At 9.32am local time on July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 launched from Florida, firing commander Neil Armstrong, lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin and command module pilot Michael Collins on a mission into the history books. Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the Moon, while Michael Collins remained aboard the command module in lunar orbit. As NASA’s Saturn V rocket launched the Apollo 11 crew on its mission to the, members of the launch firing team inside Launch Control Center watched through a window. The room was crowded with men wearing monochrome, watching spellbound as the Saturn V fired into the blue sky.
But among them sat one woman, who was in fact the only female in attendance in the launch firing room for the Apollo 11 liftoff.
Thank God it said ‘students’ and not ‘boys, otherwise I wouldn’t have applie
This was JoAnn Morgan, the instrumentation controller for the NASA Apollo 11 Moon mission.
Space rockets reportedly began making an impression on Ms Morgan on the day Explorer 1 was launched close to her childhood home.
This was the first satellite to do so from the United States – on January 31, 1958.
Until this date, only the Soviet Union’s Sputnik and Sputnik 2 were the only two satellites successfully launched into orbit.
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Moon landing: Only one woman – JoAnn Morgan – was present at the NASA Apollo 11 launch (Image: NASA)
Moon landing: The Saturn V rocket launch on July 16, 1969 – 50 years ago today (Image: Getty)
Explorer 1 was instrumental in discovering what has become known as the Van Allen radiation belt.
This was the discovery that inspired Morgan to be a part of the space program.
Ms Morgan told NASA: “I thought to myself, this is profound knowledge that concerns everyone on our planet.
“This is an important discovery, and I want to be a part of this team.
I was compelled to do it because of the new knowledge, the opportunity for new knowledge.”
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The opportunity came when Morgan spotted an advertisement for two open positions with the Army Ballistic Missile Agency.
Morgan added: “Thank God it said ‘students’ and not ‘boys, otherwise I wouldn’t have applied.”
At age 17, Morgan began work during the summers as a University of Florida trainee for the Army at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
As Morgan worked in the summers for the new NASA, and during the school year worked for a BA in mathematics from Jacksonville State University, her potential became apparent.
Dr. Wernher von Braun, chief architect of the NASA Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket was among those who recognised the level at which Morgan could contribute to the human spaceflight program.
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Moon landing: JoAnn Morgan was the only female attending the Apollo 11 launch firing room (Image: NASA)
Moon landing: Engineers within the Launch Control Centre’s Firing Room 1 monitor an Apollo 11 test (Image: NASA)
“All of my mentors were men,” said Morgan. “That’s just a plain fact and that needs to be acknowledged.”
There was a succession of obstacles that Morgan was required to overcome: from obscene phone calls at her station to requiring a security guard to clear out the men-only toilet.
One startling moment for Morgan came when a test supervisor saw her sitting down at Blockhouse 34 to plug in her headset to acquire test results.
“The supervisor came and just whacked me over the back — actually hit me in the back! He said ‘we don’t have women in here!’ He had this ugly look on his face and I thought, uh-oh.”
Morgan called Karl Sendler, the man who developed the launch processing systems for the Apollo program and had ordered the test results, and said, “Uh…this test supervisor said women aren’t allowed here.”
He replied: “Oh, don’t listen to him! Plug in your headset and get those test results to me as soon as you can.”
To be the instrumentation controller in the launch room for the Apollo 11 liftoff was a huge deal for her.
The launch is the start of the mission, and after the first couple of critical events the launch team is devoted to — including launch and translunar injection — Mission Control team in Texas would take over and the launch team would have zero control.
For Morgan, to be there at that pivotal point in history was ground-breaking: “It was very validating. It absolutely made my career.”
Perhaps the best part was finally being able to feel the vibrations of the shockwave.
Moon landing: Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969 (Image: Getty)
Up until then, Morgan had always been at a telemetry station or a display room or an upper antennae site for launch, and would have to hear from other people about what the vibrations felt like.
Now, Morgan finally had the chance to experience them for herself.
To this day, Morgan is still one of the most decorated women at Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre.
Her numerous awards and recognitions include an achievement award for her work during the activation of Apollo Launch Complex 39, four exceptional service medals and two outstanding leadership medals.
She also received the Kurt H. Debus Award, as well as two meritorious executive awards from President Bill Clinton.
And in 1995, she was inducted into the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame.