Apollo 11 was the mission that landed the first man on the moon. On July 21st, 1969 the whole world stopped to watch as Neil Armstrong took his first steps, making man’s first footprints on the surface of the Moon. Meanwhile, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union were growing and the heat of the arms race was smoldering. Upon the conclusion of the mission, Apollo 11’s crew of three was successfully recovered along with the photographs taken on the lunar surface; many of which are quite iconic to this day. However, one in particular stood out with respects to American achievement. It displayed an astronaut on the moon saluting the stars and stripes of the American flag in front of the Eagle Lunar module. One could argue that this photo was taken to represent the extent of America’s interest in scientific exploration. But before we should jump to any conclusions, we must first take a closer look into why we chose to send Americans to the Moon in the first place. Does the photograph of the saluting astronaut truly represent America’s interests in science and exploration? Or does it in fact reveal the hidden agenda of the United States to keep a leg up in the Cold War? The space race had begun after the Soviets had successfully launched the first artificial satellite that could orbit the earth. The announcement of Sputnik’s success was a shock to the United States, which began what was known as the “Sputnik crisis”. This was conceived as a major threat. If the soviets could design a rocket that could reach space, what could stop them from using that same rocket to deliver a warhead anywhere in the world? Within less than a year later, Congressed passed the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) which was a program tha... ... middle of paper ... ...over all nations in the race for space. We chose to go to the moon for many reasons –for science, technological advancement, even for the exploration of new worlds –yet why have we not continued to do so? Today in the year 2014, government funding for NASA has been cut exponentially since the days of Apollo. The United States no longer has the need for the continuation of manned space travel. The Cold War is long over along with the Soviet Union, which defeats the need to continue to exceed Russia with our technology. The purpose behind why the United States chose to go to the moon was not for the pure sake of science, but for the interests of the Cold War. Work Cited Kennedy, John F. "The Moon Speech." Rice University. Rice Stadium, Houston, Texas. 12 Sept. 1962. Speech. Shekhar Deshpande,”The Confident Gaze.” From little India, 1997. Reprinted with permission
In the 1960s the Cold War was at its peak, with both the USSR and America trying to spread their ideologies onto the rest of the world. The world was still uneasy due to the Korean War. In the public’s eyes, nuclear Armageddon was only a press of a button away. The Space Race was a welcome peaceful distraction for the world. The USSR and the United States were constantly trying to best each other in celestial exploration. In 1962, American President, John F Kennedy announced to America that by the end of the decade America would land a man on the moon. Kennedy carefully chose the audience and language of his speech to convince the public to support the Apollo Moon Program.
On July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong planted the first human footprints in the lunar soil. The United States had accomplished their goal in sending men to the moon. They managed to not only send them 238,857 mi. (384,403 km) into space to our neighbor celestial body, but also send them back with a successful flight to our mother earth. This seems like a difficult task for a country that was behind Russia in space exploration at the time.
America went to the moon in the 1960’s, during a time of war, a time that was so far behind in technology compared to now, but yet human beings went to the moon . Human beings are capable of many wonderful things and their potential has no limits, except for the limits that are placed by government and society. Neil deGrasse Tyson attempted to liberate NASA from the limits of low funding by giving a speech to the U.S Senate. Tyson used emotion and logical thinking to make the complexity of NASA as relatable to the audience as possible, and by doing so he wanted to convey to them how important NASA is in our society today and the future of the human kind.
The Space Race is remarkably similar to that of the arms race because of the parallel between the creation of the atomic bomb and the goal of reaching the moon. The United States’ bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki effectively established its place as the technologically superior nation; however, major milestones in space achieved early by the Soviets damaged America’s reputation. In 1957, Soviet scientists shocked the world by successfully launching the Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, beyond the Kármán Line (the boundary of space). This amazing breakthrough “rattled American self-confidence. It cast doubts on America’s vaunted scientific superiority and raised some sobering military questions.” This blow to national pride along with the fear that the Soviets could potentially launch ICBMs from space led to “Rocket fever”. The sudden wave of nationalism and the desire to build a space program worthier to that of the Soviet Union led to the...
