Space Race to the Moon | Free Documentary

In July 1969, the Apollo 11 crew was preparing for the United States' first attempt to land men on the

moon

. NASA, the

space

agency in charge of making the mission possible, had existed for just over a decade. Apollo 11 was the first. of six successful

moon

missions are the result of an unprecedented increase in scientific and engineering activity with notable side effects. This is the story of how Cold War paranoia and incredible spending paid off in less than nine years. The United States went from

space

hobbyist to technological hyperpower in 1950s America. Life was good. The country's vast productive power had gone from making tanks, ships and airplanes during World War II to cars and refrigerators.

The United States could dominate the world in a responsible capitalist way. The United States had emerged from World War II as the undisputed country. superpower with nuclear weapons, but there was a problem: the Soviet Union had ended the war with a giant battle-hardened army and the country soon had its own nuclear weapons, becoming the world's second superpower, its communist ideology calling for a revolution international was a direct threat to the In the West, both the Soviet Union and the United States had been working to expand their nuclear strike capabilities by developing missile technology. Here the Soviets were too disadvantaged, their primitive warheads were large and cumbersome, they had to design rockets capable of lifting much heavier loads, but in October 1957 the Soviets surprised everyone the heavy R7 rocket had put Sputnik into orbit, the first satellite. artificial the 83-kilogram sphere was equipped with nothing more than a beeping radio transmitter Two days later the Soviets tested a giant thermonuclear bomb and the United States couldn't help but get online The two events alarm the American people that a foreign country, especially an enemy country, can do this if we fear this.

In December 1957, the United States was preparing to launch its first satellite. A cutting-edge rocket was to propel a small 1-kilogram payload to orbit from coast to coast. - the citizens of the coast were watching was an intense humiliation for the United States. A few days later a Soviet delegate to the UN asked if the United States would like aid to be allocated to underdeveloped countries. President Eisenhower had wanted a non-military rocket to carry the nation's first satellite, but the Redstone missile developed for the military by Vera von Braun was given the directive to save national pride.

In a second attempt they would use the Juno in 1958. Free men everywhere raised their gaze to the satellite of

free

dom. It was a success that same year. The Eisenhower administration. established NASA to coordinate the country's space efforts shortly after NASA recruited its first seven astronauts all were test pilots at the time in 1959 the United States had attempted 20 satellite launches only eight were able to succeed by 1961 the Union Another Soviet surprise emerged, his name was Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin who would become the first cosmonaut on the morning of April 12. Gagarin was strapped to Vostok, one that carried air and food for ten days if re-entry failed.

The rockets failed. Gagarin could last until his ship's orbit decayed naturally in 108 minutes. Vostok 1 completed. one orbit and landed safely on the VG three weeks later Alan Shepard was preparing to become the first American in space on NASA's new Project Mercury before dawn in May the fifth Shepard was delivered to launch site two hours before scheduled takeoff. It would be the first manned flight of the Redstone launcher but the Redstone did not have the power to reach orbit this would be a hot suborbital in the spirit of the Cold War Shepard had named his Mercury capsule Liberty Seven there were weather delays and Shepard had been strapped to His seat for three hours before the Freedom Seven flight began took him to an altitude of 187 kilometers and he ended up 15 minutes later in the Atlantic, where the capsule was picked up by a waiting aircraft carrier.

It was successful, but compared to Gagarin's orbital flight it was a poor second, after another three weeks there was further development. I believe this nation should commit to achieving the goal before the end of this decade: landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth. This seemed like a very reckless decision. When President Kennedy gave this speech, his country had only successfully launched 12 satellites. The US had made 16 other attempts that had failed. The Atlas booster to carry the first American into orbit continued to have problems, but a new accelerated program under the direction of German engineer Dr.

Verner von Braun had been going for several years. A new launcher, the Saturn, was an attempt to surpass the Russians' heavy lift capacity. It would use a group of narrow tanks that could be easily manufactured using tools developed for the country's existing rocket fleet. It would also group eight rocket engines to deliver the required thrust. The engine used was the H1. It was a direct descendant of the engine that powered Germany's v2 rocket after World War II. Ferno von Braun and some members of his team of rocket designers were had surrendered to the American forces with them came with the hardware and extensive drawing tests were begun in New Mexico using modified v2 plans for the v2 s engine which were delivered to North American Aviation, who implemented the proposed improvements mentioned in Nazi documentation. , a spin-off company Rocketdyne took on the job and is still making rocket engines today.

When developing the Saturn there was a change in engineers' approach: they wanted to avoid the high failure rates that had occurred with other rockets. This meant that all components would now be thoroughly tested before embarking on a release. This included the H1 engine which was to offer 99% reliability. Finally, in October 1961, the first Saturn was ready for flight testing. It was a giant first stage with a dummy second stage and nose cone as it sat on the pad, the technicians methodically taking fuel. checking the rocket subsystems, this was time consuming and would then be monitored by computer.

