Why was the name Apollo chosen? During mid 1960, before President Kennedy was elected & humans had even gone into space, the newly formed NASA was already looking into ambitious programs after Project Mercury of having a 3-man crew perform a circumlunar flight. Although funding & resources were not available, committees were assembled for studies to see what it would take to go to the Moon and aerospace companies were asked to put something together to determine how it could be done and it was the general consensus that a flight to the Moon could not be possible until 1970-73. Abe Silverstein, Director of NASAs Office of Space Flight Programs, was looking into names as to what to call this new endeavor. He didnt like any of the names suggested by his associates and one day going through a book on mythology he found what he wanted: Apollo, the Greek god of music, prophecy, medicine, light and progress. When no one objected the name was approved. At a conference on July 28, 1960 Hugh Dryden, NASAs Deputy Administrator, announced that the next spacecraft beyond Mercury will be called Apollo. Project Apollo would go from table top studies to reality when President Kennedy announced the goal of going to the Moon and Congress began funding NASA to make it happen.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 18:13:32 +0000
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