NASA 3: Exploring The Stars

On July 16, 1969, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins began their journey towards the moon’s surface in the Apollo 11 operation. By July 19, the men entered the lunar orbit. July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin descended towards the moon on the lunar module, the Eagle, while Collins remained in the command module (“The Space Race”). On this day, Armstrong “became the first man to walk on the moon’s surface; he famously called the moment ‘one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’” (“The Space Race”). After docking and rejoining Collins, Apollo 11 successfully returned home. Russia was unable to match this feat, as they failed four lunar landing attempts between the years 1969 and 1972 (“The Space Race”). The U.S. had officially won the space race.

On May 25, 1961 President John F. Kennedy paved the way for the world’s first lunar landing when he announced the US’s ambitious goal to place an American on the moon before the end of the decade. This historic announcement was fueled by desires to beat the Soviet Union, and show the United State’s dominance, the need for a uniting cause among the American people, and a desire to lead the world in the scientific field.

This was it, America's chance to win the space race. The Apollo Lunar Program was then formed. On December 21, 1968 Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders began the first manned journey from the earth to the moon on the Apollo 8. They orbited the moon and returned safely. On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11's lunar module landed on the moon. Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon, and said the iconic words "that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" and placed the American flag on the moon. The Soviet union canceled their lunar program, and the space race was over.

During the 1960’s, President John F. Kennedy proposed a challenge that the United States could get a man on the moon within the decade. On July 17, 1969 NASA launched their Apollo 11 mission, piloted by Michael Collins. The goal was to get man onto the moon. It took the spacecraft 72 hours to enter lunar orbit. On July 20, man landed a spacecraft on the moon. 7 hours later Astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped out onto the moon surface. As the now famous statement goes, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” said Armstrong. For the next few hours Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin spent their time collecting samples and performing tests. On July 21, they launched off the moon and started their trip back home. This

Trial and error was the focus for forging a successful mission’s launch vehicle and spacecraft. Sadly, after setback of a launch fire that killed three training astronauts, Apollo 7, yielded the first success in systems and structure on October 1968. 9:32 A.M. at Kennedy Space Center. Subsequently, Armstrong, Buzz, and Michael Collins launched Apollo 11 and entered lunar orbit on July 19th, 1969. In fact, upon landing Apollo 11 on the surface of the moon, Armstrong radioed Mission Control and relayed another famous phrase, “The Eagle has landed.” These four words signified a successful moon landing. At the height of a growing conspiracy, a television camera that was attached to the spacecraft captured Armstrong’s progress down the module’s ladder. Buzz joined Armstrong a few minutes later where they spent the night on the surface of the moon, constructing the American flag, as well as, a plaque that read, “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the moon–July 1969 A.D–We came in peace for all mankind.”

In the period of 1960, no one could imagine a man can travel to the moon. On 20 July 1969, Apollo 11 launched to the moon. The first step on the moon proved the United States’ technology capacity. Due to the Cold War there was a Space race between U.S. and Soviet Union. Both of these countries wanted to show their technology development. John F. Kennedy was the 35th president during that time. He wanted the United States to get ahead of the Soviet Union also to demonstrate the technology capacity of the United States. John F. Kennedy wanted to accomplish the goal within decades. On 12th September 1962, President Kennedy made a speech at Rice University about United States decided to go to the moon.

JFK's call for human exploration of the moon turned NASA’s spaceflight efforts toward the goal of a lunar landing. What many thought as an impossible goal was achieved eight years later on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon’s surface.

Throughout history, the United States and the U.S.S.R. have been competing in what is known as the "Space Race". This all began when the Russians sent the first satellite into space in 1958 called Sputnik. Soon after, Americans did the same. The U.S. followed in the footsteps of the U.S.S.R. with sending animals into space. When they sent the first human into space, Yuriy Gagaran, it became evident that the race to the moon had begun. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy made a speech saying "We will go to the moon in this decade amongst other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard." After he was assassinated, NASA decided to pursue his plan and in 1967 the Apollo program began. In 1969, NASA landed Apollo 11 on

Early in 1959, Luna I made a trip past the moon, and on September 14,1959, Luna II crashed on the moon. Luna II was truly the first actual visit by spacecraft to another object in space (McArthur, 29-30). The United States started the Apollo mission with the goals of reaching the moon and sending people to land on the moon safely. The Apollo missions go off to a rough start when on January 27, 1967, Apollo I caught on fire during the preflight test. Apollo II-VI where unmanned moon orbiter space crafts. Apollo VII was launched on October 11, 1968, and had three peope on board.It was in spaced for a little bit less than 11 days and in that time it orbted the moon colecting data. Apollo VIII was launched on December 21, 1968 and was in space over christmas and on christma eve they made a telecast were the astronauts red verses from the bible. On Apollo VII they also made five other telecasts. Apollo IX was launched on March 3, 1969, and collected more data on the moon and experimented with photography. Apollo X was launched May 18, 1969 and while in orbit tracked the moon's main landmarks. On July 16,1969, Apollo 11 blasted into space with Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, and Michael Collins (Loff). When it came time to attempt to and on the moon mission control tried to guide Apollo 11 somewhere Armstrong fet was too risky so he took over and went to land somewhere

The Apollo 11 mission was a very influential success for the U.S. This program marked itself in U.S. history and sparked a new American exploration in

On July 2th, 1969 with only 25 seconds of fuel left, the first manned mission to the moon landed safely inside a 300-meter wide crater. From Tranquility Base came the first transmission from the lunar surface that the American craft known as the “Eagle” had landed. While the return trip would be just as dangerous as the 8-days travelled to the moon, the main objective was completed, and the world knew that American now led the space race. (Phys.org)

Plans to send probes to Venus and Mars commanded most of the scientists’ attention until the Soviets sent unmanned probes to the Moon in 1959. The US responded by initiating the Ranger program, but only received its first success in 1964, with the launch of Ranger 7, which was the first probe to transmit useful data to NASA before its inevitable crash-landing on the lunar surface. The subsequent Ranger missions were equally prosperous, with the last ten

During the 1960s the superpowers of the world Russia and the US were in great tension during the space race. And the finish line was the moon. The race ended on July 20, 1969 when Apollo 11 landed on the moon and Neal Armstrong took the historical first steps on the moon. During the Apollo missions many questions were asked from is it even possible? To. Can man walk on the moon or is there not enough gravity so they would just float off in space? But through much research and great people. Some things I learned from my research was there were 2 other mission before the Apollo missions ever started. The mercury missions and the Gemini mission. The purpose of the mercury missions was to put a man in space and the purpose of Gemini was to test

Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin were the three people sent into space for the Apollo 11 space mission, the very first moon landing. With millions of people watching, a United States astronaut was televised, setting foot on the moon for the very first time. Some people thought that the moon landing was faked by the U.S.’s desire to beat the union in the Space Race. But facts made by these theories were mere speculation. The moon landing was the only hope for improvement for the future to others. Even through all the wreckage in the world, the Space Race, the Cold war, even the Vietnam war, we managed to get to the moon, which was

You have probably heard the quote “...one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” by Neil Armstrong. This is what he said when he landed back from the moon. This event is also called Apollo 11. Apollo 11 was an event that took place in the 1960’s when Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, and Michael Collins went to the moon. This is a significant event that is still talked about today. These reasons should explain why Apollo 11 is significant in the world today.