DOCSLIB.ORG

Appendix 1 Key Correspondence

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Appendix 1 Key Correspondence Appendix 1 Key Correspondence A number of letters were key to starting the restoration process. Sandra J. Tetley, the JSC Historic Preservation Officer, wrote to Mark Wolfe, who was Executive Director State Historic Preservation Office, Texas Historical Commission (Figure A.1.1). Eugene F. Kranz wrote to M. Wayne Donaldson, Chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (Figure A.1.2). The following article in the Houston Chronicle was instrumental in getting the Johnson Space Center management to agree to a meeting to discuss restoration of the control center. Save Mission Control The former nerve center for NASA put Houston on the map and should be restored Copyright 2016: Houston Chronicle, December 20, 2016 One Sunday night in July a generation ago, the whole world was watching Houston. On July 20, 1969, just before 10 p.m. local time, an awestruck television audi- ence around the globe saw ghostly black-and-white images beamed back to a build- ing at what was then called the Manned Spacecraft Center. Live from the lunar surface came the pictures and sounds of the first men setting foot on the moon. And families gathered around their television sets occasionally caught a wide-shot glimpse of Mission Control, the big room in Houston where hard-working people from the planet Earth made an impossible dream an improbable reality. Today, just about anybody of a certain age can tell you where he was or what she was doing that night. Mission Control is arguably the most historically significant place in Houston, a designated National Historic Landmark. Yet this irreplaceable piece of our heritage has fallen into a sad state of disrepair. © Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018 181 M. von Ehrenfried, Apollo Mission Control, Springer Praxis Books, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76684-3 182 Appendix 1 Key Correspondence As the Chronicle’s Andrew Dansby reported (“Money, access complicate effort to restore Mission Control,” Page A1, Dec. 4), the room that served as the nerve center for America’s space triumphs during the Gemini, Apollo and early shuttle eras now sits badly neglected. Visitors have cut up the upholstery for souvenirs, ash tray covers in the viewing room have been pried loose and the carpeting is a mess. It’s a dispiriting sight for former flight controllers, who decry the deterioration of this monument to our nation’s space legacy. Hordes of tourists taking daily Space Center Houston tours routinely visit the viewing area overlooking the room itself, ravaging the place where astronauts’ fami- lies and other dignitaries watched through a window. Preservationists also complain way too many VIPs are allowed to walk amid the consoles inside Mission Control. The National Park Service reports that about 40,000 people a year are allowed to wander around this area. That number, the park service says, needs to drop to 2,000. NASA and park service authorities have talked about restoring the room for decades, and space center officials have diligently preserved Apollo-era artifacts. A proposal released last year would cost an estimated $3 million and take about 18 months, but nobody’s set a date for work to begin. A consultation meeting required by the National Historic Preservation Act has yet to happen. And yes, somebody has to raise the money. Government employees aren’t legally allowed to tackle this task, so private citizens need to step up to the plate. Space Center Houston, the nonprofit visitor center entity, recently hired a CEO with a fun- draising background, but he’ll need all the help he can get. Surely the city that landed a man on the moon can raise the money and get this restoration project off the ground. When the Saturn V rocket sitting on the periphery of Johnson Space Center fell into disrepair, a “Save the Saturn” drive raised $2.5 million by passing the hat around various government and private sources, preserving the moon rocket for future generations. Now Houston needs to save Mission Control. The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing is now a little more than two years away. Less than a year later, NASA will mark the half-century anniversary of Apollo 13, the aborted moon mission depicted in the movie that made big-screen heroes out of the men working behind the scenes at the space center. So there’s a sense of urgency about launching this restoration project as quickly as possible. Our city has earned an unfortunate reputation for ignoring its past and allowing historic buildings to either fall into disrepair or fall to the wrecking ball. Mission Control, which did as much as anything to put Houston on the map in the 20th cen- tury, deserves better.” Appendix 1 Key Correspondence 183 Figure A.1.1 Letter from Sandra J. Tetley, JSC Historic Preservation Officer, to Mark Wolfe, Executive Director State Historic Preservation Office, Texas Historical Commission. 