JANUARY 20, 1966 BY RALPH B. OAKLEY DIVISION HISTORIAN NORTH AMERICAN AVIATION, INC. SPACE and INFORMATION SYSTEMS DIVISION JANUARY 20, 1966 APOLLO PROGRAM BY RALPH B. OAKLEY DIVISION HISTORIAN NORTH AMERICAN AVIATION, INC. SPACE and INFORMATION SYSTEMS DIVISION Foreword The past is a prelude to the future. FORE WORD Four and a half years have passed since President Kennedy and the United States Congress established a national goal of landing a man on the moon, before the end of the decade. This brief history is designed to be a working tool for use during the second half of this great adventure. It is expected that by presenting the events of the past in perspective this document will become a handy reference to accomplishments of the first half of the program. It is hoped that this volume will be of value to those directly and indirectly concerned with North American's portion of the Apollo program. This history contains a chronology of significant events, as well as material on the management of the program, a record of some of the breakthroughs in technology, a report of the hardware produced to date, and the many tests performed to man-rate the equipment. Plans call for an annual revision, which will add new information of significance for those who are charged with the responsibility of managing a great part of the nation's lunar landing program. Ralph B. Oakley Division Historian January 20, 1966 CONTENTS Section Page FOREWORD . ii 1 INTRODUCTION . 1 2 CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY 3 3 INITIAL STATEMENT OF WORK . 14 4 SCHEDULES 17 5 DESIGN . 18 6 RELIABILITY . 2 5 7 MANUFACTURING . 27 8 SITE ACTIVATION . 30 9 FACILITIES . 3 1 10 SUBCONTRACTING . 3 2 ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1 S&ID Employment. 2 List of Apollo Mockup Articles . 3 List of Apollo Boilerplate Articles . 4 List of Apollo Spacecraft . 5 Apollo Flight Chronology . 6 Profiles of Apollo Spacecraft - 1966. 7 Apollo Spacecraft and Launch Vehicles . 8 List of Major Apollo Subcontractors Introduction - Sect. 1 Now it is time to take longer strides - time for a great new American enterprise - time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on earth. I believe 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 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. President John F. Kennedy INTRODUCTION The Apollo program was first announced by NASA at an industry conference July 29, 1960. A bidders' conference on feasibility study contracts was held at Langley Field on September 13, 1960 by the Space Task Group, which eventually became a part of the Manned Spacecraft Center, located at Houston. On October 25, NASA announced that General Dynamics, General Electric, and Martin had been selected to conduct separate studies of this advanced spacecraft program. NASA completed its internal studies of the feasibility of the Apollo lunar mission program in January 1961, and the contract studies were completed in May of that year. On May 25, President Kennedy called for a stepped-up U. S. space program, and asked that the nation establish a goal of landing a man on the moon before the end of the decade. Introduction - Sect. 1 In July, after receipt of the RFP, North American's Space and Information Systems Division began the proposal effort on the task that was to become the most ambitious ever attempted by man. In September, John Paup was named Division Vice President and Program Manager. Milt Sherman was named Assistant Program Manager, and Charles Feltz was named Chief Engineer. More than 100 engineers were assigned to the proposal effort. One set of the three-volume proposal was hand-carried to NASA's Apollo Office in the Hotel Chamberlain at Hampton, Va. on October 9. Fifty sets were shipped to NASA by air. Work continued on the program, with almost 100 engineers continuing to devote full time to the effort. On November 28, 1961, NAA was notified it had won the Apollo spacecraft contract. - The historic mission to land a man on the moon officially was under way. Chronological Summary - Sect 2 CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY July 2 9 Project Apollo, an advanced spacecraft program to land men on the moon, was announced by NASA. September 13 NASA briefed prospective bidders on the Apollo project study contract at an industry conference in Virginia. October 25 NASA selected Convair, General Electric and Martin to conduct individual feasibility studies of an advanced manned spacecraft as part of the Apollo project. December 5 H. A. Storms was named head of North American Aviation's Missile Division. December 16 The name of the Missile Division was changed to Space and Information Systems Division (S&ID). January NASA internal studies