High-speed film cameras focused on elliptical areas of the launcher interface, the technique that continues to this day. The first test of a new rocket design was never expected to achieve everything was going well, but the Saturn It worked perfectly, it was a small step towards President Kennedy's goal of landing a man on the moon, although Congress was allocating huge sums of money for what is now called the Apollo project. NASA still didn't have a clear idea of ​​how they could do it. two competing approaches: direct ascent in which astronauts would ride a huge ship directly to the Moon, land there, and then turn around, or rendezvous on Earth, where two rockets would launch separate parts into Earth's orbit that would connect and then They would fly to the Moon and land.

There were several concepts. for a spacecraft that would fly from Earth to the Moon and then back, they were all huge. Both approaches would require a massive rocket, and designs for the giant Nova were studied. A third method was proposed that required a rendezvous on the Moon. orbit required a dedicated lunar lander that could be discarded after it served its purpose. Langley engineer John, who bought it, was convinced that this was the only way to reach the Moon within the deadline set by President Kennedy in 1969, in July 1961. Gus Grissom had become the second astronaut of USA. with another 15 minutes of suborbital flight at this stage to create the rendezvous in orbit was seen as a tremendous challenge their rendezvous in lunar orbit was seen as madness and whoever left lunar orbit was fired but who left and an informal group that worked at Langley had been studying the problems associated with orbital rendezvous since the 1950s and understood the mathematics very well, frustrated at having access to the lunar orbit rendezvous plan blocked to senior management, he wrote a strongly worded letter to the NASA administrator in which he claimed that the only way to meet the presidential deadline was because he insisted that a man could be put on the moon without the need for Nova With the lor concept now open, the theory and calculations were examined closely and, although the idea was still resistant, the plan was sound.

Finally, when Ferno von Braun became convinced that lunar orbit had been adopted in August 1961, the German Tito was preparing to become Russia's second cosmonaut. A25 remains the youngest person to fly in space. His flight on Vostok 2 made 17 orbits and Cheeto remained in the air for more than a day. The day he was the first man to eat in space, the first man to sleep in space and the first man to suffer from space sickness, the NASA resigned itself to occupying second place in what had been called the space

race

with the new version of the Atlas booster.

They felt they were closing the gap, an unmanned flight went well, but they were still also worried about the humiliation of the astronaut corps. Chimpanzee 81, later called eNOS, would be the first to fly in the Atlas, they were the first solid caps you will have. There were some small problems during this flight, but eNOS returned safely paving the way for NASA's first manned orbital flight in February 1962. John Glenn was to be the first American to enter orbit in a capsule called Friendship 7. that the American people were taking Their country's role in the space

race

was taken very seriously now that Glenn's flight was an opportunity for the United States.

To salvage some pride, John Glenn completed three orbits and returned to an uneventful landing in the Atlantic as Saturn booster development continued successfully and the Mercury program began more ambitious missions. NASA was getting a clearer view of its path to the Moon. A new group of astronauts. He was recruited with names like Neil Armstrong, Johnny Young and James Lovell and the rendezvous plan in lunar orbit meant that a new program would be implemented before the Apollo project originally called for Mercury; The program eventually emerged as Project Gemini, a larger version of the Mercury capsule that would carry it.

It was quickly designed for two astronauts, featured ejector seats like those on a fighter jet, and would be boosted into orbit on a refinement of the Titan 2 missile originally intended. to transport a nuclear warhead. Training for the two-man missions began ahead of a tight launch schedule additional Mercury missions were ruled out very specific objectives were established for the Gemini program the orbital rendezvous had to be mastered and docking with a target vehicle had to become routine Planners also knew that any trip to the moon would involve abandoning the spacecraft and surviving in the vacuum of space in a pressurized suit.

New infrastructure was built at Cape Canaveral. A gigantic vehicle assembly building for the next family of rockets was broken into in Alabama. A captive rocket test facility was built at Saturn and new engine test stands were built in Mississippi at the new manned spacecraft center in Houston, Texas, a new mission control center was built that would monitor every detail of each mission. , largely due to the energy of Vice President Lyndon Johnson, Texas would become the focal point of America's space efforts. It was September 1962 before a crowd. at Rice University Stadium in Houston we warmly welcome our President of the United States we choose to go to the moon we choose to go to the moon we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things not because they are easy but because they are difficult because that objective will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and abilities because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one that we are not willing to postpone and one that we intend to win although the American people largely agreed with the country's space objectives.

