American Moonshot

by Douglas Brinkley

  Moore, Marianne, 209

  Mount Wilson Observatory Hooker Telescope, 5

  Moyers, Bill, 458

  Moynihan, Daniel, 458

  Mudflap (U.S. antisatellite system), 342

  Murphy, Audie, 56

  Murrow, Edward R., 116, 268–70, 289

  NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics), 6, 9, 26, 68–69, 154, 161, 162, 163–64, 168, 169, 172; Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory, 69, 162; “human computers” at, 119

  NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), xv–xvi, xix, xxi–xxii, 154, 185, 204; ABMA absorbed by, 168, 177, 194; African American astronaut issue, 270; budget, 168, 254, 255, 259–60, 263, 386–88, 389, 405, 406, 414–15, 426–27, 428, 449; chimpanzees in space, 208, 213–14, 314, 326; civilian control of, 163, 164, 167; creation of, xxii, 154, 163–64, 165, 167, 283–84, 413; critics of, 164, 165, 167–68, 169, 351, 367, 405, 406, 414; Distinguished Service Medal, 241–42, 327, 329; DOD and, 342, 426, 428–29; employment at, 168, 449, 450; environmental stewardship and, 300; expertise at, 406; facilities of, xxi, 154, 164, 198, 274; Gilruth as head of Houston Center, 365; Glennan’s leadership and, 169–70, 194–95, 213, 214; “Godspeed, John Glenn,” 321; government-business partnerships, 171, 172, 184, 185, 230, 237, 251, 265, 266–67, 268, 273–74, 284, 295, 296, 297–98, 336, 349, 368–69, 413, 426–27, 432, 437–38; in Houston, xiv, 284, 300–304, 360, 362, 452; JFK and, iv, 177–78, 188, 200, 204, 210, 212, 217, 226; JFK and funding of, xvii, xviii, xxi, 178, 191, 219, 231, 294–95, 354, 369–70, 389, 396–97, 405; JFK and naming of spacecraft, xviii; JFK’s five point memo and, 233–34; JFK’s leapfrog strategy, 229–34, 253, 259, 284, 295, 456; JFK’s moonshot speech and, 261; LBJ and, 234–35, 400–402, 449; main office, 168; mandate of, 168, 169, 348–49, 415, 425; medical advances and, 433–35; military’s connection with, 318; minorities working for, 379; MISS program and, 161; moonshot decision made, 243; mythology and naming of projects, 198; NACA’s facilities absorbed by, 168; national security and, 398–99; Office of Launch Vehicle Programs, 268; Office of Manned Space Flight, 386, 414; “open policy” of space information and, 290; publicity and, 399; scientific evidence collected by, 300; Space Flight Programs, 198; spacesuits, 173; Sun Belt cities and, 266, 274, 298, 352; supporters of, xviii, xxiv, 406–7, 414, 437; systems engineering adopted at, 297; technological needs in six areas, 266–67; Technology Utilization Program, 349; televising missions, xiii, xxiv–xxv, 237, 239, 240, 259, 289, 291, 293–94, 321–22, 344, 381, 403, 442, 448, 450, 458–59; technological innovations and, 512n434; USAF and, 194, 253, 337–38; U.S. Army and, 337; U.S. Navy and, 337; von Braun and, 194; von Braun’s four goals for, 235, 236; weather satellites of, 300; Webb’s leadership and, 215–21, 218, 227, 267–68, 276, 290–91, 297–98, 378, 387; Webb’s reorganization, 312; Wiesner Report and, 212–13, 214, 217, 219; women and, 376–79. See also Apollo program; Gemini program; Mercury program; specific missions; specific rockets

  Nasaw, David, 83

  National Aeronautics and Space Council (Space Council), 214, 283, 302, 400

  National Conference on Peaceful Uses of Space, Tulsa, OK, 265–68; Murrow at, 268, 269–70

  National Defense Education Act (NDEA), 140, 160, 399

  National Geographic, 181, 201 294

  National Rocket Club, 351

  National Security Act, 88, 95

  National Security Council (NSC): Paper Number 68, 104; space program review, 128

  NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), 100–101, 126, 279, 337, 422

