MIT AND NAVIGATING THE PATH TO THE MOON By John Tylko
As NASA was planning the Apollo project in the early 1960s, one of the greatest technical challenges was the problem of navigating a spacecraft from Earth to the moon.
To solve this challenge, NASA selected the MIT Instrumentation Lab to design and develop the onboard guidance, navigation and control systems
for both the Apollo command and lunar modules. The first major contract of the Apollo program was awarded to MIT on August 10, 1961. This milestone occurred just 10 weeks after President John F. Kennedy announced the national goal of landing a man on the moon before the end of the decade. The late Institute Professor Charles Stark Draper recalled a pivotal meeting in August 1961 with NASA Administrator James Webb and Deputy Administrator Robert C. Seamans Jr. (SM 1942, ScD ‘51, Aeronautics and Astronautics) and, later, MIT Dean of Engineering. “After some preliminary explanations of the mission plan being considered for Apollo, (we were asked) if guidance for the mission would be feasible during the 1960s decade,” Professor Draper said. “We said, ‘Yes.’ When we were asked if the Instrumentation Laboratory would take responsibility for the navigation and guidance system, we again said ‘Yes.’ They asked when the equipment would be ready. We said, ‘Before you need it.’ Finally, they asked, ‘How do we know you’re telling the truth?’ I said, ‘I’ll go along and run it.’” Draper followed up with a formal letter to his former student, Robert Seamans, dated November 21, 1961. “I would like to formally volunteer for service as a crew member on the Apollo mission to moon … if I am willing to hang my life on our equipment, the whole
MIT and Navigating the Path to the Moon
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