Show Notes
Returns to 1961, and NASA engineer John Houbolt's lonely fight to convince management that the easiest way to land men on the Moon will be to use a separate landing craft employing lunar orbit rendezvous. It then traces the design and development of the Lunar Module by a team led by Grumman engineer Tom Kelly. Covers the selection and training of the first crew to fly it, James McDivitt and Rusty Schweickart (along with Command Module pilot David Scott), and culminates with their first flight of Spider in Earth orbit on Apollo 9. The Apollo 10 lunar "dress rehearsal" is briefly mentioned.
Episode 5 links:
Overview of Lunar Orbit Rendezvous
Excellent Video on John Houbolt and Lunar Orbit Rendezvous
Grumman Documentary on Lunar Module Development
Interview with Engineer Tom Kelly about the Lunar Module
Apollo 9 Launch
Apollo 9 EVA
Apollo 9 LM Spider in Flight
FTETTM Spider in flight scene
Bonus: Apollo 10 Onboard Film Footage
More from From the Earth to the Moon: A Retrospective Podcast on The Apollo Program
From the Earth to the Moon: The Miniseries Companion, on Kindle
From the Earth to the Moon: The Miniseries Companion, on Kindle
First Man (2018), Directed by Damien Chazelle.
Our take on Ron Howard's blockbuster feature film, Apollo 13 (1995), Starring Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, and Gary Sinise.