  Naval Air Station Patuxent River, MD, 174, 238; Test Pilot School, 344

  Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Washington, DC, 128, 129, 144, 145, 146–47, 155, 243

  NBC, 147, 288–89, 293–94, 299, 458; World Wide ’60s, “Report from Outer Space,” 195

  Neal, Roy, 289

  Neufeld, Michael, 35, 61, 295, 456

  Neustadt, Richard, 263

  New Frontiers (Wallace), 195

  New Republic, The, 223

  Newsweek, 163; on Eisenhower’s space policy, 187; on moonshot and record profits, 266

  New Yorker, Hershey article on JFK and PT-109, 51, 55, 56

  New York Times: on Apollo capsule manufacturing, 427; on Apollo 11 moon landing, 448; Bulganin in, 140; on costs of space goals, 386; on German V-2 threat, 61; on Glenn’s flight, 322; on Goddard, 8, 9; on JFK’s moonshot pledge, May 25, 1961, 255, 258; Krock column on CIA threat to JFK, 426; Luna 2 reported on, 186; NASA critics and, 414; open letter on test-ban treaty, 409; Reston on Mercury program, 183; Reston on moon landing, 431; on Soviet man in space, 223; on Sputnik, 129; on U.S.-Soviet space race, 171

  New York World’s Fair, 453–54

  Nikolayev, Andriyan, 382

  9/11 terror attacks, xv

  Nixon, Richard, 87, 186, 187, 191, 202, 210, 229, 286, 351, 458; Apollo 11 moon landing and, 458, 459; JFK debates, 203–4, 205; Kitchen Debate, 186; presidential race (1960), 199, 201, 203; space race and, 202

  Norris, George, 148

  North American Air Defense (NORAD), 417

  North American Aviation (Rockwell), 200, 266, 295, 296, 336, 392, 413, 427, 437; Rocketdyne Division, 171, 336

  Northrop Corporation, 200

  Nouasseur Air Base, Morocco, 110

  Nova rocket, 274, 275

  Nowlan, Philip Francis, 22

  Noyce, Robert, 172

  nuclear submarines, 211

  nuclear weapons, 119–20, 317; banning in space, 422; Cuban Missile Crisis and, 383–86; damage to Van Allen belt, 348; doomsday scenario, 417; fears of Soviet bomb in orbit, 408–9; fears of nuclear war, 309–11, 337, 385; first U.S. underground test, 144; Gilpatric’s Wilton speech and, 342; hydrogen bombs, 211; JFK at simulated Russian strike, 417; JFK seeking test ban treaty, 310, 317, 337, 339, 340, 341, 343, 346, 408, 409; JFK’s response to Soviet testing, 102–3; Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, 385–86, 419, 422; Soviets and, 78, 94, 101–2, 120, 339, 340, 341, 346; Soviet threat and, 158, 178, 251, 309, 311, 337; Soviet Tsar Bomba tested, 417; U.S. testing, 87, 339–40, 341, 346–47, 351

