Multimedia Mania/abacus-multimedia-mania.iso/dp/0096/00964.txt

Text File | 1993-07-27 | 9KB | 169 lines

$Unique_ID{bob00964}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Apollo Expeditions To The Moon
Front Matter}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Various}
$Affiliation{NASA}
$Subject{apollo
moon
development
lunar
program
rendezvous
space
administrator
congress
flight}
$Date{1975}
$Log{}
Title:       Apollo Expeditions To The Moon
Author:      Various
Affiliation: NASA
Date:        1975

Front Matter

Overview of Apollo Expeditions To The Moon

     From President Kennedy's statement, "Fly man to the Moon in this decade"
to "The Eagle has landed", this book provides a thorough history of the Apollo
project.  Each of the Apollo missions are covered (numbers 1 through 17),
along with the detailed scientific information that remains one of the most
important legacies of the Apollo program.

Foreword

     No nation ever demonstrated its aspirations and abilities as dramatically
as did the United States when it landed the first men on the Moon, or as much
in public:  More people on Earth watched that first small step on a foreign
planet than had witnessed any prior event in the ascent of man.  While it is
still too early to assess the full significance of that remarkable
undertaking, I think it is a good time to look back on the total enterprise,
while the images are still sharp, and while those concerned are available to
give testimony.  Historians have observed that ventures into uncharted waters
are often illuminated most vividly in the words of those who were there; one
thinks of Caesar's Commentaries, Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation,
Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle.  An interesting parallel exists between the
voyages of H.M.S. Beagle and the missions of Apollo: One changed the course of
the biological sciences, and the others are reshaping planetary and Earth
sciences.  In this volume you will find the personal accounts of eighteen men
who, like Darwin, were much involved in long and influential voyages.

     New scientific insights are an important part of the legacy of Apollo, as
well as the worldwide lift to the human spirit that the achievement generated.
But there is a third legacy of Apollo that is particularly germane today.
This was the demonstration that great and difficult endeavors can be conducted
successfully by a steadfast mobilization of national will and resources.
Today we face seemingly intractable problems whose resolution may call for
similar mobilization of resources and will.  Husbanding the planet's finite
resources, developing its energy supplies, feeding its billions, protecting
its environment, and shackling its weapons are some of these problems.  If the
zest, drive, and dedication that made Apollo a success can be brought to bear,
that may be the most priceless legacy of Apollo.

     James C. Fletcher, Administrator
     National Aeronautics and Space Administration
     July 30, 1975

Introduction

     In looking back at the origins and development of the Apollo program, one
word that comes to mind is action.  From my vantage as Associate Administrator
from 1960 to 1965, and then as Deputy Administrator from 1965 to 1968, 1 had
an excellent picture of the intricate action processes that comprised the
Apollo program.  Disparate and numerous, the actions and their companion
reactions came together in a remarkably coordinated and cooperative blending
for the goal of placing men on the Moon and bringing them back safely.

     The precipitating action was the successful Soviet launching of Sputnik
in 1957.  This remarkable and surprising achievement was the impetus for
NASA's creation in 1958 by President Eisenhower and the Congress.  Forged in
large part from the widely respected National Advisory Committee for
Aeronautics, with its valued research facilities in Virginia, Ohio, and
California, NASA also incorporated other research elements.  From the Navy
came the Vanguard Satellite Project team.  From the Army came the ballistic
missile team at Redstone Arsenal, to become the nucleus of the Marshall Space
Flight Center.  The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, operated by the California
Institute of Technology for the Defense Department, was also made part of the
growing NASA organization.

     During the NACA-NASA transition period the elements of Project Mercury
for placing a manned capsule in orbit were born.  Work also began, and
progressed well, on scientific, meteorological, and communication satellites -
themselves considerable examples of technological virtuosity, but interest
remained high on manned space flight.  Estimates of the technical problems and
price tag for a manned lunar landing mission were forbidding. The
understandable reluctance to make such a major commitment diminished
dramatically, however, with Gagarin's successful manned orbital flight in
March 1961.  Again, as in the period following Sputnik, grave concern about
Soviet successes was vocalized in the Congress and President Kennedy asked his
administration for plans to make this Nation preeminent in space.  Out of this
introspection came plans and a favorable response to President Kennedy's
special address to Congress in which he stated: "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." But as we were to learn in
carrying out this objective, sustaining the resources meant renewing the
commitment annually.  The Congress tends to operate with fiscal-year and
session perspective; while our horizon was set nine years ahead.  We found
that an agency's performance as a good steward of public funds is a keystone
to its continued support.

     As planning for Apollo began, we identified more than 10,000 separate
tasks that had to be accomplished to put a man on the Moon.  Each task had its
particular objectives, its manpower needs, its time schedule, and its complex
interrelationship with many other tasks.  Which had to be done first?  Which
could be done concurrently?  What were the critical sequences?  Vital
questions such as these had to be answered in building the network of tasks
leading to a lunar landing.  The network had to be subdivided into manageable
portions, the key ones being: determination of the environment in cislunar
space and on the lunar surface; the design and development of the spacecraft
and launch vehicles; the conduct of tests and flight missions to prove these
components and procedures; and the selection and training of flight crews and
ground support to carry out the missions.

     Early in the critical planning stages for Apollo, three different
approaches to the Moon were considered: direct ascent, rendezvous in Earth
orbit, and rendezvous in lunar orbit.  The choice of mission mode was a key
milestone in our development of Apollo.  Like many other decisions, it set us
in a direction from which retreat could come only at extreme penalty to the
schedule and cost of the program.

     Lunar-orbit rendezvous meant considerable payload savings and in turn a
reduced propulsion requirement; in fact the reduction was on the order of 50
percent.  But in requiring less brute force, we needed more skill and finesse.
A module designed especially for landing on and lifting from the lunar surface
had to mate with a module orbiting the Moon.  Rendezvous and docking, clearly,
were of critical importance.  The Gemini program was created to provide
greater experience than Mercury would in manned operations in space, and
especially in perfecting procedures on rendezvous and docking.

     While lunar rendezvous was the choice for getting to the Moon, many other
fundamental technical, policy, and management questions had to be answered:
How and where were major parts to be developed and made?  How were they to be
shipped?  Where were they to be assembled?  Where would we site the important
supporting facilities and the launch complex?  The huge scale of the Apollo
operation precluded conventional answers.  Facilities that were in themselves
major engineering challenges were created, and a separate network of giant
deep-space antennas was constructed in Spain, Australia, and California to
receive the tremendous volume of data that would flow back from the Moon.

     My vantage point in NASA gave me one perspective of the Apollo program's
development.  As you read this volume you will get other perspectives and
insights from key participants in the program.  I'm sure you will sense in
their writing the exhilaration and pride they justifiably feel in their roles
in the Apollo expeditions of the Moon.  From my present vantage point as
Administrator of the Energy Research and Development Administration I see more
clearly that Apollo was as much a triumph of organization as of anything else.
It was essential that we had the support of the President and the Congress,
the participation of many accomplished scientists and engineers, and the
continuing interest of the public at large.  No single Government agency nor
institution nor corporation can perform alone the tasks associated with
reaching major national objectives.  Apollo was an outstanding example of how
governmental agencies, industrial firms, and universities can work together to
reach seemingly impossible goals.

     Robert C. Seamans, Jr., Administrator
     Energy Research and Development Administration