The Legacy of Project Apollo
by Roger D. Launius
NASA Chief Historian
JULY 1999 MARKED THE 30TH
ANNIVERSARY OF the epochal lunar landing of Apollo 11 during the
summer of 1969. Project Apollo took on a life of its own over the
years and left an important legacy to both the nation and the proponents
of space exploration. Its success was enormously significant.
At 4:18 p.m., EST, on July 20, 1969, the Lunar Module—with
astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin aboard—landed
on the lunar surface while Michael Collins orbited overhead in the
Apollo Command Module. Armstrong set foot on the surface with his
famous words and Aldrin soon followed. They plodded around, collected
soil and rock samples and set up scientific experiments before splashing
down to Earth in the Pacific Ocean on July 24.
Five more landing missions followed at approximately six-month
intervals through December 1972, each of them increasing the time
spent on the Moon. The scientific return was significant—instruments
placed on the Moon by the American astronauts are still transmitting
important data to scientists throughout the world. But none of the
Apollo flights equaled the excitement of Apollo 11.
Project Apollo in general, and the flight of Apollo 11 in particular,
should be viewed as a watershed in the nation's history. It was
an endeavor that demonstrated both the technological and economic
virtuosity of the United States.
There are several important legacies (or conclusions) about Project
Apollo that need to be remembered at this anniversary of the Apollo
11 landing. Any assessment of Apollo that does not recognize the
accomplishment of landing an American on the Moon and safely returning
before the end of the 1960s is incomplete and inaccurate, for that
was the primary goal of the undertaking.
Apollo was as much a triumph of organization and a triumph of management
in meeting the enormously difficult systems engineering and technological
integration requirements. It was essential that we had the support
of the President and 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 government
agencies, industrial firms and universities can work together to
reach seemingly impossible goals.
From a technological perspective, and more to the point, management
over design, engineering, procurement, testing, construction, manufacturing,
spare parts, logistics, training and operations was recognized as
critical to Apollo's success in November 1968. Science magazine,
the publication of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science, observed:
In terms of numbers of dollars or of men, NASA has not been
our largest national undertaking, but in terms of complexity, rate
of growth, and technological sophistication it has been unique.
. . . It may turn out that [the space program's] most valuable spin-off
of all will be human rather than technological: better knowledge
of how to plan, coordinate, and monitor the multitudinous and varied
activities of the organizations required to accomplish great social
undertakings.
Something most NASA officials did not understand at the time of
the Moon landing in 1969, however, was that Apollo had not been
a normal situation and would not be repeated. The Apollo decision
was, therefore, an anomaly in the national decision-making process.
The dilemma of the "golden age" of Apollo has been difficult to
overcome, but moving beyond the Apollo program to embrace future
opportunities has been an important goal of NASA's leadership in
the recent past.
A significant legacy, full of impact, was started and remains today
for both the nation and space exploration proponents: the emergence
of products and processes, both new and enhanced existing ones,
which trace their origins to technology developed to meet the goals
of Apollo.
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