von Braun and the lunar-orbit rendezvous decision: finding a way to go to the moon

This paper will discuss the process by which von Braun finally picked LOR in the spring of 1962 and attempts to pinpoint the date of that decision. However, it also examines his long prehistory of Moon proposals, beginning in public with his October 1952 Collier's articles. In 1961, after President Kennedy's endorsement of the Apollo landing goal, he leaned toward EOR primarily because he did not want to build the huge launch vehicle required for direct ascent. He only gradually and somewhat reluctantly changed his mind. How that came about is the fundamental substance of this paper.