JPL and the Space Age: Destination Moon

After the establishment of NASA in 1958, JPL’s first major assignment was to explore the Moon, taking close up images before crash landing as part of a series of missions called Ranger. JPL, however, had grander plans.
The laboratory, having built and helped launch the first U.S. satellite into space, wanted to explore not only the Moon, but nearby planets. JPL would be humbled by a string of early failures that threatened the lab’s very future. “We didn’t know what we were doing,” one veteran JPL engineer confides in the program, “and there was no one around to tell us.”
Ironically, a successful (although barely so) flyby of Venus by Mariner 2 in 1962 would give the United States its first “first in space.” And after finally succeeding with its Ranger program, JPL would go on to manage the highly successful Surveyor missions that soft landed on the Moon, serving as pathfinders for the Apollo astronauts. Destination Moon relives JPL’s struggles and triumphs at the Moon and Venus.

[@nilo70]

I worked at JPL for the Viking II mission in the Viking Imaging section . It was AMAZING ! I worked “ up on the hill“ aka Cardiac Hill “ in the simi permanent bungalows making things for the SFOF building and the blue room and the DSN . I saw Sagan in the cafeteria, Dr. Pickering , Von Karman auditorium, my first microwave oven in one of the break rooms , and to be honest I would have worked for free !

[@intensedays4965]

I'd like to know with such a small size realitive to space, how on 'Earth' can you get anything to actually make it to the moon, I mean between gravity and things like planets are supposedly moving like 160,000mph in a circle?congrats by the way and well done even getting your f Just so many factors, and what's up with the dome the elite speak of? And did you work with any e.t. races that you know of. Finally congrats well done that's amazing even getting your foot in the door, glad you had such a awesome experience I love hearing someone reflect without regret and broken heart, what would you tribute that if i may ask. Probably never got in your own way I'd imagine that's my problem hahaha still tryin thou more heart then head.

[@KarldorisLambley]

Good grief. Just read about celestial mechanics. Its fairly simple.

[@skrillgorefuski]

@@KarldorisLambley relax blockhead. Stars can be seen through the moon as well as the blue sky. It is not a solid object that you can land on. And the nail in the coffin is the magic chest mounted camera that had absolutely no radiation shielding . Not from the extreme cold ,vacuum or radiation. That means the film would all be ruined. Any professional photographer that worked with chemicals in a dark room could tell ya that one. Don’t need to be a “rocket scientist” to figure that out. Why don’t you check what Von Braun had written on his grave marker. Pretty interesting thing for an high ranking Notsee SS officer to reference. Seeing how you all think he is the father of modern malarkey. Oops i meant rocketry.

[@KarldorisLambley]

@@skrillgorefuski mental illness is an awful thing for you to live with. How i pity you.

[@Dystopikachu]

@@intensedays4965 If you honestly want an introduction to the subject suitable for every audience, watch Carl Sagans original Cosmos series from the late 70's/early 80's. He is undoubtedly one of the best science communicators of all time, and if in 100 years most people believe in a flat earth at least that will not be a failure of trying on his part.

[@MrHichammohsen1]

On behalf of space lovers, we appreciate this amazing series of documentaries for us! JPL Rocks.

[@Dr_Samuel_NASA]

JPL: A place like no other!

[@marc-andrebrunet5386]

🤘JPL Rock !!😎🎸🎸🎸

[@lunokhod3937]

i swear if i live to see a photo of an astronaut standing beside an old and dusty perseverence i will cry harder then i ever have before.

[@pastorrich7436]

Bravo! Bravo!! Thank you JPL.

[@robc5704]

In a world where lies, subterfuge and denials abound I found the candour of the JPL documentary a wonderful display. Their honesty in showing what happened, warts and all, is something all governments and agencies around the world should aspire to. Truth, coupled with passion and a dream of a better world will prove in the end indomitable. Well done.

[@whirledpeas3477]

Absolutely wonderful comment 🧡

[@SAVETHEPLANET-KILL-A-GLOBALIST]

Now if only we could get some honesty about the Apollo moon landings....

[@whirledpeas3477]

@@SAVETHEPLANET-KILL-A-GLOBALIST Now only if you would just grow up

[@stoopsyo]

You tarted

[@jonnydanger7181]

LoL

[@mungbean60]

Lots of failures at the beginning, but you never gave up. And now you land rovers on Mars like it's a walk in the park. Truly inspirational ♥️♥️♥️

[@stillperfectgenerations5852]

Have you noticed the astounding similarities of Devon Island and "Mars"? It still confounds me that anyone is impressed with the "technologies" of NASA or JPL either one... Of course, you should expect nothing more than lies from Luciferian freemason liars and thieves. This is the only technology to devolve in 50 years! 1960 tech is said to carry men 238,000 miles from Earth and beyond the deadly radiation of the VARB's, but today with advancements to every system available to Apollo - from materials to manufacturing techniques, COMMs and computers, and rocket engine designs, no space agency in the world can take life beyond LEO! You still can't see it?

