A12 THE BULLETIN • MONDAY, MAY 24, 2021
MOON SHOT
ASSOCIATED PRESS
By Charles Apple | THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
Sixty years ago, President John F. Kennedy informed a joint session of Congress of his intention to put
an American on the moon before the end of the decade. It seemed like an impossibly brash goal, given
how the Soviet Union had beaten the U.S. at putting a satellite and then a man into orbit. But
sometimes, it pays to dream big. Here’s how NASA followed through on Kennedy’s promise.
Oct. 4,
1957
Dec. 6,
1957
Jan. 31,
1958
Oct. 1,
1958
April 9,
1959
The Soviet
Union
shocks the
world by
launching
Sputnik 1,
the
world’s
first
artificial
satellite.
An
attempt at
launching
the first
U.S.
satellite
fails in a
spectacular
launch pad
explosion.
The U.S. finally
succeeds in
launching a
satellite, Explorer
1, aboard a U.S.
Army Juno
rocket developed
by former
German rocket
scientist Wernher
von Braun and
his team.
The National Aeronautics
and Space Administration
officially begins operations
with about 8,000 employ-
ees and an annual budget
of $100 million. A month
later, NASA forms the
Space Task Group, which
will lead to Project Mercury.
The group’s work is based
at Langley Aeronautical
Laboratory in Hampton, Va.
NASA unveils
its Mercury
astronaut corps
at a gala press
conference in
Washington,
D.C. This comes
after a grueling
two-month-
long evaluation
and selection
process.
NASA
ASSOCIATED PRESS
July 1,
1960
April 12,
1961
May 5,
1961
May 25,
1961
Sept. 19,
1961
Oct. 27,
1961
Nov. 1,
1961
NASA absorbs
the Army’s
missile agency
in Huntsville,
Ala. Among the
assets the
agency gains:
von Braun and
his team, who
set to work
right away
designing what
they call the
Saturn rocket.
The Soviet
Union puts
the first
man in
space: Yuri
Gagarin,
aboard
Vostok 1
for a
108-minute
orbital
flight.
Alan
Shepard
becomes
the first
American
in space
with a
15-minute
suborbital
flight in a
Mercury
space-
craft.
In a speech
before a joint
session of
Congress,
President
John F.
Kennedy
announces a
goal of
putting an
American on
the moon
before the end
of the decade.
NASA
Administrator
James E. Webb
announces the
agency’s
manned
spaceflight
center will be
located in
Houston, on
1,000 acres of
land donated
by Rice
University,
First test-
launch of
von
Braun’s
Saturn I
rocket,
using a
dummy
second
stage and
a Jupiter
missile
nose cone.
The Space Task
Group officially
becomes the
Manned
Spacecraft
Center. Staffers
begin moving
from Langley to
Houston, setting
up offices in
vacant stores at
a nearby
shopping center.
TASS
Feb. 20,
1962
Astronaut
John Glenn
becomes
the first
American to
orbit the
Earth.
NASA
May 24,
1962
AP
NASA
Oct. 3,
1962
June 7, 1962
Von Braun backs a method called “lunar orbit rendezvous” as the
best way to get to the moon within the time Kennedy has specified.
Wally
Schirra
pilots the
third
manned
orbital
Mercury
mission,
orbiting the
Earth six
times in
Sigma 7.
Up until now, rocket scientists had assumed they would
need to build a giant rocket that would send astronauts
directly to the moon. When they are done exploring, they
would climb back into their rocket and blast off for home.
The problem was: This would
require an enormous rocket and
an enormous amount of fuel — perhaps
more than NASA could develop quickly.
NASA needed a shortcut.
A relatively junior Langley, Va.-based
NASA engineer named John Houboult
came up with a seemingly complex method of first flying
into lunar orbit and then having a special lightweight
landing craft break away, land and take off from the moon
while one astronaut stayed behind in the larger and heavier
main spacecraft. This would save fuel and weight. Lower
weight and fuel requirements would mean a spacecraft that
could be developed cheaper and
more quickly.
Scott
Carpenter
orbits the
Earth three
times in
Aurora 7.
Fuel, oxygen
and propulsion
systems
Primary
cockpit
“Lunar
module”
A landing craft would have
to be developed and NASA
would have to learn how to
track down spaceships and link up
in orbit. But it also meant that a single
Saturn launch could put astronauts on the
moon. Suddenly, all the math worked out.
Von Braun’s approval of Houboult’s proposal was a major step in NASA’s moon
effort. Only now would NASA engineers know what type of craft they need to build.
NASA
Sept. 12, 1962
At an address at the
football stadium at
Houston’s Rice University,
Kennedy makes his case
for going to the moon.
“We choose to go to the
Moon in this decade and
do the other things,”
Kennedy says, “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.”
NASA
November
1962
A contract
to develop
and build
a lunar
module is
granted to
Grumman
Aircraft of
Long Island,
N.Y.
Feb. 21,
1963
May 15,
1963
October
1963
Nov. 16,
1963
June 3,
1965
Dec. 15,
1965
May 25,
1966
NASA
approves
its first
contract
for
building
compo-
nents of
what will
be called
the
Saturn V.
The final
flight of
Project
Mercury is
a 22-orbit,
34-hour
endurance
mission
piloted by
astronaut
Gordon
Cooper.
The first
building at
NASA's new
center in
Houston is
ready for
occupancy.
Twelve
more
buildings
will be filled
by the end
of the year.
Kennedy
visits Cape
Canaveral for
a briefing on
progress of
the Saturn
rockets and
the new
launch
complex there.
Six days later,
he’s shot dead
in Dallas.
The first
crewed
mission
with a
two-seat
Gemini
spacecraft
is launched.
Aboard are
Gus
Grissom
and John
Young.
Two
Gemini
space-
craft —
Geminis
6 and 7
— meet
up in
orbit and
fly
alongside
each
other.
The first
full-scale
Saturn V
rocket is
rolled to
the launch
pad as a
test of
NASA’s
facilities
and
proce-
dures.
NASA
Sources: NASA history office, NASA Langley Research Center, National Air and Space Museum, “Missions to the Moon”
by Rod Pyle, “We Came in Peace” by Classic Press Inc., Smithsonian Air & Space magazineSpace.com, JFKLibrary.org,
NASA
NASA