A crowd greets the Apollo 11 astronauts in Paris, France. (Still image from 255-FR-8950) In late September of 1969, a mere two months after the successful Apollo 11 Moon landing mission, the Apollo 11 astronauts found themselves about to begin a new journey. President Richard Nixon gave permission for the use of Air Force 2, … Continue reading Celebrating Apollo 11 Around the World
View from the Modularized Equipment Stowage Assembly (MESA). (Still image from 255-FR-7729) Fifty years ago, the Apollo 11 spacecraft left the launchpad and began its mission to the Moon with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. Previous posts on the Unwritten Record covered the intense training undertaken by the prime crew, including 1/6th … Continue reading 50 Years After the Moonwalk: Looking Back at Apollo 11’s Broadcast from the Moon
Still image from 255-FR-6125. What do corporations like Pillsbury and Whirlpool have to do with Apollo 11? Quite a lot, as it turns out. In fact, many consumer corporations contributed to the success of the moon landing. For example, engineers at Playtex designed the Apollo spacesuits and Westinghouse provided the cameras that transmitted video signals … Continue reading Beyond Astronaut Ice Cream: How Consumer America Engineered Food for Space Exploration
You may have recently seen Todd Douglas Miller’s Apollo 11 documentary, featuring archival film from the National Archives’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) holdings. The film footage of Apollo 11 makes the July 16, 1969 launch and subsequent Moon landing look like a breeze. But the years leading up to the launch were full … Continue reading Practice Makes Perfect: How the Apollo 11 Crew Prepared for Launch
Today is the anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11, the fifth manned mission in NASA’s Apollo program, and the first to land humans on the surface of the Moon. Apollo 11 was the culmination of a decade of work to develop the technology necessary to meet President Kennedy’s goal of “landing a man on … Continue reading Stepping Stones to the Moon
