Why did JFK set for the Moon?

In this post we will try to understand why the Americans went to the Moon.

Hidden inside the answer, we also get a hint why no one have tried to go back for almost 50 years, and why nobody is seriously dedicated to plans for manned spaceflight to Mars or other planets. The circumstances that led the Americans to undertake this monumental effort, was just so exceptional that we may not see anything like it for still many decades to come. Man will undertake an effort of such titanic scale, only when it is perceived as an absolute urgent necessity.

So, the Americans set sails for the Moon not to advance science, not to explore the Moon and not because they believed in a great future for man in space. Although all three reasons were positive side-effects, and played an important role as a driver for many individuals working at the project, they were certainly not perceived "urgent necessities" by most American tax-payers. The real reason was of course, that  

The Americans went to the Moon to beat the Soviet Union in the battle of the cold war called the Space Race.

Now why was that so important? So important, that John F. Kennedy and with him, the American people, would chose to invest some 20 billion hard-earned tax-dollars, risk the lives of the best men of a generation and to allocate some 400.000 of its most productive citizens working for the Apollo project? Was it just to boast? Was it hurt pride from a sore loser? Of course not. That would absolutely not be a sufficient driver for such an undertaking, and it would indeed not have fit the political and personal mindset of John F. Kennedy.

By May 1961 Kennedy had been president for four months. Like his predecessor President Eisenhower, he was not enthusiastic about space travel and would have preferred to devote American resources to more down-to earth issues than traveling to the Moon or similar space odysseys.

Unlike Eisenhower, however, JFK came to the conclusion that America would have to compete in the prestige race that the Russians had orchestrated so skillfully. This was unavoidable if the interests of freedom and of the American people were to be protected.

American intelligence regarding public opinion in Western Europe indicated that a significant and growing minority saw communism as the system of the future and democratic capitalism as a lower stage of human development. The Russian achievements in space (Sputnik, Laika, the flight of Gagarin and yet more spectacular feats) were responsible for the opinion shift. Confidence in America and the free democratic system was wavering, as the Americans were clearly trailing the Soviet Union in the Space Race.

The obvious risk was that Americas allies would be lured to chose communist tyranny. To Kennedy that was a disaster of national concern as he found it "difficult to envisage the survival of a democratic American society as an island in a totalitarian see."[1]

After pondering the issue for months, consulting all relevant groups of advisors, like George Allen, Director of the USIA, who testified that

"Our space program has an importance far beyond the field of activity itself ... it may be considered as a measure of our vitality and our ability to compete with a formidable rival, and as a criterion of our ability to maintain technological eminence worthy of emulation by other peoples."

JFK's own analysis was, that America would have to fight and win the Space Race, in order to mitigate the victory of totalitarian tyranny.

From 1957 until the mid-60's, the Soviets were beating the Americans badly in the Space Race. Opinion was moving.

Indeed Kennedy was convinced that it was not only important, but the most important challenge for USA to win that particular battle. At a meeting with his advisors at the White House on 14 April 1961, JFK reluctantly stated [1]

"There is nothing more important than winning the Space Race.”

This was John F. Kennedy’s personal conclusion, two days after Gagarin's flight and 3 days prior to the Bay of Pigs affair which was probably the all-time low-point of his presidency.

JFK reasoned that "There is nothing more important than winning the Space Race".

On 25 May 1961, about one month after American morale had reached its nadir and 20 days after Alan Shepard became the first American in space (with Shephard trailing Gagarin by 23 days - and an earth-orbit), Kennedy gave a special address to the American Congress announcing his ambitious plan:

"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 the 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." [2]

It was a brilliant stroke of political strategy. The plan was so bold and so exciting that the world press shifted its focus and began speaking of the planned American feats rather than the actual Russian ones. The speech caused a sensation around the world. The spotlight turned away from the Russians and Gagarin, who only six weeks earlier had seemed completely unbeatable. The winds of opportunity had shifted in favor of the Americans even before they had delivered the goods.

The matter was so important to JFK, by the way, that he deviated from his prepared speech, trying to do his utmost to convince the Congress, with an improvised appeal. According to his special advisor and speech-writer, Ted Sorensen, this was the only time he ever did that!

"The president looked strained in his effort to win them over. Suddenly he departed extensively from his prepared text - the only time he ever did that in addressing the Congress - to express his awareness of the responsibility they faced ... His voice sounded urgent... The Congress by nearly unanimous vote embraced what the President called this 'great new American enterprise.'"[3]

Both technologically and politically it was important that the plan was so complex and resource demanding that both sides would have to start from scratch in practice, and the Russians wouldn’t have the advantage of a head start. It seemed the Americans had a real chance of winning.

Never before or since have human beings taken it upon themselves to carry out such a dazzlingly ambitious project. The most powerful nation on earth had set itself the goal of going to the Moon!

