Celebrating Apollo 11 Around the World

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

Gearing Up for Launch: More Scenes from the Apollo 11 Training Program

MSC - Astronaut Collins in Chamber B, Jun 27, 1966. (255-FR-5588) Previously this blog covered a few aspects of training performed by the Apollo 11 prime crew in preparation for the mission to the Moon. This time we’ll dive deeper (literally, as you’ll see below) into Apollo 11 astronaut training. We last featured the use … Continue reading Gearing Up for Launch: More Scenes from the Apollo 11 Training Program

Close up of a can of Pillsbury space food. Label reads "Apollo Approved."

Beyond Astronaut Ice Cream: How Consumer America Engineered Food for Space Exploration

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

Practice Makes Perfect: How the Apollo 11 Crew Prepared for Launch

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

Stepping Stones to the Moon

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