This week marks the 50th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing. On July 16, 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin Aldrin lifted off aboard Apollo 11, powered by the mammoth Saturn V booster. On July 20, Armstrong guided the spidery lunar module Eagle to a harrowing landing on an orb with
only one-sixth of the earth’s gravity. Armstrong and Aldrin left Eagle and explored the Sea of Tranquility while Collins orbited above in the command ship Columbia. Eagle’s successful lunar liftoff and rendezvous with Columbia led the astronauts home for a tumultuous global welcome.
only one-sixth of the earth’s gravity. Armstrong and Aldrin left Eagle and explored the Sea of Tranquility while Collins orbited above in the command ship Columbia. Eagle’s successful lunar liftoff and rendezvous with Columbia led the astronauts home for a tumultuous global welcome. |
| Left to Right: Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin Aldrin and launch of Apollo 11 |
Numerous books and television documentaries are out commemorating the
landing. Some relive the mission while others generally celebrate the American space program. One book that focuses on the political and leadership story behind Apollo 11 caught our attention. In American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race, historian Douglas Brinkley details how presidential leadership made the lunar landing possible. He highlights two critical points about Apollo 11: (1) it evolved from a person possessed with big ideas, and (2) it spawned unanticipated technological advancements.
landing. Some relive the mission while others generally celebrate the American space program. One book that focuses on the political and leadership story behind Apollo 11 caught our attention. In American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race, historian Douglas Brinkley details how presidential leadership made the lunar landing possible. He highlights two critical points about Apollo 11: (1) it evolved from a person possessed with big ideas, and (2) it spawned unanticipated technological advancements.
JFK’s Audacious Pledge
President Kennedy addressed Congress May 25, 1961, telling lawmakers he believed the 
United States should commit itself to, “before this decade is out,” landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth. At the time, the United States had 15 minutes of manned space flight experience – Alan Shepard’s suborbital ride in his Freedom 7 Mercury spacecraft 20 days before. While the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) hierarchy cheered Kennedy’s bold approach, many wondered how they’d accomplish such a task.
United States should commit itself to, “before this decade is out,” landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth. At the time, the United States had 15 minutes of manned space flight experience – Alan Shepard’s suborbital ride in his Freedom 7 Mercury spacecraft 20 days before. While the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) hierarchy cheered Kennedy’s bold approach, many wondered how they’d accomplish such a task.
Brinkley demonstrates they succeeded because of Kennedy’s leadership skills and
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| Kennedy & Johnson |
unwavering devotion to the idea the United States could accomplish big goals if it focused on the task and devoted the needed resources. Kennedy (and Vice President Lyndon Johnson) worked tirelessly in getting the needed funding. Kennedy also provided the rhetorical lift that kept the nation’s eyes on the prize. That included his famous September 1962 Rice University speech in which he said, “…we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills….”
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| President Kennedy speaking at Rice University September 12, 1962 |
A huge incentive for the American space effort lay in Cold War competition with the Soviet Union. It wasn’t always certain the Soviets were racing the United States to the moon. Knowing that, Kennedy nevertheless made clear if there was a race, the United States couldn’t lose.
Landing on the moon, and Kennedy’s success in steering America toward that milestone, showed small thinking, wavering, and inconsistent dedication in pursuit of goals won’t cut it. Like Moses’s commitment to lead the children of Israel from more than 400 years of bondage, it hadn’t been done before. There was no template. Moses was simply committed to its attainment. Apollo achieved its objective despite opposition from both congressional budget cutters and activists who preferred spending the program’s $25 billion cost on human needs. Kennedy’s big project did face obstacles.
Was it Worth it?
After 30,000 hours of simulations, the United States won the race to the moon. No one has been back since the last American flight in 1972. But the benefits of Apollo continue. Even if NASA was just a consumer of Tang, 
not its inventor as the popular myth goes, space exploration offered humankind massive everyday benefits. Consider some advances Brinkley names:
not its inventor as the popular myth goes, space exploration offered humankind massive everyday benefits. Consider some advances Brinkley names:- HIGH ENERGY METAL FORMING PROCESSES;
- DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNIQUES FOR USING LIQUID OXYGEN IN STEELMAKING;
- DEVELOPMENT OF COATINGS FOR TEMPERATURE CONTROL IN BUILDINGS;
- DEVELOPMENT OF EFFICIENT SYSTEMS FOR TRANSFORMING CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY;
- IMPROVEMENTS IN MEDICAL EQUIPMENT LIKE THE MRI;
- DEVELOPMENT OF NEW COATINGS FOR PLYWOOD AND FURNITURE;
- IMPROVEMENTS IN METALS, ALLOYS, AND CERAMICS; AND
- DEVELOPMENT OF RADIATION MONITORING INSTRUMENTS.
This list barely scratches the surface. We learned, from the moon rocks, about the age of the solar system. We didn’t even mention computer technology, a field that got a major boost from space exploration. Other things influenced that industry, but spaceflight played a big part in improving computing systems.
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| The Sun and planets |
Big Ideas – Small ideas
Landing on the moon during the 1960s was a big idea. In 1961, when the Soviets launched the first man into space, Yuri Gagarin, and
remembering that in 1957 they put up Sputnik, the first satellite, Kennedy wondered what the U.S. could do that would “leapfrog” the Soviets. Brinkley provides an entertaining look into how Kennedy’s team arrived at the moon-landing-within-the-decade idea as the way of accomplishing that. Kennedy thought big. He wanted his people thinking big, something we have far too little of today. America now appears anxious only for incremental advances.
remembering that in 1957 they put up Sputnik, the first satellite, Kennedy wondered what the U.S. could do that would “leapfrog” the Soviets. Brinkley provides an entertaining look into how Kennedy’s team arrived at the moon-landing-within-the-decade idea as the way of accomplishing that. Kennedy thought big. He wanted his people thinking big, something we have far too little of today. America now appears anxious only for incremental advances.
Kennedy’s marshalling of America’s political, scientific, and managerial resources for the moon mission makes us ask what big idea the United States could take on and conqueror today. Many reasons explain the small thinking that now dominates – fear of big government, tax cut mania, partisan bickering, concern one group might get too far ahead of another. We know, however, America doesn’t lack big problems it could tackle. Climate change. Immigration. Racial justice. Income inequality. Poverty. Cancer. They’re all out there, waiting for the people and the right President. It’s not like it hasn’t been done before.
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