Kennedy understood that the enormous expenditures now being incurred could easily lead to an erosion of national support, but in just over twelve months, when the president returned to Texas, he was assassinated. Lyndon Johnson was now as president he reinforced his position in 1964 with a landslide victory in the presidential election and under his leadership the space objectives of the United States remained unchanged in August 1962 the Soviet Union had established another space for the first time Vostok 3 and Vostok 4 orbited at the same time asNASA felt the The Russians were already working for an orbital rendezvous in June 1963 another cosmonaut was preparing for another first valentina Tereshkova will be the first woman to enter orbit in October 1964 vladimir komarov the commander flight engineer konstantin feoktistov and the medical specialist boris yogorov flew into orbit in a new The spacecraft was god 1 and were wearing normal clothes, not spacesuits.

To NASA, it looked like the Russians were starting their own equivalent of the three-man Apollo program. Towards the end of 1964, cosmonaut Alexei Leonov began training with new equipment as the Voskhod capsule would do. be equipped with a folding canvas airlock that would allow him to exit the ship. The Voskhod capsules' electronics used thermionic valves that relied on ambient air to dissipate their heat, so the capsule could not be depressurized in March 1965. Alexey Leonov in Boss God: became the first. person emerged from his capsule and floated

free

ly in space again the Soviet Union had beaten the United States in one of the critical steps that NASA had declared it would need to master before an attempt to land on the moon the full story did not emerge until later After the fall of the Soviet Union, once outside, Leonov's spacesuits swelled like a balloon, making him too big to reenter the airlock.

Only by drastically venting the pressure of the suit was he able to get back inside the Gemini spacecraft was a breakthrough in capsule design. Mercury astronaut Gus Grissom had been involved. in the development of the capsules and was responsible for the way the pilot's control systems resembled aircraft controls, like the Mercury capsule, it had corrugated titanium skin, but its life support and power systems were housed in a separate module that was discarded prior to re-entry. The astronauts had separate hatches and sat in ejector seats, importantly these hatches could be reopened and closed in space to allow spacewalks.

The first manned Gemini flight Gemini 3 took off in July 1965 aboard Gus Grissom and John Young three orbits and Five hours later, his spacecraft landed in the Atlantic, just west of the Bahamas, 84 kilometers south of the intended target. Most importantly, Gemini 3 had been the first spacecraft to change its orbit, a vital advance toward the target. NASA's short notice of an orbital rendezvous. Grissom and Young's flight had been a morale boost for America's space effort and they were treated like heroes. Less than a week after their return, the two astronauts received a ticker tape parade through the streets of New York as people gathered. was taking the idea of ​​a moon landing seriously in the White House the astronauts met with President Johnson in parallel with the Gemini program hardware for the Apollo missions continued development the final configuration of the Apollo spacecraft Once it was decided and mockups were made for use in testing other parts of the Apollo system, because the Apollo command module was larger than all previous spacecraft, designers had opted to revert to the use of an escape tower similar to the Mercury capsule to lift the crew cleared in an emergency, a special launcher known as Little Joe was developed to test the escape system under a variety of simulated failures during a test, a real problem occurred and the escape tower worked perfectly.

Dummy capsules were launched from the plane to solve the problems. with the landing parachutes because all the Apollo missions landed in the ocean, the capsule was tested in water, there was always a balance between weight and resistance and sometimes the engineers had to go back to the drawing board to test the new rocket Saturn and its refinement the Saturn 1b was going well without failures in the test flights on the morning of June 3, 1965 the Gemini 4 was being prepared for the astronauts James McDivitt and Ed White it will be its first flight this would be the first controlled mission since the newly integrated Mission Control Center in Houston, launch control remained at the Cape, but after the launcher had cleared the tower, all aspects of the remaining Gemini and Apollo flights were controlled from this complex.

This would be NASA's first long-duration flight. An attempt was made to rendezvous with a Titan upper stage, but with little success and fuel reserves depleted, the exercise was abandoned over Australia White and McDivitt donned his spacesuits and began depressurizing the capsule. Edie White had to struggle with her hatch door that had become stuck, but after the attention of McDivitt, he understood the problem. It opened and White came out. He was tethered to the spacecraft by an eight-meter line that supplied him with oxygen for maneuvering. He had a small zip gun that ejected oxygen. It ran well, but soon ran out of gas.

A communication problem meant that while Mission Control couldn't. listen to him they couldn't talk to him the messages had to be transmitted VAR McDivitt everything seemed deceptively simple but other than being outside, White had no real task to perform around the world these images attracted a lot of press attention from their inception NASA had made a commitment. Openness was the only obvious difference between the United States and its Cold War adversary. Jim McDivitt and Ed White were both alumni of the University of Michigan, which held a ceremony for the astronauts when they returned to Earth, although the Soviet Union may still be in the lead in the America's space race.

