Project Apollo

PART I    WHAT'S THAT YOU SAY??

....I'm doing a full series on the Moon landing. I feel the time has come to  explain what really happened.
..
My father told us that his physics teacher in high school had explained to the class, using the best math

 he had at his disposal, that it was theoretically impossible for man to reach the Moon using rockets.

This was over a special Jello dessert mom had made for the fourth of July. It was red white and blue and 

really good. His physics teacher was right, I learned later in engineering school, and his math was perfect

too...There was no question, but that we would be forced to use other worldly forces - after all my brother

Denny explained. "we were going to other worlds". Denny was extremely smart. I'm only sorry he's no 

longer physically with us because, one. I'm in a fix again, and, two, he's missing the Jello. Denny's sense 

of humor rose above all barriers. 

   Fantasy one: You could overcome the theoretical negativity about the need for a very large rocket by 

breaking it up into sections and putting them together. This meant three stages to the rocket to get it into 

orbit to begin with. Gulp!

    Fantasy two: in addition to the first three launching stages, you'd have attached -  a lunar landing 

vehicle and a command vehicle which circled the Moon, and, of course, the return capsule which was 

attached to the command vehicle. These sections were all part of the same rocket - the Saturn V - ha ha 

ha...

  Fantasy three; and here's the best part, landing on the moon and recovery of the lunar module and the

 astronauts and return to earth. The logic itself made even our most calloused engineers spend double - 

triple time in the men's room.  Listen to this. after landing on the surface of the moon (never done before

 of course), the astronauts would collect rocks and take pictures and then climb back into the lunar 

module while the other astronaut circled around the Moon and waited for the landing craft to launch off  

the surface of the moon, - rendezvous with them and carry everyone and the rocks all back to the earth. 

Come on!!  Seriously!! None of this had ever been tried before - well, except for a rendezvous or two. No 

one had every launched the landing craft anywhere really - let alone to a circling space craft!!

  So here's the catcher - do you really think this was possible - at all?? Come on - everyone comes back 

with smiles and rocks?? Hey - only in Hollywood baby. Did it really happen? Yes, it did...How then? and 

now maybe you'll really start believing again...