FROM GODDARD TO APOLLO
A History of the U.S. Space Program
Burt Dicht, Director
ASME Southern Field Office
1
IN MEMORIAM
The Crew
of
Columbia
STS-107
2
3
JULY 20, 1969
EAGLE: 540 feet, down at 30 [feet per second] . . . down at
15 . . . 400 feet down at 9 . . . forward . . . 350 feet, down at 4
. . . 300 feet, down 3 1/2 . . . 47 forward . . . 1 1/2 down . . .
13 forward . . . 11 forward? coming down nicely . . . 200 feet,
4 1/2 down . . . 5 1/2 down . . . 5 percent . . . 75 feet . . . 6
forward . . . lights on . . . down 2 1/2 . . . 40 feet? down 2 1/2,
kicking up some dust . . . 30 feet, 2 1/2 down . . . faint
shadow . . . 4 forward . . . 4 forward . . . drifting to right a little
. . . O.K. .
HOUSTON: 30 seconds [fuel remaining].
EAGLE: Contact light! O.K., engine stop . . . descent engine
command override off . . .
HOUSTON: We copy you down, Eagle.
EAGLE: Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has
landed!
HOUSTON: Roger, Tranquility. We copy you on the ground.
You've got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're
breathing again. Thanks a lot.
4
“FOR ALL MANKIND”
 Project Apollo required the combined efforts of
government, industry and academia
 At its peak, more than 400,000 people and
20,000 companies were involved
 It was the largest peacetime engineering
project ever attempted or achieved by the
United States
 Its only rivals are the Panama Canal in
peacetime and the Manhattan Project during
war
5
ROBERT GODDARD
 Read of H.G. Wells and dreamed
of space travel in 1899.
 Studied physics and earned his
Ph.D. at Clark University where he
became a faculty member.
 Won a $5000 grant from the
Smithsonian Institute and published
“A Method of Reaching Extreme
Altitudes.”
 A very brief section in the
publication spoke of a rocket that
would fly to the moon.
6
ROBERT GODDARD
 This lead to sensational news reports like
the New York Times headline “Aim to
reach moon with rocket.”
 This disturbed Goddard and he retreated
not only from the public but from other
scientific and engineering professionals.
 He turned his theory to reality and initially
worked with powder rockets but moved to
liquid fueled.
 In 1926 he launched the first liquid fueled
rocket and it flew a distance of 184 feet.
 But he issued no public announcement.
7
ROBERT GODDARD
 His work attracted the attention of Charles Lindbergh who introduced
him to Harry Guggenheim.
 Their support allowed Goddard to leave Clark and move his
experiments to Roswell, New Mexico (lot of land and no fire
marshals).
 He worked alone except for his wife and a small group of mechanics
who came with him from Massachusetts.
 In 1930 he launched a rocket that reached an altitude of 2000 feet and
a speed of 500 mph.
 His most successful launch reached an altitude of 7500 feet
8
ROBERT GODDARD
HIS LEGACY
 His last experiments in 1940 were not successful. He then went to
work for the Navy developing JATO rockets.
 He never spoke of his own rocket experiments.
 Achieved great things, had vision, was a physicist, not an engineer
 There was almost nothing that was later developed successfully that
he didn’t try at least once.
 Pressurized fuel tanks
 Lightweight turbo-pumps
 Did not publish, but had more than 70 rocket patents by WWII.
 Died shortly after the war.
 His work was of great interest to the Germans.
9
ROCKETRY IN AMERICA
BETWEEN THE WARS
 The US Government provided little support.
 Professional engineers and scientists formed the American Rocket
Society in the 30’s. (Became the AIAA and Reaction Motors)
 Cal Tech – Theodore von Karman- studied high-altitude sounding
rockets, including thermodynamics, the principles of reaction, fuels,
thrust measurements, and nozzle shapes. – his work lead to the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory and the firm of Aerojet General.
 Military research on JATO
 In 1943 intelligence revealed Germany was working on long range
missiles and the Army funded more research.
10
GERMAN ROCKET
DEVELOPMENT
 Treaty of Versailles placed strict limits on
Germany’s army and its weapons. They were
allowed no heavy artillery.
 Colonel Karl Becker – Chief of Army Weapons
Board looked for other options and turned to
rockets.
 1929 – Becker authorized a small study to
develop rockets – did not pan out, but in 1932 he
started is his own program.
 Becker recruited Wernher von Braun (mother was
an amateur astronomer)
 Von Braun was working on his Ph.D. while
carrying out rocket research
11
GERMAN ROCKET
DEVELOPMENT
 Nazis come to power in 1933. The Treaty of
Versailles is abandoned.
 A-1 “It took us exactly one-half year to build and
one-half second to blow up.”
 Two A-2s flew in December 1934
 The German program started in early 1940
 Major General Walter Dornberger, commander of
the army works at Peenemuende
12
VERGELTUNGSWAFFE ZWEI
VENGEANCE WEAPON NO. 2
 By 1943, after numerous frustrations, they had
their "big rocket"
 46 feet long by 11½ feet in diameter, weighing
34,000 pounds when fueled, and producing
69,100 pounds of thrust from a single engine
consuming liquid oxygen and a mixture of
alcohol and water
 Called "Assembly-4" (A-4) by the
Peenemuende group, the rocket had a range
of nearly 200 miles and a maximum velocity of
about 3,500 miles per hour, and was
controlled by its gyroscope and exhaust
deflector vanes, sometimes supplemented by
radio control.
 Named V-2 by Joseph Goebbels
13
ROCKETS AND THE
END OF WWII
 3,745 V-2s fired at targets on the Continent and in England. Military
impact was slight, but this supersonic ballistic missile threw a long
shadow over the future of human society.
 With the defeat of Germany, the U.S. and the Soviets both sought to
confiscate the elements of the German rocket program.
 Peenemuende (the German rocket development base) was within
the Russian zone of occupation, but Wernher von Braun and most of
the other engineers and technicians fled westward with a portion of
their technical data.
 The Americans also captured the underground V-2 factory in the
Harz Mountains; 100 partially assembled V-2s were quickly
dismantled and sent to the United States.
 Ultimately von Braun and about 125 other German rocket specialists
reached this country under "Project Paperclip," carried out by the
United States Army.
14
U.S. - POST WAR WII
 The country rapidly demobilized following the war
 To counter the Soviet threat in Eastern Europe – the U.S used the
atomic bomb as an equalizer
 Focus was on strategic bombers
 Initial efforts to develop long range ballistic missiles were small
 Accuracy and weight were key factors
 The Director of the Office of Scientific Research and
Development, Vannevar Bush, had expressed the prevailing
mood in a much-quoted piece of testimony before a
Congressional committee:
"There has been a great deal said about a 3,000-mile high-angle
rocket. In my opinion, such a thing is impossible today and will be
impossible for many years .... I wish the American public would leave
that out of their thinking."
15
THE U. S. TESTS THE V-2
 The von Braun and the other German Rocket
scientists were first moved to Fort Bliss, Texas
 At the White Sands Proving Ground in New
Mexico work began to assemble and launch
the captured V-2s.
 By February 1946, von Braun's entire
Peenemuende team had been reunited at
White Sands and, on April 16, the first V-2
was launched in the United States.
 The U.S. space program was under way!
 Up to 1952, 64 V2s were launched at White
