Thread by @cfishman

When it came to flying to the Moon, MIT played a central role: They invented the navigation that made spaceflight possible, they designed & programmed the Apollo spacecraft computers.

The man in charge of all that wanted to stake his life on MIT's work.

fastcompany.com/90365754/this-…

2/ Charles Stark Draper himself helped invent and perfect inertial navigation — in a secret mission, he and his staff flew cross-country in a B-29 in 1953 in a 13-hour flight during which MIT's staff test pilot never touched the controls.

3/ Draper wanted to underscore his confidence that MIT's work on Apollo would be flawless — so he wrote his old student, then 3rd in command of NASA, & volunteered to crew Apollo's first mission.

'I realize that my age of 60 years is a negative factor in considering my request.'

4/ NASA's 1960s administrator, James Webb, thought this was a great idea & wanted to take Draper's letter right to JFK.

The story of Doc Draper is #19 in my 50-part series from last year counting down great moments to the Moon landing.

fastcompany.com/90365754/this-…

#Apollo51

5/ Fifty quick-reads about what it took to get to the Moon. Last year, we were celebrating the 1st Moon landing.

This year, we need a reminder what ordinary Americans can do when we're rallied to a cause.

The full story—a surprise on every page—is here.
amazon.com/One-Giant-Leap…

6/ The full imagery of Doc Draper's letter volunteering to be an astronaut below. It ends:

'...let me know what application blank I should fill out, and what other steps I should take to advance my cause.'

…not unlike a modern job application email.

wayback.archive-it.org/7963/201907020…