1969 Moon lander: ‘One small step for a man’ was made possible by one giant step for engineering

After the Apollo 11 mission landed two men on the moon, many in the United States hailed the event as victory in the space race over the Soviets. The 1969 landing meant something different, though, to one project leader involved in the construction of the lunar landing craft. “The biggest single thing that came out of building the lunar vehicle was how to provide reliable design,” said Joseph G. Gavin, formerly program manager for the module at Grumman Corp., in Bethpage, Long Island, N.Y., and now a senior management consultant there.