Taking science to the moon: lunar experiments and the Apollo Program

Abstract

How did science get aboard the Apollo rockets, and what did scientists do with the space allotted to them? This volume describes, from the perspective of NASA headquarters, the struggles that took place to include science payloads and lunar exploration as part of the Apollo program. Author Donald A. Beattie - who served at NASA from 1963 to 1973 in several management positions and finally as programme manager, Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments - supplies a detailed, insider's view of the events leading up to the acceptance of science activities on all the Apollo missions. Beattie tells this story within the context of what we knew about the moon in the 1960s, the ongoing programmes that looked ahead to the first successful landing, and the objections that had to be overcome within NASA's entrenched engineering culture. Beattie concentrates on activities directly related to science, including behind-the-scenes controversies. He also discusses the important contributions of some of the lesser-known participants and contractors, who he says played a much larger role than previous books on the programme have acknowledged. The book provides the early history of on-site lunar experiments, raising important questions about a shift in NASA policy which led to some of the most dramatic planetary-science developments of our time.