Updating and the unrestricted access that NASA allowed the press meant that the Gemini program became a media phenomenon for McDivitt and the whites followed the now ceremonial regulations in the White House. Public support meant that abundant funds continued to flow and the development of Apollo was accelerated. Hardware continued behind the scenes to push forward the tests of the Saturn which had concluded and its direct descendant, the Saturn 1b, was being manufactured for several unmanned missions and was intended for the Apollo's first manned flight scheduled for 1967, the giant C5 now known as the Saturn 5. Also being built, this was the rocket that would take man to the moon, as opposed to the clustered tanks that were hastily put into service for the Saturn. , the Saturn 5 had larger, lighter single tanks and replaced the eight H1 engines with five much larger F-1 engines.

Gemini 5 was launched in August 1965, it was the first time that a spacecraft ran on fuel cells instead of batteries, which would allow flights of much longer duration, but the system caused problems, in addition to the spacecraft's thrusters. were unreliable, the crew of Gordon Cooper and Pete Conrad were forced to abandon a rendezvous due to declining power and limited control of their ship, but Gemini 5 set a new endurance record while Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford They were sitting in their Gemini 6 spacecraft and the Aegina atlas on an adjacent pad was ready for launch. the Gemini capsule had been designed to dock and in October 1965 they would make the first attempt to rendezvous and dock with the Agena target vehicle.

The launch of the Agena was perfect, but shortly afterwards the stage separation radar detected five different objects: the ship had exploded there. There was no point in continuing mission programming for the Gemini program. It had been adjusted with approximately one new release every six weeks. There was no replacement. Aegina ready to launch before next flight. Gemini 7. It was decided that Gemini 6, now called 6a, would meet Gemini 7, which would launch first, this would mean a very quick change between launches using the same facilities in December 1965. Frank Borman and Jim Lovell were preparing for NASA's longest mission, but the plan called for a 14-day flight, more than enough time for a return trip to the moon; the schedule called for Gemini 6a to launch eight days later.

Surely Stafford and we had gone through this same procedure just seven weeks earlier. There could be no defective target vehicle that would let them down. A plug had come loose prematurely, forcing an automatic. off for the second time Chiron Stafford had failed to take off three days later Gemini 6a was successfully launched within six hours that two Geminis were side by side was one of the difficult maneuvers that had to become routine before a realistic landing attempt on the moon, although the American public may not have appreciated the details of orbital mechanics, moving images of a spacecraft in orbit once again sparked widespread media attention.

The Gemini seven set a new record for time in orbit, but over the past few days the spacecraft had developed problems with the booster. The return to Earth was technically uneventful although Borman and Lovell were weakened after two weeks in space. now they were welcomed as returning heroes with intense press coverage they were becoming celebrities then they were two first-time astronauts Neil Armstrong and Dave Scott as mission Commander Neil Armstrong would be the first American civilian to go to space. Gemini 8 had a very busy flight plan, docking had not yet been achieved and this flight was scheduled to rendezvous and dock with an Agena target vehicle that would launch an hour before Gemini.

The launch was perfect and the crew of Gemini 8 was able to rendezvous and eventually dock with the target vehicle, but again there is a problem with the thruster that sent the two docked ships spinning. Armstrong separated the ship but the speed increased. Gemini hue booster stuck in flight rules calling for rapid return, destroyer Leonard F Mason picked up crew and air capsule from Pacific, one ocean away from planned recovery region on Gemini 9, Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan would try to achieve the objectives not met by Gemini eight. Docking was still to be mastered and as a replacement for the Agena target vehicle, a shorter unit known as the Augmented Target Docking Adapter was released.

It reached orbit, but worrying life was shown on a console in Mission Control. When Stafford and Cernan reached their target, they saw the cover rise still in place. An argument between contractors meant the team that normally placed the cover was sidelined. , resulting in what became known as the Angry Alligator target was useless Gemini 9 had nothing to dock with, plus a spacewalk by Cernan saw him exhausted and drenched in sweat with his helmet fogged up. The tight deadlines set for the American space program were speeding up development, but if NASA was on the brink of disaster, a mission review committee was established to make sure the goals were realistic and docking had been hampered by failures. in the team.

But mission planners were confident that it would be mastered. The only remaining problem facing the Gemini team was spacewalking or a VA for extravehicular activity. After Ed White's Joyride in space, it was a surprise that it was so difficult to work on. Weightlessness practice for this ground activity had focused on a low-friction air table technique but it was nothing like being weightless and in a vacuum for brief periods in an airplane traveling along a parabolic curve an astronaut could Experiencing weightlessness this was difficult but with only three more Gemini missions scheduled they were considered worthwhile in December 1966.

