As fascinating as the equipment is that built, launched, and monitored Apollo, the real achievement of Apollo is the dedicated people who made it all happen. Paraphrasing Sir Isaac Newton, Neil Armstrong noted after the Apollo 11 landing that he was only successful because he "stood on the shoulders of giants." 

Many of the people who were critical to the Moon landing effort were barely out of college when the Space Race began. They were the fortunate ones whose honor it was to participate in the greatest story of our time. Over 400,000 people were involved in the Apollo program, either as NASA employees or as contractors. They built the facilities, designed rockets, wove rope-memory computer circuits, sewed space suits, and manned consoles. The price they paid to achieve President Kennedy's dream was round-the-clock work, endless weekends solving seemingly insurmountable technical problems, strained marriages, and kids who never got to see their fathers. Ultimately, the reward was great because their sacrifice was great.

Following are photos of some of the men and women who collectively raised Apollo up from the drawing board to the Moon.

Early Saturn Launches

In the two photos below, the team watches the launch of SA-5 from the Launch Complex 37B blockhouse. SA-5 was the first flight of a two-stage Saturn I vehicle. It flew on January 29, 1964. As tight as the space appears in these photos, this Firing Room was spacious compared to the cramped quarters used in the Mercury launches just a few years earlier.

This photo, from the launch of the unmanned SA-8 vehicle on May 25, 1965, has been annotated with the names of some of the key NASA management personnel present in the LC 37B blockhouse for the launch that day.

Walt Kapryan and Rocco Petrone discuss issues prior to the launch of Apollo 7 at Launch Complex 34 on October 11, 1968. Photo courtesy J. L. Pickering.

Apollo Launches from the Launch Control Center Firing Rooms

AS-501 (Apollo 4) christened the new LC-39 Launch Control Center on November 9, 1967. The spacious new Firing Rooms held over 400 people during a given Countdown Demonstration Test or on launch day. In addition to NASA employees and military officers, there were sizeable teams on hand from Boeing (S-IC stage), North American Rockwell (S-II stage), Douglas (S-IVB stage), IBM (Instrument Unit), Rocketdyne (J-2 engine), and General Electric (Integration contractor). Chrysler teams were present for the Skylab manned launches and the ASTP launch, which employed the Chrysler-built S-IB stage in lieu of the S-IC and S-II stages.

The photo below is from the Apollo 12 Countdown Demonstration Test on October 29, 1969. Some of the NASA and key contractor management personnel are labelled in Area A.  

Row D: 1-Dave Moja, Engineering Staff; 2-Nels Roseland, Engineering Staff; 3-Frank Bryan, Lead of Engineering Staff, LVO; 4-Ray Leoman, Chief of G&C Div., LVO; 5-Ed Fannin, Chief of Mechanical and Propulsion Div., LVO; 6-Marion Edwards, Chief of Launch Instrumentation, LVO; 7-Bill Holmes, Boeing Lead (S-IC stage); 8-John Cully, Boeing; 9-Al Martin, Lead for North American Rockwell (S-II stage); 10-Al Eaton, Lead for McDonnell Douglas (S-IVB stage); 11-George Smith, IBM (IU); 12-Pete Minderman, Director of Design Engineering for KSC Ground Support Equipment.

Row C: Stage Test Conductors: 3-Billy Melton (Boeing); 14-Ed Whitt (IBM)

Row B: 15-Gene Sestile, Launch Vehicle Test Conductor; 16-Don Phillips; 17-Paul Donnelly, Launch Operations Manager, KSC Test Operations Office; 18-Bob Moser, Chief Test Conductor

Row A, Senior Management: 19-Ike Rigell, Deputy Director of Launch Vehicle Operations; 20-Hans Gruene, Director of Launch Vehicle Operations; 21-Andy Pickett, Director of Mechanical and Propulsion; 22-Walt Kapryan, Director of Launch Operations; 23-Kurt Debus, KSC Center Director

Contractor Teams

The photos below show the contractor teams who were present for the final launch of the Apollo program, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, on July 15, 1975. These photos were taken in Firing Room 4 (used for large-scale meetings during Apollo) shortly following the launch. Note that some people are wearing their ASTP Firing Room badges in addition to their contractor ID badges. The framed presentations depict a Saturn IB launch and have been signed by NASA Launch Operations management.

Present in all photos are senior leaders from Launch Operations:

1. •Walt Kapryan, Director of Launch Operations (white shirt, dark tie, circular button above shirt pocket; standing at far right in Rocketdyne photo)
   

2. •Paul C. Donnelly, Chief of the Test Operations Office, Launch Operations (very tall fellow with graying hair; standing at far left in the Rocketdyne photo and back to camera in McDonnell Douglas photo)
   

3. •Dr. Hans F. Gruene, Director of Launch Vehicle Operations (white belt, dark-rimmed glasses; standing second from left in Rocketdyne photo)
   

4. •"Ike" A. Rigell, Chief Engineer, Launch Vehicle Operations (flowered shirt; holding framed presentation in all photos)  
   

Photos courtesy Frank G. Bryan.