Apollo: The Race to the Moon (74 page)

“… some advantages of tight, totalitarian control”: Dallas News, quoted in Walter A. McDougall, The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age (New York: Basic Books, 1985), p. 143.

Other examples of the world’s reaction to Sputnik: McDougall, Heavens, pp. 142–44.

“…some fat Roman lolling in the baths”: George R. Price, “Arguing the Case for Being Panicky,” Life, 18 November 1957, p. 126.

Choice of the N.A.C.A. as the basis for NASA: McDougall, Heavens, chapter 7. Eisenhower’s message to Congress proposing NASA is given in “President Details NACA Space Mission,” Aviation Week, 14 April 1958, pp. 51–53.

Description of the founding of Langley: James R. Hansen, Engineer in Charge: A History of the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory 1917–1958 (Washington, D.C.: NASA, 1987), pp. 9–22.

Description of John Victory and Langley’s administrative system: Hansen, Engineer in Charge, pp. 24, 28–36.

2. “I could picture the astronauts looking down at it with binoculars”

Chapter title: Authors’ interview with Max Faget.

Glennan’s meeting to discuss lunar landing: Brooks et al., Chariots, p. 62, dates this meeting from mid-1960. In an interview with the authors, Faget was sure it was in the spring of 1959, prior to any of the formal discussions of a lunar landing that began at the time of the Goett Committee (which met for the first time on 25 May 1959). Faget’s memory of the approximate date is consistent with the naiveté of the discussion. By 1960, Faget and von Braun were already thinking about a lunar landing in much more sophisticated ways.

Account of the Goett Committee meetings: Brooks et al., Chariots, p. 8.

3. “Those days were out of the Dark Ages”

Chapter title: Authors’ interview with Joe Bobik.

The German team’s early days in Huntsville: Frederick I. Ordway III and Mitchell R. Sharpe, The Rocket Team: From the V-2 to the Saturn Moon Rocket (New York: Crowell, 1979); plus authors’ interviews.

Eisenhower’s space policy in 1960: Brooks et al., Chariots, pp. 13–14.

Naming the rockets: Erik Bergaust, Wernher von Braun (Washington, D.C.: National Space Institute, 1976), p. 406.

Participants in the lunch where Silverstein floated “Apollo” as a name: Ivan D. Ertel and Mary Louise Morse, The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology (Washington, D.C.: NASA, 1978), vol. 1, p. 36. The account of the lunch comes from authors’ interviews with Charles Donlan and Abe Silverstein.

The failure of M.A.-1: Loyd S. Swenson, Jr., James M. Grimwood, and Charles C. Alexander, This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury (Washington, D.C.: NASA, 1966), p. 275, plus authors’ interviews.

The July 1960 Washington conference: Brooks et al., Chariots, p. 15; plus authors’ interviews.

“Subject: Manned Lunar Landing Program”: A copy of Low’s memorandum with Silverstein’s scrawled “OK” was provided courtesy of Mary R. Low.

4. “He would rather not have done it”

Chapter title: Authors’ interview with Jerome Wiesner.

Space as a campaign issue: Walter A. McDougall, Heavens, pp. 221–26.

“…could not be convinced that all rockets were not a waste of money”: NASA interview with Charles Draper, quoted in McDougall, Heavens, p. 302.

Space as Kennedy’s weak spot: Hugh Sidey, John F. Kennedy, President (New York: Atheneum Press, 1964), p. 118; plus authors’ interviews with Hugh Sidey and Jerome Wiesner.

The cause of the M.R.-l fiasco: Low memorandum to Glennan, quoted in David Baker, The History of Manned Space Flight (New York: Crown Publishers, 1982), p. 62. Low’s memo indicates that the plug was designed with one prong shorter than the other. We have used Terry Greenfield’s account of the technician filing off one prong (authors’ interview) because he was the man on the scene and more directly associated with the investigation.

Eisenhower’s plan to drop the National Aeronautics and Space Council: McDougall, Heavens, p. 309.

The reversal of Kennedy’s tentative decision to drop the Space Council: Logsdon, Decision, p. 67.

“We should stop advertising Mercury …”: Wiesner Report, quoted in Swensen et al., This New Ocean, pp. 304–8.

Quotations from the Disher notebooks: From unpublished materials provided to the authors by John Disher.

Outcome of the Glennan review of the lunar program: Logsdon, Decision, p. 61.

The number of people who turned down the NASA job: Seamans remembered that it was only nine. Johnson told Eugene Emme, the NASA historian, that the number was seventeen (contained in Emme’s exit interviews with Robert Seamans, 8 May 1968).

The account of Webb’s hiring: John Logsdon’s interview with James Webb on 15 December 1967.

