Posted 23.7.2019
APOLLO ANNIVERSARY
To see
the grainy image of Commander Neil Armstrong and Command module pilot Buzz Aldrin climbing down from Apollo 11's lunar module
on to the grainy surface of the moon while their fellow astronaut Michael Collins sped off in the Lunar module Columbia was the most awe inspiring image of the 20th century.
Was there anything in that black void of the moon except silence?
Would Collins succeed in manoeuvering the module to bring them back to earth?
We know now that Armstrong and Aldrin were almost running out of fuel before landing.
Also that an ascent switch had jammed which Aldrin released with a felt pen for final lift off.
Armstrong had survived a near fatal docking mission on NASA's Gemini 8 project in 1966 and
three Apollo 1 astronauts had perished in a flash fire during a launch test the following year.
The tragedy had led NASA to run a series of test flights starting with Apollo 7 which experimented with the Command and Service Modules, orbiting the Earth 168 times, Apollo 8 - the first manned crew to reach the Moon and return to Earth, Apollo 9 - the first to fly the Lunar Module and Apollo 10 whose crew flew nearest to the Moon, transmitting the first TV colour images.
Not until July 20 1069 did man finally land on the Moon aided by computers less powerful than a tiny modern smartphone. but the message from the lunar capsule named Eagle was loud and clear:
"The Eagle has landed" and the voice of Neil Armstrong transmitted to millions worldwide was audible: "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind".
Their success paved the way for NASA's next six missions, all of which landed a total of 12 men on the moon. Only Apollo 13 was aborted after an oxygen tank explosion left the three astronauts temporarily stranded in space. Following the 19 Apollo missions the last Apollo 17 ended the programme in 1972.
The inspiration for the space missions, Russia's Sputnik 1, the first unmanned object to orbit the Earth in 1957 and the success of the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, triggered the space race, one of the most extraordinary feats of the 20th century. Now five nations continue space research on the International Space Station, ISS, and unmanned probes have travelled to all the planets of the solar system.
The world is being primed for the next trip - to the moon and beyond to Mars.
Commander Command Module Pilot Lunar Module Pilot
Apollo 1 Jan 27 1967 Gus Grissom Ed White Roger Chaffee
Apollo 7 Oct 11 1968 Walter M Schirra Donn E Eisele Walter Cunningham
Apollo 8 Dec 21 1968 Frank Boorman James A Lovell William A Anders
Apollo 9 March 13 1969 James A McDivvitt David R Scott Russell L Shweickart
Apollo 10 May 18 1969 Thomas Stafford Eugene Cernan John W Young
Apollo 11 July 20 1969 Neil Armstrong Buzz Aldrin Michael Collins
Apollo 12 Nov 14 1969 Charles Conrad Jr Richard F Gordon Alan L Bean
Apollo 13 April 11 1970 James A Lovell Jr John L Swigert Jr Fred W Haise Jr
Apollo 14 Jan 31st 1971 Alan B Shepard Jr Stuart A Roosa Edgar D Mitchell
Apollo 15 July 26 1971 David R Scott Alfred J Worden James B Irwin
Apollo 16 April 16 1972 John W Young Thomas K Matten Charles M Duke Jr
Apollo 17 Dec 11 1972 Eugene A Cernan Ronald E Evans Harrison Schmitt
https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo
"The First Man"
Neil Armstrong
"Lost Moon. the Perilous Journey of Apollo 13"
Jim Lovell Jeffrey Kluger
"The Right Stuff"
Tom Wolfe
Apollo 13 film
Copyright: Mica Jay