin on the map, though, was his book "A Man on the Moon," an eight-year project that included interviews with 23 of the 24 astronauts who took part in the Apollo missions (Apollo 13's Jack Swigert died three years prior to the project's inception). Tom Hanks later used the book as the basis for his HBO series "From the Earth to the Moon."

It wasn't until the 1980s that Chaikin and Bean crossed paths again, largely in part because of "A Man on the Moon." "He (Chaikin) had phoned me to help get some of the other astronauts to work with him," Bean said. "He and I would talk on and off over the years — he worked on this thing for years — and we became friends."

In the late '90s that friendship blossomed into a collaboration as the two worked together on "Apollo: An Eyewitness Account by Astronaut / Explorer Artist / Moonwalker Alan Bean."

The experience was a good one, and when Sharyn November, an editor at Viking Children's, approached Bean and Chaikin about working on a new book for young readers, both were intrigued.

Under November's guidance, and with the help of Chaikin's wife, Victoria Khol, and designer Jim Hoover, "Mission Control, This is Apollo," a comprehensive overview of the Apollo missions for young readers, was born.

What makes the book unique, Chaikin said, is Bean's paintings. "You won't find any other books out there for young readers that are illustrated by somebody who actually went to the moon."

That, combined with Chaikin's focus on the personal experiences of the astronauts, helps make "Mission Control" "the best I've seen, period," Bean said. "I believe this book will be the standard book for Apollo."

"No matter how far we go in space exploration, Apollo is always going to be seen as the first step in that endless journey," Chaikin said. "Space is the endless frontier, and as long as humans are alive, I firmly believe we will be entering farther into space. But it all began with Apollo."

E-mail: jharrison@desnews.com