National Air and Space Museum Archives

Apollo Program Lecture Lantern Slides

Summary

Collection ID:
NASM.2015.0038
Creators:
United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Dates:
1962-1970
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
0.17 Cubic feet
2 boxes
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
This collection consists of 160 Apollo era presentation lantern slides, 3.25 by 4 inch mounts as well as a few 35 mm slides. These slides were presumedly used by NASA as part of informational briefings given to upper management. The slides include the following: photographs of the moon, NASA facilities, rockets and equipment; charts, including NASA organizational charts and charts highlighting Apollo Program objectives and lunar site selection status; space-themed cartoons; maps showing NASA facilities; and artist concepts of the anticipated missions, including entering and leaving lunar orbit, the Lunar Excursion Module on the moon, reentering into Earth atmosphere, and splashdown.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
The Apollo program began as part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten-year plan from 1959, which planned for lunar exploration sometime in the 1970s. Following President Kennedy's speech of 25 May 1961, which called for a lunar landing by the end of 1969, NASA accelerated its development scheme accordingly. Flights began in November 1967 with the unmanned launches of Apollos 4, 5, and 6. The first manned launch occurred in October 1968 with Apollo 7. Apollo 8 (21 Dec - 27 Dec 1968) was the first manned mission to orbit the moon. Apollos 9 (3 Mar - 13 Mar 1969) and 10 (18 May -26 may 1969) tested the lunar module in Earth and Lunar orbit respectively. Apollo 11 (16 Jul - 24 Jul 1969) was the first manned craft to land on the moon, followed by Apollos 12 (14 Nov - 24 Nov 1969), 14 (31 Jan - 9 Feb 1971), 15 (26 Jul - 7 Aug 1971), 16 (16 Apr - 27 Apr 1972), and 17 (7 Dec - 19 Dec 1972). Apollo 13 (11 Apr - 17 Apr 1970) was planned as a lunar landing mission, but an explosion in the Apollo Service Module caused the mission to be aborted. In all 12 men landed on the moon and carried out numerous scientific experiments and returned more than 837 pounds of lunar soil for analysis.

Administration

Immediate Source of Acquisition
Charles Petruzzo, Gift, 2015

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access.
Conditions Governing Use
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Preferred Citation
Apollo Program Lecture Lantern Slides, Acc. NASM.2015.0038, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Astronautics Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Manned space flight Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Apollo Project Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lantern slides Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

National Air and Space Museum Archives
14390 Air & Space Museum Parkway
Chantilly, VA 20151
NASMRefDesk@si.edu