Thoughts on the 1960s: Apollo Program and the Great Society. What government can accomplish when leadership clearly identifies a problem and funds its solution.

In his own words......:

"The 1960s witnessed two significant challenges that the United States undertook: the race to the moon and the bold social experiment, the great Society and the War on Poverty.

I was a twenty-four year old systems engineer in the summer of 1965. Looking back some fifty years, I recall my impressions of the time especially of the Great Society.

Government, with the peoples' backing accomplished the most challenging technical feat to this day; it had significant setbacks and was expensive. Back then, I thought that the same approach might be taken with the systemic poverty and inequality in parts of our society. I thought, with a concentrated effort, it might be done in one generation [20 years]. That was fifty years ago!

Al Colella and Joseph H. Crowley bring to the table a system engineer's perspective and mindset to complement their long commitment to those trapped in the poverty-inequality cycle. This book introduces system engineering disciplines to the ongoing battle against the inequalities derived from systemic poverty. It will be an important addition to the armamentarium.

Some added perspective: on May 25, 1961, shortly after the Soviets sent cosmonaut Yuri Gargarin into orbit and returned him, President John Kennedy set the challenge of sending men to the moon and returning them safely home by the end of the decade. A clearly defined goal and timeline.

On May 7, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson introduced the Great Society at Ohio University in a speech "...and with your courage and your desire, we will build a Great Society...where no child will go unfed and no youngster unfed."

I joined the Apollo program in January, 1963, working on Saturn V booster test instrumentation at the NASA-Michoud facility in New Orleans, LA. I was at the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, TX, at the time of the Great Society speech which held so much promise. I was a Lunar Module [LM] Telemetry Systems Integration and Test engineer.

The 'Moon Program' was the apogee of the systems engineering approach in that imbedded its key elements:

• State the mission and direction
• Investigate alternative approaches
• Model the system [s]
• Integrate lower level components
• Launch the system [s]
• Assess performance
• Re-evaluate continually through the life of the mission.

These are the same elements imbedded in the systems methodology that the authors put forth so that the 1964 War on Poverty may, finally, be won.

The Apollo Program included a number of necessary steps prior to the liftoff of Apollo 11 and its successful round-trip to the moon. Some of these steps included the Mercury and Gemini Programs and, of course, Apollo missions 7, -10.

Apollo 11 fulfilled the commitment of JFK on July 25, 1969 when Apollo 11 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. There were still five months left in the decade!

It is refreshing to see that the authors are recommending a pilot program as the 'next' first step...prior to proceeding to the 'next' first step.