They were all there, sitting in wide black chairs on the stage of MIT’s Kresge Auditorium: lunar astronauts, flight directors, designers of the capsule computer guidance system.Apollo, creators of the lunar landing module, … Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Jack Schmitt, Chris Kraft, Richard Battin, John Gavin, and many more architects of the lunar program converged at MIT to remember the moments, attitudes and technologies that gave rise to the Apollo Program. Few times in the history of space exploration is it possible to bring together so many of its luminaries under one roof. The following are his own impressions and anecdotes about the greatlunar adventure.
? The president and his cabinet weren’t quite sure that NASA would be able to do the job. It took an accomplished engineer, the kind capable of putting concise data on the table, other than the language of Washington politics, to make it understood. That engineer was Bob Seamans ?.
Neil Armstrong, first lunar astronaut.
Do you know what they are going to learn from us?How difficult it is to go to the moon?.
Neil Armstrong, to the US Congress.
? Apollo was like building Chartres Cathedral: a project that brought many people together.?
Neil Armstrong
? NASA leaned on MIT to see if lunar missions were possible, and then awarded the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, later dubbed the Draper Laboratory, the first Apollo Program contract.?
James Shields, director, Charles Stark Draper LaboratorY.
? For the first time Jack [Kennedy] did not change my text. He felt that his audience, the senators, were not with him. So I wrote:? All of us are going to the Moon. It’s not just NASA. And do you have to provide the money? ?
Theodore Sorensen, writer of John F. Kennedy’s speeches, including the speech announcing to the world his intention to go to the moon.
? Jack [Kennedy] was my friend. I know you would be grateful for the beneficial applications to society that have resulted from the Apollo Program. And at the same time, would you be very disappointed with the militarization of space?
Theodore Sorensen.
?Con Charles Stark Draper, the DocIn 1957, we had invented a probe to send to Mars. And when we tried to sell it to NASA, astronomers told us: but you don’t even know where Mars is! And they were right. With our calculations, we were 10,000 kilometers out of date. Furthermore, the primitive apparatus had no communications. So it never flew. But his computer became the basis for the capsule’s inertial guidance system.Apollo?.
Richard Battin, MIT, retired
? Why was navigation on board a basic requirement forApollo? Why could the Russians interfere with the communications links?
Richard Battin
?Apollo it was successful because it came out of a united president, people, and Congress. Is it difficult to achieve those three things together?
Aaron Cohen, former director of the Apollo capsule command and service modules.
? The rendezvous in lunar orbit was the basis for the success of the Apollo missions.?
John Gavin, was director of moon landing module development, Grumman Corp.
? We recorded 14,000 anomalies during testing of various programs. And only 23 turned out to be true. The rest, alarms and computer failures ?.
John Gavin.
? The cockpit switches turned out not to work in zero gravity. That taught us not to take ANYTHING for granted.
John Gavin.
? The moon landing module never failed us. An amazing vehicle. That was a true show of love?
John Gavin.
“Everything about him was great.”
Jack Schmitt, lunar geologist and astronaut, Apollo 17, referring to the Saturn V rocket.
? Working with gloves was extremely difficult. Still today we need to design a good pair of gloves for space. Take note, engineers?
Jack Schmitt.
? My footprints will remain recognizable on the lunar dust for a million years. Still seems magical to me?
Jack Schmitt.
? The scientific legacy ofApollo it is the understanding of the origin and evolution of the Moon, the basis of what we know about the other terrestrial planets, a record of the history of the solar system and the delineation of the potential of the lunar resources. That’s not bad at all !?
Jack Schmitt.
? In Gruman they nicknamed methe cable cutterbecause every time they called me with a problem, I would say “cut the damn cable,” and usually that would solve the case. “
Chris Kraft, First Flight Director of NASA and the Apollo Program.
? At Cape Kennedy they could stop the countdown if something went wrong. But in Houston they delivered the rocket to me in the air, and I had to fly with what was available. Couldn’t start over?
Chris Kraft.
? Those noises are still ringing in my ears. Was it the worst day of my life?
Chris Kraft, regarding the fire in the cockpit of Apollo 1.
? We are going to need many Apollo projects in the future to meet the world’s transportation and energy needs because this new challenge means changing the attitudes of millions of people around the world. The borders are different and very intimidating. But its potential to inspire young minds is as strong as Apollo. Now is when we most need that kind of inspiration?
Susan Hockfield, dean, MIT
Do we want to help more and more young people see these problems [energy, climate change, economy] as their own?
John P. Holdren, physical. Scientific advisor to Barack Obama.
Special 40th anniversary of the first moon landing·With feet on the moon (Special)
·Apollo 11, in the words of its protagonists
·Image gallery
·Neil Armstrong: A Farmer in the Stars
·2020: the return of man to the Moon
