One often-overlooked aspect of the Apollo Program is the industrial and technical might required by private industry to get those Apollo astronauts into space, onto the lunar surface, and then safely back home. And it took lots of know-how and money to get them there.

These are just a few examples of the private companies involved in the Apollo program. Many other individuals and organizations also contributed to the production of various components and systems. The program required close collaboration and coordination among all parties to be successful and was a massive effort involving thousands of people and companies.

Which companies were the primary manufacturers of the Apollo 11 rocket?

The key contractors responsible for the Saturn V rocket and Apollo spacecraft were as follows:

• First stage of the Saturn V: Boeing
• Second stage of the Saturn V: North American Aviation (which has since become part of Boeing)
• Third stage of the Saturn V: Douglas (also now under Boeing)
• Instrument unit for the Saturn V: IBM
• Engines for the Saturn V: Rocketdyne (now operating as Aerojet Rocketdyne)

For the Apollo spacecraft:

• Command and Service Module (CSM): North American Aviation
• Lunar Module (LM): Grumman (now part of Northrop Grumman)
• Service Propulsion System (SPS) engine and Reaction Control System (RCS) engines for the Apollo spacecraft: Rocketdyne
• Descent engine for the Lunar Module: TRW (currently part of Northrop Grumman)
• Ascent engine for the Lunar Module: Bell Aircraft (now Bell Helicopter)
• Launch escape system: Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin)

While these represent the major contractors overseeing critical components of the Saturn V rocket and Apollo spacecraft, many other contractors and subcontractors were also involved in the overall effort.

Want to unravel the science and engineering feats behind Apollo? Our Complete Guide to the Apollo Program is your essential handbook. Unpack the legacy of humanity’s journey to the Moon!

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These are just a few examples. Many other companies and subcontractors were involved in the production of the various components and systems used in the Apollo program.

Apollo space management

Apollo Space Management refers to the administrative and operational systems used to manage the Apollo program, NASA’s manned mission to land on the Moon in the 1960s and early 1970s. This management included a wide range of aspects such as project planning, resource allocation, coordination among various teams, risk management, and technical decision-making.

Key elements of Apollo Space Management involved:

1. Project Planning and Control: Establishing timelines, defining missions, and setting goals were critical. The Apollo program consisted of multiple missions, each with specific objectives.
2. Resource Allocation: This included budgeting, staffing, and distributing materials and technology necessary for the missions.
3. Team Coordination: Collaboration between various teams, such as astronauts, engineers, scientists, and support staff was essential. This also involved coordination with external contractors and international agencies.
4. Risk Management: Identifying potential risks, both technical and human, and developing strategies to mitigate them was a continuous process.
5. Technical Decision-Making: Making decisions based on the evolving technology and knowledge, especially in areas like spacecraft design, navigation, and life support systems.
6. Data Analysis and Learning: After each mission, an extensive analysis of data was conducted to learn and improve on future missions.
7. Public Relations and Communication: Keeping the public informed and engaged was also a part of the management strategy, especially considering the high public interest in the Apollo missions.

Overall, the Apollo Space Management was a complex and dynamic process, adapting to new challenges and technologies, and it played a crucial role in the success of the Apollo program, culminating in the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969.

How private contractors helped send a man to the Moon.

NASA spent $19.5 billion on the Apollo Program. This money went to private companies that made everything from the spacesuits astronauts wore while floating in zero gravity to the rockets that launched them into space.

Reaching the Moon was a giant leap for humankind and the businesses behind the Apollo Program. The Apollo project’s total cost was approximately $25.4 billion, nearly $152 billion in today’s dollars.

The Apollo project, which comprised six missions that successfully landed and returned the Apollo astronauts to Earth, and the now-infamous Apollo 13, which was restricted to a flyby due to a malfunction in the spacecraft, had a recorded price tag of $25.4 billion, according to a documented report to Congress in 1973.

Approximately 400,000 skilled people contributed to NASA’s success in putting the first man on the Moon. In the mid-1960s, the agency had 33,200 federal employees and 377,000 contractors.

NASA has contracted with the private sector for most of the services and products it uses.

Neil Armstrong’s small step on the Moon was the culmination of those 377,000 contractors working for such well-known aerospace companies as Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp., North American Rockwell Corp.’s Space Division, and Boeing Co., Aerospace Division. And also firms such as the famous International Latex Corporation (ILC) of Dover, DE. 

That special firm was a division of a company that manufactured Playtex bras and girdles, but ILC was called upon because its engineers obviously understood rubber garments.

The Apollo Program didn’t just advance technology; it also improved business practices. The Apollo Program was restructured into smaller “packages,” each with its own manager. 

The organizational setup made it simpler to keep the program running smoothly, and based on its experience and the well-known company Boeing, it copied that setup when it developed its 747.

