posted 07-23-2009 07:40 PM               

• Mercury: 1961-1964, sub-orbital and orbital.

• Apollo: from 1965, only orbital missions (goals: EVA, rendezvous, docking, long duration mission).

• Space station from 1967-68. The station is a inflatable wheel.

• Apollo circumlunar mission in 1970.

• Mid-late 70s: A man on the moon (direct with Nova rocket, or with a moon tug from the orbital station.

posted 07-24-2009 01:31 AM               

Once again, I would suggest a look through the Pathe and Movietone websites. You'll find there was a general expectation that man was heading for the moon as soon as the Space Age began with the launch of Sputnik 1.

I strongly recommend these sites. I just did a search one year at a time, and picked out all the space-related reels. It's a great educational experience for anyone that wasn't around at the time.

posted 07-24-2009 06:30 AM               

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Originally posted by jimsz:
I think if Kennedy would not have needed to focus attention off his failed foreign policies the US space program would have simply limped along and eventually conceding space to the USSR. Actually, it is very similar to what the US space program has been doing since Apollo.

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He got lucky.

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posted 07-24-2009 07:04 AM            

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Originally posted by ejectr:
As far as the Bay of Pigs is concerned, thank the guy who started NASA for that one. Kennedy just inherited the whole thing.

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posted 07-24-2009 07:37 AM               

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Originally posted by ejectr:
How much foreign policy can a president have to divert attention from after being in office for 4 months?

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posted 07-24-2009 09:08 AM               

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Originally posted by MCroft04:
I recall reading that the manned space program would end after the Mercury flights. There was no goal.

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At the opening of the conference on 28 July 1960, Dryden announced that "the next spacecraft beyond Mercury will be called Apollo.

posted 07-28-2009 02:16 PM               

To many, America's decision to go to the Moon came with the announcement by President Kennedy in May 1961. This is not quite true as moves were afoot to go to the Moon before this public announcement.

The US Congress had before it proposals from the infant NASA and approved by the House Space Committee to send "... a manned expedition to the Moon before the end of the decade .." whilst the 1960 Presidential election campaign was in full swing. This had come about as a direct result of the work of the Goett Committee in 1959. To be fair though, the Moon landing was the third of their main recommendations, coming after the establishment of a space station.

However, there is some evidence to suggest that NASA at this time felt sufficiently strongly about the Moon landing objective to pursue it without Congressional approval and was prepared to consider the option of using funds already allocated for the development of a new 'super' booster to do so.

If one is looking for a birthday for Apollo, then it has to come in this period of planning by the scientists of the space community. Abe Silverstein (Head of the Office of Space Flight Programmes) received in mid-October 1960 a memo from George Low in which he repeated proposals rejected in 1959. The second of these informed Silverstein that Low had formed a group to establish the ground rules for a manned landing on the Moon. At the bottom Silverstein scrawled 'OK'. To many this became Apollo's birth certificate. At this moment the Moon landings became a definite goal. All that was needed was a political commitment to ensure the funds.

As far as the space programme in general was concerned the 1960 Presidential election did not look at all promising. Eisenhower had set out the Republican policy with his dismissal of Sputnik as "..a mere bauble ..". There was no evidence to suggest that his nominated successor, Richard Nixon, thought otherwise. Nor did the young Democrat contender promise more. It is widely recognised that Kennedy knew little about space nor was concerned about rectifying that deficiency. In fact, he had plans to disband the National Aeronautics and Space Council should he be elected.

With this in mind it is no wonder that NASA spirits dropped almost out of sight after the election as Kennedy appointed Jerome Wiesner as his Special Assistant on scientific matters. It was a committee headed by this same Wiesner that issued a report that included the words, "We should stop advertising Mercury as our major objective in space activities. Indeed, we should make an effort to diminish the significance of this programme." [Mercury was the first American manned space programme and success was vital to any further funding for future manned programmes or progress towards reaching the Moon.]

In a perverse sort of way it was this lack of interest by Kennedy and his seeming acceptance of the Wiesner Report that saved Apollo. First, it meant that no scientist was prepared to come forward to take on the job of NASA Administrator - a political appointment. More by luck than judgement eventually the choice fell on an extremely capable politician-manager named James E. Webb.

The second stroke of good fortune was that the new Vice-President, Lyndon Baines Johnson, was fascinated by space flight. He actively opposed Kennedy on his plans to disband the NASC and was prepared to use his power as Chairman of the threatened Council to do so. Nor was Johnson a man likely to allow a trifling matter such as the Wiesner Report to stand in his way. So, at a stroke, NASA gained the two men most likely to keep its ambitions afloat. Both were widely experienced in the deviousness necessary to achieve their goals in the political climate prevailing in Washington in those early months of 1961.

There are other factors to consider before one begins to make value judgements on a meeting held on 14th April 1961 when the decision was made to send America to the Moon. Kennedy was the youngest President elected; he was the first Catholic; he scrapped home by the narrowest ever margin in the popular vote. If he was to stand any chance at all of serving a second term he had to ensure the 'southern vote' and he had to make good his promise of boosting a depressed American economy.

His first months in office brought him up against a Congress not entirely sharing his vision of a 'New Frontier' that meant head on clashes with Unions, racists and foreign governments. It is worth noting that throughout Kennedy's campaign when speaking about the 'New Frontier' space was not on the agenda. However, the young President was determined and astute. Perhaps his greatness lay in his ability to read a situation, capture a mood and turn both to his advantage. In April 1961 the American people were smarting under the indignity of the Gagarin flight and coming second to the Russians yet again. There was to follow the Bay of Pigs. The voters might not have swallowed increasing Government spending to tackle the Kennedy dream of a freer, more equal society but they would countenance the expenditure of less than one half a percent of the gross national product if it meant restoring American pride. Initially it mattered little to Kennedy whether this involved going to the Moon. To sanction Apollo would him the excuse to spend Federal funds in boosting the economy of the areas where he needed votes and it gave those same voters a visible example of his desire to restore American pride.

There should be no surprise that the meeting on 14th April 1961 that made the decision to send America to the Moon lasted for only five minutes. Everything was in place. NASA had the plan ready and in Webb and Johnson they had the political manipulators to see it through. Kennedy was persuaded to give the go-ahead as the events of April 1961 made it sensible to seize the moment. In May he made the speech that made the decision public.

Perhaps it would be more interesting to hypothesize on whether America would have gone to the Moon in Kennedy's administration anyway. There are strong arguments to suggest that at some point he would need a grandiose scheme to get support for his political ideals. If this is true, then Apollo should be compared not to Columbus but to the 'New Deal' and the Tennessee Valley Scheme of another Democratic President who came to office facing the same problems as Kennedy. In many respects the two are alike. Both were necessary as high profile projects to concentrate national pride and both were overtaken by wars that altered national perspectives and cast doubts on the wisdom of concentrating huge amounts of money on narrow objectives.

Was the Moon decision political opportunism driven by a sense of self preservation, or was it really made from higher ideals? Whatever history finally decides, it is a pity that Lyndon Johnson, on record as the one real enthusiast for Apollo in the Kennedy political team, is given so little credit for preserving the structure that made the Moon landing possible. No wonder he felt somewhat slighted in his later years.

posted 07-29-2009 11:36 AM               

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Originally posted by aneedell:
See also: NASA Long Range Plan, 1959

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1965-1967
First launching in a program leading to manned circumlunar flight and to permanent near-earth space station.

Beyond 1970
Manned flight to the moon

posted 01-10-2010 06:38 AM               

(Source: The Invasion of the Moon 1969 by Peter Ryan)