How to Get a Spacecraft to the Moon

Moon exploration has long been an exciting prospect, drawing the interest of various agencies and private companies alike – though their attempts often resulted in mixed outcomes.

Surveyor 5 was equipped with a scoop designed to “weigh” lunar rocks, returning images that helped scientists map its surface composition. Mission controllers sent it crashing towards the Moon in January 1968.

Landing on the Moon

Six government space agencies – Interkosmos, NASA, China’s CNSA), India’s ISRO and Japan’s JAXA — have successfully placed uncrewed spacecraft on the moon. Three private/commercial organizations such as Israeli space company Beresheet and Japan’s ispace’s Hakuto-R have attempted but failed to land unmanned spacecraft on it as well.

Many people believe the lunar landings were staged. Theories include taking photographs from an unmanned spacecraft and suggesting astronauts didn’t actually land on the Moon surface.

Truth be told, landing on the Moon safely was one of the greatest technical hurdles facing both countries in the late 1950s. Both nations were engaged in an epic Cold War race to outdo one another; Wernher von Braun popularized the idea of sending a crewed expedition there through various articles in Collier’s magazine and faced immense technical hurdles from getting close enough to orbital orbit before atmospheric reentry without overheating as they competed for supremacy.

Getting to the Moon

To reach the moon, spacecraft must first leave Earth’s gravity well. A rocket is the ideal vehicle to do this – pushing mass backwards as they accelerate forwards while changing orbital paths using various maneuvers.

Once close enough to the Moon, spacecraft must decide at what angle they can penetrate its atmosphere in order to reduce speed. Too steep an approach could generate excessive friction heating; too shallow would prevent sufficient deceleration.

Making it to the moon requires meticulous energy management, which is why rockets play such an integral role. Capable of carrying large amounts of fuel quickly when needed, most spacecraft arrive within days – the first being Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 which first made contact in 1959 with its mission being to collect samples from lunar surfaces before returning them home for analysis.

Getting on the Moon

Rockets that take you to the moon require immense power in order to escape Earth’s gravity, thus increasing costs associated with construction and launch of spacecraft. Once in space, however, these costlier vehicles consume large amounts of fuel while remaining delicate enough to be destroyed with even minor incidents; as a result, astronauts (American) or cosmonauts (Russians) with special training are required for safe operations of their craft.

Engineers first must identify when and where a spacecraft can launch; this is known as its launch window. Next, they need to determine how fast their craft needs to move to reach its destination; once this information is obtained, an orbit can be determined for this mission. Finally, engineers need to launch it into orbit around Earth so it will gradually move closer toward reaching lunar surface until finally landing there.

Getting off the Moon

Scientists who wish to explore the moon and beyond require a spacecraft capable of leaving Earth’s gravity. Unfortunately, spaceflight requires lots of energy that adds weight both to the craft itself and the rocket that lifts it; thus making spacecraft expensive to build, launch, and operate – particularly those carrying humans known as astronauts or cosmonauts.

Before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took one small step on to the lunar surface on 20 July 1969, they resided in a tiny command module called Columbia that was no larger than an automobile’s interior. Once in lunar orbit they detached their lunar excursion module (LEM), climbing into it and detaching propulsion that enabled it to enter its atmosphere slowly before slowing down to enter it semi-manually until eventually landing it safely on its surface on 20 July 1969 – one small step for man, yet one giant leap for mankind!