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On July 20, 1969, spectators from around the world watched Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong take a historic step. NASA made this giant leap for mankind easy, but the uncertainties of the mission matched the ultimate triumph of Apollo 11.
The US historic moon landing program would not have started and the landing would not have occurred 50 years ago without the Saturn V rocket, imagined and built in Alabama. [All of the Apollo 11 stories from AL.com]
Wernher von Braun's German team draws much of its credit, but thousands of men and women in Alabama have sent the man to the moon.
Here are some of their stories.
Billie Robertson worked at the Marshall Space Flight Center in the 1960s
AL.com files
Billie Robertson worked at the Marshall Space Flight Center in the 1960s
She loved mathematics since entering high school. Indeed, she went to college to become a teacher, but started at Redstone Arsenal before the creation of NASA. "The Army was really begging mathematicians and engineers," she said. She started with the Wernher von Braun Army Ballistic Missile Team in 1952 and was transferred to the new Marshall Space Flight Center.
"When President Kennedy said we were going to the moon, I thought to myself," This is not possible. "
Billie Robertson: I felt all the emotions during Apollo 11
AL.com files
Billie Robertson: I felt all the emotions during Apollo 11
Space program engineers were working on differential equations, trajectories and guidance and control studies for the lunar landing, and provided numeracy assistance.
She will eventually develop the manual for Apollo computer programs.
"I did not know any woman who worked here as a mathematician when I arrived," she said. Robertson has become a celebrity. Von Braun himself said that she had the decision of what had been programmed into the computer during the launch.
During Apollo 11, she felt "all the emotions I've experienced" – fear, happiness, excitement, anxiety. In the computer room "it was very quiet," she said. Nobody laughed or talked.
"We learned a lot in science" thanks to the space program, she said. Building materials have become lighter, smaller computers.
"It was a job the country thought was impossible, but we would do our best," she said.
Plus: The Women in Apollo Program says, "Do not let anyone stop you"
Earnest C. Smith worked at the Marshall Space Flight Center in the 1960s
AL.com files
Earnest C. Smith worked at the Marshall Space Flight Center in the 1960s
When the Soviet Union took off in the space race by launching Sputnik I in October 1957, "that hit us hard," recalled the former NASA aerospace engineer, Earnest C. Smith. He was in high school in Arkansas at the time.
Smith then taught mathematics in high school and then received a grant to work on a master's degree. He was recruited to come to Huntsville in 1964 and began working on the Saturn IVB stage control system.
"We worked long hours, but the entire division was dedicated to this type of operation," Smith said.
"We worked with the equipment and did an incredible amount of testing," he said. At the time, IBM computers used large vacuum tubes and had to be air conditioned.
Earnest C. Smith: He worked on the lunar rover
AL.com files
Earnest C. Smith: He worked on the lunar rover
Smith then worked on navigation for the lunar rover and went to Arizona to test an old model. He remembers telling astronaut Dave Scott, "Let's see a cock's tail" when he took her to the moon.
Smith remembers being worried about moving to Alabama in the mid-sixties. The move paid – big time. He became director of the Marshall Astrionics Laboratory.
Saverio "Sonny" Morea: At age 28, he made rocket engines in Huntsville
AL.com files
Saverio "Sonny" Morea: At age 28, he made rocket engines in Huntsville
Saverio "Sonny" Morea is from Queens, New York. He came to a city in northern Alabama, which has about 16,500 inhabitants because a German group needed mechanical engineers.
At the age of 28, he was project manager for Marshall in the development of the F1 engine to power the Saturn V rocket on the moon. "Burning instability" was the biggest problem of my career, "and he had to solve the problem with the help of a slide rule.
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