Sands with instruments, not explosives,
packed the in missiles' nosecones.
16
ARMY BALLISTIC
MISSILE AGENCY
 In 1949, the Joint Long Range Proving Ground was established at
Cape Canaveral to allow more room for rocket testing.
 At the same time the Army moved its missile program from White
Sands to a post just outside a north Alabama cotton town called
Huntsville.
 Von Braun and his team arrived in April 1950.
 The Von Braun team worked to develop what was essentially a
super-V2 rocket, named for the U.S. Army arsenal where it was
being designed -- the “Redstone.”
 In 1956, the Army Ballistic Missile Agency was established at
Redstone Arsenal under von Braun's leadership to develop the
Jupiter intermediate range ballistic missile.
17
THE SPACE AGE BEGINS
 In 1952 the International Council of Scientific Unions
decided to establish July 1, 1957, to December 31,
1958, as the International Geophysical Year (IGY)
because the cycles of solar activity would be at a high
point
 In October 1954, the council adopted a resolution
calling for artificial satellites to be launched during the
IGY to map the Earth's surface
 In July 1955, the White House announced plans to
launch an Earth-orbiting satellite for the IGY
 In September 1955, the Naval Research Laboratory's
Vanguard proposal was chosen to represent the U.S.
during the IGY
18
SPUTNIK
A SHOCKWAVE OF FEAR
 On October 4, 1957, the
Soviet Union successfully
launched Sputnik I, the
world's first artificial satellite
 About the size of a basketball,
it weighed only 183 pounds,
and took about 98 minutes to
orbit the Earth on its elliptical
path
 American political reaction
and public reaction was one
of shock and fear
19
SPUTNIK
AMERICAN REACTION
 The Sputnik launch changed everything. As a
technical achievement, Sputnik caught the world's
attention and the American public off-guard. It
proved to be a propaganda bonanza for the Soviets.
 Its size was more impressive than Vanguard's
intended 3.5-pound payload
 And the the public feared that the Soviets' ability to
launch satellites also translated into the capability to
launch ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear
weapons to the U.S.
 Then the Soviets struck again; on November 3,
Sputnik II was launched, carrying a much heavier
payload, including a dog named Laika
20
SPUTNIK - AMERICAN
POLITCAL REACTION
 President Eisenhower undertook to reassure an agitated
nation and conceded that the Soviet achievement was a
"political defeat" for the United States
 Granting the remote military potentialities of Sputnik, the
President asserted that it "does not raise my
apprehensions…one iota" about the national security.
 Congressional reaction was not so much concerned with what
the Russians had done as with what the Americans had so far
failed to do. Why was this country behind in the space race?
Who was to blame?
 As always in cases of national distress, the White House
headed the list of targets. Spokesmen from both major parties
accused the Eisenhower Administration of "penny-pinching,"
"complacency," "lack of vision," and "incredible stupidity."
21
VANGUARD EXPLODES
 December 6, 1957 at 11:44.559 a.m.
Ignition - Two seconds later, a scream
escaped someone in the blockhouse
control room: "Look out! Oh God, no!"
 “The vehicle, having risen about four
feet into the air, suddenly sank. Falling
against the firing structure, fuel tanks
rupturing as it did so, the rocket toppled
to the ground on the northeast or ocean
side of the structure in a roaring, rolling,
ball-shaped volcano of flame.”
 One engineer commented it seemed "as
if the gates of Hell had opened up."
22
REACTION TO VANGUARD
 "Failure to launch test satellite," the New York Times
announced in big headlines, "assailed as blow to
U. S. prestige."
 Vanguard was called, “Stallnik,” “Dudnik,” “Puffnik,”
“Oppsnik,” “Kaputnik” and “Sputternik”
 Senator Lyndon B. Johnson spoke for millions when
he termed the situation "most humiliating."
 In New York City, members of the Soviet delegation
to the United Nations asked American delegates if
the United States would be interested in receiving
under the U.S.S.R.'s program of technical assistance
to backward nations.
23
EXPLORER I
 With the Vanguard disaster, Eisenhower
authorized the ABMA and von Braun to
attempt a satellite launch
 Explorer-I, officially known as Satellite
1958 Alpha, was the first United States
earth satellite
 It was designed and built by the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of the
California Institute of Technology under
the direction of Dr. William H. Pickering
 The satellite instrumentation of ExplorerI was designed and built by Dr. James
Van Allen of the State University of Iowa
24
EXPLORER I LAUNCHES
 The satellite was launched from Cape
Canaveral in Florida at 10:48 P.M. EST
on 31 January 1958 by the Jupiter-C
vehicle--a special modification of the
Redstone ballistic missile
 The Jupiter was designed, built, and
launched by the Army Ballistic Missile
Agency (ABMA) under the direction of
Dr. Wernher Von Braun
 Jupiter-C, a direct descendant of the
German A-4 (V-2) rocket, was originally
developed in 1955-1956 as a highperformance rocket for testing purposes
25
EISENHOWER UNDER
PRESSURE
 Explorer’s success did not alleviate the
pressures on President Eisenhower
 Eisenhower saw the Soviet efforts as
purely propaganda and he could not
understand why the Soviets would spend
billions of rubbles on space spectaculars
 Eisenhower knew that American security
was not in any danger
 Public perception was another matter
 The launch of Sputnik III, which weighed
2900 lbs, in May added to public and
congressional criticism of America’s
efforts in space
26
THE BIRTH OF NASA
 Eisenhower believed in limited government and wanted to keep
government spending to a minimum
 Yet he knew he had to respond to Soviet achievements
 The Air Force proposed the Man-In-Space-Soonest (MISS) and
project Dyna-Soar
 But Eisenhower wanted a civilian agency controlling the space
program
 In July 1958, Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space
Act establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA)
 NASA’s mandate was to develop America’s aeronautical and space
exploration potential “for the benefit of all mankind”
 In October 1958, NASA announced project Mercury with the
announced goal of sending an American Astronaut into orbit
 Eisenhower rejected a plan for a manned mission to the moon in 1960
27
SPACE AND THE PRESIDENTIAL
RACE OF 1960
 In the fall of 1959, Soviet Lunik probes achieve lunar orbit
and one crash lands on the moon
 Eisenhower comes under increased political attack
 Senator John Kennedy (the democratic candidate) raises the
issues of a “space gap” and a “missile gap” during the
campaign
 Kennedy felt that the “East-West” competitions to influence
new and undecided nations on which way to turn was being
won due to Soviet space achievements.
 Kennedy critical of NASA failures.
 Vice President Nixon (the Republican candidate) understood
the political symbolism of space achievement, but he had to
defend the Eisenhower record
 Kennedy wins in a very close election and soon will find
himself in the same position as Eisenhower
28
PROJECT MERCURY
 Initiated in 1958, completed in 1963, Project
Mercury was the United States' first man-inspace program. The objectives of the program,
which made six manned flights from 1961 to
1963, were specific:



To orbit a manned spacecraft around Earth;
To investigate man's ability to function in space;
To recover both man and spacecraft safely.
29
THE MERCURY SEVEN
• Alan B. Shepard
• Virgil I. Grissom
• John H. Glenn, Jr.
• Scott Carpenter
• Walter M. Schirra, Jr.
• L. Gordon Cooper, Jr.
• Donald “Deke” Slayton
30
PROJECT MERCURY
•Prime Contractor – McDonnell
Aircraft
•Cone-shaped capsule with a
cylinder mounted on top.
• 2 meters (6 ft, 10 in) long,
• 1.9 meters (6 ft, 2 1/2 in) in
diameter,
• 5.8 meter (19 ft, 2 in) escape
tower was fastened to the
cylinder of the capsule.
31
KENNEDY AND THE
SPACE RACE
• Kennedy had little direct interest in the space program. Appoints
James Webb new NASA Administrator.
• He was a “Cold Warrior” and he worked hard in maintaining the
balance of power and the spheres of influence between the Soviet
Union and the US
• But Soviet achievement in space meant the U.S. had to prove it was
just as capable
• That meant committing U.S. resources to the effort
• But at the first opportunity in March 1961, he did not approve all of
NASA’s requests
• NASA asked for an increase of $308 million and he approved $125
million including $56 million for the Saturn rocket. $42 million for
project Apollo was not approved (Total NASA budget of $2 billion) 32
THE SOVIETS FIRST IN
SPACE AGAIN
 On 12 April 1961 Soviet Cosmonaut
Yuri Gagarin became the first human
in space with a one-orbit mission
aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1.
 The chance to place a human in
space before the Soviets did so had
now been lost.
 The great success of that feat made
the gregarious Gagarin a global hero.
 And the Soviets capitalized on the
their victory
33
KENNEDY UNDER
PRESSURE
 The Soviets moved quickly to gain the maximum political
advantage from Gagarin’s flight
 They claimed the flight was evidence of “victorious socialism”
 Congress was unhappy with the latest Soviet success
 The press was more tempered indicating damage to American
prestige but not to American security
 Kennedy now found himself in the same position as
Eisenhower
 He knew he needed to respond and he asked White House
Counsel Theodore Sorensen and White House Science
Advisor Jerome Wiesner to explore possible options for the
U.S. in space
34
WHAT ARE THE
OPTIONS?
 On April 14, Wiesner and Sorenson met with BoB Director
David Bell, NASA Administrator James Webb, and Deputy
Administrator Hugh Dryden to discuss options in space
 Kennedy entered the meeting late and was told that with
Soviet leads in booster thrust, the U.S. would remain behind
for a while
 They felt the best chance to beat the Soviets was with a
manned lunar landing . . . At a cost of $40 billion
 Some considered the cost frightening, but Kennedy was
convinced a second-rate effort in space was inconsistent
with national security
 Kennedy made no decision and then the cold war
intervened again
35
“KICKED IN THE CAN”
 On April 15, 1961, a group of Cuban exiles trained by the CIA
launched an invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs
 The plan originated under Eisenhower, but Kennedy approved
the plan
 By April 19, the invasion force had been defeated and most
were captured by Castro’s forces
 Kennedy decided not to intervene with American forces
 It was a tremendous defeat for the U.S. that many thought
would cause irreparable harm to the nation
 In a matter of a week, American prestige around the world was
at a low
 Kennedy knew that American prestige needed a boost and the
Bay of Pigs appears to have been a turning point in Kennedy’s
thinking on the future of America in space
36
IT’S TIME TO DECIDE
 On April 20, Kennedy asked Vice President Lyndon Johnson to
conduct an overall survey of where the U.S. stood in space to make
make recommendations on the direction of the space program
 The following day at a press conference, Kennedy faced harsh
questioning concerning the space program
 At one point he acknowledged “If we can get to the moon before the
Russians, we should”
 The spurred Johnson on to move quickly and make
recommendations
 Johnson over the next several weeks Johnson met with NASA
officials, Defense Department Officials, Military leaders, Business
leaders and congressional leaders
 Johnson was convinced success in space meant Cold War success
 The moon landing was shaping up as the most likely option to beat
the Russians and most felt it was achievable
37
THE RACE BEGINS