John Young and Michael Collins in Gemini 10 had very similar mission objectives to the previous two Gemini flights, they met and docked successfully. with our target of Aegina and then, using the Agena z' engine, boosted its orbit to a new record, the spacecraft then rejoins the worn-out Aegina used by Gemini 8 Collins makes two spacewalks losing his camera in the process while heading the target craft found it difficult to gain a foothold was suffering similar difficulties to its colleagues on previous flights Gemini 11 had a two-second launch window Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon conducted a direct ascent rendezvous just 94 minutes after launch.

This was the type of rendezvous planned for the Apollo missions in which they docked and undocked four times, giving NASA confidence. Following its rendezvous and docking capability, using the Agena z' engine, the docked spacecraft reached a record orbital point of 1,300 kilometers during Evy a Gordon attached a tether to the Agena as part of a gravitational experiment, but once again the process was exhausting compared to what was simulated. Ground Exercises NASA had just one more Gemini mission to fix its Eevee. Planners decided to test a new simulation in preparation for the Eevee and it was scheduled for Gemini's final flight.

Buzz Aldrinperformed neutral buoyancy training in the McDonough School pool. New anchor points would be installed near Baltimore on both spacecraft. A waist strap was part of the new equipment. The astronauts had said they used too much energy just trying to hold their position while Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin walked toward their launcher. They carried signs that said The end of the final Gemini mission was a big news event. The next space flight was to be Apollo, scheduled to launch in February 1967, although the flight plan called for the same rendezvous and docking as the previous four missions.

Each flight was about the refinement of technique, particularly form. in which guidance calculation was being used but Gemini 12's main target was Eevee. A Gemini 12 took off on November 11, 1966. Rendezvous and docking were easy, as are electric vehicles. Aldrin followed the new protocols with restrictions and scheduled rest periods. and he was able to use tools designed for Apollo with Gemini 12. NASA was confident it had mastered the techniques needed for the challenging Apollo program. Saturn 1b had made two unmanned flights with early versions of the Apollo command and service modules. Both were suborbital flights. Gus Grissom Ed White and Roger Chaffee were designated as the crew for the first Apollo 1 orbital mission with a Block One command module in training for the mission.

They were frustrated by the continuous changes being made to the Apollo spacecraft. It was the culmination of everything NASA had learned. of the Mercury and Gemini programs, but it was not being integrated easily. On January 27, 1967, the crew and support team were doing a disconnect test, a launch simulation in which the ship was not connected by umbilicals as had been the case on all previous missions. breathing pure oxygen at a pressure slightly above atmospheric, Saturn 1b was not fueled and the tests were not considered dangerous, but an increase in voltage caused a sudden fire in the spacecraft and within seconds the crew extinguished the flammable materials and The pure oxygen atmosphere was a lethal combination.

The high pressure in the capsule made it difficult to open the revolving door inward. The United States was in mourning. Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee were buried with full military honors. Many at NASA had feared this. kind of result in a speech to colleagues at Mission Control flight director Gene Kranz said we were too excited about the schedule and blocked out all the problems we saw every day in our work. Manned flights were suspended, the space agency had to figure out what went wrong and then completely redesigned capsule and mission procedures. All Apollo debris was seized and NASA launched a thorough investigation.

Both houses of Congress also launched investigations. Frank Borman was the only astronaut to serve on NASA's accident review board; he was commander on his first mission and had been selected to command the Third manned Apollo mission, but there was a cloud over the entire program. Ultimately, Borman's testimony before a House committee helped convince Congress that the manned Apollo program was saved to resume operations outside of the research NASA attempted to maintain its focus on astronauts who were experts in flight. space. Now they send us on field trips to learn about geology in preparation for missions to the moon.

Since 1964, the Soviet Union's space program had gone silent, but in April 1967 it was learned that Vladimir Komarov, flying in a new three-person spacecraft known as Saw Use 1, had failed to deploy his parachutes, killing the cosmonaut. Although in the United States manned missions for 1967 had been suspended NASA was still busy the new Saturn 5 was almost ready for its first flight, it has three stages and all of its engines had been exhaustively tested on the ground for flight tests. NASA had adopted a new comprehensive test plan that had worked in missile development. It involved more risk, but trying all the stages together instead of separately.

Flights would save a lot of time. Intelligence reports were beginning to leak out that the Soviets were running their own lunar program to maintain their lead in what was clearly a race for the Moon, but when they had it until the first launch of Saturn V also marked the first use. of the new launch control complex at the Kennedy Space Center in this originally scheduled for late 1966, development problems with the second stage delayed the launch until November 1967, not all managers were happy with the completed test, but it was They realized that if everything worked, that's how it would be. eliminate four launches begin at eight point nine seconds we will be observing that there was fear of an explosion on the launch pad with 90% of the weight of the Saturn V launch being highly explosive.

