APOLLO 11 AND MANKIND'S JOURNEY TO THE MOON
The Apollo program was the name of NASA's project to land men on the moon in the 1960s and early 1970s. With the success of Apollo 11 in 1969, which put astronauts on the lunar surface for the first time in history, the U.S. was able to declare victory in the space race against the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Beginning in 1961, the Apollo program consisted of 11 total spaceflights; four of those tested equipment, and six of the other seven flights landed people on the moon, according to NASA. The first crewed flight occurred in 1968, and the final mission occurred in 1972. By the time the Apollo missions came to an end, 12 astronauts had walked on or driven over the moon's surface, conducting scientific research and snagging rocks to bring back to researchers on Earth. These samples are still being used to make new discoveries more than 50 years after they were collected.
The Apollo program grew out of the space race, a contest that began in 1957 between the capitalist U.S. and communist Soviet Union over superiority in space. With the Russians ahead during the start of the race, U.S. President John F. Kennedy challenged the newly created NASA to land men on the moon and return them safely to earth. The Apollo program required a monumental effort, employing roughly half a million people in the United States, according to SpaceFlight Insider. The program cost a total of $28 billion over its lifetime, or approximately $283 billion when adjusted for inflation. By the early 1970s, the high price of the Apollo program and waning public interest led to its cancellation. President Richard Nixon and legislators in Congress decided to redirect Apollo's funding elsewhere, like the Vietnam War. Apollo 17 was the final mission of the program, and the first to include a scientist, geologist Harrison "Jack" Smith, who helped identify important rock specimens to bring home.
The Space Race with the Soviet Union was moving beyond a competition to place satellites and animals in orbit. Plans for the human exploration and militarization of space were well underway by both countries. President Kennedy spent several weeks assessing America's options for competing with the Soviets in space. On May 25, 1961, he announced the goal of landing a man on the Moon before a joint session of Congress (see video). At that point, the total time spent in space by an American was barely 15 minutes.
President John F. Kennedy sought to bolster public support for his proposal to land a man on the Moon before 1970 and bring him safely back to Earth. He formally addressed the nation on September 12, 1962 before a large crowd at Rice University Stadium in Houston, Texas. In his famous "We choose to go to the Moon" speech, Kennedy characterized space as a new frontier, invoking the pioneer spirit that dominated American history. He infused the speech with a sense of urgency and destiny, and emphasized that Americans could choose their destiny rather than have it chosen for them. Kennedy's goal was realized posthumously, in July 1969, with the Apollo program's successful Apollo 11 mission.
NASA developed several vehicles specifically for Apollo, most famously the Saturn V rocket. One of the biggest launch vehicles ever flown, the Saturn V was as tall as a 36-story building and consisted of three stages. Atop the rocket sat the Apollo command module, a three-person capsule that held the astronauts traveling to the moon and back. The inside of the vessel had about as much room as the interior of a car, making for fairly cramped traveling conditions during the roughly week-long lunar voyages. Finally, there was the lunar module, which carried two astronauts down to the lunar surface and landed on spindly legs. Once surface excursions were over and astronauts had climbed back inside, the lunar module's top portion fired its engine and ascended to the command module for the return to Earth.
The culmination of Apollo was the Apollo 11 mission, when the first astronauts set foot on the moon. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the lunar surface on July 20, 1969, while Michael Collins flew the command module Columbia over it. Armstrong uttered his iconic words, "that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," as he stepped onto the moon. The astronauts spent 21 hours and 36 minutes on the surface before returning to the command module.
The primary objective of Apollo 11 was to complete a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961: perform a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth. Additional flight objectives included scientific exploration by the lunar module, or LM, crew; deployment of a television camera to transmit signals to Earth; and deployment of a solar wind composition experiment, seismic experiment package and a Laser Ranging Retroreflector. During the exploration, the two astronauts were to gather samples of lunar-surface materials for return to Earth. They also were to extensively photograph the lunar terrain, the deployed scientific equipment, the LM spacecraft, and each other, both with still and motion picture cameras. This was to be the last Apollo mission to fly a “free-return” trajectory, which would enable a return to Earth with no engine firing, providing a ready abort of the mission at any time prior to lunar orbit insertion.