The Space Race Begins
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in a tense battle for technological supremacy known as the Space Race. The Soviets took an early lead with the successful launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, in October 1957. They followed this by sending the first human, Yuri Gagarin, into orbit in April 1961.
Eager to re-establish American leadership, President John F. Kennedy announced the bold goal in May 1961 of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth before the end of the decade. This ambitious objective would be accomplished through NASA’s Apollo program, a massive undertaking involving hundreds of thousands of people and costing over $25 billion.
Project Apollo Takes Shape
The basic architecture for the Apollo missions was established early on. A powerful multistage rocket, the Saturn V, would propel the spacecraft to the Moon. The Apollo spacecraft itself consisted of three main components:
- The command module, a conical capsule housing the three-person crew for the journey to lunar orbit and back to Earth
- The service module containing support systems and the main engine
- The two-stage lunar module that would carry two astronauts to the lunar surface and return them to the command module
Tragically, the Apollo program suffered a major setback in January 1967 when a fire during a launch rehearsal test killed the crew of what was to be the first manned mission, Apollo 1. The disaster prompted a redesign of the command module and a review of safety procedures.
The First Crewed Apollo Missions
Crewed flights resumed in October 1968 with Apollo 7, an 11-day Earth-orbital mission that tested the Apollo command and service modules. Then in December, Apollo 8 became the first manned spacecraft to orbit another celestial body as its crew of Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders circled the Moon ten times on Christmas Eve and captivated the world with a live television broadcast.
The next two missions continued to push the envelope. In March 1969, Apollo 9 tested the lunar module with a complex series of maneuvers in Earth orbit. Then in May, the Apollo 10 crew of Tom Stafford, John Young, and Gene Cernan took the lunar module on a “dress rehearsal” for landing, descending to within 50,000 feet of the Moon’s surface.
One Giant Leap
The stage was now set for the historic Apollo 11 mission. On July 16, 1969, the gigantic Saturn V rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. After orbiting the Earth one and a half times, the third stage reignited to send Apollo 11 to the Moon.
On July 20, as Collins remained in lunar orbit in the command module Columbia, Armstrong and Aldrin entered the lunar module Eagle and began their powered descent to the surface. Despite some tense moments when the onboard computer overloaded and the landing radar briefly malfunctioned, Eagle safely touched down on the Sea of Tranquility at 4:17 pm EDT with less than 30 seconds of fuel remaining.
A few hours later, Armstrong climbed down the ladder and at 10:56 pm uttered the immortal words: “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.” Aldrin joined him shortly after, and together they spent two and a half hours outside the spacecraft, collecting samples, taking photographs, and deploying scientific experiments. After a total of 21 hours on the Moon, the lunar module’s ascent stage fired and the two astronauts rejoined Collins in lunar orbit. Apollo 11 splashed down safely in the Pacific on July 24.
Further Exploration
NASA quickly followed up this triumph with six more lunar landing missions over the next three and a half years, each more ambitious than the last:
- Apollo 12 (November 1969) made a pinpoint landing in the Ocean of Storms and retrieved parts of the unmanned Surveyor 3 spacecraft.
- Apollo 13 (April 1970) suffered a near-catastrophic explosion in the service module but managed to return its crew safely to Earth.
- Apollo 14 (January 1971) touched down near Fra Mauro crater and conducted two lengthy moonwalks totaling over 9 hours.
- Apollo 15 (July 1971) was the first of the “J missions” capable of longer stays on the Moon. Its crew explored the Hadley-Apennine region for three days with the first lunar rover.
- Apollo 16 (April 1972) landed in the Descartes Highlands and included the first deep space EVA.
- Apollo 17 (December 1972), the last Apollo mission, set endurance records with a total of over 22 hours spent outside the spacecraft.
Scientific Legacy
While the political goal of beating the Soviets to the Moon provided the impetus for the Apollo program, the missions also contributed enormously to our scientific understanding of Earth’s nearest neighbor. The 842 pounds (382 kg) of lunar rocks, core samples, pebbles, sand and dust returned by the Apollo astronauts have given researchers unparalleled insight into the Moon’s composition, structure and geological history.
Analysis of this material has confirmed that the Moon, like Earth, is divided into layers – a crust, mantle, and core. Most of the surface consists of heavily cratered highlands formed over 4 billion years ago, with younger lava-filled impact basins known as maria (seas) that erupted between 3 and 4 billion years ago.
Tiny grains within the rocks also revealed that the Moon once possessed a magnetic field, and that its surface has been bombarded by radiation and particles from the solar wind over its long history. Seismometers placed by the astronauts recorded thousands of moonquakes and provided information about the deep interior. Other instruments measured the Moon’s tenuous atmosphere, heat flow from the interior, and precise distance from Earth.
An Enduring Achievement
Since Apollo 17 lifted off from the Taurus-Littrow valley on December 14, 1972, no human has ventured more than a few hundred miles above Earth. The Apollo program demonstrated what could be accomplished when a nation marshaled its resources and ingenuity towards a single goal. Its legacy continues to inspire new generations of scientists, engineers, and explorers.
The Apollo missions were one of the defining events of the 20th century. In the span of just a few short years, humans progressed from taking their first tentative steps above Earth to walking on another world. The bravery of the astronauts and the dedication of the 400,000 Americans who worked on the program will never be forgotten. As Armstrong said in his first steps on the Moon, it was a giant leap for all mankind.
