In the early years of the 1960's, the Space & Information Systems Division (S&ID) of North American Aviation in Downey, California, (prime contractor for the Apollo Spacecraft), was engaged in a massive recruiting effort. This effort was to bring on board the engineering, fabrication, technical, and logistics personnel required for the development and space mission phases of the Apollo program.

One contracted support task was the preparation and presentation of systems & mission training briefings for the customer (NASA) personnel during all program phases. The plan was to provide an accelerated training program as the systems were developed, in order to meet the demands of the space race to the moon.

Instructors were selected from the most skilled and experienced personnel available on the job market. Only those personnel having a high degree of related background experience from the aerospace community were considered. Candidate instructors were assigned subject tasks and were given "wire brush" auditions before being considered for a member of the training team. Dry runs of a particular briefing were conducted by key personnel to ascertain that objective material was presented, and with a high degree of professionalism. When meeting these criteria, the briefings were scheduled for the customer. A course critique system was also established for the customer to provide feedback on the material and presentation. The target student population included the astronauts, flight simulation and control personnel, launch pad personnel, as well as the engineering & technical support staff of the NASA.

The instructor cadre was divided into five main groups, corresponding to spacecraft hardware.

Structural Systems

Electrical Systems

Mechanical

Propulsion

Environmental & Crew equipment

A special team was also required to present Spacecraft Systems and Mission Familiarization Briefings. This orientation level briefing was a prerequisite to all other courses.

All briefing (course) objectives were based on an analysis of the customer's job task needs as identified in an official training plan.