184 Appendix 1 Key Correspondence (continued) Appendix 1 Key Correspondence 185 (continued) 186 Appendix 1 Key Correspondence (continued) Appendix 1 Key Correspondence 187 (continued) 188 Appendix 1 Key Correspondence (continued) Appendix 1 Key Correspondence 189 (continued) 190 Appendix 1 Key Correspondence (continued) Appendix 1 Key Correspondence 191 (continued) 192 Appendix 1 Key Correspondence (continued) Appendix 1 Key Correspondence 193 Figure A.1.2 Letter from Eugene F. Kranz to M. Wayne Donaldson, Chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. 194 Appendix 1 Key Correspondence (continued) Appendix 1 Key Correspondence 195 Appendix 2 Mission Manning Lists These are the official manning lists from memoranda by the Director of Flight Operations to staff. There may be some individuals who are not listed because they were still in ­training or in positions that were not listed. In some cases, an individual who was “on job training” would not be listed. Bill Reeves has taken on a labor of love with the intent of having a database of anyone who ever worked operations supporting the manned space flights that were flown out of the National Historic Landmark. He has taken all available historical information and created an Excel spreadsheet that goes further than the following lists in identifying indi- viduals listed on official manning correspondence who served in the Apollo Mission Control Center in any capacity. This spreadsheet will be available on the MSOA website in the near future. Note that the following lists only go up thru Skylab. The lists for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, Approach and Landing Tests and Skylab up thru STS-53 (the last mission flown out of MOCR 2 in 1992) are being compiled and be in the MSOA Manning Lists in the near future. © Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018 196 M. von Ehrenfried, Apollo Mission Control, Springer Praxis Books, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76684-3 Appendix 2 Mission Manning Lists 197 Figure A.2.1 Flight Director Bill Reeves. Photo courtesy of NASA. 198 Appendix 2 Mission Manning Lists Figure A.2.2 Mercury Manning List. Appendix 2 Mission Manning Lists 199 200 Appendix 2 Mission Manning Lists Figure A.2.3 Gemini Manning List. Appendix 2 Mission Manning Lists 201 (continued) 202 Appendix 2 Mission Manning Lists (continued) Appendix 2 Mission Manning Lists 203 204 Appendix 2 Mission Manning Lists Figure A.2.4 Apollo Manning List. Appendix 2 Mission Manning Lists 205 (continued) 206 Appendix 2 Mission Manning Lists (continued) Appendix 2 Mission Manning Lists 207 (continued) 208 Appendix 2 Mission Manning Lists (continued) Appendix 2 Mission Manning Lists 209 (continued) 210 Appendix 2 Mission Manning Lists (continued) Appendix 2 Mission Manning Lists 211 212 Appendix 2 Mission Manning Lists Figure A.2.5 Skylab Manning List. Many thanks to former Flight Director Bill Reeves, President of the Manned Spaceflight Operations Association (MSOA) for compiling the names of people who served in the Mission Control Center. Appendix 3 Women Flight Controllers and Mission Support The history of women in flight operations is fairly recent. From the beginning of NACA, women primarily worked in administrative roles but there were many in the fields of science, mathematics, and computer support. From the beginning of NASA and the space program in 1958, flight operations was almost exclusively the domain of men with engineering and ­science degrees. They supported flight test pilots, who were also well educated. During Mercury and Gemini, the mission control center was always staffed with men. However, when the new Houston Mission Control Center was built there were computer rooms and Staff Support Rooms (SSR) that required both administrative