The decision by itself was the brainchild of George M. Low and the whole thing started early August 1968.
From memory the decision to go forward with Apollo 8 was announced by Paine early November 1968. The way NSF works, small leaks might have happen some days before, that is, in the last days of October.The decision by itself was the brainchild of George M. Low and the whole thing started early August 1968. George Low was very wary of secret, so no chance in hell he leaks anything, nor his secretaries.
Quote from: Archibald on 07/13/2017 08:09 amThe decision by itself was the brainchild of George M. Low and the whole thing started early August 1968.See this interesting thread for minutes of an April 1968 meeting where manning AS-503 was discussed. There was at that point no discussion of sending a crew to the moon, but it's notable that even just a few weeks after the difficulties encountered with AS-502, NASA was willing to put a crew on the next Saturn V.