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The first launch of the Saturn V rocket was in Nov of 1967. One year later, they sent men around the moon in one. Six months after that, they sent men to land on the moon in one.

We went from testing the most complex machine ever built to make sure it would work to landing human beings on the moon in a year and a half. It took only six and a half years to go from the entire theoretical system on paper to "one small step."

To put it into perspective, its been three years since the last space shuttle flight. The shuttles successor, the SLS, is scheduled to test launch in 2017, six years after the last shuttle launch. The SLS will mostly be based off of existing technology and designed using the most powerful computers in history.

The Saturn V was designed from scratch by a bunch of guys with slide rules and onion skin paper.

The technology of the 60's amazes me. They really came up with a lot of revolutionary scientific and mechanical advances, and did everything on slide rules.

If you think about Sputnik being the first Satellite in 1957 and the Jupiter C in 58 as the first scientific (American) satellite. Then before that years of testing leftover V-2 Nazi rockets on both sides.

The tech was so basic up until 1960. Then the advancements that came in the decade are remarkable. It's like the Wright brothers first flying in 1903 and then having the Stealth Bomber in 1923. The tech just advanced so fast.

What we have now is basically what we had then. Biggest changes are in satellites and exploration vehicles. NASA was so complacent with the Shuttle that there was really no new leaps in rocket design from 1976 until present time.
Shame they never could make a two stage shuttle, or one that could fly to the moon and then come back.