The Rhetoric of Project Apollo: The Moon Story and Its Televised Memories

On July 20, 1969, Americans not only landed on the Moon, but the televised spectacle forever changed the ways in which news and commentary about historical events would be presented to audiences. In The Rhetoric of Project Apollo, Kathy Previs provides a comprehensive analysis of the rhetorical strategies that CBS News employed in covering the Apollo missions from 1968-1972 and documents the role that NASA’s public relations office had in televising the exciting moonshots. She illustrates how CBS’s and NASA’s symbolic representations followed a ＂ritual view of communication,＂ enabling viewers to make sense of complex technological feats and scientific discoveries, while garnering public support for the costly missions. Based on four rhetorical categories - nationalism, romanticism, pragmatism, and technology - Previs also provides an in-depth analysis of which narratives have withstood the test of time in how Apollo is remembered on CBS News, and across a variety of televised platforms including CNN, the History Channel, and PBS, from 1973-2022, marking the 50th anniversary of Apollo’s last mission. From Cold War metaphors to now recognizing the role women had in Apollo’s successes, its story continues to resonate with and inspire audiences around the world.

Kathy K. Previs is professor of communication at Eastern Kentucky University and online instructor at West Virginia University.