"It’s probably a bit of an understatement to say that NASA had its hands full in the 1960s. Multiple projects, ranging from the manned Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs to sending robots to explore the outer planets, were all interleaved with each other, with interconnections and dependencies that would make any project manager’s head spin. But with little time and much to do, there wasn’t much choice but to find a way to forge ahead." "From ground-based observations, NASA already had a pretty good idea of what they didn’t yet know. They needed pictures that could resolve surface features as small as one meter across and measure the lunar landscape to detect slopes in excess of 7°, lest a lander tip over upon touchdown. To that end, a request for proposals went out to various vendors for what would essentially be a flying high-resolution camera." The Photo Lab That Flew To The Moon
Interesting, Joe. That reminds me that last night I enjoyed the BBC/PBS program, "Eight Days to the Moon and Back." The film was released as part of marking the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 and the moon landing. 8 Days: To the Moon And Back is based on classified cockpit audio recorded by the astronauts. It reconstructed the journey, from take-off, landing on the Moon, and the return to Earth. It is stunning, giving an intimate new perspective on the historic events.