Apollo 11 Office Crew Portrait, 1969, NASA.
Neil Armstrong works at the LM, 1969, NASA.
Apollo 11 - One Giant Leap For Mankind
Kennedy Pushes U.S. to Commit to Landing on the Moon
JFK Speaking at Rice University, 1962, NASA.
"I believe that this Nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish."
~ President John F. Kennedy
Apollo Mission Success Due to Hard Work and Sacrifice
Although the Apollo 11 mission landed men on the moon, its success was built on the space programs that preceded it: Mercury, Gemini, Ranger, Surveyor and the other Apollo missions. It was the result of the efforts of 400,000 scientists, engineers and computer programmers, the bravery of the pioneers in space travel, including Alan Shepard and John Glenn and the sacrifice of the Apollo 1 astronauts: Chaffee, Grissom and White. The cost of the program was over $20 billion, which is more than $160 billion today.
"In a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the moon-if we make this judgement affirmatively, it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there."
~ President John F. Kennedy
Remembering the Apollo I crew,1967, NASA.
NASA chose the best for the lunar landing. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins all had similar credentials that uniquely qualified them for the mission. Aldrin and Collins graduated from West Point Military Academy. Armstrong and Aldrin were fighter pilots in Korea for the U.S., flying seventy-eight and sixty-six missions, respectively. Armstrong and Collins were both test pilots. Aldrin was the only one that held a doctorate degree. All three flew missions in the Gemini program and were critical to the success of Apollo 11.
“The important achievement of Apollo was a demonstration that humanity is not forever chained to this planet, and our visions go rather further than that, and our opportunities are unlimited.“
~ Neil Armstrong, Commander of Apollo 11
Magnificent Desolation
"There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?"
~ President John F. Kennedy
“This is the greatest week in the history of the world since the Creation.”
~ President Richard M. Nixon
Apollo 11 Introduction, 1969, NASA.