On May 5, 1961, Alan B. Shepard, Jr. road a
Mercury-Redstone 3 rocket and become the first
American in space
The flight lasted only 15 minutes, 28 seconds and
it was sub-orbital compared to Gagarin’s one orbit
flight, but Americans reacted with overwhelming
enthusiasm.
That enthusiasm convinced James Webb and
other government officials that the time was right
to move ahead.
In a memo dated May 8, that he and Defense
Secretary Robert McNamara drafted to the
President, they recommended a moon landing
In a May 10 cabinet meeting, the moon landing
was discussed
The BoB objected to spending so much money for
a program aimed to build prestige and the
President’s science advisor objected as well
38
“WE CHOOSE TO GO
TO THE MOON”
May 25, 1961 in an address to Congress on
"Urgent National Needs” JFK said,
“First, I believe that this nation should
commit itself to achieving the goal, before
this decade is out, of landing a man on the
moon and returning him safely to the earth.
No single space project in this period will
be more impressive to mankind, or more
important for the long-range exploration of
space; and none will be so difficult or
expensive to accomplish.”
39
THE MERCURY FLIGHTS

Mercury-Redstone 3 FREEDOM 7
May 5, 1961
Alan B. Shepard, Jr.
15 minutes, 28 seconds Suborbital flight
that successfully put the first American in
space.

Mercury-Atlas 7 AURORA 7
May 24, 1962
M. Scott Carpenter
04 hours, 56 minutes, 5 seconds
Confirmed the success of MercuryAtlas 6 by duplicating flight.

Mercury-Redstone 4 LIBERTY BELL 7
July 21, 1961
Virgil I. Grissom
15 minutes, 37 seconds Also suborbital;
successful flight but the spacecraft sank
shortly after splashdown.

Mercury-Atlas 8 SIGMA 7
October 03, 1962
Walter M. Schirra, Jr.
09 hours, 13 minutes, 11 seconds Sixorbit engineering test flight.

Mercury-Atlas 6 FRIENDSHIP 7 February
20, 1962
John H. Glenn, Jr. 04 hours, 55 minutes
23 seconds Three-orbit flight that placed
the first American into orbit.

