Ground Control to the World

Human space exploration entered a new era on July 20, 1969, when Apollo 11 touched down on the moon’s surface. Booz Allen’s technological contributions to Command Module Columbia helped the U.S. win the space race against the Soviet Union that began in 1955.

From the moment Wernher von Braun called Booz Allen for help justifying the budget for a space program in response to Sputnik—the first artificial Earth satellite, which began orbiting the Earth in October 1957—Booz Allen was there to move the mission forward. In spirit, we were taking founding partner Edwin Booz’s declaration, “Fear not the future nor people,” into the new frontier.

Years later, in 1961, President John F. Kennedy expressed that same bold mission focus: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade,” he said, “not because [it is] easy, but because [it is] hard.”

The president’s pledge was backed in part by long-standing U.S. military research and innovation initiatives—many supported by Booz Allen. Since 1940, Booz Allen had been working on many classified operations, leading us to establish Booz Allen Applied Research Inc. (BAARINC) in 1955.

Our work with NASA included a 1966 engagement to help determine the life spans of observatory satellites, which, at the time, were often measured in mere days rather than months or years. NASA later adopted many of our technical recommendations, resulting in the launch of observatory satellites with life spans of more than a decade.

When the Apollo 11 mission was the nation’s most high-profile project, NASA again turned to Booz Allen. The spacecraft comprised three parts: the Service Module; the Lunar Module, nicknamed “Eagle”; and the Command Module, Columbia, which housed astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, and Michael Collins.

Booz Allen advised NASA that Columbia’s attached lunar lander should enter Earth’s orbit first, then thrust out of the planet’s atmosphere toward the moon before descending to the latter’s surface. The Eagle landed on July 20, 1969, allowing Neil to famously say to the approximate 650 million Earthlings eagerly huddled around television and radio boxes: “That’s one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind.”

When Neil and Buzz planted the American flag on the lunar surface, the dramatic, grainy image, beamed back to the Earth—some 238,855 miles away—in real time, sent a clear message: The U.S. had won the space race.

After the astronauts landed safely back on Earth, the U.S. sent them on a wildly successful worldwide goodwill tour. And in 1971, NASA proudly sent Columbia on a tour of American cities. Today, the spacecraft is on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.

Since NASA’s formation in 1958, we have been trusted to support programs from Apollo to Artemis. Our experience includes projects from the Hubble Telescope to the International Space Station. More recently, we were awarded NASA’s first-ever Cybersecurity and Privacy Enterprise Solutions and Services (CyPrESS) contract. 

Today, continuing our trajectory of helping accelerate space missions, we also support clients like the U.S. Space Force, founded in 2019. 

“No one would have thought we’re going to fight a war in space,” said Executive Vice President Andrea Inserra, who leads Booz Allen’s aerospace business. “But our assets could be compromised. And so when you think about cybersecurity and the ability to attack a space asset, that’s what a lot of our clients today are really concerned about.” 

From the early days of space exploration to protecting satellites and advancing the mission to Mars, Booz Allen’s approach hasn’t changed. We work shoulder to shoulder with clients, selecting the right people and technology to realize a shared mission—whether that means exploring new frontiers or defending them.