Apollo 11

This page contains several photos from the Apollo 11 launch.  All photos are from the Launch Control Center at KSC, Firing Room 1, and the associated Operations Management Room.

Firing Room 1, Post-Launch

This photo was taken about 50 minutes after the Apollo 11 launch on July 16, 1969 (see clock on wall), while launch room personnel listened to remarks from VP Spiro Agnew.  At this point, a number of people are out of their launch-time positions.  For instance, no. 2 was a Boeing Tie contractor not normally located at or near that console.

108-KSC-69P-631 Apollo 11 personnel listening to VIP remarks post launch

108-KSC-69P-631 Apollo 11 personnel listening to VIP remarks post launch

1 Norm Carlson 31 61
2 Ed Abdullah 32 Jo Ann Morgan 62
3 33 63 Luke Mumford
4 34 64
5 Willie A “Bill” Fuller 35 Wes Branning ? 65
6 36 Chuck Denman 66
7 37 Joe Barfus 67
8 Ron Shane 38 68
9 Jim Schofield 39 69
10 Duke Ducharme IBM 40 70
11 Neil A Keever IBM 41 Roy Tharpe 71
12 Stanley Lazar IBM 42 72
13 William H “Bill” Scott IBM 43 73
14 Edd C Witt IBM 44 74 Sherm Evans ?
15 Thomas R “Tom” Kitchens IBM 45 75
16 Richard C “Dick” Jubin, Jr. 46 David Shomper 76
17 47 77
18 48 78
19 49 79
20 Alan Shepard 50 80 Robert Ehrhardt
21 Bill Pogue 51 81
22 Deke Slayton 52 82 Russel Rhodes
23 53 George B Goff 83
Note: Behind #83 is Steve Coester from Boeing. Adjacent to him are others from the Boeing Aerospace Saturn V propellant tanking crew. See comment from Carl Deimling below for more details.
24 54 Sam Aamodt 84
25 55 Jim McCraney 85
26 56 86
27 Dr. Ramiro Iglesias Leal 57 87
28 George Smith 58 88 Hudson Graham
29 59
30 Al Koller 60

 

Firing Room 1, Row B – Countdown Demonstration Test (CDDT)

Row B in Firing Room 1 during Apollo 11 CDDT July 3, 1969

Row B in Firing Room 1 during Apollo 11 CDDT July 3, 1969

  1. ?
  2. ?
  3. Willie A. Fuller (Bill)
  4. Robert (Bob) Moser
  5. Karl Striby
  6. Paul Donnelly
  7. Bill Schick
  8. Ronald Bentti
  9. Norman “Norm” Carlson

Operations Management Room – Von Braun Et Al

Eberhard Rees?, Charles Mathews, Wernher von Braun, George Mueller, Don Phillips after Apollo 11 launch

Eberhard Rees, Charles Mathews, Wernher von Braun, George Mueller, and Sam Phillips after Apollo 11 launch

  1.  Dr. Eberhard Rees?
  2. Charles Mathews
  3. Dr. Wernher von Braun
  4. Dr. George Mueller
  5. ?
  6. General Sam Phillips
  7. ?

Apollo 11 Operations Management Room – Facing Firing Room

TBA

Other Apollo 11 KSC Photos

In addition to the photos above, here are other, identified photos from Apollo 11.

Mueller watches Apollo 11 liftoff OMR Firing Room 1

Dr. George Mueller watches Apollo 11 liftoff, OMR Firing Room 1

Comments

Apollo 11 — 50 Comments

  1. #10 Duke Ducharme IBM, #11 Neil A Keever IBM, #12 Stanley Lazar IBM, #13 William H “Bill” Scott IBM, #14 Edd C Witt IBM, #15 Thomas R “Tom” Kitchens IBM