In the words of the political analyst, John M. Logsdon. [1], the maelstrom of chaotic events had created a situation in which

"The politics of the moment had become linked with the dreams of centuries” 

The NASA leadership had been closely involved in the political and scientific groundwork for Kennedy’s decision and had approved the project’s feasibility. The engineers on the ground, on the other hand, were initially flabbergasted at the confidence they were being shown and the enormous demands placed on them. They had just barely, with great difficulty, carried out Alan Shepard’s suborbital space flight, which, compared to a trip to the moon, was a mere piece of cake.

Kennedy was certainly not blind to the enormity of the task he had created for NASA and the American people. Having set a course for America over deep waters towards unknown shores he concluded his speech with the prayer "And, therefore, as we set sail, we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked."

"And, therefore, as we set sail, we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.” (John F. Kennedy)

Let us close this post with the words of John M. Logsdon who speculated in 1970[1] with almost prophetic wisdom that

"Perhaps we will find that the lunar landing decision was a unique occurrence, a once-in-a-generation phenomenon in which a heterogeneous mixture of factors almost coincidentally [! ed.] converged to create a national commitment and enough momentum to support that commitment through to its fulfillment."

[1] John M. Logsdon, The Decision to Go to the Moon, 1970, ISBN:0 26212033 X (p. 136 and p. 106).
[2] Moon address to Congress, https://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/features/jfk_speech_text.html.
[3] Theodore C. Sorensen, Kennedy, 1965, ISBN:0-8317-5710-8

Apollo - The battle for credits

Apparently, the makers of the new film about the life of Neil Armstrong ("First Man", build upon James R. Hansen's absolutely excellent book of the same name), have deliberately excluded the iconic planting of the American flag during the first Moon landing on Apollo 11 mission in July 1969.

Starts and Stripes on the Moon- Apollo 11, July 1969.

According to The Telegraph, Canadian actor Ryan Gosling, who stars in the film as Neil Armstrong, was asked if the film was a deliberately un-American take on the moon landing. He replied that Armstrong's accomplishment "transcended countries and borders" as a reason for deliberately excluding this key moment in world history, and for not giving the Americans in particular credit for the monumental achievements that marked the definite victory in the Space Race.

Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong in "First Man" Credit: universal Pictures.

This is an outrageous attempt to appropriate the greatest and most spectacular American triumph since WW2.

Intentional twisting of history to enhance a political cause is nothing new. It was an integrated part of the various totalitarian ideologies of the 20th century. But it remains a false play, and it robs the viewer of important lessons to learn.

The choice not to include the planting of the American flag on the Moon, is a strike in a battle of credits for the monumental achievements of the Apollo project. As the celebration of the coming 50-years Apollo anniversaries approaches, the many heirs of the left, who lost the space race, and lost the cold war, will be coming to claim credit for this "the greatest adventure, on which man has ever embarked".

Or rather, they will be coming on (at least) 3 fronts:

• To claim credit, as in this case - "We did it!"
• To claim that Apollo was really a piece of nothing - well, maybe it didn't even happen...
• To claim that it was a waste of time and money anyways... 

Claim no. 3, by the way, "it was a waste of time and money anyways" was the new narrative from the left, when it became clear that they were losing the Space Race. Until then, the Space Race had been all smiles and the proof of a happy communist world future.

This blog plans to deal with each of these claims in future posts, so stay tuned.

Well, back to the issue - and claim no 1: "We, mankind, did it!" The fact that Neil Armstrong and the Americans were humble and gracious in victory, dedicating the triumph to all mankind, should not make Ryan Gosling, the Canadians or anyone else feel they can boast and try to lift credit that do not belong to them by a long shot.

"When we Americans put our minds and energy to it, nobody, but nobody, can do the things we can do. The Eagle did what it was supposed to do and more. I believe the Eagle (and her crew) could only have been made in America." (Apollo 12 Astronaut Alan Bean - 4th American man of 12 American men to set foot on the Moon [2])

Perhaps, no one say it better than Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean, who wrote in his book [2]:

"When we Americans put our minds and energy to it, nobody, but nobody, can do the things we can do. The Eagle did what it was supposed to do and more. I believe the Eagle (and her crew) could only have been made in America."  

(Alan Bean)

Dr. Steve Turley made a very precise comment to the issue in this youTube:

 

Mr. Ben Shapiro also made a comment to the spectacle. I think he might be a bit too quick at some points, but I have to agree with his basic arguments:

The Apollo project was done, almost entirely, by Americans and by American sacrifices. By the hard work, skills and strong spirits of hundreds of thousands of Americans.

And, not only was this done by the Americans in general, but by a certain subset of Americans in particular: It was the triumph of the "squares" as Tom Paine (Acting NASA Administrator) put it after the Apollo 8 Christmas triumph:

"We feel humble that we were the ones to perform this...It might show the restless students of the world the benefits...the triumph of the "squares" who work with computers and slide rules, of engineering and of science, and of men who read from the Bible on Christmas eve." [Chicago Tribune, Dec 28th, 1968].

 

Tom Paine (center with glasses) and some of his thousands of square colleagues

"The squares" sent men to the Moon, paid for by the tax-money of hard-working Americans, as a sacrifice to win that battle of the Cold War for the freedom of all mankind - and to bring down one evil tyranny.