Mercury-Atlas 9 FAITH 7
May 15-16, 1963
L. Gordon Cooper, Jr.
34 hours, 19 minutes, 49 seconds Last
Mercury mission; completed 22 orbits to
evaluate effects of one day in space.
40
GETTING TO THE MOON
THREE CONCEPTS PROPOSED
1. Direct Ascent

Spacecraft sent it on a course directly to the Moon, land a large vehicle, and
send some part of it back to Earth

The Nova booster project, which was to have been capable of generating up
to 40 million pounds of thrust, would have been able to accomplish this feat

The huge cost and technological sophistication of the Nova rocket quickly
ruled out the option and resulted in cancellation of the project
2. Earth-Orbit Rendezvous

Launching of various modules required for the Moon trip into an orbit above
the Earth, where they would rendezvous, be assembled into a single system,
refueled, and sent to the Moon

This could be accomplished using the Saturn launch vehicle already under
development by NASA

Challenges of finding methods of maneuvering and rendezvousing in space,
assembling components in a weightless environment, and safely refueling
spacecraft.
41
GETTING TO THE MOON
3. Lunar-Orbit Rendezvous

Proposed sending the entire lunar spacecraft up in one launch.

It would head to the Moon, enter into orbit, and dispatch a small lander
to the lunar surface.

It was the simplest of the three methods, both in terms of development
and operational costs, but it was risky.

Rendezvous was taking place in lunar, instead of Earth, orbit there was
no room for error or the crew could not get home.

John C. Houbolt, who chaired a rendezvous group, proposed and pressed
hard for the lunar-orbit rendezvous as the most expeditious means of
accomplishing the mission.

Using sophisticated technical and economic arguments, over a period of
months in 1961 and 1962 Houbolt's group advocated and persuaded the
rest of NASA's leadership that lunar-orbit rendezvous was not the risky
proposition that it had earlier seemed.

The last to give in was Wernher von Braun and his associates at the
Marshall Space Flight Center.
42
PROJECT GEMINI
 The second U.S. manned space program was announced in
January 1962.
 Gemini involved 12 flights, including two unmanned flight tests of
the equipment.
 Like Mercury's, its major objectives were clear-cut:




To subject astronauts and equipment to space flight up to two weeks
in duration;
To rendezvous and dock with orbiting vehicles and to maneuver the
docked combination by using the target vehicle's propulsion system;
To perfect methods of entering the atmosphere and landing at a preselected point on land.
To demonstrate astronauts can function and perform work during
extravehicular activates
 Its goals were also met, with the exception of a land landing,
which was cancelled in 1964.
43
PROJECT GEMINI
 The spacecraft was
an enlargement of the
familiar Mercury
capsule
 5.8m (19 ft) long
 3m (10 ft) in diameter
 3810 kilograms (8400
pounds) in weight
 Crew of two
astronauts
44
SOVIET SPACE
SPECTACULARS
 Two Vostoks in space at
same time – Aug. 1962
 First woman in space –
Valentina TereshkovaJune 1963
 Three men in space –
Voshkod I – Oct. 1964
 First man to walk in space
– Alexei Leonov – March
1965
45
PROJECT GEMINI
FLIGHT LOG



Gemini III, MOLLY BROWN
March 23, 1965
Virgil I. Grissom, John W. Young
04 hours, 52 minutes 31 seconds First
manned Gemini flight, three orbits.
Gemini IV - June 03-07, 1965
James A. McDivitt, Edward H. White II
4 days 1 hour 56min 12 seconds Included
first extravehicular activity (EVA) by an
American; White's "space walk" was a 22
minute EVA exercise.
Gemini V - August 21-29, 1965
L. Gordon Cooper, Jr., Charles Conrad, Jr.
7 days 22 hours 55 min 14 seconds First
use of fuel cells for electrical power;
evaluated guidance and navigation system
for future rendezvous missions. Completed
120 orbits.


Gemini VII - December 04-18, 1965
Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, Jr.
13 days, 18 hours, 35 minutes 1 seconds
When the Gemini VI mission was
scrubbed because its Agena target for
rendezvous and docking failed, Gemini VII
was used for the rendezvous instead.
Primary objective was to determine
whether humans could live in space for 14
days.
Gemini VI - December 15-16, 1965
Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Thomas P. Stafford
1 Day 1 hour 51 min 24 seconds First
space rendezvous accomplished with
Gemini VII, station-keeping for over five
hours at distances from 0.3 to 90 m (1 to
295 ft).
46
PROJECT GEMINI
FLIGHT LOG



