Interview With Dick Lyon ():

When the both countries got the missiles, there was an impasse because no one
wanted to fire the first rocket because then they would get fired at by multiple
missiles from the other country.
Sergei Korolev was Russian's designer
Werner Von Braun was US scientist from Germany
USA sent a chimp up in 1961
His job at Kennedy Space Center was designing the launch pods.
Motivated US by the threat of Russia
He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering
"We better get our act together"
1958 he was in college
1964 Space Industry Job
USA Alan Shepard 1961 May
He didn't have a lot of info about Soviet rockets
Korolev used a military missile to launch his Machines into orbit, while US didn't
Political Power instead of Research Value
1969 Apollo was 6 million lbs and had 1 million pounds of thrust behind it
Both US Chimp and Man were in Space for 20 minutes then parachuted down.
John Glenn orbited in February of 1962
Orbiting takes 90 minutes, now and then.
Russians had problems landing their Astronauts
Not very exact, anywhere from 40-50 miles away.
Spy photos from satellites could identify humans 120 miles away
The Russians copied our design(same wings as ours)
ICBM fuel was O2 + Kerosene
1964 Apollo Space Lab had Apollo do a 3-4 month orbit
Apollo 13 movie was very factually correct
Apollo launch was 3 intense days
a. Little sleep
b. After mission success, there is a tradition of white beans and cornbread
U of KY College of Engineering Wall of Distinction for 4 years currently
2-3 satellites/yr that weigh 30 lbs apiece