and computer support. Some of the first women at MSC who supported missions in the early 1960s were Doris Folkes, Mary Shep Burton, Gloria B. Martinez, Cathy Osgood and Shirley Hunt, all of whom were in the Mission Planning and Analysis Division (MPAD). Women that sup- ported flight operations organizations included Sue Erwin, Lois Ransdell, Connie R. Turner, and Maureen Bowen. They worked as secretaries for various members of the Mission and Flight Control teams. By early Apollo, one would occasionally see several women in the SSRs but none in the MOCR unless they happened to enter with a message or some data. As missions became more complex and the software more sophisticated, you’d observe both contractors and NASA employees in the trajectory analysis areas such as the Flight Dynamics SSR, but only a few in the systems analysis areas such as the SPAN. Typically, the functions in the support areas were secretarial support, clerical support, math aides, data entry, and the traditional runners and messengers. Women with computer skills were supporting the RTCC, CCATS, and ACR.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Interview Transcript
    ORAL HISTORY 7 TRANSCRIPT GLYNN S. LUNNEY INTERVIEWED BY CAROL BUTLER HOUSTON, TX – 18 OCTOBER 1999 BUTLER: Today is October 18, 1999. This oral history with Glynn Lunney is being conducted in the offices of the Signal Corporation in Houston, Texas, for the Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. Carol Butler is the interviewer and is assisted by Kevin Rusnak and Jason Abbey. Thank you for joining us today, again. LUNNEY: You're welcome. Glad to be here. BUTLER: We began talking the last time about Apollo-Soyuz [Test Project (ASTP)], and you told us a little bit about how you got involved with it and how Chris [Christopher C.] Kraft [Jr.] had called you up and asked you to become a part of this program, and how that was a little bit of a surprise, but you jumped into it. What did you think about working with the Soviet Union and people that had for so long been considered enemies, who you'd been in competition with on the space program, but were also enemies of the nation, to say? LUNNEY: Especially on the front end, it's a fairly foreboding and intimidating kind of an idea. Of course, I was raised and came of age in the fifties and sixties, and we went through a great deal of scare with respect to the Soviet Union. The newsreels had the marches through Red Square, you know, with the missiles and so on, tanks. A lot of things happened to reinforce that. There was, of course, the Cuban Missile Crisis early in [President] John [F.] Kennedy's administration.
    [Show full text]
  • Apollo 8 (AS-503) Mission Operation Report
    Pre- Launch Mission Operation Report No. M-932-68-08 MEMORANDUM To: A/Acting Administrator /7/4-7dY& 5/ From: MA/Apollo Program Director Subject: Apollo 8 Mission (AS-503) No earlier than 21 December 1968, we plan to launch the next Apollo/Saturn V mission, Apollo 8. This will be the first manned Saturn V flight, the second flight of a manned Apollo spacecraft and the first manned Apollo flight to the lunar vicinity. The purpose of this mission is to demonstrate: crew/space vehicle/mission support facilities performance during a manned Saturn V mission with CSM, and performance of nominal and selected backup lunar orbital mission activities including translunar injection, CSM navigation, communications and midcourse corrections, and CSM consumables assessment and passive thermal control. Mission duration is planned for approximately six days and three hours. The launch will be the third Saturn V from.Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center. The launch window opens at 7~51 EST 21 December and closes for December at 18:20 EST 27 December, Daily windows during this period vary in duration from 4-l/2 hours to approximately l-1/2 hours. The nominal mission will comprise: ascent to parking orbit; translunar injection by the S-IVB; CSM separation from S-IVB; translunar coast with required midcourse corrections; lunar orbit insertion and circularization; up to 10 lunar orbits; transearth injection, transearth coast and required midcourse corrections; reentry and splashdown. Recovery will be in the Pacific recovery area with exact location dependent on launch conditions. Apollo Program Director APPROVAL: /associate Administrator for / Manned Space Flight l_l ,.