Gemini VIII - March 16, 1966
Neil A. Armstrong, David R. Scott
10 hours, 41 minutes 26 seconds
Accomplished first docking with another
space vehicle, an unmanned Agena stage.
A malfunction caused uncontrollable
spinning of the craft; the crew undocked
and effected the first emergency landing of
a manned U.S. space mission.
Gemini IX - June 03-06, 1966
Thomas P. Stafford, Eugene A. Cernan
3 days, 21 hours Rescheduled from May
to rendezvous and dock with augmented
target docking adapter (ATDA) after
original Agena target vehicle failed to orbit.
ATDA shroud did not completely separate,
making docking impossible. Three different
types of rendezvous, two hours of EVA,
and 44 orbits were completed.
Gemini X July 18-21, 1966
John W. Young, Michael Collins
2 days 22 hours 46 min 39 seconds
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First use of Agena target vehicle's
propulsion systems. Spacecraft also
rendezvoused with Gemini VIII target
vehicle. Collins had 49 minutes of EVA
standing in the hatch and 39 minutes of
EVA to retrieve experiment from Agena
stage. 43 orbits completed.
Gemini XI - September 12-15, 1966
Charles Conrad, Jr., Richard F. Gordon,
Jr. 2 days 23 hours 17 min 8 seconds
Gemini record altitude, 1,189.3 km (739.2
mi) reached using Agena propulsion
system after first orbit rendezvous and
docking. Gordon made 33-minute EVA
and two-hour standup EVA. 44 orbits.
Gemini XII - November 11-15, 1966
James A. Lovell, Jr., Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr.
3 days, 22 hours, 34 minutes 31 seconds
Final Gemini flight. Rendezvoused and
docked with its target Agena and kept
station with it during EVA. Aldrin set an
EVA record of 5 hours, 30 minutes for one
space walk and two stand-up exercises.
47
PROJECT GEMINI
Gemini V lifts off
on a Titan II
Ed White Spacewalk
Gemini VI in orbit (as
viewed from Gemini VII)
48
THE PROGRAM
MANAGEMENT CONCEPT
 NASA had to meld disparate institutional cultures and
approaches into an inclusive organization moving along a
single unified path.
 Each NASA installation, university, contractor, and research
facility had differing perspectives on how to go about the task
of accomplishing Apollo.
 NASA brought in military managers to oversee Apollo. The
central figure in this process was U.S. Air Force Major General
Samuel C. Phillips, the architect of the Minuteman ICBM
program before coming to NASA in 1962.
 One of the fundamental tenets of the program management
concept was that three critical factors--cost, schedule, and
reliability--were interrelated and had to be managed as a
group.
49
THE ‘ALL UP’ TESTING
CONCEPT
 Introduced in 1963, by George Mueller, Associate
Administrator for Manned Space Flight, it involved
flighting test all of the Saturn V stages at once
 This was an alien concept to von Braun and his
team, who used a cautious step by step approach
 This plan was riskier, but it would speed the
program
 Mueller had experience and used this approach on
the Air Force Minuteman and it was later used on
the Titan.
50
THE SATURN V
LAUNCH VEHICLE
 S-IC – Boeing Company, 5 F-1 Engines at
1.5 million pounds each, 138 ft long, 33 ft
diameter, kerosene and liquid oxygen
 S-II – North American Rockwell, 5 J-2
Engines at 230,000 pounds each, 81.5 ft
long, 33 ft diameter, liquid hydrogen and
liquid oxygen
 S-IVB – McDonnell Doulgas, 1 J-2 Engine
at 232,000 pounds, 59.3 ft long, 21.7 ft
diameter, liquid hydrogen and liquid
oxygen
 Total height of Apollo-Saturn V stack 363 ft
 First flight November 9, 1967
51
U.S. SPACE PROGRAM
ROCKETS AND ENGINES
52
APOLLO COMMAND –
SERVICE MODULES
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Command Module
Height: 10 ft 7 in
Diameter: 12ft 10 in
Weight at liftoff: 12,800 lbs
Service Module
Height: 24 ft 9 in
Diameter: 12ft 10 in
Weight (loaded):
54,169 lbs
Prime Contractor:
North American Aviation
53
APOLLO LUNAR MODULE
Overall height: 22 feet, 11 in
Overall width: 14 feet, 1 in
Diameter: 31 feet
Ascent Stage height: 12 feet, 4 in
Descent Stage height: 10 feet, 7 in
Earth launch weight: 32,000 pounds
Pressurized cabin volume:
235 cubic feet
 Cabin environment:
75 DEG. F, 100 % oxygen at 4.8
psia
 Prime Contractor: Grumman Aircraft
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54
PROJECT APOLLO
SPACECRAFT
55
PROJECT APOLLO TLI
TIMELINE
56
“WE HAVE A FIRE
IN THE COCKPIT”
 On January 27, 1967, while
conducting a “plugs-out” test in
preparation for the first flight, a flash
fire broke out in the Apollo 1
Command
 The fire took the lives of the three
astronauts, Lt. Col. Virgil I. Grissom, a
veteran of Mercury and Gemini
missions; Lt. Col. Edward H. White,
the astronaut who had performed the
first United States extravehicular
activity during the Gemini program;
and Roger B. Chaffee, an astronaut
preparing for his first space flight
57
THE FIRE’S AFTERMATH
 The fire and the deaths of the
astronauts sent everyone into shock
 NASA came under heavy criticism
from the Congress and the press
 An accident investigation revealed the
test was conducted under very
hazardous conditions and that North
American and NASA had made
serious errors in manufacture and
oversight
 In testimony before Congress,
Astronaut Frank Borman said, Let’s
end this witch hunt and get on with
what we have to do”
58
THE QUEST FOR THE
MOON RESUMES
 The fire grounded the U.S. space
program for eighteen months, initially
putting the moon goal in jeopardy
 President Johnson stuck with the
program and NASA received $500
million to redesign the Apollo
spacecraft
 Changes were made to most
systems, including a door that could
be opened in 3 seconds
Flights resumed on October 11-22, 1968, when Apollo 7 was
launched on a Saturn 1B with Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donn F.
Eisele, and R. Walter Cunningham aboard. They spent 10 days,
20 hours in space and did 163 Earth orbits.
59
GO FOR THE MOON
 The successful flight of Apollo 7 put
the program back on track
 A delay in the development of the
LM, which was scheduled to fly next
and reports that the Soviets were
planning a circumlunar flight
prompted a bold move
 George Low, proposed sending the
next flight into lunar orbit using the
Saturn V
On December 21, 1968, a Saturn V launched Apollo 8, with
Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, Jr., and William A. Anders
aboard, to the moon. They entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve
and circled the moon ten times.
60
PROJECT APOLLO
FLIGHT LOG

