Apollo 11
When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 in 1957, it terrified the United States. The nation had already been moving towards launching satellites, but it had been going slowly, and the fact that the USSR was ahead was a shock. Nor would it get any better: in 1961, the Soviets put Yuri Gagarin into orbit on Vostok 1. Even as the US struggled to catch up, it seemed like the Soviets owned space: a Russian orbited first, made the first rendezvous, put the first woman in space, made the first spacewalk. With the Cold War at one of its peaks, something had to be done. President John F. Kennedy put the challenge to both NASA and the American people: beat the Soviets to the Moon.
This task had to be done in steps. First came Project Mercury, which was to get single-man capsules into space at all. Then Gemini got two astronauts up at a time and practiced long duration flights and rendezvous in space. Apollo, with three-man spacecraft, would get men to the Moon. The technical challenges alone, just for Apollo, were staggering: how to get there, how to put astronauts on the Moon safely, and how to get them home. Eventually, NASA settled on a three-part spacecraft: the command module (CM) that would carry the three astronauts into orbit and home; the service module (SM) that held fuel and oxygen; and the lunar module (LM) that would take two of the three down to the Moon's surface and back. All three would be "stacked" atop a Saturn V rocket, the most powerful rocket ever constructed. Of the gigantic structure, only the CM would actually return home.
Apollo suffered a tragic setback when the Apollo 1 fire killed three astronauts (Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee), but major changes were made. The next Apollo missions were incremental: testing the spacecraft in Earth orbit (Apollo 7 and 9), flying to the Moon with a CM (Apollo 8), and a dress rehearsal for the landing itself (Apollo 10). By summer 1969, it was time to complete the mission with Apollo 11.
Apollo 11's crew would be Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, and Michael Collins. Selecting Armstrong for mission commander was a little unusual--he was a civilian, albeit with military experience--but his performance during the Gemini program made him the best choice. Aldrin would go with Armstrong to the Moon, while Collins remained in orbit aboard the CM, nicknamed Columbia; the LM was nicknamed Eagle. (The more patriotic names were chosen after NASA felt Apollo 10's nicknames--Charlie Brown and Snoopy--were not "professional" enough.)
Apollo 11 was launched on 16 July 1969, as millions around the world watched. The mission went without a hitch all the way to the Moon, but as Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the Moon aboard Eagle, computer alarms began going off. These turned out to be simple glitches, and the mission continued, but then Armstrong noticed that the computer was taking them to a boulder-strewn landing zone. He took manual control and steered to a more clear area, and left the engine on until actual landing, though NASA doctrine called for an engine shutdown before the LM landed, and it used more fuel than the mission called for.
As it turned out, these would be the only glitches on Apollo 11. Almost three hours after landing on 20 July 1969, Armstrong stepped out onto the Moon's surface--the first time a human being had stepped onto another celestial object. Millions watched on a grainy TV camera as Armstrong made "one small step" and "one giant leap."
For the next two hours, Armstrong and Aldrin explored the Moon around their landing site, Tranquility Base (so named for the area, Mare Tranquilitas). They gathered moon rocks and set up small experiments, but just getting there had been enough. Reluctantly, they reboarded the LM, got some sleep, and then left the Moon to rejoin Collins in the CM. Eagle was jettisoned to crash on the Moon, and Columbia headed home. The astronauts splashed down on 24 July 1969, having accomplished Kennedy's challenge, and a dream of all humanity.
Apollo 11 was a watershed moment in human history: for the first time, humans had left their planet and visited another celestial body. As for the Soviets, technical setbacks in the Soyuz program caused them to fall behind, and after Apollo 11, they concentrated more on Earth orbit space stations. The Americans would go to the Moon six more times and land five more (Apollo 13 suffered a catastrophic accident, but got home). After Apollo 17, humanity has yet to return.
Of the crew, Armstrong passed away in 2012 and Collins in 2021, but Aldrin is still alive as of this writing. The CM Columbia, after being cleaned, went on a national tour to every state but Hawaii, and was donated to the Smithsonian in 1971. It went on display at the Air and Space Museum soon thereafter, coated in plastic to protect the spacecraft from millions of visitors.
I'm happy to say I was one of them--and I proved the Smithsonian right by touching Apollo 11! (The plastic, anyway.) It's not often you get to touch history. The capsule sits between Gemini 4 and Friendship 7 at the entrance to the NASM.