NASA made a special effort to get smaller companies involved in the Apollo Program. 

Over the years, numerous of those once-independent firms were swallowed up by larger companies and eventually became part of conglomerates like Lockheed Martin (LMT), Boeing (BA), and Northrop Grumman (NOC).

Experience with the Apollo Program also led its contractors to develop new kinds of businesses. Black & Decker (now Stanley Black & Decker), took its knowledge building tools for the Apollo project into some of the battery-powered consumer products that hold its $14 billion in annual revenue.

Plantronics (now called Poly) designed its headsets for the Apollo Moon mission using the same design source, and it continues to use this design for headsets used for purposes ranging from aviation to PC gaming.

Up to a dozen prime contractors were involved in the Apollo project alone, including Grumman Corp., North American Aviation, IBM, Rocketdyne, Douglas Aircraft, and General Motors.

Back in the Apollo era, the companies mainly worked for hire.

These contractors portioned out the work to so various sub-contractors in so many states around the nation that, in the end, an approximated 400,000 people—more than the modern-day Cleveland population—could say they had a hand in putting a man on the Moon.

Back in the Apollo era, it mainly worked for hire. The agency would tell companies precisely what it wanted. The companies would deliver, like sketching your own house and later hiring an architect and construction company to build it to your plans.

One of the reasons the Moon program stopped with the Apollo project is that the old model—a money tap turned on full as the government paid the whole $24 billion tab (about $168 billion in 2020 dollars)—was not sustainable.

The early NASA could face setbacks and even accidents like the Apollo 1 fire that killed three astronauts in 1967. It was because it had no stockholders or investors to keep happy.

The famous company, North American Aviation in 1963, merged with Rockwell Standard Corp. in 1967 and was eventually acquired by Boeing in the mid-1990s.

North American Aviation

This company built Saturn V’s second stage and also the command and service modules. Saturn V was the rocket that propelled the spacecraft into its orbit. The command module served as the Apollo astronauts’ control center and living quarters, and it was the only part of the spaceship recovered at the end of the space mission. 

The service module housed the thrust systems and also stored water, oxygen, and fuel. It was later jettisoned and burned up upon re-entry.

Where the company is now: Established in 1928, North American Aviation joined with Rockwell Standard in 1967, becoming North American Rockwell Corp. 

After the Apollo project, the company worked with NASA on the space shuttle. In 1973, it shifted to North American Aircraft Operations, a division of Rockwell International. 

Furthermore, in 1996, it was acquired by Boeing. Boeing now produces rockets that launch NASA satellites, as well as commercial GPS satellites.

Grumman Corp.

The company created the lunar module. The lunar module was part of the Apollo spacecraft that descended on the lunar surface.

Where the company is now: Established in 1930 as the famous Grumman Aeronautical Engineering Company. Grumman Corporation was obtained by Northrop Corp. in 1994 to form Northrop Grumman. 

The company’s Aerospace Systems division generates approximately $10 billion in revenue and employs about 24,000 people. It continues to work with NASA, recently building the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite as part of a continuing search for ice.

Rocketdyne

The company created Rocket engines for the Saturn V. Rocketdyne built the large engines at the very bottom of the Saturn V rocket and others that helped send the Apollo spacecraft into space.

At the time of the Apollo project, Rocketdyne was part of North American Aviation. Rockwell Corporation bought it in 1967. 

Boeing later acquired Rockwell in 1996 and sold the Rocketdyne division to Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp (UTX), in 2005.

During the Apollo project, Rocketdyne had about 20,000 employees in California and around the country. The workforce was reduced after the project ended.

IBM

The company made the Real-time Computer Complex. IBM (IBM) produced computers for multiple locations, including Cape Canaveral, Fla., and Houston, that treated the data required for Mission Control to direct the Saturn V and Apollo spacecraft. In real-time, the computers matched the spacecraft’s actual activities to the mission plan.

IBM created computers for NASA before there was a NASA. It worked for the agency’s forerunner, NACA, or the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. The company continues to work with NASA and recently created a new supercomputer for weather simulations.

Douglas Aircraft Company

The company made a rocket booster for the Saturn V rocket’s third stage, the SIVB. Saturn V’s third stage had a single engine that utilized liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The Saturn V rocket’s engine burned once at 115 miles altitude to help place the spacecraft in orbit around the Moon.

Douglas Aircraft Co. was incorporated in 1928 and joined with McDonnell Aircraft Corp. to form McDonnell Douglas in 1967. McDonnell Douglas joined with its longtime rival, Boeing, in 1997 — soon after Boeing acquired North American Rockwell.

ILC Dover

The company made spacesuits for the Apollo project, one-piece suits custom-tailored to each NASA astronaut. Each crew member, as did the backup crew, had a spacesuit for the mission and training and a backup suit.