[@alanrandall49]

Almost 50 years since humans last walked on the Moon, I was a teenager in 1969 and was so excited as were most of the world's population watching Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stroll on the Moon's surface, for a short time it seemed like the world was united as one that we had accomplished that great achievement for all humankind, now we are getting closer to returning to the Moon but this time will be different as a permanent base will be established on the Moon's surface, I'm looking forward to that day when that rocket be it Starship or the NASA Artemis launches for that epic return journey, I just hope that I will still be here to witness it and if I'm lucky to see the first humans walk on Mars. 😎

[@musstdawissen3547]

🤪

[@osmia]

Tenacity! This presentation's kept me glued to the screen for the whole thing. Many thanks for sharing this JPL!

[@tomfowler2091]

Excellent documentary! Thank you!

[@theworldisastage7553]

which documentaries are only showing you animations🤣🤣

[@corrinastanley125]

Thanks for the live stream JPL. I am already looking forward to the next one.

[@andershansen1147]

JPL Destination Moon, what a good 1 hour packed with excellent details, now I know more of JPL and their achievements. Well made program, with all the good men working on the goal at its time.

[@dorotheabeiriger]

kuhlhiugl

[@garyproffitt5941]

Thank you National Aeronautics Space Administration for re-destination to the Moon above and beyond ✔

[@florencianottinson7565]

This is just great

[@florencianottinson7565]

This is just great

[@MrFranklitalien]

Thank you so much for putting all these testimonies and footage together, this is some truly historical stuff

[@larrybliss8330]

An excellent documentary. I remember watching the final moments of Ranger 7 early on Saturday morning. There was a title that said LIVE FROM THE MOON. Amazing! thanks for presenting this.

[@somedumbozzie1539]

It was an amazing time to be alive, now not so much.

[@adriangould8122]

Absolutely brilliant film I'm 61 now and if it wasn't for them young men and womens dedication I wouldn't have witnessed all of the Apollo missions on television it was great all the excitement of the live TV launches of the mighty SATURN FIVE.

[@littlestar9443]

They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.” - Job 15:35 Beware the old beguiling serpent🐍, and its venomous vector of its forked tongue. homework➡-BABYLON WORKING- -OPERATION PAPERCLIP-

[@cptrikester2671]

This is so good, that I just watched it a second time. EXCELLENT.

[@harveybrammer3233]

Thank you,wonderful documentary

[@margaretgreene3004]

Memories. I grew up watching this era on TV. Awesome then & still awesome now.

[@maskotep]

Awesome interviews and lots of fantastic archival footage that I have never seen before. Could watch these every week!

[@brandonwohl6673]

.

[@theworldisastage7553]

you have never seen cartoons because that is what they are showing you🤣🤣

[@TheStockwell]

@@theworldisastage7553 Give it a rest, goofy. 🙄

[@brucelamberton8819]

Wonderful presentation.

[@emmaclairedowdy]

thank you, JPL!

[@diraziz396]

Thanks for everything

[@MarkHopewell]

A smashing documentary. Thank you. There should be more presentations relating to the design and build process of JPL probes. I don't mind if it's nice and complex because the more detailed the more absorbing. I just can't get enough of this type of thing.

[@theworldisastage7553]

which documentaries are only showing you animations🤣🤣

[@stevefink6000]

Awesome, thank you JPL. You continue to do phoenominal work! The best at NASA for sure!

[@julismith1271]

Q11

[@whirledpeas3477]

@@julismith1271 LGBTQ? Tough questions 🤔

[@warrenwhite9085]

Caltech’s JPL is a jewel… NASA is another bloated, wasteful, failed Federal Agency.

[@ariedekker7350]

Joh, what a good story. Thanks for this video.

[@kylelunde5750]

Great documentary, very informative. Thank you

[@theworldisastage7553]

which documentaries are only showing you animations🤣🤣

[@ronaldzincone7764]

A very good documentary by JPL and the Space Age

[@OzzMazz]

Very good, very engaging. Look forward to more.

[@marsspacex6065]

Bill Pickering is really the father of space exploration. Amazing New Zealander.

[@paulsmith9395]

excellent documentary

[@ancientheart2532]

It is truly incredible what was accomplished given the available tecnology.

