Landing on the moon occurs when a spacecraft touches down or enters orbit around its surface, such as Luna 2 did in 1966. Armstrong and Aldrin used Eagle to deploy instruments that collected rock and soil samples, took pictures and verified their equipment was working as intended. The astronauts also conducted engine tests for Eagle,…
34 years ago, a Saturn V rocket launched from Cape Kennedy with Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins aboard. Millions of viewers across the world watched live as Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins successfully reached and landed on the moon. President Kennedy had spent weeks carefully considering America’s space options after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made headlines by…
Landing on the Moon requires immense amounts of energy. That energy must be carefully managed in order to achieve an efficient landing on its surface. Surveyor 1 was the inaugural spacecraft of its kind to take high-resolution photos and create a map of potential Apollo landing sites on the Moon’s far side. Controllers deliberately crashed…
Spacecraft are vehicles capable of traversing space to other planets or satellites, as well as for other uses, such as communications. NASA’s Perseverance lander will attempt a landing at Elysium Planitia on Mars’ most challenging region: Elysium Planitia features sand dunes, steep cliffs and boulders – an intimidating destination. 1. Viking 1 NASA scientists in…
Spacecraft are vehicles designed to leave Earth’s atmosphere and travel through space, including satellites that orbit our planet, robots sent out into outer space, and vehicles used by astronauts traveling to the Moon. Armstrong descended the ladder from Columbia into Eagle and made history when he set foot onto the lunar surface for the first…
Unmanned spacecraft include satellite communications, weather and military surveillance satellites as well as telescopes. Landing on Mars can be an enormously complex challenge. NASA’s Curiosity rover demonstrated how difficult this task could be in 2012 by performing flawlessly through an incredibly complex sequence, including successfully deploying an elaborate sky crane system to lower itself onto…
Spacecraft are vehicles designed for space travel that may or may not require pilotage, with each maneuver using limited fuel to speed towards its destination. NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity arrived on Mars in 2012 to search for evidence of past life. Equipped with its Mastcam-Z camera, Curiosity captures stunning panoramic and stereooscopic photos of Mars….
We currently possess 8,400 publicly available photos of the Moon, hundreds of hours of video footage, and mountains of scientific data pertaining to its formation and structure – plus 382 kilograms of Moon rock! On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin from Apollo 11 became humanity’s first steps on another world. Six…
Control room engineers watch closely as the spacecraft they have worked tirelessly on for months approaches the Moon. Telemetry data indicates everything is running smoothly, and landing should occur soon – then all goes silent. Five of seven Surveyor spacecraft made successful uncrewed lunar landings and collected samples, successfully exploring its surface. Surveyor 1 This…
