Apollo Part 1 13 Sept 2017
Pre-Apollo WWII Development of armaments, planes, rockets Communications Sun-Earth connections -> "space weather" Cold war competition ICBMs Atlas, Jupiter, Thor, Titan Sputnik 1 4 Oct 1957 Sputnik 2 - Nov 1957 w/monkey Military Industrial Complex - Eisenhower International Geophysical Year Van Allen
William Pickering JPL Director James Van Allen - U. Iowa Wernher Von Braun - Rocket Engineer Me at Cape museum 2011 Juno launch Explorer 1 31 Jan 1958 The Calculators who did trajectory calcluations
Explorer 1 and Sputnik at Smithsonian Air & Space Museum
Discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts Energetic electrons trapped in the Earth's magnetic field Major supporter of robotic exploration of space Many Earth missions plus Pioneers Voyagers Galileo Cassini
Pre-Apollo Cultural Context Post-war "can-do" spirit (+ misogyny) Technology development cool, sci fi, etc Computers not just cool but allowed complex/long calculations TV PR, propaganda/messaging... Movies John Wayne, Dambusters, Dunkirk, James Dean, etc e.g. Telstar first intercontinental TV check out music by the Tornados July 1962
First there was Mercury 1958-1963 9 April 1959 Mercury Astronauts announced (Bunch of disasters on launch pad) 12 April 1961 Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became first person in space, first to orbit Earth 1 orbit 5 May 1961 Al Shepherd first US astronaut in space Little Joe Atlas Redstone Scout
The Right Stuff Tom Wolfe Seven test pilots picked to be the first astronauts (after the monkeys) "Spam in a can"
"Spam in a can" Mercury capsule (sorry, spacecraft) was tiny!! The astronauts (I mean pilots) insisted on a window, escape hatch, and some sort of control
Al Shepherd Sub-orbital May 1961 Gus Grissom Sub-orbital July 1961 John Glenn 3 orbits Feb 1962 Scott Carpenter - 3 orbits May 1962 Wally Shirra 6 orbits Oct 1962 Gordo Cooper 22 orbits May 1963 Deke Slayton did not fly became Director of Operations
Second there was Gemini 1961-1966 Titan II Up to 14 days Tested rendezvous & docking Extra-Vehicular Activities - EVAs
First Extra-Vehicular Activity - EVAs Two people in capsule
Grissom & Young Mar 1965 McDivitt & White June 1965 Cooper & Conrad Aug 1965 Borman & Lovell Dec 1965 Shirra & Stafford Dec 1965 Armstrong & Scott Mar 1966 Stafford & Cernan Jun 1966 Young & Collins Jul 1966 Conrad & Gordon Sep 1966 Lovell & Aldrin Nov 1966 Titan II
Gemini launch pad in 2005 (New Horizons launch rehearsal)
Gemini launch pad command bunker - in 2006 (New Horizons launch)
The military side of Gemini Manned Orbital Lab - canceled by Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird 1969, when determined that unmanned spy satellites could perform same functions much more cost-effectively. A sign of the future?
Apollo The Start - 1 August 30, 1960 a feasibility study competition was announced October 25, 1960 three study contracts were awarded to General Dynamics/Convair, General Electric, and the Glenn L. Martin Company. Meanwhile, NASA performed its own in-house spacecraft design studies (Von Braun) to serve as a gauge to judge and monitor the three industry designs.
Apollo the start - 2 Nov 1960 John F. Kennedy elected president campaign promised American superiority over the Soviet Union in the fields of space exploration and missile defense. Kennedy had been speaking out against the "missile gap" that he and many other senators felt had formed between the Soviets and themselves due to the inaction of President Eisenhower. Pres. Kennedy address Congress May 25, 1961 "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" by the end of the 1960s.
John F. Kennedy Moon Speech 12 Sep 1962 Three strategies: 1. characterization of space as a beckoning frontier; 2. articulation of time that locates the endeavor within a historical moment of urgency and plausibility; 3. invites audience to live up to their pioneering heritage by going to the Moon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzyrbnpgyzq&t=00m00s
Saturn V Design directed Wernher von Braun at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL Boeing, North American Aviation, Douglas Aircraft Company, and IBM lead contractors. 1966-3 test flights without crew
Saturn V It's big!!
Apollo The Facts - 1 1966-3 test flights without crew 1967, Jan 27 Apollo 1 Fire in capsule killing 3 astronauts Gus Grissom Edward H. White Roger B. Chaffee
Apollo 1 21 Feb 1967 Fire in capsule killed the three astronauts
Apollo The Facts - 2 Apollo 4,5,6, tests without crew Apollo 7,8,9,10 tests with crew out to Moon, orbit and come back Jul 1969 Apollo 11 Armstrong & Aldrin land on Moon (2.5 hour on surface) Collins stays in Command module Nov 1969 Apollo 12 Conrad, Gordon, Bean 7.8 hrs Apr 1970 Apollo 13 see the movie... Jan 1971 Apollo 14 Shepherd, Roosa, Mitchell - 9.3 hrs Jul 1971 Apollo 15 Scott, Worden, Irwin 18.5 hrs Apr 1972 Apollo 16 Young, Mattingly, Duke 20.2 hrs Dec 1972 Apollo 17 Cernan, Evans, Schmitt 22 hrs
Lunar Orbit Rendezvous
NASA budget as Percentage of Federal Budget Apollo Program 1961-1972
Apollo Next time What we Learned Experiments on the Moon Rocks brought back The $200B graph Machines vs. Humans in Space