ILC Dover started making suits for application to the Air Force at high altitudes during the 1950s. They had to make the suits flexible under high-pressure conditions. This experience helped ILC Dover win the contract to build spacesuits for the Apollo project in 1965. 

The majority of the company’s revenue came from spacesuit production. In addition to the lunar landing, ILC Dover also played a huge role in another iconic aspect of the 1960s: making riot gear for the police to use during protests. ILC has since diversified. It now produces chemical and biological protection suits, blimps, and inflatable devices for the military.

General Motors

The company created guidance computers, accelerometers, and gyroscopes for the lunar module, and batteries that powered the lunar module.

General Motors computers guided the Apollo capsule. Its batteries powered the (LM) lunar module’s descent to the lunar surface since burning rocket fuel was considered too dangerous at that point.

The guidance computer produced for the Apollo program became known as the Carousel and worked as the forerunner of computers that later were used on jets and rockets that launched satellites into orbit. 

GM also made the electric vehicle that Apollo astronauts later drove on lunar surface exploration missions. The only car on the lunar surface is General Motors. This technology developed for that lunar vehicle is supported to provide a basis for the upcoming Chevy Volt.

The struggling automaker divested its last remaining aerospace division in 1997. An ailing auto market has battered General Motors. The old company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The U.S. government now owns approximately 61% of the New General Motors. The company seized its last remaining aerospace division in 1997.

Goodyear Aerospace Corp.

This company made the engine compartment conditioning system for the Saturn V rocket’s second stage. It maintained the proper temperature in the engine compartment.

The company was originally a subsidiary of Goodyear (GT); Goodyear Aerospace initially made zeppelins. It then moved onto aircraft and, finally, NASA’s space program. Goodyear Aerospace was later sold to Loral in 1987. Then, Lockheed Martin (LMT) bought Loral in 1996.

Whirlpool

The company made a space-kitchen and also freeze-dried food.

The space kitchen devices stored and reconstituted the various freeze-dried meals the Apollo astronauts ate during the mission.

Whirlpool (WHR) started developing space-flight food and food systems in 1957. They further developed a prop space kitchen for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Much of the technology created for the Apollo program was the property of the United States, so not all of it found its way into later Whirlpool products. 

Although the water gun that rehydrated the astronauts’ food is a precursor of the technology that enables your refrigerator to fill up your water glass, today’s efficient Energy Star appliances owe something to the Apollo program’s demand for systems that utilized power sparingly. In 1985, the company chose to concentrate on its core programs, and Whirlpool hasn’t been a contractor for the agency since.

Westinghouse Corp.

The company made the Lunar Camera, which was used on the Moon’s surface to capture images of Neil Armstrong’s giant leap for humankind. The camera had to endure temperatures from 250 degrees above Fahrenheit to 300 below.

When the average TV camera weighed upwards of 150 pounds, the camera weighed 7 pounds, used less power than a Christmas tree bulb, and could be operated by an astronaut in a spacesuit. Utilizing technology developed for the Department of Defense could also work in very low light.

Westinghouse was founded in 1886. In 1996, Northrop Grumman bought the division of the company that made the camera.

The Private Sector And Apollo

3,300 square inches

This was the combined surface area in the Apollo spacecraft covered with Velcro fasteners. The agency (NASA) was one of Velcro’s first big customers. Its fasteners were utilized to secure objects in the spacecraft so they wouldn’t drift around. Velcro also built a unique metallic version to secure heat shields to the Apollo spacecraft.

$1.08 billion

This was the amount spent by one of Apollo’s contractors, North American Rockwell’s Space Division, which later became part of Boeing on subcontractors for development during the Apollo program.

$453 million

This is the amount NASA spent on private sector service contracts to its facilities in 1968. Approximately 28,500 private contractors were working at NASA facilities that year.

100

This is the number of reflecting mirrors created for the Laser Ranging Retroreflector by manufacturers Heraeus and Bendix Corporation. The retroreflector uses a unique laser to exactly measure the distance from the Earth to the Moon down to a millimeter. It’s still getting measurements today, which are used to keep GPS satellites synchronized and accurate.

$15.5 million

This is the value of a NASA contract to Motorola, which built the Apollo program‘s data uplink and digital systems. It was a Motorola-built transponder that sent Commander Armstrong’s “one giant leap” to Earth, and the technology would form the base of the telecommunications equipment the company still makes today.

60%

This is the percentage of integrated circuits in the country that were being manufactured specifically for the Apollo program’s computers at its peak. Integrated circuits were relatively new then, but Apollo spurred on this technology, which today depends on.

Contractors such as Boeing, SpaceX, and Lockheed Martin are already working on the craft that will help men return to the Moon. Certainly, specialty firms, big and small, will help make this next giant leap to the Moon.

Thanks for reading this article. If you want to know more about the Apollo Program, read The Unsung Heroes of The Apollo Project.