Kennedy put funds for Apollo spacecraft on indefinite hold: Memorandum from James Webb to President Kennedy, 23 March 1961; attached memorandum from Robert Seamans to James Webb, 23 March 1961; and Robert Seamans’ notations on results of the meeting with Kennedy. Memoranda provided courtesy of Robert Seamans.

5. “We’re going to the moon”

Chapter title: Statement of Ted Sorensen, recounted in authors’ interview with Hugh Sidey.

“hour of euphoria”: Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965). The phrase is the title of chapter nine.

“He is not only the handsomest …” James MacGregor Bums, “John Kennedy and His Spectators,” New Republic, 3 April 1961, p. 7.

“the magic touch.” Interview with Theodore Sorensen on ABC News, Our World: “One Day: April 12, 1961.”

“fifty feet high,” and following account of Jackie Kennedy’s party for the women reporters: “Exposure,” Time, 21 April 1961, p. 16.

“Give me the news in the morning”: Kennedy quoted in Hugh Sidey, “How the News Hit Washington—With Some Reactions Overseas,” Life, 21 April 1961, p. 26.

“In these matters, what people believe…”: Washington Post, 13 April 1961, p. A18.

“the American people must be ‘properly alerted’”: From hearings of the House Space Committee, quoted in John M. Logsdon, Decision, p. 103.

“see in all this the supposed superiority of the Communist way of life”: This and following reactions from abroad are from United States Information Agency studies of the reaction to Vostok I, quoted in McDougall, Heavens, pp. 246–47.

“young, active, and vigorous leader”: New York Times, 16 April 1961, Sec. 4, p 3.

“it is a fact that it’s going to take some time”: This and following quotation from the Kennedy press conference are taken from the transcript in New York Times, 13 April 1961, p. 18.

“today belonged to the Russians”: Excerpt from Edwin Newman’s commentary shown on ABC News, Our World. 63 Meeting in Sorensen’s White House office: Theodore C. Sorensen, New York Times, Moon Special Supplement, 17 July 1969.

“Kennedy turned back to the men around him”: Hugh Sidey, John F. Kennedy, President (New York: Atheneum Press, 1964), pp. 122–23.

Description of the White House during the Bay of Pigs crisis: Schlesinger, Thousand Days, pp. 276–84.

“In accordance with our conversation”: Memorandum from Kennedy to Lyndon Johnson, quoted in Logsdon, Decision, pp. 276–84.

Participants at the meeting called by called by Johnson: Logsdon, Decision, p. 114.

“a use of technological means for political ends”: Wiesner quoted in Logsdon, Decision, p. 118.

6. “The flight article has got to dominate”

Chapter title: Authors’ interview with Rocco Petrone.

“a fair-sized nuclear weapon might one day explode”: Fact book provided by Kennedy Space Center, 1987 edition, p. 74. While the figure of 1,000,000 pounds (500 tons) of T.N.T. is theoretically correct and they had to plan for the worst case, Rocco Petrone pointed out that an actual explosion of the Saturn V was more likely to be on the order of 300–400 tons of T.N.T.

Sites under consideration: Charles D. Benson and William Barnaby Faherty, Moonport: A History of Apollo Launch Facilities and Operations (Washington, D.C.: NASA, 1978), p. 91.

Projected launches per year: Benson and Faherty, Moonport, pp. 67–68.

Use of mobile launch facilities at Peenemünde: Benson and Faherty, Moonport, p. 74.

Meeting of Seamans and Debus regarding mobile launch system: Benson and Faherty, Moonport, p. 77.

Specific figures regarding the size and construction of the V.A.B., the launcher, and the crawler were taken from Benson and Faherty, Moonport, chaps. 4 and 6, and from materials provided courtesy of Donald Buchanan.

Account of the decision on the barge: Benson and Faherty, Moonport, p. 118ff., plus authors’ interviews.

7. “We had more harebrained schemes than you could shake a stick at”

Chapter title: Authors’ interview with Caldwell Johnson.

The first article in the Collier’s series was “What Are We Waiting For?” Collier’s, 22 March 1952, p. 23ff.

8. “Somewhat as a voice in the wilderness…”

Chapter title: Letter from John Houbolt to Robert Seamans, 15 November 1961, provided courtesy of John Houbolt.

The earliest thinking about lunar-orbit rendezvous: John M. Logsdon, “Selecting the Way to the Moon: The Choice of the Lunar Orbital Rendezvous Mode,” Aerospace Historian (June 1971), pp. 63–70.

For estimates of weight savings using L.O.R.: Brooks et al, Chariots, p.66.

“Herein lies contention”: The article that prompted the subsequent controversy over John Houbolt’s role was D. Sheridan, “How an Idea No One Wanted Grew Up to Be the LEM,” Life, 14 March 1969, pp. 20–27.

“Almost spontaneously it became clear …”: John C. Houbolt, “Lunar Rendezvous,” International Science and Technology (February 1963), p.63.

