Apollo Program: A History from Beginning to End

On May 25, 1961, less than two months after a Soviet cosmonaut had made the very first space flight, President John F. Kennedy told Congress, 'I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.'
The Space Race, the technological confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union, had barely begun, and it was clear that America was lagging behind. Yet here was a U.S. president committing the nation to achieving one of the most challenging goals ever to face humankind. Somehow, in just over eight years, American engineers and technicians were expected to design and build an entirely new series of spacecraft capable of taking astronauts to the Moon.
The Apollo Program would face one of the boldest challenges ever set by any national leader in peacetime. It was also one of the most complex and expensive projects ever undertaken; it eventually cost $28 billion (over $280 billion in current value), employed over 400,000 people, and subcontracted work to more than 20,000 companies. This is the story of how America—and the world—responded to the challenge set by John F. Kennedy.