of a manned lunar-landing program were completed. Both a direct-ascent trajectory using- large Nova-type launch vehicles and orbit rendezvous techniques using Saturn- type launch vehicles were considered. Final reports on Project Apollo study contracts were sub- mitted by Convair, GE, and Martin. May 25 President Kennedy presented a plan to Congress for acceler - ating the space program based on a national goal of landing a man on the moon before the end of the decade. June North American Aviation's S&ID announced its intention to submit a proposal for the Apollo spacecraft. July 18 NASA-Industry Apollo Technical Conference was held in Washington, D. C. Chronological Summary - Sect 2 July 2 8 NASA issued an RFP to 12 companies, including North American Aviation (NAA) for the Apollo spacecraft. August 1 NASA presented a briefing to potential Apollo spacecraft contractors. August 9 NASA selected MIT's Instrumentation Laboratory to develop the guidance and navigation system for the Apollo spacecraft. September 11 NASA announced that S&ID was awarded the contract for the Saturn S-11, which was to be used as the second stage for the lunar -mission launch vehicle. September 19 NASA announced that the recently established Manned Spacecraft Center would be located in a new facility to be constructed at Houston, Texas. October 9 The proposal for the Apollo program was submitted to NASA's Space Task Group at Langley Field, Virginia. October 11 A team of 12 men, including J. L. Atwood, H. A. Storms, and J. W. Paup presented an oral briefing to the NASA Space Task Group in Virginia, on NAA's proposal for the Apollo spacecraft program. November 28 NASA announced that a contract had been awarded to S&ID for the Apollo spacecraft program. December 5 Negotiations for the Apollo contract, were held at Williamsburg, Va. Changes in the original Statement of Work were estab- lished, including the addition of the boilerplate program. December 2 1 The first four major Apollo subcontractors were announced by S&ID. They were: Collins Radio, telecommunications systems; Garrett Corporation's AiResearch Division, environmental control equipment; Honeywell, Inc. , the stabilization and control system; and Northr op Corporation' s Ventura Division, parachute earth landing system. December 21 Letter contract No. NAS9-150, authorizing work on the Apollo program beginning January 1, 1962, was signed by NASA and NAA. Chronological Summary - Sect 2 January 22 The first Apollo engineering order was issued to fabricate the fir st mockups of the Apollo command and service modules. January 27 The preliminary master plan for manufacturing the Apollo spacecraft was released. February 9 NASA announced that General Electric had been awarded a contract to provide integration analysis of the total Apollo space vehicle, including launch vehicle and spacecraft interface, to assure reliability of the entire system. GE was also named to develop and operate equipment to check out the Apollo systems. February 13 Lockheed Propulsion Company was selected to design and build the solid-pr opellant launch- escape motor for Apollo . February 14 NAA announced that S&ID would take over part of the U. S. Air Force plant at Tulsa for work on Apollo and other projects. March 2 The Marquardt Corporation was selected by S&ID to design and build the reaction-control rocket engines for the Apollo spacecraft. March 3 The Aerojet-General Corporation was named as the S&ID subcontractor for the Apollo service module propulsion system. March 9 Pratt and Whitney was selected by S&ID to build the Apollo fuel cell. March 23 Avco Corporation was selected to design and install the ablative material on the spacecraft outer surface. March 23 Tests on two early Apollo wind tunnel models were completed at the jet Propulsion Laboratory and at Langley Field. Chronological Summary - Sect 2 The mockup of the Apollo command module, prepared by S&ID in support of the Apollo proposal, was shown to the public for the first time, through the visit to S&ID of news media representatives . April 6 Thiokol Chemical Corporation was selected to build the solid rocket motor to be used to jettison the Apollo launch escape tower. April 19 H.A. Storms announced that 700, 000 square feet of office and manufacturing area in the Downey complex would be transferred to S&ID from the Autonetics Division. Dr. John C. Houbolt of NASA' s Langley Research Center reported a number of possible advantages for a lunar mission utilizing a lunar -orbit rendezvous technique rather than a direct flight from the earth, or an earth-orbit rendezvous flight. June 16 NASA announced that the Apollo propulsion system would be tested at a new facility at White Sands Proving Ground, New Mexico.