The Tier One company supplied hundreds of thousands of tonnes of industrial gases to support the launch and mission. Air Products’ industrial gases also played a vital part in the Lunar Landing which enabled the first steps on the Moon on 20th July 1969.
“We congratulate NASA on the 50th anniversary of landing and first steps on the moon,” said Seifi Ghasemi, Chairman, President and CEO of Air Products.
“Air Products is as proud today of its ongoing association with NASA as it was with the support role we played for the Apollo 11 mission. Five decades ago, Apollo’s achievements captivated the attention of people worldwide and for our company to have played a role has always been a milestone moment for every past and current employee.”
“The US space programme relationship is of national importance and a source of great pride for Air Products.”
On 17th September 1969, personal correspondence to Air Products’ Founder and Chairman at the time, Leonard Pool, stated: “Enclosed are two photos take on the moon’s surface that I promised… They are sent as a reminder of our appreciation for your steadfast support of the nation’s space programme. Please accept them with my best wishes.”
Air Products has supplied NASA with liquid hydrogen and other industrial gases for advancing the US Space Programme from Orion, the Space Shuttle, Apollo, and reaches all the way back to earlier Mercury missions.
Air Products was the only supplier of the mission-critical liquid hydrogen requirements for all space shuttle launches from the programme’s inception in 1981 to conclusion 30 years later in July 2011.
As well as supplying product for the space launches, Air Products also has a long-term relationship with NASA’s Engine Testing Programme at Stennis Space Centre in Miss. Johnson Space Centre in Texas, as well as Marshall Space Flight Centre in Huntsville, Alabama.
NASA is now poised to take the next giant leap deeper into the solar system to Mars and beyond. To do so, it will need various industrial gases and gas equipment.