May 25, 1962 - Now that Lieut. Comdr. Scott Carpenter has duplicated the success of Lieut. Col. John H. Glenn Jr. on a three-orbit Mercury flight, project officials are expected to press on to more ambitious things. The goal is to land a three-man expedition on the moon by the end of the decade. With luck, it is thought, this might be accomplished by 1968. NASA hopes to carry out the interim steps in accord with this approximate timetable: 1962 — A mission lasting up to seven-and-a-half orbits and possibly the first of a series of 18-orbit Mercury flights.
1963 — The first unmanned earth-orbit flight of a two-man Gemini capsule. This craft will be designed to rendezvous and link up or “dock” with an Agena B upper-stage rocket. The rocket would be boosted into space separately.
1964 — The first manned flight in two-man Gemini capsules and the first “docking” experiments. The first unmanned sub-orbital flights of the Apollo three-man capsule — the craft being built for eventual landings on the moon.
1965 — The first manned earth orbit flights in three-man Apollo capsules.
1966 — A flight in a three-man Apollo capsule around the moon and return.
1968 — The first Apollo landing on the moon and return.
