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A newspaper reports that only 1 in 3 Americans support Kennedy's goal to land on the moon, per Gallup.

Most of America Opposed the Moon Landing

Before that "giant leap for mankind" Americans weren't so enthusiastic.
by Louis Anslow via Pessimists Archive on July 20, 2025

Whose Apollo Are We Talking About?

A review of Roger D. Launius's "Apollo’s Legacy" and Teasel E. Muir-Harmony's "Apollo to the Moon."
by Asif Siddiqi via Los Angeles Review of Books on August 28, 2019

What John F. Kennedy’s Moon Speech Means 50 Years Later

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
by Marina Koren via The Atlantic on July 15, 2019
Collage of images including spacecrafts, the moon and President Kennedy surround a jumping Elon Musk.

How NASA Engineered Its Own Decline

The agency once projected America’s loftiest ideals. Then it ceded its ambitions to Elon Musk.
by Franklin Foer via The Atlantic on July 28, 2025
Man and woman researching using machines

Where Would We Be Without the Paper Punch Card?

An 80-by-10 grid punched into a paper card helped drive us out of the Industrial Age and into the Data Age.
by Caleb Scharf via Slate on June 23, 2021
An astronaut on the Moon standing next to the American flag
partner

How the Cold War Arms Race Fueled a Sprint to the Moon

After the Soviet Union sent the first human safely into orbit, the U.S. government doubled down on its effort to win the race to the moon.
via Retro Report on April 11, 2021
Poppy Northcutt.

Inside Apollo Mission Control, From the Eyes of the First Woman on the Job

Poppy Northcutt planned the vital flight trajectories that got astronauts home from their missions to the moon.
by Erin Blakemore via National Geographic on July 18, 2019
Neil Armstrong and the American flag on the moon.

Apollo 11 Capsule Foil and Memories of Plucking NASA’s Moonmen From the Sea

A recollection of a NASA employee's experiences with Apollo 11 and 12.
by David Porter II, Lisa Hix via Collectors Weekly on July 12, 2019
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin on moon with American flag.
partner

Should the Moon Landing Site Be a National Historic Landmark?

Some archaeologists argue it’s essential to preserve the history of lunar exploration. But would it represent a claim of U.S. sovereignty over the moon?
by Sophie Fessl via JSTOR Daily on July 10, 2019
"Trip to the Moon" map, depicting a collage of the Moon, spacecraft, astronauts, and other space-related imagery.

During the Space Race, Gas Stations Gave Away Free Maps to the Moon

Standard Oil was not about to be left earthbound.
by Kyle Carsten Wyatt via Atlas Obscura on May 1, 2019
Margaret Hamilton stands next to a stack of paper as tall as she is - the software she and her team produced for the Apollo project.

Margaret Hamilton Led the NASA Software Team That Landed Astronauts on the Moon

Apollo’s successful computing software was optimized to deal with unknown problems.
by Alice George via Smithsonian on March 14, 2019

The Triumph and Near-Tragedy of the First Moon Landing

Across the cislunar blackness, we set sail for a landing that almost didn't happen.
by Eric Berger via Ars Technica on December 19, 2017

Trying to Remember J.F.K.

On the centenary of his birth, seeking the man behind the myth.
by Thomas Mallon via The New Yorker on May 22, 2017
Rocket launch

Is a Mission to Mars Morally Defensible Given Today’s Real Needs?

Elon Musk and the rise of Silicon Valley’s strange trickle-down science.
by Andrew Russell, Lee Vinsel via Aeon on December 1, 2016
<p>Earth rising over the Moon, captured by Lunar Orbiter 1, 1966. Courtesy NASA/<a href="https://www.planetary.org/articles/1238" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Planetary Society</a></p>

How the Scientists of the 1960s Turned the Moon into a Place

For most of history, the Moon was regarded as a mysterious and powerful object. Then scientists made it into a destination.
by Danny Robb via Aeon on February 13, 2025
Hazel Fellows sewing an Apollo A7L spacesuit at International Latex Corporation

Common Threads: From Playtex to Prada — NASA’s Surprising Spacesuit Collaborations

NASA recently announced a partnership with a couture designer, but in the 1960s, the first spacesuits were made by a company known for bras and girdles.
by Einav Rabinovitch-Fox via The Saturday Evening Post on November 19, 2024
Book cover of Whole Earth, featuring an image of Stewart Brand backlit and walking through a door, encircled by the earth.

On Floating Upstream

Markoff’s biography of Stewart Brand notes that Brand’s ability to recognize and cleave to power explains a great deal of his career.
by W. Patrick McCray via Los Angeles Review of Books on March 22, 2022
Machine in a wooden box with 40 dials: an electromechanical machine used in the 1890 U.S. census.

How the US Census Kick-Started America’s Computing Industry

As the country grew, each census required greater effort than the last. That problem led to the invention of the punched card – and the birth of an industry.
by David Lindsay Roberts via The Conversation on December 1, 2021
TV with black and white video game on the screen

Computer Space Launched the Video Game Industry 50 Years Ago – Here's Why Haven't Heard of it

The game that launched today’s massive video game industry was not a roaring success. The oft-told story of why turns out to be off the mark.
by Noah Wardrip Fruin via The Conversation on October 11, 2021
This false-color photo of the surface of Mars was taken by Viking Lander 2 at its Utopia Planitia landing site on May 18, 1979. It shows a thin coating of water ice on the rocks and soil.

A NASA Mission 45 Years Ago Changed Everything

The Viking missions set the gold standard for landing on Mars, but they couldn't resolve the big question — are we alone?
by Jon Kelvey via Inverse on September 2, 2021
Astronaut John Glenn surrounded by piles of mail

Sexism in the Early Space Program Thwarted the Ambitions of Women

John Glenn's fan mail shows many girls dreamed of the stars.
by Roshanna P. Sylvester via The Conversation on July 13, 2021
The Oval Office as redecorated for President Biden

A Look Inside Biden’s Oval Office

The oval office looks different now that President Biden is its occupant.
by Annie Linskey via Washington Post on January 20, 2021
People dancing at Woodstock

When Science Was Groovy

Counterculture-inspired research flourished in the Age of Aquarius.
by W. Patrick McCray, David I. Kaiser via Science on August 5, 2019

A Centuries-Old Idea Could Revolutionize Climate Policy

The Green New Deal’s mastermind is a precocious New Yorker with big ambitions. Sound familiar?
by Robinson Meyer via The Atlantic on February 19, 2019
Buzz Aldrin on the lunar surface with flag during Apollo 11.

50 Years Ago in Photos: A Look Back at 1969

Looking back at the year of the moon landing, Woodstock, and more.
by Alan Taylor via The Atlantic on February 13, 2019

R.I.P. Astronaut John Young, The First Man to Get Yelled at for Smuggling a Sandwich into Space

Remembering the life of astronaut John Young and the time he took an unauthorized corn beef sandwich into space.
by William Hughes via The A.V. Club on January 6, 2018

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