What We Did
In 1969, the Apollo program opened a new era in human history by placing Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the surface of the Moon. It also gave the world a preview of The Boeing Company today.
All the major sections of the Apollo spacecraft and launch vehicle, with the exception of the Grumman-built Lunar Module, were developed and built by companies that would later join to form 21st century Boeing. These companies had a common customer, NASA, which led the U.S. effort to put a man on the Moon and return him safely to Earth.
In addition to working on Apollo, these companies made a major contribution to identifying lunar landing sites on the Moon's surface before a manned spacecraft reached the Moon. Beginning in August 1966, five Boeing-built Lunar Orbiter spacecraft mapped 99 percent of the Moon's surface, more than 14 million square miles.
Surveyor 1, the first in a series of soft-landing lunar spacecraft designed and built by Hughes (now Boeing Satellite Systems), successfully landed on the surface of the Moon in June 1966. During its first lunar day, Surveyor 1 transmitted a total of 10,150 close- and long-range photographs of the lunar landscape and conducted a number of experiments.
Mike Lombardi, chief Boeing archivist, noted
At that time, scientists weren't sure what the surface of the Moon was like. Was it solid? Was it a huge layer of dust? If we landed on the Moon, would the vehicle just sink? These programs made a huge contribution by giving us a much better understanding of what we would encounter. This included a first look at the Moon's far side, which nobody had ever seen before Lunar Orbiter.
It was McDonnell Aircraft corporation and its founder, James S. McDonnell, that led the way in America's manned space flight program. McDonnell built the spacecraft for both Project Mercury and Project Gemini, the two programs that preceded Apollo. America's first manned space flight occurred on May 5, 1961, when Alan Shepard completed a sub-orbital flight in his Freedom 7 Mercury spacecraft.
The Apollo challenge
NASA had decided on a "rendezvous and docking" approach to landing on the Moon. A three-man Apollo command module attached to service and lunar modules would be launched into Earth orbit on a giant Saturn V rocket and sent on a trajectory to the Moon. Once in lunar orbit, two of the three astronauts would take the lunar module to the Moon's surface, explore, and return to the orbiting spacecraft. Leaving the lunar module behind, the three astronauts would then return to Earth.
As work on Project Apollo got underway, Southern California became a center of program activity. North American assembled the command and service modules at its Downey plant, with astronauts dropping by to assist with component testing and cockpit design. A separate North American facility at Seal Beach was used to manufacture the second Saturn stage. In Canoga Park, North American's Rocketdyne division was working on the Saturn engines, and near Santa Monica, Douglas was manufacturing the third Saturn stage.
The Saturn V
Boeing work on the first-stage Saturn booster took place at the NASA Michoud assembly facility near New Orleans. Parts for the booster were shipped to Michoud from the company's Wichita plant and from subcontractors around the country. Once completed, each booster was loaded onto a covered barge to begin a weeklong trip around the Florida Keys to the Kennedy Space Center, where it was assembled with the other two stages.
Erik Simonsen, communications manager for Air Force Systems and a member of the Boeing History Council, said that it took the strong persuasive powers of Lee Atwood to convince NASA that North American had selected the right metal alloy for Saturn's second stage. Some program officials contended that the thin, lightweight metal was too fragile, but Atwood demonstrated that the cryogenic environment in which the Saturn operated added significant strength to the material.
"North American had people who believed in what they were doing and stuck to their guns," Simonsen said. "At times when others might have thrown in the towel, they just kept on going. Lee Atwood was a particularly amazing person with talents as an engineer, executive, and statesman, able to bring people together when a problem had to be solved."
"A couple of things made Saturn a success," Lombardi said.
First, there was Wernher von Braun [chief NASA architect on the Saturn V], who had the vision and drive to make it a reality. Secondly, it's important to remember that a lot of the folks who worked on this program were what [author and NBC News anchor] Tom Brokaw called "the greatest generation." They were kids when they fought in World War II and then came back to become managers and engineers. The war years gave them the confidence that they could do anything, and I think that's what it took to make Apollo a success.
When astronauts began to explore the Moon, the public was amazed to see Apollo 15, 16, and 17 astronauts driving around in a lunar rover built by Boeing at its Kent, Washington, Space Center.
Tragedy
On January 27, 1967, tragedy struck the Apollo program. The crew of Apollo 1-Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee-were conducting tests on the launch pad when fire broke out inside their spacecraft. All three died. Mike Collins, in his book Liftoff, said
The exact cause never was discovered but most likely was a short circuit that ignited combustible material that burned fiercely in the 100 percent oxygen atmosphere.
While pure oxygen is considered a manageable hazard in the low cabin pressure used in space, higher pressure was used in ground testing.
For nearly 2 years after the fire, Apollo was put on hold while major changes were made to ensure the safety of future astronauts. These included modifications to the escape hatch to allow quicker exits. The result was a much improved spacecraft that performed successfully throughout 11 Apollo missions. The only exception was Apollo 13 in 1970, whose three astronauts were saved by an amazing rescue operation after an explosion occurred aboard the spacecraft on its way to the Moon.
Andrew Chaikin, author and science journalist, attributes failures in both Apollo 1 and 13 to communications breakdowns in the highly complex Apollo organizational network. Some, including astronauts, have referred to a "go fever" that existed throughout the program to meet President Kennedy's deadline.
Apollo 1 in particular was an example of organizational behavior…. In hindsight, we can see that the pressure probably contributed to a breakdown in preparation and communications that had fatal consequences. In a very complex, technical project like that it's very difficult to stay on top of everything.
Technical integration and evaluation (TIE)
After the Apollo 1 tragedy, NASA gave Boeing a much broader role in Apollo, according to Lombardi. NASA awarded the company a TIE contract to work with NASA and contractors to certify that the Apollo spacecraft and its launch vehicle functioned together and were ready for flight. Lombardi explained
Boeing had managed the Minuteman missile program, which [former Boeing Chairman] T. Wilson would tell you was one of the greatest programs the company ever did. It certainly was the biggest and, as a result, the company learned a lot about large-scale systems integration. It involved working with customers and suppliers and building not only the missiles but also the silos and the buildings, the whole infrastructure that went with them.
That experience, applied to TIE, helped to make Apollo a success. Lombardi said that Boeing donated about 2,000 of its top managers and engineers, making TIE a heavy drain on company resources at one of the busiest times in its history. Boeing was developing the Supersonic Transport, the 747 was in its early stages, the 737 program was just getting kicked off, and the company was in competition to build the C-5. This was all in addition to the work it was doing on the Apollo program. Despite this, then Boeing President Bill Allen agreed to the NASA request.
Apollo's legacy
According to Lombardi
Apollo was huge-only overshadowed by the effort we put into World War II. It was one of the greatest achievements in human history. Apollo taught us that if you dream something and you've got enough people with the desire, talent, and can-do attitude, you can make it happen. That's what Apollo was all about, and I think that's what Boeing is all about. Boeing can take a dream or idea and make it a reality.