On May 25, 1961, President Kennedy announced to the world that the United States would make it a national goal to send a man to the moon and return him home safely before the end of the decade.

In late 1961 while working as a theoretical mathematician at the NASA Langley Research Center, John Houbolt championed the approach that came to be called Lunar Orbit Rendezvous or LOR. LOR required the use of two vehicles; the Lunar Excursion Module or LEM to land on the moon and the Command Module which remained in lunar orbit. Houbolt was convinced that LOR was the fastest, safest, and most cost effective way to get to the moon.

It is estimated that LOR saved billions of dollars and was completed years before other approaches could have been implemented. Many historians believe that the decision to use LOR was the single most important decision made by NASA during the Apollo program. Without LOR the United States may have never realized the goal of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely before the end of the decade. Destination Tomorrow had the opportunity to speak with John Houbolt and look back at his tremendous accomplishments.