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  2. The Boeing Aerospace Saturn V propellant tanking crew is located adjacent to Steve Coester in the front row and behind #83. The Propellants Group tanked all 3 stages with propellants, RP-1/S-1C, Liquid Hydrogen, S-II and S-IVB. John Lundy and Richard Calvetto, (Supervisors); Carl Deimling, Jack Kramer, Gail Griebel, Barry King, Richard Westmoreland, Steve Coester (Engineer-Operators). NASA Engineers Robert Ward and Ken Klein, and active operators are out of sight manning panels or hidden by the second row panels. There were others. Fuel system call codes were CCLH, CPH1, CPH2, CCRP. To the right towards the wall is Boeing’s Liquid Oxygen tanking team of CCLO Bob Buccina, Ed Boquist and others. The entire Propellant Crew row is completely out of sight from the camera as the Engineers were actively doing their jobs and sitting at the control panels. Propellant operations did not end at T-0.

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    • Thanks, we updated the list above to include the propellant tanking crew next to Steve Coester. We’re also referring people to your comment here, to get the extra detail you’ve given us.

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  3. Would anyone have any information on Jim Bunting (aka Richard Bunting, J.R. Bunting or James Bunting) or know where the Boeing S-IC Power Networks group sat? He was my grandfather, an Electrical Systems engineer for Boeing working on the first stage electrical pnuematic and flight control systems, and he worked on the launch teams as a console operator. I have a signed picture of his Boeing team in front of the consoles and names in the photo include Jim Nelson, Jerry Webb, Mumford, L. Cash, Vern S., and many other signatures that are difficult to read. We would like to locate him in this photo if possible but it is difficult to tell if some of the lower-resolution faces in the back or by the window are him.

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  5. I dispute the caption that says the Firing Room photo was taken 15 minutes after launch. The “Local” clock on the left shows 10:25 which agrees with my memory. I was relieved at the Pneumatics console (CPDC) at T-4 hr, grabbed some breakfast in the LCC cafeteria, then went out to the turning basin to set up my Super 8 and 35 mm cameras. After the launch, I hung around outside for a bit, then stowed my cameras in my car and went back into the Firing Room, so 50 minutes after launch is more like it. No way it was 15 minutes.

    Also, #21 is A-11 support team astronaut Bill Pogue.

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    • Thanks so much, David, for the catch. You are absolutely right, and in his book, Jonathan had the correct figure—and in fact was countering incorrect statements from the media that this picture was taken during the launch itself.

      Here, the mistake is my bad, I believe—I probably mis-heard “50” as “15” when writing it up.

      Weirdly, about a month ago, I’d asked Jonathan something else about that paragraph. When he looked at it, he said “Hey!” and what you said, “more like 50,” but was going to get back to me after checking to make sure. I changed the other part, but with all our travels for the Apollo 11 ceremonies, we didn’t get back to it. Thanks again for reminding us.

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  6. #46 is me, David Shomper, Boeing LUT Pneumatics and Hydraulics. I have the same photo which appeared in Aviation Week right after the launch on which I identified myself.

    I have a few other names if you are interested.

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  7. I have a picture of the same group seconds after the launch. Front page of the Oklahoma paper. Where can I share pictures?

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  8. #53 in the first picture was my dad – George B Goff, In plant test manager for Boeing during Apollo 11. He is smoking a pipe, is balding and is wearing a bow tie.

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  9. I know the men #54 and 55 Sam and mr macraney I think they used to come to our house in rock ledge Fl. If you look up Apollo launch team on google there is a signed picture with my father #63 , he’s the only one without a tie has a v neck on. You can see Sam and joe machaney in pic.

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    • We’ll be checking on #55, as to whether it’s Richard Meade or Joe Macraney (as you mention in a response below). Do you have a last name for “Sam,” #54?

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      • FYI, I’d sent you a private email in case you did not check back here, but I got an email saying that I needed to sign up with Boxbe, your spam detector, so you could receive the email.
        I checked, and what I understand is that Boxbe is an over-active spam detector that almost acts as spam itself: if I were to sign up, it would automatically become my spam detector, and send an email to *all* my contacts to tell them they needed to sign up with Boxbe in order to email me! I do not want this, and will not sign up. You’ll need to go through here.