Fuel calculations had been done to understand the damage a low-altitude failure could create. a malfunction would have been catastrophic and would almost certainly have caused NASA to miss its 1969 deadline. The power-up sequence begins five four. We have it on. All engines are running. We have takeoff. We have takeoff at 7:00 a.m. m.. Sorry for bristling with sensors and little film cameras. The cameras were sealed capsules inside that were ejected after staging. Some of the most memorable images of the Apollo program came from these cameras that observed stage separation on the Gemini launches. The first stages had exploded after separation.

Although this did not threaten the mission engineers, they wanted to understand everything that was happening there. There were no surprises: the new Saturn 5 behaved exactly as its designers had anticipated. The lunar module, a vital piece of Apollo. The hardware had undergone design changes, resulting in manufacturing delays. Engineers began to base their plans on helicopters, but large windows were soon dispensed with because due to their weight, astronauts would have to stand near small windows to see their landing site. Learning to fly a ship designed to land on the moon was not easy at its Langley Research Center.

NASA had built a lunar module simulator that I tried to recreate. a lunar gravity environment so that the astronauts could practice the last 50 meters of their descent to the lunar surface. The most popular among astronauts was the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle and its branch, the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle, was nicknamed the Flying Bed in Lunar Simulation Mode a counterbalanced jet engine 5/6 of the ship controlling The ship's weight came from variable rocket engines similar to that of the lunar module. When astronaut Neil Armstrong made his second flight in the research vehicle, things did not go as planned.

NASA was concerned about the reliability of these machines. They made several attempts to withdraw them from service and rightly so the rapid development of the craft had not included wind tunnel testing and even in light breezes there were control problems. Armstrong ejected safely just 60 meters above the ground, but the training vehicle continued as an important complement to the Apollo program; the results of the investigation into the Apollo One fire had led to a comprehensive redesign of the Apollo command module. , the hatch now opened outwards and could be quickly unlocked, the wiring was protected with non-flammable covers and combustible materials inside The ship was excluded.

The Apollo spacesuits had also been changed to remove flammable materials, unlike the Gemini suits, which were air-cooled. Apollo astronauts would now wear an undersuit crisscrossed with tubes to carry cooling water. Over it was a blue pressure garment with an exterior. protective layer of fire-resistant fabric a completely sealed helmet that did not rotate with the head was introduced a backpack could be added for life support and radio communication independent of the spacecraft the suit was called an extra vehicular mobility unit or EMU for short and Although it has been perfected, the same design is still in use to this day Wally Schirra Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham would make the first manned flight of the Apollo program in October 1968 NASA was confident in the new command module that Apollo 7 would launch into Earth orbit on a Saturn 1b, the larger Apollo capsule provided the more comfortable environment needed for the long-duration flights needed to reach the moon, the crew could put on or take off their bulky spacesuits as needed and did not have to remain on their couches as on the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft shortly after reaching orbit the command and service modules separated from the s4b upper stage on a lunar mission this would normally house the lunar module one of the four adapter panels has not been opened In the upper stage, the spacecraft rotated and practiced docking using a visual reference target that would normally be mounted on the lunar module.

Shortly after the mission, Schirra caught a cold and in the confines of The capsule quickly spread to the other zero tube. -Gravity, nasal congestion did not dissipate the same way it would on Earth and the crew felt very uncomfortable. Eating became a sore point for the astronauts, although the food had improved since previous space missions. Freeze-dried and rehydratable bite-sized meals. fell short of what they considered acceptable the demands of this mission were considerable tense exchanges between the sick astronauts and Mission Control were not infrequent had to start the service module engine no less than eight times public relations reached new heights in the mission a series of television broadcasts from the capsule were seen around the world, at one point Shira refused to turn on the television equipment because the schedule was too full and the crew had not eaten in preparation for re-entry.

A new dispute broke out, the astronauts refused to wear their helmets during the return to earth with their colds they were worried about the rapid changes in pressure they wanted to hold their noses and blow to equalize the buildup aboard the aircraft carrier Essex the Apollo 7 astronauts They were treated as returning heroes but did not receive NASA's usual honors to ensure our eyes Lee and Cunningham never flew again at the Kennedy Space Center another Saturn 5 was being assembled would be the first Saturn 5 to carry people Frank Borman Jim Lovell and William Anders were training hard for the mission: flying into Earth orbit with a module to test the docking, undocking and launch procedures of the lunar lander.