    [Show full text]
  • SPEAKERS TRANSPORTATION CONFERENCE FAA COMMERCIAL SPACE 15TH ANNUAL John R
    15TH ANNUAL FAA COMMERCIAL SPACE TRANSPORTATION CONFERENCE SPEAKERS COMMERCIAL SPACE TRANSPORTATION http://www.faa.gov/go/ast 15-16 FEBRUARY 2012 HQ-12-0163.INDD John R. Allen Christine Anderson Dr. John R. Allen serves as the Program Executive for Crew Health Christine Anderson is the Executive Director of the New Mexico and Safety at NASA Headquarters, Washington DC, where he Spaceport Authority. She is responsible for the development oversees the space medicine activities conducted at the Johnson and operation of the first purpose-built commercial spaceport-- Space Center, Houston, Texas. Dr. Allen received a B.A. in Speech Spaceport America. She is a recently retired Air Force civilian Communication from the University of Maryland (1975), a M.A. with 30 years service. She was a member of the Senior Executive in Audiology/Speech Pathology from The Catholic University Service, the civilian equivalent of the military rank of General of America (1977), and a Ph.D. in Audiology and Bioacoustics officer. Anderson was the founding Director of the Space from Baylor College of Medicine (1996). Upon completion of Vehicles Directorate at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland his Master’s degree, he worked for the Easter Seals Treatment Air Force Base, New Mexico. She also served as the Director Center in Rockville, Maryland as an audiologist and speech- of the Space Technology Directorate at the Air Force Phillips language pathologist and received certification in both areas. Laboratory at Kirtland, and as the Director of the Military Satellite He joined the US Air Force in 1980, serving as Chief, Audiology Communications Joint Program Office at the Air Force Space at Andrews AFB, Maryland, and at the Wiesbaden Medical and Missile Systems Center in Los Angeles where she directed Center, Germany, and as Chief, Otolaryngology Services at the the development, acquisition and execution of a $50 billion Aeromedical Consultation Service, Brooks AFB, Texas, where portfolio.
    [Show full text]
  • Student Worksheets, Assessments, and Answer Keys
    Apollo Mission Worksheet Team Names _________________________ Your team has been assigned Apollo Mission _______ Color _________________ 1. Go to google.com/moon and find your mission, click on it and then zoom in. 2. Find # 1, this will give you information to answer the questions below. 3. On your moon map, find the location of the mission landing site and locate this spot on your map. Choose a symbol and the correct color for your mission (each mission has a specific symbol and you can use this if you like or make up your own). In the legend area put your symbol and mission number. 4. Who were the astronauts on the mission? The astronauts on the mission were ______________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 5. When did the mission take place? The mission took place from _______________________________________________ 6. How many days did the mission last? The mission lasted ______________________________________________________ 7. Where did the mission land? The mission landed at____________________________________________________ 8. Why did the mission land here? They landed at this location because ________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ 9. What was the goal of the mission? The goal of the mission was_______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________
    [Show full text]
  • USGS Open-File Report 2005-1190, Table 1
    TABLE 1 GEOLOGIC FIELD-TRAINING OF NASA ASTRONAUTS BETWEEN JANUARY 1963 AND NOVEMBER 1972 The following is a year-by-year listing of the astronaut geologic field training trips planned and led by personnel from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Branches of Astrogeology and Surface Planetary Exploration, in collaboration with the Geology Group at the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas at the request of NASA between January 1963 and November 1972. Regional geologic experts from the U.S. Geological Survey and other governmental organizations and universities s also played vital roles in these exercises. [The early training (between 1963 and 1967) involved a rather large contingent of astronauts from NASA groups 1, 2, and 3. For another listing of the astronaut geologic training trips and exercises, including all attending and the general purposed of the exercise, the reader is referred to the following website containing a contribution by William Phinney (Phinney, book submitted to NASA/JSC; also http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/ap-geotrips.pdf).] 1963 16-18 January 1963: Meteor Crater and San Francisco Volcanic Field near Flagstaff, Arizona (9 astronauts). Among the nine astronaut trainees in Flagstaff for that initial astronaut geologic training exercise was Neil Armstrong--who would become the first man to step foot on the Moon during the historic Apollo 11 mission in July 1969! The other astronauts present included Frank Borman (Apollo 8), Charles "Pete" Conrad (Apollo 12), James Lovell (Apollo 8 and the near-tragic Apollo 13), James McDivitt, Elliot See (killed later in a plane crash), Thomas Stafford (Apollo 10), Edward White (later killed in the tragic Apollo 1 fire at Cape Canaveral), and John Young (Apollo 16).
