Boldly going back 40 years: lessons learned from the rocket men

It has been well publicised that this week marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. For the ‘baby boom’ generation the memory of the event will still evoke a frisson of excitement for the great audacity and sheer potential of the achievement. And I’ll wager there’s not a soul on the planet for whom space exploration has not had its significance – whether they know it or not.

My own personal memory of the moon landings inspired me to become an engineer: getting an apprenticeship at British Aerospace seemed the best step on the road to NASA. These days still find the Apollo programme thrilling although its relevance has changed as I view the world through different eyes. As a champion and believer in the power of technology and skill of technologists, this is my take on the lunar landings...

1. They were all technologists

First and foremost the Apollo mission was a triumph of technology.
Coming less than 70 years after the first powered flight it was nothing short of a miracle that NASA’s technologists and engineers were able to land humans on another celestial body. A truly awesome technological achievement when you consider that today’s mobile phones have far more computer power than the whole of NASA had at the time of the Apollo programme. We benefit heavily today from the technological advances made then in the fields of engineering, design, materials, avionics, telecommunications and computers. Which is why the Apollo programme, specifically the lunar landings, is often cited as the greatest technological achievement in human history.

2. They were supreme innovators

No less significant was the fact that every single member of the Apollo team - engineers, programmers and crew alike – needed to think, behave and work differently in order to find undreamt-of solutions and achieve the unthinkable.
Whilst it could be argued that President Kennedy’s commitment was politically motivated, the Apollo team by its very nature would have been driven by pure innovation: achieving something that had quite simply never been done before. They took bold steps into unknown territory without knowing exactly what the outcome would be. To this legacy of innovation and courage we surely owe many modern creations such as the Internet, mobile telephony, Concorde and the Millau bridge - ‘one of the engineering wonders of the 21st century’...

3. They chose to work with the lowest bidders

There were none of today’s sophisticated tender procedures for the Apollo programme. Apparently the suppliers and partners on arguably the world’s most significant technology project were chosen uniquely on price – the lowest price.
Was that plain crazy – or actually quite sensible? I’d say the latter. I assume that NASA was safe enough to be driven by economics since 1) no one would have had existing skills or experience in this field, nor would they have really known exactly what skills were required until the Apollo programme itself progressed, and b) said suppliers probably pitched prices low in order to claim what would surely be a place in history? Whether bids were artificially lowered for reasons of passion or in the pursuit of fame, it is clear that the scale of the vision and promise of an incredible legacy played a huge part in the making the Apollo programme financially as well as logistically possible.

Lessons to learn

Despite all of this, I’d argue that we’ve lost sight over the last four decades of the significant benefits to mankind afforded by history’s famous ‘giant leap’. 40 years later, there’s an enormous legacy of invention, innovation and technological advancement to be thankful for - and still plenty of lessons to learn from the rocket men...

1. The importance of vision: from the very minute of President Kennedy’s 1961 much-publicised commitment to land a man on the moon, this lofty yet singular goal became tangible, engaged a broad public and consequently secured its own success.

2. The value of imagination: to imagine the impossible is to make it possible – the Apollo missions captured the hearts and minds and imagination of an entire generation, ultimately breeding benefits that no one had even dreamed of.

3. The wisdom of being bold: doing nothing was not an option for the Kennedy administration – whether they liked it or not the space race was on and being bold, taking risks and showing genuine courage was the only way to win it.

4. The power of an entrepreneurial perspective: the seed of the Apollo programme’s success was the entrepreneurial spirit that led its engineers, crew team and supporters to try and try again until something truly remarkable was achieved.

5. The benefits of process: all the vision, imagination, courage and spirit in the world comes to nothing without the processes and procedures that make innovation accessible, available and replicable – leaving a legacy for future generations.

To quote Lord Rees of Ludlow, the Astronomer Royal, “the Apollo programme will always be a pioneering feat of engineering, organisation and courage.”

This article was written on behalf of Trevor Meadows. For more information about Meadows’ strategies for developing high performing teams and fostering innovation, call us on 01647 221360.