Moon Landing Ahead of Schedule

June 5, 1965 - The first American astronaut may land on the moon in 1968 — one and a half years ahead of schedule — as a result of the outstanding success of the Gemini-4 mission, it was learned today.

Dr. Joseph Shea, manager of the Apollo moon program for NASA, disclosed that some of the problems in the moon flight had apparently been solved by the excellent performances turned in by astronauts James McDivitt and Edward White and their space capsule.

“If everything goes as well as the Gemini-4 shot today, then we can get everything done for the moon shot by mid-1968,” Dr. Shea said.

The first American had not been scheduled to set foot on the lunar soil until 1970. Some scientists had feared this date was too far off and would give the Russians a better chance to beat the U.S. to the moon.

Dr. Shea cited the following Gemini achievements as important aids in speeding up the Apollo flight date:

— White’s successful spacewalk will be a critical step in completing the design on the Apollo space ship.

— The fear that moisture will build up in a capsule during long flights apparently is no problem.

— McDivitt’s outstanding handling of the controls of the craft means a re-entry in the Earth’s atmosphere from a moon landing can be controlled by the command pilot.

— Space navigation appears to be readily feasible.

—Growing confidence in the booster rockets and the performance of the space craft. 

Because of this increasing confidence in the rocket and capsule system, it will be possible to cut the number of projected Earth orbital tests of the Apollo craft from about 15 to 3 or 4, Dr. Shea said. 

By reducing the number of proposed manned orbital tests, it will be possible to push up the launch date for Apollo by at least a year and a half, he said. 

Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s