    [Show full text]
  • Information Summaries
    TIROS 8 12/21/63 Delta-22 TIROS-H (A-53) 17B S National Aeronautics and TIROS 9 1/22/65 Delta-28 TIROS-I (A-54) 17A S Space Administration TIROS Operational 2TIROS 10 7/1/65 Delta-32 OT-1 17B S John F. Kennedy Space Center 2ESSA 1 2/3/66 Delta-36 OT-3 (TOS) 17A S Information Summaries 2 2 ESSA 2 2/28/66 Delta-37 OT-2 (TOS) 17B S 2ESSA 3 10/2/66 2Delta-41 TOS-A 1SLC-2E S PMS 031 (KSC) OSO (Orbiting Solar Observatories) Lunar and Planetary 2ESSA 4 1/26/67 2Delta-45 TOS-B 1SLC-2E S June 1999 OSO 1 3/7/62 Delta-8 OSO-A (S-16) 17A S 2ESSA 5 4/20/67 2Delta-48 TOS-C 1SLC-2E S OSO 2 2/3/65 Delta-29 OSO-B2 (S-17) 17B S Mission Launch Launch Payload Launch 2ESSA 6 11/10/67 2Delta-54 TOS-D 1SLC-2E S OSO 8/25/65 Delta-33 OSO-C 17B U Name Date Vehicle Code Pad Results 2ESSA 7 8/16/68 2Delta-58 TOS-E 1SLC-2E S OSO 3 3/8/67 Delta-46 OSO-E1 17A S 2ESSA 8 12/15/68 2Delta-62 TOS-F 1SLC-2E S OSO 4 10/18/67 Delta-53 OSO-D 17B S PIONEER (Lunar) 2ESSA 9 2/26/69 2Delta-67 TOS-G 17B S OSO 5 1/22/69 Delta-64 OSO-F 17B S Pioneer 1 10/11/58 Thor-Able-1 –– 17A U Major NASA 2 1 OSO 6/PAC 8/9/69 Delta-72 OSO-G/PAC 17A S Pioneer 2 11/8/58 Thor-Able-2 –– 17A U IMPROVED TIROS OPERATIONAL 2 1 OSO 7/TETR 3 9/29/71 Delta-85 OSO-H/TETR-D 17A S Pioneer 3 12/6/58 Juno II AM-11 –– 5 U 3ITOS 1/OSCAR 5 1/23/70 2Delta-76 1TIROS-M/OSCAR 1SLC-2W S 2 OSO 8 6/21/75 Delta-112 OSO-1 17B S Pioneer 4 3/3/59 Juno II AM-14 –– 5 S 3NOAA 1 12/11/70 2Delta-81 ITOS-A 1SLC-2W S Launches Pioneer 11/26/59 Atlas-Able-1 –– 14 U 3ITOS 10/21/71 2Delta-86 ITOS-B 1SLC-2E U OGO (Orbiting Geophysical
    [Show full text]
  • Space Reporter's Handbook Mission Supplement
    CBS News Space Reporter's Handbook - Mission Supplement Page 1 The CBS News Space Reporter's Handbook Mission Supplement Shuttle Mission STS-125: Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4 Written and Produced By William G. Harwood CBS News Space Analyst [email protected] CBS News 5/10/09 Page 2 CBS News Space Reporter's Handbook - Mission Supplement Revision History Editor's Note Mission-specific sections of the Space Reporter's Handbook are posted as flight data becomes available. Readers should check the CBS News "Space Place" web site in the weeks before a launch to download the latest edition: http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/current.html DATE RELEASE NOTES 08/03/08 Initial STS-125 release 04/11/09 Updating to reflect may 12 launch; revised flight plan 04/15/09 Adding EVA breakdown; walkthrough 04/23/09 Updating for 5/11 launch target date 04/30/09 Adding STS-400 details from FRR briefing 05/04/09 Adding trajectory data; abort boundaries; STS-400 launch windows Introduction This document is an outgrowth of my original UPI Space Reporter's Handbook, prepared prior to STS-26 for United Press International and updated for several flights thereafter due to popular demand. The current version is prepared for CBS News. As with the original, the goal here is to provide useful information on U.S. and Russian space flights so reporters and producers will not be forced to rely on government or industry public affairs officers at times when it might be difficult to get timely responses. All of these data are available elsewhere, of course, but not necessarily in one place.
