President Kennedy challenged Americans to land on the moon and explore other planets, and NASA’s Apollo program eventually succeeded in doing just that in 1969.
Armstrong and Aldrin emerged from Eagle, their lunar module, onto the lunar surface, to take “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. Their mission had been successful.
Apollo 1
After Mercury and Gemini missions had established human spaceflight as a possibility, NASA set its sights on an even grander goal – landing astronauts on the Moon. Apollo 1 was intended as a first step toward that objective but a fire caused by an electrical spark claimed three lives: Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee were killed during its flight.
Accidentally derailing the program temporarily, but within a year manned Apollo 11 succeeded in fulfilling President John F. Kennedy’s aim – on July 21, 1969 Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin made history when they emerged from Eagle on their historic lunar module voyage.
They successfully planted the United States flag in a lunar crater known as Sea of Tranquility before conducting research into its environment – taking photographs, inspecting equipment, and collecting rock samples. Analysis after the mission demonstrated that many rocks contained titanium along with basalts and breccias formed from pieces of other rocks – making this mission an outstanding success that would pave the way for five additional successful moon landings in subsequent years.
Apollo 2
Apollo 11 astronauts took their inaugural steps onto the Moon on July 20, 1969. Their historic mission, which marked the first time ever utilizing Lunar Module (LM), ended when they safely returned home in their Command/Service Module Eagle and onto Earth.
Armstrong and Aldrin made history once more the following month when they set foot on the lunar surface for over two hours, using seismometers to monitor moonquakes, as well as laser reflectors which allowed scientists to accurately determine distance between Earth and Moon. Furthermore, they collected 21.6 kilograms of samples and other equipment.
This mission, like all in the Mercury and Gemini programs, was intended to test the spacecraft and its systems. But this one stood out: It showed humans could leave low-Earth orbit and travel to the moon for the first time ever! Additionally, this marked an essential step toward NASA’s ultimate goal of landing humans on Mars.
Apollo 3
As the project moved along, NASA managers became more conservative while taking risks to meet President Kennedy’s end-of-decade lunar landing target. When the Saturn V rocket lifted off from Cape Kennedy and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped into their Eagle lunar module with Michael Collins piloting the CSM Columbia mothership mothership, risks had to be taken.
As they approached their landing in the Sea of Tranquility, astronauts made an arduous voyage. Once there, Armstrong gave an inspiring speech about humanity’s drive to reach for the stars.
After three days on the Moon, Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins returned to Earth via Eagle while Collins remained behind in Command Module. A helicopter delivered their Biological Isolation Garments (BIGs), with decontamination officer Clancy Hatleberg towing them on to a raft attached to their capsule and spraying them with Betadine to decontaminate. Finally, Hatleberg closed vents carefully orchestrated by her decontamination officer to keep out any potentially contaminated air during its recovery from being drawn back into its recovery before closing vents to prevent entry during recovery of its recovery from entering during its return journey home.
Apollo 4
One of the more widely held conspiracy theories about NASA’s moon landings is that they were staged, due to radiation risks presented by passing through the “Van Allen” belts without receiving harmful doses of radiation. While NASA was aware of these dangers, steps were taken to minimise them – such as designing spacecraft with insulation against radiation exposure and optimizing their trajectory to minimize exposure time within these belts.
Apollo 11 concluded with Armstrong and Aldrin’s landing of Eagle on July 20, bringing to a successful conclusion their 21-hour, 34-minute mission on Earth’s surface before undocking from Columbia and firing up Eagle’s descent engine for its return trip home.
The Apollo astronauts performed science and engineering experiments, took photos of their surroundings and displayed an American flag; collected rock samples for study back on Earth; as well as collected soil and rock samples to bring back with them – providing cartographers a high-resolution map of the Moon as one major result of these missions.
Apollo 5
Apollo 5 marked the second moon landing. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin emerged from their lunar module onto its surface, conducting various experiments and collecting rock samples.
