Shoot for the Moon: The Space Race and the Extraordinary Voyage of Apollo 11

by James Donovan

After much refinement, endless wind-tunnel, spin-tunnel, heat, and drop tests, and trajectory work on primitive computers, the cone-shaped, blunt-bottomed Mercury capsule was finished. Faget added a thick ablative heat shield (the concept of which had been described in 1920 by rocket pioneer Robert Goddard and later fine-tuned by Eggers) made of an aluminum honeycomb and several layers of fiberglass. The outer layer of the shield would absorb some of the heat and burn away, or ablate, protecting the capsule itself during reentry.

And what effects would weightlessness have on a man? No one knew exactly, but several possibilities were postulated. Gravity, many experts asserted, was necessary for some body organs to function. Without it, eyeballs might explode or vision might blur, the heart might stop beating, esophageal muscles might constrict, the digestive system might shut down, the vestibular system of the inner ear might malfunction and cause extreme dizziness and nausea, or sleepiness might occur. The brain might simply cease to function.

He was careful not to irritate any of his NASA bosses, and that extended to Chris Kraft. “I just close my eyes and kiss his ass,” Grissom told Rene Carpenter one day while relaxing poolside at an astronaut party at Schirra’s house.

“From this day forward, Flight Control will be known by two words: ‘Tough and Competent.’ Tough means we are forever accountable for what we do or what we fail to do. We will never again compromise our responsibilities. Every time we walk into Mission Control we will know what we stand for. “Competent means we will never take anything for granted. We will never be found short in our knowledge and in our skills. Mission Control will be perfect.” He ordered them to go to their offices and write Tough and Competent on their blackboards—and never erase it. “These words will remind you of the price paid by Grissom, White, and Chaffee. These words are the price of admission to the ranks of Mission Control.”