Little did anyone know or expect this would be the most rewarding mission since 1961. Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, and Michael Collins left from the Kennedy Space Center on the east coast of Florida on July 16,1969. Michael Collins was the command module pilot, Neil Armstrong was the mission commander, and Buzz Aldrin was the lunar module pilot. The Apollo 11 crew traveled 240,000 miles in just 72 hours, Apollo 11 entered into a lunar orbit on July 19,1696. Collins detached for the lunar module The mission was already ahead of schedule with Americans waiting to see what was going to happen next for their country. At 10:39 p.m., Armstrong, being televised, opened the hatch of the lunar module, and three minutes later Armstrong made history by putting his left foot of the moon’s powdery surface. When Armstrong stepped down from the last step from the spacecraft, all of America jumped for excitement and joy. Aldrin soon joined Armstrong 19 minutes later, and together they took photographs, then planted the United States flag. President Nixon was so very blessed and honored that he was able to witness America make history on July 24, 1969 along with all of the other Americans. Returning back to Earth
The Cuban Missile Crisis Speech by John F. Kennedy, broadcasted on 22 October, 1962: available on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOnY6b-qy_8
On May 25, 1961, Congress met in a joint session to hear the American president, John F. Kennedy, address them in a speech he referred to as a second State of the Union. In his speech, the young president geared America for a race that would send men to the moon. Kennedy challenged America to “take longer strides” and to take a “leading role in space achievement, which, in many ways, may hold the key to our future on earth” (Burrows 330-331). America rose to the challenge, and within a decade, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were walking on the moon, becoming the first of the human race to walk on a world besides our own. The giant strides of which Kennedy challenged us soon slowed to a crawl, however, and after a few more missions, America would not go back again, possibly for good. America would soon turn its attention to other earthly issues, and its moon program would become nothing more than a memory. This gives rise to an inevitable question: should humans return to the moon? This question has haunted us for years, continuously rising and then fading away again. In recent months, new discoveries have brought it to the forefront, and with these new discoveries, the answer becomes obvious: humans should once again set their sights for the heavens, and putting a civilian lunar base and colony on the moon should be our next step.
When no other country had accomplished space travel to the moon, the United States set the president by sending Apollo 11 on a space exploration. The United States was a front-runner in the race to land a man on the moon. Apollo 11 was launched into space in 1969 and was quite different from the Apollo 10. The successful lunar landing of Apollo 11 made the United States a respected and competitive player in space technology.
Before President Kennedy’s 1961 speech funding for the Apollo program was less than 1 percent of NASA’s total budget. In the years following his speech Apollo’s share of the budget grew to 70 percent. Without that income it would not have been possible for NASA scientists and engineers, contractors and the entire country to put in the hours and energy to make this dream a reality.
The Cold War began soon after World War II in 1947. During this period, tensions were high against the United States and the Soviet Union. Especially during President Kennedy’s administration due to something called the “Space Race.” On October 4, 1957 Russia sent out the first ever satellite into space called Sputnik. The U.S. sent out their satellite, Explorer I, the following year. However, the Soviets sent the first man to space in 1961 the year John F. Kennedy got elected. He assured that the United States would get a man on the moon by the end of the century. As he predicted, it happened on July 20, 1969, therefore it made America win the Space Race.
October 4, 1957: The Russia launched Sputnik into space. Thus began the seemingly-eternal battle for control of space exploration. Who would get the first man into space; to the Moon, to Mars? Everything that could be done by either country was being done to give the edge. It soon became obvious to all that neither country was going to back down from the challenge. However, a lot has changed since 1957, governments have slumped, privatized exploration has taken charge. . . what happened? Where is space exploration going? Where is the human race, today?
These early space missions excited most of the people in developed countries, but there were some problems. The Soviet Union had made it into space, and now President John F. Kennedy wanted to land on the moon first. President John F. Kennedy said, "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving
As important of an endeavor as travelling to the moon was, a definite purpose to it is not immediately clear. However, it was a remarkable accomplishment for mankind, and the United States wanted to lead it. Millions of people watched the televised event because they knew this was an incredible advancement for humans (Redd). As Neil Armstrong made the first step, he summed up the point that this event would forever be an important achievement to the human race, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind" (Armstrong 268). At times it may seem that the development of new technology is stalling, but the moon landing proves that man is and will continue to make advancements. Only 66 years passed between the first airplane by the Wright Brothers and the moon landing (Stimson).
On September 12, 1962 John Franklin Kennedy charged the nation to achieve what no other civilization had done before; he charged the United States to place a man on the moon. Kennedy delivered his man on the moon speech in a time of great peril for the United States. It appeared that the Soviet Union was rising faster than the United States was posed to take our place as the world’s super power. His moving speech in Rice Stadium inspired the nation and other nations, to take the challenge and travel to the moon. Kennnedy use of allusions, repetition, and rhetorical questions motivate and embolden his audience, and make a difference that would last forever.
After World War II ended, a silent war slowly began between the USSR and USA. It was a technology war. The two superpowers raced to the moon, but they couldn’t do this themselves. Both sides tried to recruit the German scientists that were behind the V-2 rockets. Using the V-2 rocket technology that could reach the speed of nearly 3500mph, both sides rushed to find the brilliant scientists behind the rockets technology. The race to space was very important during this time because of the Cold War era and they used satellites to spy on one another. Both countries were strong military wise and it was an equal match but to prove who’s the strongest the race to space began.