Apollo 7 Saturn 1B - October 11-22, 1968 Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donn F. Eisele, R.
Walter Cunningham
10 days, 20 hours. 163 Earth orbits. First manned CSM operations in lunar landing
program.

Apollo 8 Saturn V - December 21-27, 1968 Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, Jr.,
William A. Anders
06 days, 03 hours. In lunar orbit 20 hours, with 10 orbits. First manned lunar orbital
mission.

Apollo 9 (Gumdrop and Spider) Saturn V - March 03-13, 1969
James A. McDivitt, David R. Scott, Russell L. Schweickart
10 days, 01 hour. First manned flight of all lunar hardware in Earth orbit.
Schweickart performed 37 minutes EVA. Human reactions to space and
weightlessness tested in 152 orbits. First manned flight of lunar module.

Apollo 10 (Charlie Brown and Snoopy) Saturn V - May 18-26, 1969
Eugene A. Cernan, John W. Young, Thomas P. Stafford
08 days, 03 minutes. Dress rehearsal for Moon landing. First manned CSM/LM
operations in cislunar and lunar environment; simulation of first lunar landing profile.
In lunar orbit 61.6 hours, with 31 orbits. LM taken to within 15,243 m (50,000 ft) of
lunar surface. First live color TV from space. LM ascent stage jettisoned in orbit.
61
SNOOPY HAS LANDED
62
PROJECT APOLLO
FLIGHT LOG

Apollo 11 (Columbia and Eagle) Saturn V - July 16-24, 1969
Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr.
08 days, 03 hours, 18 minutes. First manned lunar landing mission and lunar surface
EVA. July 20, Landing site: Sea of Tranquility. Landing Coordinates: 0.71 degrees
North, 23.63 degrees East 1 EVA of 02 hours, 31 minutes. Flag and in- struments
deployed; Lunar surface stay time 21.6 hours; 59.5 hours in lunar orbit, with 30
orbits. LM ascent stage left in lunar orbit. 20kg (44 lbs) of material gathered.

Apollo 12 (Yankee Clipper and Intrepid) Saturn V - November 14-24, 1969 Charles
Conrad, Jr. Richard F. Gordon, Jr. Alan L. Bean,
10 days, 04 hours, 36 minutes Landing site: Ocean of Storms. 3.04 degrees South,
23.42 degrees West Retrieved parts of the unmanned Surveyor 3, which had landed
on the Moon in April 1967. Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP)
deployed. Lunar surface stay-time, 31.5 hours; in lunar orbit 89 hours, with 45 orbits.
LM descent stage impacted on Moon. 34kg (75 lbs) of material gathered.

Apollo 13 (Odyssey and Aquarius) Saturn V - April 11-17, 1970
James A. Lovell, Jr. John L. Swigert, Jr. Fred W. Haise, Jr. 05 days, 22.9 hours Third
lunar landing attempt. Mission aborted after rupture of service module oxygen tank.
Classed as "successful failure" because of experience in rescuing crew.
63
“HOUSTON, WE HAVE A
PROBLEM”
 200,000 miles from Earth, an oxygen
tank in Apollo 13’s service module
exploded crippling the spacecraft
 With the lunar landing aborted, the
goal was to get the astronauts home
alive
 The lunar module was used as a life
boat as Apollo 13 circled the moon
and headed home
 The ground crew at Mission Control
in Houston worked 24 hours a day to
come up with procedures that would
get the astronauts home safely
64
PROJECT APOLLO
FLIGHT LOG

Apollo 14 (Kitty Hawk and Antares) Saturn V - January 31-Febraury 09, 1971
Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Stuart A. Roosa, Edgar D. Mitchell
09 days Landing site: Fra Mauro. Landing Coordinates: 3.65 degrees south,
17.48 degrees West ALSEP and other instruments deployed. Lunar surface
stay-time, 33.5 hours; 67 hours in lunar orbit, with 34 orbits. 2 EVAs of 09
hours, 25 minutes. Third stage impacted on Moon. 42 kg (94 lbs) of materials
gathered, using hand cart for first time to transport rocks.

