Amazing photos from NASA's vaults show how they assembled Apollo 11

[n2doc]

45 years ago today—on July 16, 1969—astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins launched to the Moon on top of the mightiest spaceship ever built. These amazing photos from NASA's vaults show how they built and launched that spaceship—I look at them in awe and admiration.

It was the most important trip in the history of humankind, a trip that many deemed impossible—some people still do think it's impossible—an odyssey that started many years before and changed our perception of the world itself.

Only eight years before this day—on on May 25, 1961—Kennedy announced a plan to go to the Moom. It was a plan that they didn't have. In fact, the mere idea was one that almost everyone thought was impossible to do in that timeframe. Just think about this: The United States only launched its first man to space on May 5, 1961—and he didn't even orbited the Earth. That happened after Kennedy's announcement, on February 20, 1962.

And yet, they did it. The United States was fighting against all odds to beat the Soviet Union on the race to the Moon. The effort turned the country into a technological powerhouse like no other in the world, catapulting it decades ahead of everyone else, with more engineering students getting out of college than ever with the sole intention of participating in the greatest, most amazing project ever imagined.

Enjoy these images of an era long gone.

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--fmTXXZHv--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/sbhsinw4kpnyapsxv3kv.jpg

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--OJW2ittG--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/lmbofqq9gg1nug9m1ueh.jpg

more

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/amazing-photos-from-nasas-vaults-show-how-they-assemble-1605378889

[brer cat]

1. I remember it well.

The most amazing event of my lifetime.

[longship]

2. Wow! Some amazing shots, including the launch.

R&K

[pipoman]

3. NASA has always had great photo archives

When I was a kid in the early 70's I sent them a letter asking for photos. They sent me a large package of great 8x10 shots. Then every couple of months they would send more. This went on for several years. I always loved getting those packages and had my walls covered with them....most taken with Hasselblad cameras and Zeiss glass.

[progressoid]

4. I dunno why they were so nit picky. Hell, Any Griffith built one in a salvage yard.

[louis-t]

11. I only remember one line from the film.

"We're gonna go up, collect all the junk floatin' around, bring it back, sell it."

[rickyhall]

5. Back when we did amazing things.

Before the Oligarchy

[n2doc]

6. We were the manufacturing giant of the world back then

Good Union Jobs, too. But we had to screw it all up and give it away so that a 0.01% could become gods.

[flying rabbit]

8. +1000

[Javaman]

7. Indeed.

we have lost so much, most people have no idea.

[Octafish]

9. DEMOCRATS!

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Real Democrats.

[jmowreader]

10. Does anyone remember Elvis?

Elvis has nothing to do with the space program, but follow along here: When Elvis was in the midst of the Fat Vegas Lounge Singer phase of his career, quite a few people believed we just had to lock him in a room with a stack of his old records until he remembered how great he once was.

Similarly, maybe someone needs to lock the GOP in a room with a stack of photos like these until they remember how great America used to be. No, America was never perfect. Yes, if you want to take five minutes you can come up with a LOT of atrocities we used to commit, and still do commit. But at the same time, America used to be Ronnie's shining city on a hill. Used to be. It stopped being that about two minutes after Reagan was inaugurated, but at one time we put a man on the moon...and now we can't even bother to fix what we have.

I has a sad.

[Beartracks]

12. True: The shining city on a hill oft-cited by conservatives...

... was actually built by liberal ideals in action.

Liberal boldness builds and enriches.

Conservative boldness dismantles and destroys.

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