Apollo 11
When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 in 1957, it terrified the United States. The nation had already been moving towards launching satellites, but it had been going slowly, and the fact that the USSR was ahead was a shock. Nor would it get any better: in 1961, the Soviets put Yuri Gagarin into orbit on Vostok 1. Even as the US struggled to catch up, it seemed like the Soviets owned space: a Russian orbited first, made the first rendezvous, put the first woman in space, made the first spacewalk. With the Cold War at one of its peaks, something had to be done. President John F. Kennedy put the challenge to both NASA and the American people: beat the Soviets to the Moon.
This task had to be done in steps. First came Project Mercury, which was to get single-man capsules into space at all. Then Gemini got two astronauts up at a time and practiced long duration flights and rendezvous in space. Apollo, with three-man spacecraft, would get men to the Moon. The technical challenges alone, just for Apollo, were staggering: how to get there, how to put astronauts on the Moon safely, and how to get them home. Eventually, NASA settled on a three-part spacecraft: the command module (CM) that would carry the three astronauts into orbit and home; the service module (SM) that held fuel and oxygen; and the lunar module (LM) that would take two of the three down to the Moon's surface and back. All three would be "stacked" atop a Saturn V rocket, the most powerful rocket ever constructed. Of the gigantic structure, only the CM would actually return home.
Apollo suffered a tragic setback when the Apollo 1 fire killed three astronauts (Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee), but major changes were made. The next Apollo missions were incremental: testing the spacecraft in Earth orbit (Apollo 7 and 9), flying to the Moon with a CM (Apollo 8), and a dress rehearsal for the landing itself (Apollo 10). By summer 1969, it was time to complete the mission with Apollo 11.
Apollo 11's crew would be Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, and Michael Collins. Selecting Armstrong for mission commander was a little unusual--he was a civilian, albeit with military experience--but his performance during the Gemini program made him the best choice. Aldrin would go with Armstrong to the Moon, while Collins remained in orbit aboard the CM, nicknamed Columbia; the LM was nicknamed Eagle. (The more patriotic names were chosen after NASA felt Apollo 10's nicknames--Charlie Brown and Snoopy--were not "professional" enough.)
Apollo 11 was launched on 16 July 1969, as millions around the world watched. The mission went without a hitch all the way to the Moon, but as Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the Moon aboard Eagle, computer alarms began going off. These turned out to be simple glitches, and the mission continued, but then Armstrong noticed that the computer was taking them to a boulder-strewn landing zone. He took manual control and steered to a more clear area, and left the engine on until actual landing, though NASA doctrine called for an engine shutdown before the LM landed, and it used more fuel than the mission called for.
As it turned out, these would be the only glitches on Apollo 11. Almost three hours after landing on 20 July 1969, Armstrong stepped out onto the Moon's surface--the first time a human being had stepped onto another celestial object. Millions watched on a grainy TV camera as Armstrong made "one small step" and "one giant leap."
For the next two hours, Armstrong and Aldrin explored the Moon around their landing site, Tranquility Base (so named for the area, Mare Tranquilitas). They gathered moon rocks and set up small experiments, but just getting there had been enough. Reluctantly, they reboarded the LM, got some sleep, and then left the Moon to rejoin Collins in the CM. Eagle was jettisoned to crash on the Moon, and Columbia headed home. The astronauts splashed down on 24 July 1969, having accomplished Kennedy's challenge, and a dream of all humanity.
Apollo 11 was a watershed moment in human history: for the first time, humans had left their planet and visited another celestial body. As for the Soviets, technical setbacks in the Soyuz program caused them to fall behind, and after Apollo 11, they concentrated more on Earth orbit space stations. The Americans would go to the Moon six more times and land five more (Apollo 13 suffered a catastrophic accident, but got home). After Apollo 17, humanity has yet to return.
Of the crew, Armstrong passed away in 2012 and Collins in 2021, but Aldrin is still alive as of this writing. The CM Columbia, after being cleaned, went on a national tour to every state but Hawaii, and was donated to the Smithsonian in 1971. It went on display at the Air and Space Museum soon thereafter, coated in plastic to protect the spacecraft from millions of visitors.
I'm happy to say I was one of them--and I proved the Smithsonian right by touching Apollo 11! (The plastic, anyway.) It's not often you get to touch history. The capsule sits between Gemini 4 and Friendship 7 at the entrance to the NASM.