    [Show full text]
  • Apollo Soyuz Test Project
    https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20190025708 2019-08-31T11:45:11+00:00Z Karol J. Bobko Background • Soviet –American cooperation in space had been discussed as early as 1962 by NASA’s Hugh Dryden and Academician Blagonrovov. • The major objectives for a cooperative space mission were: – 1) Demonstration in space of the new androgynous docking system, and – 2) Improvement of communication and reduction of Cold War tensions between East and West • In October 1970 R. Gilruth headed a small NASA delegation for a visit to Moscow to promote space cooperation. That visit was successful. • Following additional meetings, when President Nixon visited Moscow in May 1972, he and Alexei Kosygin signed an agreement providing for cooperation and the peaceful uses of space – The leaders specifically approved the Apollo-Soyuz flight being planned and they agreed on a 1975 launch. • Dr. Glynn Lunney was appointed as the U.S. technical director of the project • The US crew was announced in January; the USSR crew in May of 1973 • The first training visit was cosmonauts visiting JSC in July of 1973 System Changes • A Docking Module was developed to: – Act as an airlock between the two spacecraft • The Apollo operated with a 100% oxygen but at .34 atmospheres • The Soyuz normally operated at 1.0 atmospheres but for this flight it operated at .68 atmospheres • Since the difference between the modules was only .34 atmospheres it was felt the danger of going from one pressure to the other, without pre-breathe, was minimal. – The Docking Module had extra oxygen and nitrogen and executed the change in pressures to allow passage back and forth between the modules – The docking module had no capability to remove CO2 Docking Module (Cont.) • The front end of the Docking Module had the APDS, which was used to dock with the Soyuz • The rear part of the Docking Module had the probe and drogue system which was used to dock with the Apollo Command Module.
    [Show full text]
  • Space Shuttle Discovery Launched on the First Post-Columbia Mission on July 26, 2005, 905 Days After the Accident
    AFTERWORD Space shuttle Discovery launched on the first post-Columbia mission on July 26, 2005, 905 days after the accident. Coincidentally, the launch took place at 10:39 A.M. EDT, the same time as Columbia’s launch on its final flight. STS-114 was the culmination of a $1.4 billion effort to improve the shuttle, most notably the External Tank. The bipod foam was replaced with an electrical heater to prevent ice from forming. Marshall Space- flight Center External Tank manager Sandy Coleman promised that no foam larger than a marshmallow would fall off of the improved tank. In the 147-page press kit’s description of all of the improvements to the shuttle, KSC’s acceptance of the industry standard definition for FOD (Foreign Object Debris) is presented as a positive. In a spin doctor- ing attempt it’s described how new FOD procedures improve safety, and ignores that FOD rules existed until two years before the Columbia acci- dent when the rules were reduced in a conscious move to make more bonus money for the contractor. Over 100 tracking cameras viewed Discovery’s launch. The E208 camera in Cocoa Beach, the one that had been “soft focused” on STS- 107, was replaced with a state-of-the-art setup. Cameras were also mounted on Discovery’s External Tank and Solid Rocket Boosters, and The bipod fitting on STS-114, on the right, shows the most significant external change— there is no longer any foam on the bipod fitting. 428 AFTERWORD 429 two aircraft with high-definition cameras offered the unique perspective of a shuttle flying toward the viewer.
