Northrop Grumman involved its interns in Huntsville in the anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing by encouraging them to build model rockets. The anniversary was a very special celebration as Northrop Grumman helped make the landing happen by crafting the Lunar Module.
Northrop Grumman's proud legacy continues with survivable, rapidly configurable systems, advanced threat detection and secure communications that will win the future of space. The company has put innovative products and ideas into orbit for more than 60 years, on the Moon, and beyond – from systems engineering, spacecraft manufacturing, precision sensors, space instrument design, ground stations development, orbiting space platforms and revolutionary launch vehicles.
Northrop Grumman's role in Apollo 11's success
While the world watched, astronaut Neil Armstrong took mankind's first steps on the moon. Years later, as the success of NASA's Apollo 11 mission is remembered and celebrated, several heritage companies of Northrop Grumman are recognized for the vital roles they played in the achievement.
The Lunar Module (or LM), the famed Eagle of the Apollo program, was designed, assembled, integrated and tested by Grumman Corporation, now part of Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. Ryan Aeronautical Company, also now part of Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, built the digital Doppler radar system installed aboard the Apollo Lunar Lander.
Northrop Grummans' Mission Systems and Aerospace Systems business sectors were formerly part of TRW, the company that developed the lunar excursion module descent engine (LEMDE) for the Apollo missions. TRW also provided critical software for mission analysis and simulation, guidance and trajectory control, an abort guidance control, and a backup communications system.
North American Aviation issued a contract to the Radioplane Division of Northrop Corporation to develop the Earth Landing System for their Apollo command module. Radioplane, which became the Northrop Ventura Division, eventually produced every parachute recovery system for the Apollo program.
Northrop Grumman's Mission Systems sector, part of which was the defense and electronics business of Westinghouse, manufactured the camera used to broadcast the now famous images from the lunar surface to earth.
Two other companies that are now part of the Mission Systems sector also made significant contributions to the mission. Dalmo-Victor designed and supplied the S-band 2-Gigahertz high-gain antennas. Amecom Division of Litton Systems, Inc. produced flush-mounted antennas. Four antennas were mounted on the command module.
Legacy Northrop provided the earth landing system that included the space vehicle recovery parachutes for Apollo 11. In addition, NASA has used the Northrop-built T-38A Talon jet aircraft extensively as trainers for astronauts.
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