[@pip5461]

Truly amazing breakthroughs by brilliants engineers...

[@ravideshpande8902]

What a fantastic and detailed footage ..... we never knew these ..... !!!

[@stevedunch581]

This was EXCELLENT!!!!

[@AMERICANPATRIOT1945]

Thank you JPL!

[@thanos879]

Great documentary guys

[@acanuck1679]

This was fun! Thanks.

[@JacobCanote]

A joy to see. Godspeed!

[@tonyduncan9852]

That's a really tough story. But no less than we deserve. Thanks.

[@kenhelmers2603]

Nicely done! Thank you.

[@mateuszbugaj799]

I love these videos by JPL. After the last one I was hoping for next chapter in history and here we are. This is going to be amazing

[@dr4d1s]

I could not agree more!

[@whirledpeas3477]

I'm not very smart but I love this stuff ❤

[@TheStockwell]

@@whirledpeas3477 You don't need a degree in physics to enjoy a sunrise. 😺

[@whirledpeas3477]

@@TheStockwell Thanks, the best I can offer is trying to be a good person

[@TheStockwell]

@@whirledpeas3477 I don't think you'd be surprised to learn how many people are not interested in simply being good people. Tearing down something useful is easy. Building something useful is work. 😐 Have a safe and wonderful year. 😸

[@jasminpetersen4961]

Try and try until you succeed is real for good! A motto that our young generation should emulate in order to get the most that life is to offer. I am just a poultry farm owner, this documentary inspires me to look up every night knowing that there are people like in JPL who will one day make humanity an interstellar space traveller. Keep up the good works JPL!

[@SpacePirate313]

It's amazing to see the pro's are commenting on these videos. Great work to all who worked on these programs.

[@JANDLWOODWORKING]

Awesome Video!!!!!!

[@adityakrishna4101]

Speechless!

[@Vector_Ze]

I was born in December 1953. And I take some unwarranted pride in the fact that my life has so far eclipsed the space age. I actually recall the launches of Project Mercury. And, I'm grateful for the memories. All through Elementary School to HS Graduation (and Apollo) space exploration was a constant awareness. Back then, space geeks knew the names of every US Astronaut. They were heroes.

[@clessiodaniel5926]

It's very good for me to be able to watch a video program of something so interesting as this one. Thank God . Like people here in Brazil. It's like my being in a program that was made for me Watching a program in English .American English. Thank God it's Amazing for me. An old man from Brazil. I'm 74 years old. I speak Portuguese as my first language.

[@tompeters8696]

You guys are awesome. You make it come a live many decades later. I am humbled by the confidence of the engineers and all participants

[@ultrametric9317]

"....And it worked. We're down. It's still transmitting!" I often used to feel like this when I was a programmer. It worked! It didn't crash! :)

[@clarencehopkins7832]

Excellent stuff bro

[@audience2]

Well done JPL and NASA ✔️ 👏

[@harrietharlow9929]

Thank you so much for uploading this. I love anything about the space race since I spent my formative years in this era. Learned a lot of interesting things, so you've made my day!

[@enzofitzhume7320]

Great job Blaine!

[@PAULLONDEN]

Fascinating stuff .

[@miguelabreu9582]

I am sooooo Eeeenjoyying this Documentary Yooohhoooo

[@zyumasthaldi888]

it´s fun ; )

[@clarencehopkins7832]

Excellent stuff bro , I’ll ride the next one

[@Steelninja77]

Love this narrator i believe he did the Codex transcripts in the Mass effect trilogy as well. i googled it once when i recognised the voice from my favourite game. forget his name now though. he does lots of documentaries. I remember "The Geth are a machine race of networked AI from beyond the perseus veil created by the quarians as labourers and tools of war. till they became self aware."

[@wowwhynot11]

Good Luck and Success for destinations Moon , Mars and beyond in Space!

[@Study49]

Well Done !!!!

[@GB-zi6qr]

Thank you for showing this. Proving that in learning to do something new, mistakes and failures will happen. That must happen otherwise how do we learn.

[@ursamajor339]

That was fantastic!

[@TenheadLife]

Love the history!

[@kevinpittman2517]

wow i never knew apollo 12 landed near one of their surveyor landers.... that is awesome when u think about it.

[@iamrizsai]

_JPL played an important role in making NASA what it's Today __#NeverGiveUp__ __#KeepGoing_

[@Puuch44]

Fantastic work! Thanks so much nasa and JPL and all involved!

[@daveware3936]

Yes. Thanks for the lies.

[@LEDewey_MD]

Mind blowing thinking about all the failures leading up to Mariner 2 going to Venus,...then not even 7 years later, Apollo 11 landed on the Moon!!

[@doctorcraycray]

i forgot i was on youtube lol, this is very intriguing

[@DavidGalich77]

Back in 2005' I got to visit JPL Pasadena. Leaps and bounds.

[@mrfxm55]

Just giving a shout out to the men and women of JPL NASA and all of the countless people associated with a of the programs and missions of the space and other endeavors to numerous to list. Thank you all.

[@gagarine743]

Awesome and originals documents

[@mmumau7858]

Gotta love it when he pulls out a cig @ 17:15 in an ATLO area. Oh how times have changed. LOL

[@chrissartain4430]

A very educational film, well done thank you!

[@mustafabozoglan]

Endless thanks to NASA and all its affiliated team workers. Their perseverance and achievements have contributed to the creation and development of many technologies used today.

[@jonpeterson9733]

Wow, amazing documentary JPL, what amazing accomplishments from the collective wetware computers of that time, our personal devises today are vastly more powerful than what was available to engineers then, an astounding testament to what the human mind is capable of, even in its imperfect state.

[@rayoflight62]

A very well made film. It doesn't even compare with the other videos find on YT. My compliments...

[@kasiviswanadhsripada]

wow! so many failures which lead to great success! truly inspiring! learning through failures gives a great feeling of achievement!

[@skamithi]

Jpl media team... Please make more of the documentaries.

[@staatsfiend]

anyone got the 411 on where Stanley Kubrick was during the number 7 mission?

[@Labgorilla]

JPL stands for Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Thank you. Now I know what DSN and JPL is. All from a video looking into voyager 1.

[@robertbranch3916]

Well done! I remember watching all those missions. It is a pity the early Rangers did not work. The balsa sphere at the top had a seismometer in it which would have been ejected from the spacecraft very shortly before impact. The balsa would have absorbed the impact allowing the instruments to survive.

[@desthomas8970]

I remember that too. I think it would have had an impact speed of 200MPH.

[@misty28882]

I think NASA engineers are so so Cool

[@glennmorrissey5309]

Thank you Jet Propulsion Laboratory!

[@hankscally9658]

Superb! This is the kind of history I enjoy. As a child of the '50s, I was unaware of JPL's early exploits. Thanks for the education!

[@aimatters5600]

make more stuff like this.

[@dropincentarjuventas6811]

Really good documentary! I have just one question: why no one, not once, mentioned Jack Parsons?

[@susanhodges9447]

Surveyor weighed 2000lb! They didn't point out that this is only 333lb on the moon.

[@mlconlanmeister]

I was today years old when I learned that Apollo 12 parked near Surveyor 3, and I followed the program closely (I thought).

[@joevignolor4u949]

If you are ever in Washington DC go to the National Air & Space Museum. They have the Surveyor 3 TV camera on display there. They also have a lot of other interesting Apollo stuff. They even have a moon rock there and you can touch it.

[@mlconlanmeister]

@@joevignolor4u949 thank you for that information, Joe!

[@jezzter4293]

An interesting video. I'm wondering how edited the responses are .....

[@Aaron_b_c]

Neat

[@rkornilo]

Outstanding

[@5K00O]

12:57 Why is there a HL2 weapon drop sound effect

[@chinopuertorico]

Is that " one conscience"? I finally get to see her. She's a wonderful soul.

[@tobyihli9470]

Talk about learning to crawl before you walk! The US is the premier country when it comes to science and space. It’s interesting to see how we struggled at first. We got though. Oh my, did we ever get there!

[@markdraper3469]

@5:56 Center, grey suit, black tie- Art Gilmore who you hear often during the rest of the picture.

[@TroyRubert]

How many other heroic tales are in the JPL vault?

[@nettyvoyager6336]

it didn't fail those blank black images will have stars in them if you drop them through a few programs and mess with the contrast etc you will see something if the camera worked as it should have

[@Rmm1722]

nice🥰😍🤩

[@piterravatar4012]

During the Apollo 11 period, after traveling 3 days and 3 nights, more than a few hours, Apollo just arrived at the lunar surface orbit. During the CSNE 2020 mission, the Human unmanned rocket how long will it take to reach the surface of the moon? , because we have never seen a supermoon in our time as big as it was during Apollo 11 or about 53 years ago. Does the distance of the moon change???

[@tgstudio85]

No distance doesn't change, what changes is path which spacecraft takes. All of them fly in parabolas, and length of that parabola is dependent on many factors(start point, place on moon orbit etc.)

[@rcpmac]

I watch coverage of the SpaceX launches and marvel at the accomplishments of such young men and women. Now I realize that they stand on the shoulders of equally young people from decades before.