Unexpectedly, their training was interrupted. The Apollo 8 crew along with their backup crew were called to a meeting a few months before flight problems with the lunar module caused a delay of many months jeopardizing the 1969 lunar landing deadline, so a new mission was proposed. Apollo 8 without the lunar module would fly to the moon and enter orbit. Intelligence reports had suggested that the Soviet Union was planning to make a similar attempt and NASA had no intention of being defeated. Again by the Russians, the Apollo 8 astronauts would be the first to leave Earth orbit on a mission that would test the command module in deep space.

The objectives had changed to understand the navigation of long-range communications spacecraft and the examination of possible lunar landing areas. The flight would be a risk, although the first flight of Saturn 5 had gone well, the second known as Apollo 6, if the engineers had not trusted themselves to understand the problems and had solved them, Borman Anders and Lovell had to have faith that the problems would not occur again 51a, that's right In a flawless launch, eleven and a half minutes later, the spacecraft was in a parking orbit with the crew and ground personnel checking all systems during the second orbit.

Mission Control gave them the go-ahead for translunar injection shortly after the s4b upper stage fired, pushing Apollo 8 out of Earth's orbit toward the moon. Now a new problem has arisen. The Boorman fraternity began to feel sick and vomit, which is even more unpleasant in zero gravity due to the attitude of the spaceship, they could not see the moon, but through the round window they began to see more. and most of the earth were the first people to see our planet in its entirety, however, this window soon became fogged with gas from the chemical sealant oils.

Apollo 7 also hadsuffered this problem when Apollo 8 approached the moon, the crew prepared for an engine burnout that would place the craft in lunar orbit. The main engine had to be turned on for four minutes when the command module was behind the moon outside of radio contact this was the first time the crew got a decent view of the moon William Anders prepared to photograph the lunar surface an important part of the mission was to document areas such as the Sea of ​​Tranquility in preparation for future lunar landings on his fourth orbit they saw something amazing oh look at that photo little one Wow then three and I'll take it casually After this mission it was said that they went to the Moon and discovered the colorful MEA Roller Earth quickly after 10 orbits of the Moon, Apollo 8 fired its engine main and began its return to Earth during the return of the crew.

Bill Anders captured more photographs of Earth. The Apollo 8 astronauts returned as heroes their flight around the moon had put NASA's space effort back on the front pages upon their return to Houston there was an avalanche of national pride finally the United States was winning the space race but it was the end of 1968 and there There was only one year left to reach the Moon within the deadline set by President Kennedy. The missing piece of the Apollo system was the lunar module. It had existed as a model for five years, but there had been delays in manufacturing the final ship that no one had built. a lunar lander before and there was nothing similar to base it on during its development, the Saturn V's builders repeatedly asked its designers to reduce its weight as they gained a clearer understanding of the launch system's capabilities in March 1969.

The module with a crew headed to Earth orbit. Apollo 9 will be the first test of the full Apollo system. Russell Swihart, Dave Scott and Commander Jim McDivitt faced a grueling schedule: they would test the lunar module and life support backpack for use on the lunar surface. Once in orbit, the command and service modules separated from the s4b upper stage carrying the lunar module, docking with the lunar lander to remove it from the s4 beam. After separation, Apollo 9 retreated to a safe distance and ground control dispatched the discarded stage. Heading toward the Sun, the next few days were spent maneuvering with the main engine firing five times, changing orbit in preparation for lunar module testing and to simulate the mid-course corrections that would be necessary on a trip to the moon.

The crew removed the hatches and probes to clear the connecting tunnel between the command module and the lunar module that had been named Jellybean and Spider. These were the first ships to be named since Gemini Threes Molly Brown. All aspects of the linked spacecraft were closely monitored on the Mission. Control soon McDivitt and Swihart would fly in a machine that had no ability to return to Earth and nothing could go wrong. In case something went wrong and the two ships could not redock, a spacewalk had been planned to conduct tests outside. between the spider and the gun drop, this was the first spacewalk of the Apollo program and Russell Spike Art was only connected by a nylon strap, all of his oxygen and electrical power came from the portable life support system he carried on his back, both spacecraft had been depressurized and while Spike Art was busy in the lunar module Dave Scott was retrieving an experimental sample from the exterior of the command module this spacewalk was cut short because Spike Art was suffering from space sickness the next day Spider and Gumdrop were separated by first time using its lunar descent engine The module retreated to a distance of about 150 kilometers.

The next time Dave Scott in the command module saw the lunar module, it had jettisoned its lower half. All engine tests for both stages had gone well and NASA was developing confidence in its new lunar craft before docking again with a command module McDivitt and Sweetheart did a complex series of pirouettes to allow Scott to inspect the craft from all sides. the angles when the three astronauts were reunited, the lunar module was jettisoned and eventually burned up in Earth's atmosphere, they spent several more days in orbit photographing the NASA had only nine more months to meet the end-of-decade deadline set by President Kennedy to land a man on the Moon, but there would be one more step before they made the first attempt to land our saviors' fertilizer.