        Although a number of people swear by this service, many people do not, and once they sign up can’t get away even if they think they’ve removed it all from their machine. Check Google and ask, “Is Boxbe spam?” There are better spam detectors out there.

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      • Richard Lee Mead is my father. He was with Boeing Tie program and on his resume he says he was a S-1-C Test console Operator for the countdown. My family is trying to locate him in the picture and we thought he is 55. We would be thrilled to know where he is in the photo. He passed away in 1989 so we can not ask him. His 5 surviving daughters and his 94 year old wife would like to confirm where he is in the photo. We are very excited about the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11. It would be so meaningful to know what console he was at for the launch. We all believe from looking at a zoomed in version of the pic that that is Daddy. The way he is sitting kind of leaning to the side is much like his mannerisms also the glasses the man is wearing. We are also looking for him in the new Apollo 11 movie footage. A quick response if possible would be much appreciated as Momma is 94 yrs old. Thank You Deborah Mead Anderson

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        • Deborah, I’m so sorry, we’re positive now that #55 is Joe McCraney. We saw a contemporary photograph of him—autographed—along with friends of his, who also verified him. And, he was verified by his daughter, who also verified the guy sitting next to him in this picture. Like your dad, he also had the same glasses (common in the 60’s), and same posture. His hairline in the autographed photo matched the photo here, as did his face, of course.

          Sometimes kids remember their father at a different time in their lives, rather than the time of the photo. He might have looked younger In 1969, or a different weight maybe. Have you checked the hairline? You might be able to find him that way.

          Unfortunately, we don’t know where he would be here, unless someone else identified him, or if you have other photos from around that time. He could be off to the right side; there are many folks there. I am so sorry we can’t identify him; we would love for your mother to be able to find him.

          It’s so funny that so many folks are fighting over this one man, when there are so many here that are unidentified. It’s really too bad.

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          • Thank you for responding. I have been looking at his hairline in some older photos but unfortunately i haven’t had much luck with that because in that time frame he was either taking the photos of Mom and 7 children or very busy and not at home. He did have a very full head of alburn to dark brown hair which was very thick so much so that he kept it through chemotherapy. I wondered if there is some document that has console assignments or at least a general lay out of where boeing s-1C console operators would have been. I have also been looking through the new footage on the 2019 apollo 11 movie and pausing it to see if i could locate him. I saw a man further back on the right side in the footage but i wanted to confirm where the S-1C boeing area consoles were. Where they only the row where 55 was or were there 2 rows left of the center isle or were there more on the right at the back? Does anyone know or have a good diagram

          • Deborah, the page won’t let me reply directly to your question, one where you ask about the location of the S-1C contractors—there are too many levels in the thread. So, I’m replying here. According to Jonathan, the S-1c contractors are in fact from #55 to the left on that row. The row gets cut off though—-most of the consoles we cannot see. Your dad is probably there, unfortunately.
            Jonathan just sent you a layout and console assignments.

    • Thanks for the pictures you sent! I’ve forwarded your email to Jonathan. I’m hoping to update #55 once J and I have discussed, using the spelling in the photo. It’s too bad Sam’s signature was illegible!

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  14. Hello,

    My grandfather, Ed Abdullah, is in position #2. He worked for Boeing for his entire career and retired in 1990.

    Thank you.

    Chris Hassan

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  15. In the Apollo 11 picture I was #5 down from Norm Carlson #1. Email me if you have questions.

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    • Hi my boss is te Mexican MD. Ramiro Iglesias-Leal (27) Cardiologi and medicine. He invitación the control medic in the Apolo 8. He take the first electro cardiólogo the Astronaut William Anders in moon orbit, 24 December 1986 time 11:20 am.

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      • December 24, 1968 time 11:20am the doctor Ramiro Iglesias-Leal he take the first electro cardiólogo the Astronaut William anders, he is the first Mexican in the invitation the control medic in the NASA.

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  19. I was in position #3 Row B next to Robert (Bob) Moser (#4) in Firing Room 1 during Apollo 11 CDDT.

    Willie A. Fuller (Bill)

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