Nearly 7 years prior to Neil Armstrong’s first steps onto the lunar surface, LIFE magazine speculated on the nature of the Apollo program, its technological output, and humanity’s place beyond what were once our perceivable limits.
In their April 27th 1962 publication, the “great adventure” that is the Apollo program is analyzed in detail, merely 2 weeks following the first human spaceflight undergone by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. How would astronauts get about on the moon? What kind of protective clothing would astronauts dawn on the lunar surface? What kind of space-faring vessel would take them there? And most intriguingly, would permanent lunar habitation be possible?
Fueled by space race discourse and the competitiveness of Cold War politics, LIFE considers these questions and more as they encapsulate the momentum of the U.S. space program during the golden era of space exploration and ingenuity.
To view the April 27th 1962 issue of LIFE
(The article begins on page 47):
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*** The featured image has been taken from the April 27th 1962 issue of LIFE and is property of LIFE magazine.
