From The Earth

: A historical exploration of the environmental impacts related to NASA’s Apollo-Saturn spacecraft and launch vehicle, 1960-1973

Abstract

The Apollo Program of the 1960s and 1970s saw the United States of America land astronauts on the surface of the Moon and return them safely back to Earth. The launch vehicle and spacecraft that enabled that endeavour to occur are widely regarded as great accomplishments of technology and engineering. This thesis does not seek to argue against that status, but rather focuses on the environmental impacts of creating and using the Apollo-Saturn. In doing so, it makes two key arguments: firstly, it demonstrates that the Apollo Program was predicated on environmental degradation, and that it would not have been possible to complete the missions without this; and secondly, that these environmental impacts were felt in various different locations, beyond the United States, including on the Moon.

This work presents a history of these environmental impacts through the life cycle of the Apollo-Saturn. It begins by showing how decisions made at the start of the Project towards the approach that the missions would take would be the most sizeable factor in determining the impacts that would follow; these came from design decisions, but choices here also limited the impacts that would follow. As the chapters follow through exploring the commodity chains of key materials needed for the rocket – such as the aluminium used to build it, the kerosene-based fuel used to launch it, or the asbestos used to insulate it – it shows that the primary focus for NASA was to complete their missions against a tight schedule as the main priority. These chapters also demonstrate how this all-American machine is, in fact, a global product, with materials sourced from outside of the United States as much as inside. This thesis, in essence, details not just a vehicle that left the Earth, but one which was made of the Earth.

Date of Award	9 Dec 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Supervisor	Andrew J P Flack (Supervisor) & Adrian J Howkins (Supervisor)