    [Show full text]
  • The Following Are Edited Excerpts from Two Interviews Conducted with Dr
    Interviews with Dr. Wernher von Braun Editor's note: The following are edited excerpts from two interviews conducted with Dr. Wernher von Braun. Interview #1 was conducted on August 25, 1970, by Robert Sherrod while Dr. von Braun was deputy associate administrator for planning at NASA Headquarters. Interview #2 was conducted on November 17, 1971, by Roger Bilstein and John Beltz. These interviews are among those published in Before This Decade is Out: Personal Reflections on the Apollo Program, (SP-4223, 1999) edited by Glen E. Swanson, whick is vailable on-line at http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4223/sp4223.htm on the Web. Interview #1 In the Apollo Spacecraft Chronology, you are quoted as saying "It is true that for a long time we were not in favor of lunar orbit rendezvous. We favored Earth orbit rendezvous." Well, actually even that is not quite correct, because at the outset we just didn't know which route [for Apollo to travel to the Moon] was the most promising. We made an agreement with Houston that we at Marshall would concentrate on the study of Earth orbit rendezvous, but that did not mean we wanted to sell it as our preferred scheme. We weren't ready to vote for it yet; our study was meant to merely identify the problems involved. The agreement also said that Houston would concentrate on studying the lunar rendezvous mode. Only after both groups had done their homework would we compare notes. This agreement was based on common sense. You don't start selling your scheme until you are convinced that it is superior.
    [Show full text]
  • Project Apollo: Americans to the Moon John M
    Chapter Two Project Apollo: Americans to the Moon John M. Logsdon Project Apollo, the remarkable U.S. space effort that sent 12 astronauts to the surface of Earth’s Moon between July 1969 and December 1972, has been extensively chronicled and analyzed.1 This essay will not attempt to add to this extensive body of literature. Its ambition is much more modest: to provide a coherent narrative within which to place the various documents included in this compendium. In this narrative, key decisions along the path to the Moon will be given particular attention. 1. Roger Launius, in his essay “Interpreting the Moon Landings: Project Apollo and the Historians,” History and Technology, Vol. 22, No. 3 (September 2006): 225–55, has provided a com­ prehensive and thoughtful overview of many of the books written about Apollo. The bibliography accompanying this essay includes almost every book-length study of Apollo and also lists a number of articles and essays interpreting the feat. Among the books Launius singles out for particular attention are: John M. Logsdon, The Decision to Go to the Moon: Project Apollo and the National Interest (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1970); Walter A. McDougall, . the Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age (New York: Basic Books, 1985); Vernon Van Dyke, Pride and Power: the Rationale of the Space Program (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1964); W. Henry Lambright, Powering Apollo: James E. Webb of NASA (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995); Roger E. Bilstein, Stages to Saturn: A Technological History of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicles, NASA SP-4206 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1980); Edgar M.
    [Show full text]
  • Through Astronaut Eyes: Photographing Early Human Spaceflight
    Purdue University Purdue e-Pubs Purdue University Press Book Previews Purdue University Press 6-2020 Through Astronaut Eyes: Photographing Early Human Spaceflight Jennifer K. Levasseur Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/purduepress_previews This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. THROUGH ASTRONAUT EYES PURDUE STUDIES IN AERONAUTICS AND ASTRONAUTICS James R. Hansen, Series Editor Purdue Studies in Aeronautics and Astronautics builds on Purdue’s leadership in aeronautic and astronautic engineering, as well as the historic accomplishments of many of its luminary alums. Works in the series will explore cutting-edge topics in aeronautics and astronautics enterprises, tell unique stories from the history of flight and space travel, and contemplate the future of human space exploration and colonization. RECENT BOOKS IN THE SERIES British Imperial Air Power: The Royal Air Forces and the Defense of Australia and New Zealand Between the World Wars by Alex M Spencer A Reluctant Icon: Letters to Neil Armstrong by James R. Hansen John Houbolt: The Unsung Hero of the Apollo Moon Landings by William F. Causey Dear Neil Armstrong: Letters to the First Man from All Mankind by James R. Hansen Piercing the Horizon: The Story of Visionary NASA Chief Tom Paine by Sunny Tsiao Calculated Risk: The Supersonic Life and Times of Gus Grissom by George Leopold Spacewalker: My Journey in Space and Faith as NASA’s Record-Setting Frequent Flyer by Jerry L. Ross THROUGH ASTRONAUT EYES Photographing Early Human Spaceflight Jennifer K.
    [Show full text]