NASA's Return to the Moon – Apollo 11: 50 Years

The last time we sent men to the Moon and returned them safely to Earth – back then, our astronaut corps’ makeup dictated only men would undertake these journeys – we left much unfinished exploration business undone. During the Apollo era, NASA contracted for 15 flight-worthy massive Saturn V launch vehicles. Apollo 11 achieved the...

Unseen Forces - Apollo 11: 50 Years (Sponsored)

When embarking on an undertaking as massive as landing a person on the moon, the list of challenges quickly becomes daunting. Overcoming gravity and operating in the harsh environment of space are the most obvious, followed closely by things like communication, navigation and the myriad of hurdles that Newton’s laws bring to the table....

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The Odyssey of Apollo 11 – Apollo 11: 50 Years

By the summer of 1969, almost every element of the Apollo program had been tested and proven. The massive Saturn V rocket – the most powerful machine ever built and the first launch vehicle developed strictly for space applications – had shown it could reliably lift the Apollo modules and astronauts together beyond the...

Project Apollo - Apollo 11: 50 Years

In 1961, the United States was in a position of weakness in spaceflight by comparison to the Soviet Union. However, President John F. Kennedy had no intention of allowing the nation to remain mired in the existing situation. After months of careful study and quietly working with the best technical minds in the country,...

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Project Gemini – Apollo 11: 50 Years

Photos courtesy of NASA By the time Gordon Cooper’s final Mercury mission splashed down on March 15, 1963, the U.S. space program was well aware of the gaps in its knowledge about space travel. Mercury had achieved its goals well, but those goals, while extraordinarily ambitious, had been limited. In 1963, the National Aeronautics and...

Project Mercury - Apollo 11: 50 Years