"There is nothing more important than winning the Space Race." (JFK [3])

Meanwhile, the left contributed to this, the most important strike for freedom, with little more than smearing and throwing eggs at the Apollo astronaut heroes, seeking to undermine the project at all political levels. They can have no credit for the victory.

[1] James R. Hansen, First Man. The Life of Neil Armstrong, ISBN:9780743492324
[2] Alan Bean with Andrew Chaikin: "Apollo", ISBN: 0-86713-050-4
[3] John M. Logsdon, The Decision to Go to the Moon, 1970, ISBN:0 26212033 X

The No-Gimbal-Lock incident - Apollo 10

The mission objective of Apollo 10, may 1969, was to perform a stage rehearsal for Apollo 11, the first mission to land a man on the Moon. Apollo 10 would pave the way for Apollo 11, completing the full mission-plan, only excluding the actual landing-phase.

Apollo 10 was a complete success, but like the other Apollo-missions, it had its share of iffy incidents, where the mission success and indeed the lives of the astronauts were balanced on a knife-edge.

A well-known incident (see fx. the memoirs of Cernan[3], Stafford[4]) happened at 102 hours, 44 minutes and 49 seconds into the mission. For some 4.5 hours, Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan, had been flying the Lunar Module separated from the Command Module piloted by John Young.



Gene Cernan(L) and Tom Stafford(R) during a training session

By an erroneous flip of a switch (AGS to AUTO [4]), the astronauts lost control of their spacecraft. You don't wanna do that. The Lunar Module went into a very unexpected, wild and unplanned gyration. Now, ordinary people (like yours truly, I'm afraid!) would have panicked completely, facing this sudden, violent and obviously life-threatening circumstance. But commander Tom Stafford was made of another fabric and managed, through a fast and brilliant series of decisions, to regain control and stabilize the vessel back onto a controlled course, 36 seconds after the tumbling started. (Stafford did an emergency descend stage separation, with the idea to loose weight, thus gaining traction for the LM RCS, and then using the LM RCS to stabilize the spacecrafts motion).

The AGS switch that was accidentally flipped to AUTO, causing the incident.

This was an incredible feat, and once again proved that these “men of the right stuff” possessed the knowledge and cold-bloodedness to handle almost any situation. Gene Cernan concludes his account of the event with an understated but unambiguous expression of deep felt admiration for his former commander: “Old Mumbles do know how to fly.” [3].  Stafford’s nickname among his colleagues was “Old Mumbles”, a nickname their witty colleague Michael Collins (Apollo 11) had come up with while Stafford was an instructor in flight test training. At the time Stafford’s fellow astronauts, then his trainees, had trouble understanding his soft Oklahoma drawl.

Immediately after the emergency situation it was discovered, to great surprise, that the gyroscopes which constitute the navigation system’s mechanical sensors had NOT locked in during the wild maneuvers. A roll to either side of more than 85 degrees would have caused a so-called "Gimbal Lock" of the gyroscopes, leaving the navigation system useless.

Normally it was a constant balancing act to keep the gyroscopes away from the positions in which they would lock. Mission Control and the astronauts always kept a watchful eye on these highly sensitive mechanical marvels, that were so essential to navigation. If the gyroscopes had locked, the two astronauts would have been in imminent danger, alone in deep space with no known location, course or direction to the Command Module, their lift home.

What is not mentioned in the many various accounts of this incident, is the impression it made that they were so darn lucky. As the two astronauts passed the far side of the Moon outside radio contact with Earth they couldn’t contain their amazement at the event, and they agreed that it was God’s providence that had protected them.

26th of May 1969. The far side of the Moon. Out of radio contact with Earth: 

• 103:37:38 Cernan : “Am I glad we didn't torque up the platform.” 
• 103:37:41 Stafford: “How in the h*ll did we miss that? Still don't know.” 
• 103:37:49 Cernan: “We had to have someone on our side that time.”  
• 103:37:51 Stafford: “Yep.” 

Just how lucky they were is very difficult to actually estimate analytically: What is the probability that a pseudo-random tumbling for 36 seconds will not cause a rotation around the Z-Axis (roll) of more than 85 degrees to either side?

We do know that the roll reached somewhere between 75 and 85 degrees, because the gimbal lock warning light came on (which it did at 75 degrees), so we know it got very close indeed.

But obviously, the astronauts themselves, who knew the probabilities of the case by guts and experience, better than anyone, believed, that it was but by the grace of God, that they avoided the gimbal lock, which could well have cost them their lives. 

The two level-headed engineers and test-pilot astronauts believed they had experienced a miracle.

See also this 41-second YouTube-movie, where you can hear the actual audio recordings from the tiny, fragile spacecraft flying at the bleak, desolate back-side of the Moon:

Sources
[1]: The Apollo 10 Mission log and audio recordings, NASA archives, Apollo Flight Journals
[2]: Richard W. Orloff and David M. Harland, Apollo. The Definitive Sourcebook, ISBN: 9780387300436
[3]: Eugene Cernan and Don Davis, The Last Man on the Moon, ISBN:9780312263515
[4]: Tom Stafford, We Have Capture, ISBN: 1588341011