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The "IBM" of human spacecraft, that built the Apollo CSM and Space Shuttle was North American which indeed was acquired by Boeing. McDonnell built the earlier s
by Gravityloss 7y ago
The "IBM" of human spacecraft, that built the Apollo CSM and Space Shuttle was North American which indeed was acquired by Boeing. McDonnell built the earlier smaller Mercury and Gemini, and it also was acquired by Boeing. Space shuttle was started 50 years ago and Apollo 60 years ago. So not so much continuity. CCDev contracts were awarded 6 years ago in 2014.
Earlier, in 2011, Lockheed beat Northrop Grumman for the bigger Orion spacecraft.
- thatcherc 7y agoThere's an excellent book called Angle of Attack by Mike Gray that follows North American's development of their part of Apollo, as well as touching on the immense efforts of all the other contractors in the program. It's not too long a book and reads like an adventure story despite being nonfiction, which I think just speaks to the kind of cowboy mentality that went into building a moon rocket in such a short time. Also neat because the other big players are companies like Lockheed, Northrop, Martin, McDonnell, Grumman, and Douglass -- all before their eventual mergers!
- DennisP 7y ago> cowboy mentality that went into building a moon rocket in such a short time Haven't read the book but that kinda sounds like SpaceX today.