APOLLO PROGRAM

    Apollo is the United States program to land men on the moon for scientific exploration and return them safely to earth. It has been described as the greatest scientific, engineering, and exploratory challenge in the history of mankind.

    The challenge essentially was to create an artificial world: a world large and complex enough to supply all the needs of three men for two weeks. The world had to contain all of the life-sustaining elements of earth-food, air, shelter-as well as many special complex extras (navigation, propulsion, communications). Perhaps the greatest challenge was that of reliability; everything had to work and keep working no matter what the circumstances. Unlike the previous manned space programs in which crewmen could return to earth almost within minutes if an emergency arose, it could be as much as three days before the Apollo crew can get back to earth from the moon.

    A parallel problem was to develop a launch vehicle large enough to put this world into space and to send it on its way to the moon 239,000 miles away. Many different plans were examined before the technique of lunar orbit rendezvous was selected.

    NASA announced the Apollo program and its objectives in July of 1960. As President Kennedy pointed out to Congress on May 25, 1961, the overall objective is 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." Of the lunar landing mission in particular, he said: "No single space project in this period will be more exciting, or more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or so expensive to accomplish.

    On Nov. 28, 1961, after a series of studies on the feasibility of the project, NASA awarded the basic Apollo spacecraft contract to the Space Division of North American Rockwell Corporation (at that time North American Aviation, Inc.). Development of a large carrier rocket-the Saturn program-had begun in late 1958 and in early 1962 was changed and expanded to meet the new goal of a landing on the moon.

(P-2) Saturn V / Apollo shortly before launch.

    Briefly, the objective of the program is to send a three-man spacecraft to the moon and into orbit around it, land two of the three men on the moon while the third remains in orbit, provide up to 35 hours on the moon, return the two moon explorers to the orbiting spacecraft, and return all three safely to earth. The entire trip, from launch to earth landing, is expected to last between 8 and 10 days; the Apollo spacecraft has been designed for 14-day operation to give a wide margin of safety.

    The program is the most extensive ever undertaken by any nation. During the peak in 1966, more than 20,000 companies and 350,000 persons throughout the country participated directly in it. North American Rockwell Corp.'s Space Division is principal contractor for the spacecraft's command and service modules, the launch escape system, and spacecraft-lunar module adapter, and the Saturn V second stage (the S-II). The rocket engines for all stages are produced by North American Rockwell's Rocketdyne Division. The lunar module (LM) contractor is Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp. Spacecraft associate contractors include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and AC Electronics Division of General Motors Corp. for the guidance and navigation subsystem, International

    Latex Co. for space suits, and United Aircraft Corp. for lunar surface life support equipment. Major North American Rockwell Space Division subcontractors for Apollo (contracts of more than $500,000) are listed in Part 5..

    The Saturn program involves three separate launch vehicles. Two of them are used with Apollo spacecraft: the Saturn IB, a two stage vehicle with a first stage thrust of 1,600,000 pounds, which is used for earth-orbital missions of the Apollo program; and the Saturn V, a three-stage vehicle with a maximum off-the-pad thrust of 7,500,000 pounds, which will be used for some earth-orbital missions and for the lunar mission. The Saturn 1 launch vehicle was used to develop large rocket engine technology.

    The Apollo program is under the management of the Office of Manned Space Flight, Headquarters NASA. The Apollo spacecraft program is directed by NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Tex. The Saturn program is under the management of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Pre-flight checkout and testing and launch activities are directed by NASA's Kennedy Space Center at Cape Kennedy, Fla.

(P-2a) Artist's conception of Apollo spacecraft in orbit around the moon before lunar landing.