“Somewhat as a voice in the wilderness”: Letter from John Houbolt to Robert Seamans, 15 November 1961, provided courtesy of John Houbolt.

“Nevertheless, I feel that Houbolt’s message”: Copy of memorandum from George Low to Brainerd Holmes, 5 December 1961, reprinted with permission of the George M. Low Papers, Institute Archives, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

9. “What sonofabitch thinks it isn’t the right thing to do?”

Chapter title: Words attributed to John Paup in authors’ interview with Owen Maynard, confirmed in authors’ interview with Caldwell Johnson.

“rendezvous schemes may be used as a crutch”: Letter from Robert Gilruth to Nicholas Golovin, 12 September 1961, quoted in Barton C. Hacker and James M. Grimwood, On the Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini (Washington, D.C.: NASA, 1977), p. 61.

“in a climate ‘permitting year-round, ice-free water transportation.’” This and the other site-selection criteria are given in Brooks et al., Chariots, Appendix A.

“politically arranged gift”: Brooks et al., Chariots, p. 53.

“Most of the M.S.C. people seem enthusiastic about L.O.R”: Memorandum from Joseph Shea to Brainerd Holmes, quoted in John M. Logsdon, “Selecting the Way to the Moon: The Choice of the Lunar Orbital Rendezvous Mode,” Aerospace Historian (June 1971), p. 68.

Changing weight estimates for the L.O.R. mode: Brooks et al., Chariots, p.78.

“A drastic separation of these two functions”: Brooks et al., Chariots, p.82.

10. “It aged me, I’m sure”

Chapter title: Authors’ interview with Jerry Thomson.

Doubt within the President’s Science Advisory Committee (PSAC) that the F-1 could be made to work: Roger E. Bilstein, Stages to Saturn: A Technological History of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicles (Washington, D.C.: NASA, 1980), p. 113.

Description of the workings of the F-l engine: The initial draft was drawn from Bilstein, Stages to Saturn, pp. 104–25, and revised on the basis of critiques by Jerry Thomson and Paul Castenholz (who are not responsible for technical simplifications retained by the authors for purposes of clarity).

“Lunar program in crisis”: New York Times, 13 July 1963, p. 9.

Holmes as a “restless, dynamic worker”: “Reaching for the Moon,” Time, 10 August 1962, p. 52ff.

“An American Tragedy”: Missiles and Rockets, 17 June 1963, p. 54.

“It is probably too much to say”: Richard Austin Smith, “Now It’s an Agonizing Reappraisal of the Moon Race,” Fortune (November 1963), pp. 124–29.

“lunar landing cannot likely be attained”: Copy of the Disher and Tischler briefing for George Mueller, provided courtesy of John Disher.

11. “It sounded reckless”

Chapter title: Wernher von Braun, “Saturn the Giant,” in Apollo Expeditions to the Moon, edited by Edgar Cortright (Washington, D.C.: NASA, 1975), p. 50.

“an official schedule reflecting the philosophy outlined here”: Quoted in Bilstein, Stages to Saturn, p. 349.

[a sign which] “raises a serious question”: New York Times, 21 November 1963, p. 24.

Arthur Rudolph’s encounter with George Mueller: Bilstein, Stages to Saturn, p. 351.

Von Braun overriding the objections of his senior staff on the all-up decision: Bilstein, Stages to Saturn, note 7 to Chapter 12.

“just as Dr. Mueller could not guarantee”: Bilstein, Stages to Saturn, p. 350.

“George Mueller visited Marshall”: This and the paragraph’s other quotations of von Braun are from “Saturn the Giant,” Apollo Expeditions, p. 50.

“I think you know that I would be enthusiastic”: Memorandum from Joseph Shea to George Mueller, 17 September 1963, provided courtesy of Joseph Shea.

12. “Hey, it isn’t that complicated”

Chapter title: Authors’ interview with Joe Shea.

“The Martin Company is considered the outstanding source”: Quoted in Brooks et al., Chariots, p. 43.

The rumors and coincidences surrounding the C.S.M. contract: John Noble Wilford, We Reach the Moon: The New York Times Story of Man’s Greatest Adventure (New York: Bantam, 1969), pp. 106–9.

Tracking down the origins of “the better is the enemy of the good”: Robert Sherrod, unpublished manuscript, provided courtesy of Robert Sherrod.

13. “We want you to go fix it”

Chapter title: Words attributed to Gus Grissom in unpublished manuscript by Joe Shea.

Changes in the Block I schedule of manned flights: Brooks et al., Chariots, p. 130. 179.

“I am definitely not satisfied”: Quoted in Bilstein, Stages to Saturn, p. 226.

“I believe NASA has to resort”: Quoted in Bilstein, Stages to Saturn, p. 227.