the.com/nasa apollo program
america's answer to a soviet head start, paid in a trillion dollars and one giant leap.
means the 1961-1972 nasa effort that put twelve americans on the moon and brought them all back alive.
from named by nasa manager abe silverstein in 1960 after the greek god of light and prophecy, chosen before anyone knew it would be a moon program at all; kennedy's 1961 pledge to reach the moon by decade's end turned it into a race.
costabout 25.4 billion 1960s dollars, roughly 4 percent of federal budget
apollo 1killed three astronauts in a launchpad fire before ever flying
moon rocks842 pounds brought back across six landings
computer powerguidance computer had less memory than a modern calculator
for instance
apollo 11 — armstrong and aldrin land on the moon july 20 1969
apollo 13 — 1970 oxygen tank explosion turned moon landing into survival mission
apollo 8 — first humans to orbit the moon, christmas eve 1968 broadcast
apollo 17 — 1972, last humans on the moon, cernan's final footprints still there