Apollo 15 (Endeavor and Falcon) Saturn V - July 26-August 07, 1971
David R. Scott, James B. Irwin, Alfred M. Worden
12 days, 17 hours, 12 minutes Landing site: Hadley-Apennine region near
Apennine Mountains. Landing Coordinates: 26.08 degrees North, 3.66 degrees
East 3 EVAs of 10 hours, 36 minutes. Worden performed 38 minutes EVA on
way back to Earth. First to carry orbital sensors in service module of CSM.
ALSEP de- ployed. Scientific payload landed on Moon doubled. Improved
spacesuits gave increased mobility and stay-time. Lunar surface stay- time,
66.9 hours. Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), electric-powered, 4-wheel drive car,
traversed total 27.9 km (17 mi). In lunar orbit 145 hours, with 74 orbits. Small
sub-satellite left in lunar orbit for first time. 6.6 kgs (169 lbs) of material
gathered.
65
PROJECT APOLLO
FLIGHT LOG

Apollo 16 (Casper and Orion) Saturn V - April 16-27, 1972
John W. Young, Thomas K. Mattingly II, Charles M. Duke, Jr.
11 days, 01 hour, 51 minutes Landing site: Descartes Highlands. Landing
Coordinates: 8.97 degrees South, 15.51 degrees East First study of highlands
area. Selected surface experiments deployed, ultraviolet camera/spectrograph
used for first time on Moon, and LRV used for second time. Lunar surface staytime, 71 hours; in lunar orbit 126 hours, with 64 orbits. Mattingly performed 01
hour in-flight EVA. 95.8 kg (213 lbs) of lunar samples collected.

Apollo 17 (America and Challenger) Saturn V - December 07-19, 1972
Eugene A. Cernan, Ronald E. Evans, Harrison H. Schmitt
12 days, 13 hours, 52 minutes Last lunar landing mission. Landing site: TaurusLittrow, highlands and valley area. Landing Coordinates: 20.16 degrees North,
30.77 degrees East 3 EVAs of 22 hours, 04 minutes. Evans performed transEarth EVA lasting 01 hour 06 minutes. First scientist-astronaut to land on
Moon, Schmitt. Sixth automated research station set up. LRV traverse total
30.5 km. Lunar surface stay-time, 75 hours. In lunar orbit 17 hours. 110.4 kg
(243 lbs) of material gathered.
66
THE ROAD TO
THE MOON ENDS
 While the program resumed after Apollo 13, concern
among NASA officials about losing a crew
 Plans for flights Apollo 18, 19 & 20
 Apollo 20 was canceled by NASA but Congressional
and Nixon White House budget cutbacks ended
program at Apollo 17
 NASA plans for the future included a space station, a
reusable space shuttle and a Mars mission
 But with lacking public interest and little White House
support NASA scaled back plans to only the shuttle
 NASA asked for $8 billion and only $ 5 billion approved
by Congress
67
PROJECT APOLLO
FLIGHT LOG
 Skylab I - May 25, 1973 to June 22, 1973 - 672 hours, 49
minutes, 49 seconds Charles "Pete" Conrad, Paul J. Weitz,
Joseph P. Kerwin
 Skylab II - July 28, 1973 to February 8, 1974 - 1,427 hours, 9
minutes, 4 seconds, Alan L. Bean, Jack R. Lousma, Owen K.
Garriott
 Skylab III - September 25, 1973 to November 16, 1973 - 1,214
2,017 hours, 16 minutes, 30 seconds - Gerald P. Carr, William
R. Pogue, Edward G. Gibson
 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project - July 15, 1975 to July 24, 1975, 217
hours, 30 minutes - Thomas P. Stafford, Vance D. Brand,
Donald K. "Deke" Slayton
68
THE LEGACY
 Kennedy’s goal achieved
 Six successful moon landings
 A triumph of American Industrial and Economic
Power
 Proof of the “Program Management” concept
 Scientific (842 lbs of moon rocks)
 Spin-offs
69
THE COST
 Total Apollo Program cost $25.4 Billion (1972)
 $106.82 Billion adjusted for inflation (2002)
 NASA’s highest yearly budget – 1965, $5.25
Billion
 Adjusted for inflation $29.30 Billion (2002)
 NASA FY 04 Budget - $15.5 Billion
 FY 04 US Federal Budget – $2.23 Trillion
70
Address at Rice University on
the Nation's Space Effort
President John F. Kennedy
Houston, Texas, September 12, 1962
 Surely the opening vistas of space promise high costs and
hardships, as well as high reward.
 The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or
not, and it is one of the great adventures of all time, and no nation
which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay
behind in the race for space.
 We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other
things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard,
because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of
our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are
willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one
which we intend to win . . .
http://www.cs.umb.edu/jfklibrary/speeches.htm
71
SOURCES AND FOR MORE
INFORMATION
 If you would like a copy of this presentation send an e-mail
to dichtb@asme.org with your name and address

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“To The Moon” DVD (a NOVA special)
“From the Earth to the Moon” DVD (HBO)
“For All Mankind” DVD Criterion Collection
“A Man on the Moon” Andrew Chaikin
“Chariots for Apollo” Charles Pellegrino
“For All Mankind” Harry Hurt III
“Angle of Attack” Mike Gray
“Countdown” T.A. Heppenheimer
“Red Star in Orbit” James Oberg
“Flight” Chris Kraft
“Rocket Man” David Clary
http://history.nasa.gov/
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