  Oberth, Hermann, 10–11, 12, 13–14, 16–17, 25–26, 114, 192

  O’Brien, Michael, 37

  O’Connor, Frank, 435

  O’Donnell, Ken, 200

  O’Malley, Tom, 321

  Onassis, Ari, 456, 457

  O’Neill, Tip, 84

  Only Child, An (O’Connor), 435

  Operation Fishbowl, 346

  Operation Overcast, 76

  Operation Paperclip, 76, 81, 88, 104, 150, 156, 434

  Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 230, 236

  Ordnance Guided Missile Center (OGMC), Huntsville, AL, 104, 114

  Orlando Sentinel, 157

  O’Rourke, Terry, 364

  Pasadena, CA, xxi, 98, 149, 154, 198, 200, 210, 268

  Passage of Power, The (Caro), 118

  Peace Corps, 223, 260, 428, 445

  Peale, Norman Vincent, 203

  Pearson, Drew, 147

  Perkins, Frances, 379

  Perrysburg, OH, xiii

  Person to Person (TV show), 116

  Petersen, Forrest, 349

  Philadelphia Inquirer, 8

  Pickering, W. H., 155, 164

  Pioneer satellites: 1, 169; 3, 172; 4, 168

  Pitzer, Kenneth, 361

  Pius XII, Pope, 30

  Plan 9 from Outer Space (film), 181

  Polk, James K., 254

  Popular Science, 17; von Braun column, 399

  Potsdam Conference, 75, 311

  Potter, Christopher, 71

  Pou, Edward, 215

  Power of Positive Thinking, The (Peale), 203

  Powers, Dave, 138

  Powers, Francis Gary, 197–98

  Powers, John “Shorty,” 323, 324

  Prather, Victor A., 237, 240, 244, 293

  Prather, Virginia, 244

  Prelude to Space (Clarke), 127

  “Present Status of the Satellite Problem, The” (Grosse), 116–17

  Presque Isle
Air Force Base, 291

  Princeton University, 24

  Profiles in Courage (JFK), 147, 148

  Progressive Party, 195

  Project SCORE, 172

  Proxmire, William, 270–71

  “public discovery,” 249, 328

  Pusey, Nathan, 160

  Putt, Donald, 161, 164

  Pynchon, Thomas, 78–79

  Rabanne, Paco, 328

  RAND Corporation, 98, 200

  Randolph Air Force Base, TX, 434

  Rayburn, Sam, 100, 210, 256

  RCA, 313

  Reader’s Digest, Hershey article in, 55

  Reagan, Ronald, Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars), 340

  Redstone rockets, xi, 107, 108, 109, 114, 122, 155, 184, 185, 198, 228, 264, 292; Mercury-Redstone, 214, 238, 239, 292, 305, 312, 313

  Reedy, George, 133, 149

  “Report to the President-Elect of the Ad Hoc Committee on Space” (Wiesner Report), 212–13, 217

  Republican Party: blocking NASA’s growth, 397–98; Nixon and, 87; postwar popularity of message, 85; presidential election (1952), 110–1; presidential race (1960), 191, 200–201; presidential race (1964) and, 350–51; Senate race (1952), 108–10; Sputnik as setback for, 135

  Reston, James, 183, 279, 287, 431

  Rice Institute, 155

  Rice University, xiii, 301, 302; graduate school in space science, 361; JFK speech at, xxii, xxiii–xxiv, 358, 359, 360–64, 365, 367, 444; NASA and, 301, 302

  Ride, Sally, 379

  Right Stuff, The (Wolfe), 219, 283, 346

  Rockefeller, Nelson, 350–51

  Rocket and the Third Reich, The (Neufeld), 61

  Rocket into Planetary Space, The (Oberth), 11, 13

  rockets, 198, 249; dawn of the missile age, 64; failed launches, 249–50; first multistage, 8; first rocket in the ionosphere, 44; German advances, 33; German engineers fleeing Hitler, 35; German rocketry pioneers, 10–14; German technology and scientists brought to the U.S., 75–77; German technology and scientists seized by the Soviets, 73–74, 79, 120, 141–42; German top secret war rocket facility (Peenemünde), 34–35, 36, 73; Goddard and, 2, 7–10, 14–15, 68; liquid-fueled, 2, 7, 9, 13, 14–15, 68, 263; as military asset, 81–82; propulsion in space and, 9; radar and radio navigation technology for, 94; Soviet program, 74, 94, 220, 223, 225, 226, 263, 452; throttle ability factor, 15; thrust, 14, 44, 101, 147, 162, 187, 195, 204, 229, 296, 313, 321, 353, 413; U.S. first hydrogen-fueled rocket, 445; U.S. rocket programs, 75–77, 79, 88, 122, 135, 144, 145, 149; U.S. superiority in, 229, 418; von Braun and, 12–14, 26, 33–36, 38, 76, 296. See also German V rockets; Saturn rockets; von Braun, Wernher; specific rockets

  Rome Air Development Center, NY, 162

  Roosevelt, Franklin D. (FDR), 24, 29, 30, 75, 85, 210, 241, 254, 284, 285; impossible achievements of, 230; New Deal, xix, 193, 215, 250, 254; rocketry and, 26, 29; World War II and, 42

