'One Small Step For Man,' One Massive Rocket Project For Engineers

The historic flight lifts off July 16, 1969, from Kennedy Space Center. Engines for the massive Saturn V rocket were developed and built in Southern California. AFP / Getty Images

From L.A. Times:

The young scientists who created the Saturn V rocket that powered Aldrin and Armstrong to the moon on Apollo 11 in July 1969 were the unsung heroes in the space race with the Soviet Union.

It wasn't a young president's brash promise that enabled Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to take those first halting steps on the lunar surface 40 years ago Monday. Nor was it the courage of the astronauts themselves.

The success of America's big bet in space depended on the ability of young, unheralded engineers to build rocket engines that were both powerful enough and reliable enough to wrench the spacecraft from Earth's jealous grasp and send it winging to the lunar surface.

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