Process Paper

Process Paper The topic we have chosen to make a website about for this year's History Day is the Apollo Missions. We feel this is an appropriate topic for this year's theme, "Frontiers in History", because the Apollo Missions are great achievements that have a lasting significance in history during the period of its creation and even today. A frontier in history is something that has made new important discoveries, does things never been done before, and its legacy contributes a lasting importance in the future. The Apollo missions are no exception: they uncovered many mysteries about the moon and the universe, they developed new technology and technique to get to the moon, and they were the first step to the advanced space exploration programs today. With the technology developed from the Apollo Missions, (like the invention of life support-systems for space, development of advanced rockets, or technique for operation efficiency during the mission) NASA was able to continue its progress in developing space technology for future missions. For instance, the Space Shuttle missions, the International Space Station, and the Mission to Mars couldn't be possible to achieve without the technology developed (such as the life support systems and the vessels constructed for space) from the Apollo Missions. The Apollo Missions have also helped scientists collect data about the rocks and soil on the moon as well as determine relevant data on the moon's orbit. The accomplishments of the Apollo Missions still have a lasting significance today because it is still a "Frontier in History". Our group first investigated many sources from the NASA website to become very knowledgeable of our topic. We have also looked for a book or two about the Apollo Missions to find anything we could have possible missed. As far as website information, we looked for information from the NSSDC (National Space Science Data Center) Master Catalog and found it to be quite useful because of its overall view of what each of the missions were and it gave very specific facts of the data collected during the mission. One of the great books we used was Apollo to the Moon by Gregory P. Kennedy, which did a great job in delineating the historical perspective of the Apollo Missions. Overall, we have found loads of useful information to present our topic.

When we created the website, we wanted it to be very organized and factual. As seen in the website, the missions are categorized and separated into their own page. We thought the frame to the left with all the links on it would make it easy to get from place to place. Finally, the information written down is an overview of the progress of each of the Apollo Mission's and each page includes and excerpt from the NSSDC Master Catalog containing the scientific numbers and data collected.

Please enjoy our website that we have worked very hard for and thank you for taking a look at our website.