  Roosevelt, Franklin, Jr., 58

  Roosevelt, James, 111

  Roosevelt, Theodore, 5, 182, 254

  Ross, Malcolm, 237

  Roswell, NM, 18, 68, 75, 78

  Rubel, John, 243

  Rudolph, Arthur, 48, 80–81

  Rushworth, Bob, 162

  Rusk, Dean, 341, 409, 416

  Russell, Richard, 400

  Ryazansky, Mikhail, 94

  Saarinen, Eero, 185, 328–29

  Salant, Richard, 294

  Salinger, Pierre, 200, 286, 287

  Saltonstall, Leverett, 108

  SAMOS (Satellite and Missile Observation System), 243

  Sands of Mars, The (Clarke), 127

  San Francisco, 82, 83, 164

  San Francisco Chronicle, 157

  Santa Monica, CA, 200

  satellites, 319; Cold War and, 155; communications satellites, 202, 211, 349, 381; Corona spy satellites, 152, 210, 211; Eisenhower and, 121, 122, 132–38, 141–42; first photograph of Earth from space, 186; first voice sent from space, 172; gloomy predictions about, 314–15; GPS systems and, 315; Grosse report and, 116–17; LeMay’s question on, 95; military applications for, 96, 98, 164; missile-detection satellites, 211, 243; as nuclear threat, 251; “open skies” treaties and, 315–16; Project SCORE, 172; Project Vanguard, 144, 145; public appeal of, 155; RAND report on, 96; RAND’s influence and, 98; Soviets and, 120–21, 130, 137, 186, 187, 202, 427; Soviet-U.S. weather satellite system, 339, 343; U.S. antisatellite system, 342; U.S. capability in 1957, 122, 129, 135, 138, 144; U.S. companies and, 315; U.S. costs, 96, 128; U.S. launches, 348; U.S. program, 129, 141–42, 145, 147, 148, 211, 229, 337; U.S. vs. Soviet satellites in 1958, 171; von Braun’s predictions and, 115; von Braun’s team and, 98; weather satellites, 211, 300; WS-117L reconnaissance satellites, 211. See also Sputnik; specific satellites

  Saturday Evening Post, 109–10; Eisenhower’s platform on America’s future in, 367–68

  Saturn rockets, 168, 169, 187, 194, 198, 211, 229, 264, 267, 276, 277, 312–13, 440, 449; C-1 booster, 295, 296, 353, 355, 431, 433; C-1 booster launch, JFK’s initials on, 454; “Super Guppy” transport plane, 296; V moon rocket, 276, 296, 297, 336, 350, 354, 413, 417–18, 445, 449, 456, 458; V moon rocket, contractors for, 296, 336; V moon rocket, test site, 336, 352; V moon rocket launch, 456; von Braun and, 169, 187, 194, 229, 267, 273, 276–77, 295, 296, 313, 355, 418, 449

  Scher, Jacob, 365

  Schirra, Josephine “Jo,” 189, 380

  Schirra, Suzanne, 382–83

  Schirra, Walter, III, 383

  Schirra, Walter “Wally,” xi, 108, 150, 294, 379–83; JFK and, 382–83; in Korea, 380; Mercury Seven and, 182–83, 184, 380; parents of, Walter M. and Florence, 380; Sigma 7 mission, 375–76, 381–82; as test pilot, 380

  Schlesinger, Arthur, Jr., 86–87, 239, 309

  Schlidt, Dorette Kersten, 64

  Schneikert, Fred, 72–73

  Schriever, Bernard, 234

  Schweitzer, Albert, 419; letter to JFK, 419, 423

  Scientific American, 7

  Scott, Susan Marie, 376

  Sea Around Us, The (Carson), 131

  Seaborg, Glenn, 341

  Seamans, Robert, 234, 247, 259, 261, 276, 297, 431, 432; Apollo and, 268, 353, 451; lunar landing decision and, 243

  Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 332

  Seattle World’s Fair Space Needle, 331

  See, Elliot, 372, 375

  Shapell Manuscript Foundation, 52

  Shapley, Willis, 243

  Shepard, Alan, xi, xii, 237–38, 250, 255, 284, 312; Apollo program and Apollo 14, 442; Freedom 7 mission, xii, xxiv, 219, 227–28, 237–40, 239, 242, 248, 257, 259, 403; on government contractors, 298; JFK and, 241–42, 245, 248, 272, 283, 365; JFK’s assassination and, 442; “light this candle,” 238; Mercury Seven and, 182–83, 219; post-Gagarin frustration, 228; public response to televised flight, 240–42; on Schirra, 382; as test pilot, 238, 344

  Shepard, Louise, 189, 238, 245

  Shooting for the Moon (TV special), 177

  Shreveport Times, 287–88

  Shuster, Alvin, 258

  Siddiqi, Asif, 12

  Sidey, Hugh, 191, 227, 229, 230, 340

  Sigma 7 mission, 381–82

  Silent Spring (Carson), 300

  Silverstein, Abe, 198, 243, 266–67, 313

  Siri, Joe, 144

  Slayton, Donald “Deke,” xi, 182–83, 184, 262, 284, 313, 365, 374, 381, 382

  Slayton, Marjorie, 189

  Smathers, George, 176–77, 432, 438

  Smith, Al, 109

  Smith, Benjamin, 303

  Smith, Levering, 313

  Smithsonian Institution, 7, 8, 9, 10

  Sorensen, Theodore, xx, 147, 193, 200, 201, 209, 226, 229, 231, 257, 309, 361, 423; on the Bay of Pigs, 232

  Soviet Union: atomic bomb and, 78, 94, 101–2, 120; Berlin and, 99, 101, 102, 279; Commission for Interplanetary Communications, 120; control of Eastern Europe, 85; cosmonauts, 220–21, 223–24; dogs in space, 136–38, 202, 223; economic problems, 120; expansionism of, 85, 101, 227, 393; fa
scination with space travel in, 12; fear of U.S. world domination, 120; first man in space, 222, 223–29; first woman in space, 378, 428; Flight 1 unmanned satellite launch, 427; German research facilities and personnel captured by, 73–74, 79, 120, 141–42; Goddard idolized in, 11, 15; H-bomb test by, 114; ICBMs and, 94, 101, 118, 119, 120, 137, 166–67, 210; “iron curtain” and, 85; JFK and, 30–31, 86; JFK’s moonshot speech and, 262; Luna satellites, 130, 186, 187; Mars probe failure, 408; militarization of space and, 343; military aviation and, 78; moon rocket disaster, 452; moonshot plans of, 262–63, 408, 419, 425–26, 427–28, 452; nuclear test–ban treaty and, 419; nuclear testing and, 339, 340, 341, 417; nuclear threat to the U.S., 158, 178, 251, 309, 311, 337, 417; nuclear weapons, 78, 94, 101–2, 120, 339, 340, 341, 346; nuclear weapons banned in space and, 422; OKB-1 research institution, 408; Peenemünde overrun by, 71; postwar technology race with the U.S., 73–74, 82; reaction to U.S. moonwalk, xxiv–xxv; record for human endurance in space, 382; rocket development in, 11, 94; rocketry for military use and, 120; satellite development, 120–21, 137; secrecy and, 94, 291, 339, 407, 417; Sochi Six, 224; Society for the Study of Interplanetary Communications, 15; Soviet-U.S. weather satellite system, 339, 343; space program, xviii, xix, xxi, 94, 118, 187, 202, 219–20, 226, 250, 262–63, 278, 307–9, 312, 339, 388, 406, 407–8, 413, 414, 415, 419, 427–28; space station and, 263; Sputnik and, xii, xix, xxi, 124, 128–37, 138, 139, 148, 152, 288; Star City space training facilities, 416; U.S. moonshot and, 277; U.S.-Soviet joint moonshot idea, 419–20, 421–22; Venus probe attempted, 395; Vostok manned spaceflight series, 219–20, 223, 225, 226, 308–10, 312, 315, 329, 378, 382, 382; World War II and, 37, 44, 53, 70