The astronauts took photos of the surrounding landscape and placed an American flag, reading plaque and other objects on the ground for filming purposes – they filmed all activities for television broadcasts.
One theory suggesting the landings were faked stems from Van Allen radiation belts – large doughnut-shaped belts that encase our planet and contain deadly charged particles – but Nasa employed measures to shield astronauts from these potentially lethal radiations with aluminium shielding, and set their trajectory so as to minimize time spent within them.
Apollo 5 utilized one lunar module as a test version that would eventually carry men to the moon on future missions, and engineers were convinced it could deliver human cargo on schedule.
Apollo 6
Armstrong and Aldrin successfully navigated a risky landing in a shallow lunar crater aboard Eagle, exploring its surface while photographing what has become one of the iconic images of Earth from space – helping inspire today’s environmental movement.
Apollo 17 marked the final Apollo mission to land on the Moon, with astronauts landing in crater Descartes to collect samples that revealed that it is not composed solely of volcanic rock as scientists had hypothesized.
Apollo 12 received less press attention due to civil rights leader Martin Luther King’s assassination on launch day; nevertheless, this mission proved itself successful by testing Saturn V’s ability to send both CSM and LM on lunar return trajectory despite severe vibrations during launch, as well as re-testing an ascent stage engine damaged by POGO issues.
Apollo 7
Apollo 7, the inaugural crewed Apollo flight, began its orbit around the Moon in December 1968 under Commander Wally Schirra’s guidance, moving in an elliptical path around it. Although successful at qualifying the Command/Service Module (CSM) for future use and transmitting live television broadcasts from space, tensions emerged among astronauts after this mission due to disputes regarding television broadcast and food shortage issues; Schirra decided after Apollo 7 ended to retire from NASA altogether.
On 20 July 1969, Armstrong and Aldrin released the Eagle lunar module from Columbia command module (CM), while Collins remained inside Columbia CM. They fired their descent engine before landing near Sea of Tranquility where they conducted scientific and exploratory experiments, took photographs of their surroundings and displayed American flag. Armstrong and Aldrin’s single moonwalk lasted two and half hours.
Apollo 8
Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders aboard Apollo 8 made history when they became the first humans to depart low-Earth orbit. Their rapid mission aimed to demonstrate to the world that American technology was evolving toward reaching President Kennedy’s goal of landing humans on the Moon.
On July 16, astronauts launched from Cape Kennedy and successfully entered Earth orbit. An engine burn placed their command module, or CSM, in lunar orbit before another engine burn brought it down to an orbit of 111 by 306 kilometers at the end of their second orbit.
At approximately 500 miles out from the lunar surface, Armstrong initiated his descent engine for 756.3 seconds and used this power to land in the Sea of Tranquility on Site 2 near Luna’s far side. Once on land, Armstrong planted an American flag before reading from a plaque bearing the words: “One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Humanity”. Aldrin joined him shortly afterwards.
Apollo 9
Apollo 9 was intended to evaluate and demonstrate lunar module capabilities as part of a combined spacecraft mission to demonstrate human lunar flight capabilities. To this end, its purpose was to test both CSM and Lunar Module’s dock/undock ability as well as performing system functions over periods equivalent to an extended lunar mission.
Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the Moon on July 21, 1969, fulfilling President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 goal to send humans there by the end of the decade. On his sole lunar walk with Buzz Aldrin, Armstrong deployed science and engineering experiments, photographed their surroundings, displayed an American flag, read an inscription plaque, collected rock samples for return home as souvenirs, deployed engineering experiments to study lunar weathering patterns, deployed science experiments that investigated water on Mars, took photographs with an underwater camera to evaluate potential sources of contamination, displayed an American flag during which they displayed it, read an inscription plaque before collecting soil samples to return them home on Earth before collecting rock samples to bring back in 2016.
The crew named their CSM Gumdrop and LM Spider after how they looked in space and during shipment, and tested a new Apollo spacesuit during these missions. Later “J”-type missions added Lunar Roving Vehicles as landing vehicles, increasing how much ground an astronaut could cover on moonwalks.