The success of Apollo 11 which included the historic presence of the first humans on the moon signified the greatest extent of human intellectual advancement. Apollo 11 was part of a larger project known as the Apollo Program, comprised of a large number of unmanned test missions and 11 manned missions. The Apollo Program was intended to land humans on the moon and safely return them back to Earth. Of the 15 missions executed, six resulted in success to date. The concept of space expedition was initially sparked by the Russian launch of satellite Sputnik during the Cold War. The launch induced the creation of NASA’s first human spaceflight program called Project Mercury. A portion of the United States saw the launch as beneficial, as it established the need for the country’s advance, whereas others were concerned about what the Soviet Union will make out of this achievement. The first successful manned space expedition executed was Apollo 7, which had a tremendous influence in the outcome of the subsequent missions. Various other missions were performed before the launch of Apollo 11, some of which were unsuccessful such as Apollo 1, whereas others, like Apollo 7, had prospered in assisting in the success of Apollo 11. During the momentous mission, the participants, Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin E. Aldrin, fulfilled their roles effectively. With the actions of those that participated in the mission, the United States was able to leave a physical mark on the uncharted territory thought to have been far beyond human reach.
We choose to go to the moon...
"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon, and returning him, safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more important in the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult of expensive to accomplish. "(John F. Kennedy - "Special Joint Session of Congress", May 25th, 1961)
With just a few words John F. Kennedy launched one of the largest endeavors that America has ever embarked upon. The address given to congress in May of 1961 put America in a race against Russia to see who could make it to the moon first.
...ause it was the mission that NASA was able to put the first man up onto the moon. Neil Armstrong was the pilot of the Apollo 11 flight. There was a special shuttle that was attached to the spaceship; it was called the Eagle. The Eagle was designed to transport some crew members down to the moon. Armstrong was responsible for driving and landing the shuttle safely down to the moon. While on his way down to the moon, Armstrong realized that he was starting to run out of fuel. Thankfully, Armstrong did have enough to land on the moon and make it back up to the spaceship. When the Eagle was leaving the spaceship for the first time up in space, it wasn't completely depressurized so there was something like a gas bubble come from the shuttle as it was on its way to the moon. The gas bubble moved the shuttle off course and the Eagle actually landed four miles off course.
Apollo Missions’ 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17 – these were all the successful missions that saw the crew landing into the moon and returned with valuable information, i.e. soil, lunar ranging, solar with experiments, etc.
The Faux Moon Landing Theory
July 20, 1969, in the midst of the Cold War, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins made history as the first humans to land on the moon. They returned home safely and America beat Russia in the race to get a human to the moon, one win in the great Space Race. However, some people think that they never went to the moon. According to conspiracy theorists, the moon landing was an elaborate hoax staged by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, and the United States government to claim victory in the great Space Race, basing their arguments on photographic errors and the effects of radiation.
Years later, after multitudes of tests and the Apollo 1 fire, NASA began test launches of the famous Saturn V rocket. Other tested spacecraft included the launch vehicles Apollo 4 and 6, and the Apollo 5 lunar module.
As a result of the Cold War America had been in an indirect dispute with the Soviet Union, fueled by competitive attitudes. The accomplishment of space exploration was a hot topic between the U.S. and U.S.S.R.; thus the term “space race” came to use. On May 25, 1961, John F. Kennedy announced the goal of sending an American safely to the Moon (Garber) before this decade is out (Kennedy). This goal was verbalized by Kennedy in 1961 giving The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) until 1971 to accomplish it. This objective drove NASA’s creation of the Apollo Program. Apollo 11 was a part of NASA’s Apollo Program; Apollo 11’s mission objection was to land on the moon. The spacecraft’s commander was the iconic Neil Armstrong. Apollo 11 was launched on July 16, 1969 at 9:32 a.m. EDT (Dunbar), an estimated 530 million people watched Armstrong televised image as he described this event as “…one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” on July 20, 1969 (Dunbar). Apollo 11 was The United States’ first mission to ma...
On January 31, 1958 the United States launched Explorer I, its first satellite. The U.S. began its Mercury program with an 18-minute flight on January 31, 1961 that carried a chimpanzee. The Soviet Union, meanwhile, had its Vostok program and on April 12, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space and completed one orbit aboard Vostok 1. In June 1963 Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. The United States started to catch up on February 20, 1962 when John Glenn orbited the earth three times. The US Apollo 11 mission launched on July 16, 1969 and Neil Armstrong became the first person to step on the moon.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration started as a civilian space exploration program with the role of dominance over space exploration for the United States. The program was termed as NASA was created in 1958 and by 1969 the Apollo crew had walked on the moon. However due to budget constraints the program became part of the Air force. In 1970 Nixon approved the Space Transportation System (STS) the shuttle program has is first steps to becoming a dominate force within space exploration. A new fuel system was developed to help reduce cost that consisted of a mix of solid and liquid fuel system. This created a three part flight assembly consisting of the rocket booster, external fuel tank and the orbiter. This new system allowed NASA to reuse the orbiter which became known as the shuttle.
In the early 1960s, Ames Research Center, in conjunction with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) started the Pioneer Jupiter Project. The primary objectives of this project were to explore the environments of Jupiter and Saturn, collect data the outer heliosphere, and to investigate the nature of the asteroid belt. In order to accomplish these objectives, two spacecraft were built. Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11, as they were named, were launched from the Earth on March 2, 1972 and March 3, 1973, respectively (Dyal 373). There have been other Pioneer missions, but none are as important as this one. With a very similar objective of exploring the outer planets, NASA created two more space probes. Built with superior technology