Apollo 10 would carry a lunar module to the moon and descend toward the surface, but it would not land according to NASA's very tight schedule; had a long list of questions to answer and the mission would have the most experienced crew of any Apollo mission, so far lunar module pilot Gene Cernan had flown on Gemini 9. Command module pilot John Young had flown on Gemini 3 and 10 and Commander Tom Stafford had flown on Gemini 6 and 9. One of the important problems this mission was to solve was related to the moon. uneven gravitation Previous manned and unmanned lunar orbital missions had found that varying concentrations of mass within the moon had caused lunar orbits to be erratic.

NASA needed to map these irregularities to fully understand how its spacecraft would behave in lunar orbit nine. We have ignition sequence starter motors. on - engines running once takeoff is committed we have 29 minutes past the time Apollo 10 would be a complete rehearsal for the first moon landing it would be the second Apollo spacecraft to leave Earth's orbit docking and extracting the lunar module that had been the main focus Apollo 10 was the first spacecraft to make color television broadcasts and attracted an audience of around a billion people, as in the Previous Apollo 10 mission had two spacecraft, each of which needed a different callsign, the astronauts had chosen to name the mothership Charlie Brown and the lunar module Snoopy, after the popular peanuts comic strip of the time, later space.

The crews were asked to choose names that had a little more gravitas after disappearing behind the moon. They fired the main engine for six minutes, which the astronauts described as endless. The ship entered lunar orbit as planned and six hours later, Stafford and Cernan entered Snoopy. To prepare it for descent to the lunar surface, it was packed with weightless flakes of mylar insulation that had come loose when the connecting tunnel had pressurized. These caused itching for the rest of the flight, but there were more problems. The lunar module was more than three degrees out of alignment with the command module and the air pressure in the tunnel between the two spacecraft could not be released.

Houston was worried that undocking now could damage the latches holding them together. Engineers on the ground decided anything but. Over six degrees was no problem and Snoopy was given the go-ahead to undock. This was the first time a lunar module had flown in the environment for which it had been designed. Mission planners were concerned that Stafford and Cernan might try to take advantage of the opportunity. to make an unauthorized landing, so Snoopy was short of fuel, if they landed they would not be able to return for the next eight hours. John Young would be alone in Charlie Brown.

I beat Cali by a few sittings, great, great, we copy Snoopy, go down further. and lower passing directly over the proposed landing site for the next Apollo mission and traveling more than 500 kilometers from the mother ship, but just before they scrapped the descent stage, a guidance configuration switch that was in the incorrect caused the lunar module to spin. savagely by scrapping the descent stage and switching to manual control, Tom Stafford was able to regain my stability and I was saved if they had a wild card as you know, but they had it under control, the encounter went according to plan and Apollo 10.

They remained in lunar orbit for another 29 hours mapping anomalies in lunar gravity before returning to Earth, but even as they were close to the Moon, another Saturn 5 had been launched to the launch pad. Apollo 11 was preparing for the first landing attempt. On the moon early on July 16, 1969, large numbers of people gathered along the beaches of Central Florida to witness the story that the American people had been preparing for this moment for almost a decade since the late President Kennedy established a moon landing as the nation's gold. More than a million people crowded the roads and causeways around Cape Canaveral, which had been renamed Cape Kennedy.

Minor dignitaries and friends and family of space workers were given access to special bleachers built on the Kennedy Space Center grounds to watch the Apollo 11 astronauts lift off as the public had great faith in NASA's ability to get men to space. Moon experts working in the space business estimated that their chances of success did not exceed 5050. The astronauts had spent long hours in simulators preparing for all eventualities, but the equipment they used for practice only provided an approximation of the conditions on the moon. space with some of the test stands that looked strange a special gantry built at NASA Langley provided something resembling the lunar gravity experience hours before the program was launched the giant Saturn 5 was slowly burning fuel its tanks would be constantly refilled until seconds before liftoff michael collins was the command module pilot who had previously flown on Gemini 10 Buzz Aldrin was the lunar module pilot, he had pioneered new techniques for spacewalking on Gemini 12 and the mission commander was Neil Armstrong in Gemini 8 his brilliant head and quick thinking had saved the mission from tragedy.

Apollo 11 would have a fully experienced team chosen to deal with and solve difficult problems and there would be problems that each NASA mission had built on the experience of previous missions, but there was always a point where it entered uncharted territory and the pressure to get there to the moon before the end of 1969 had been relentless, but all over America people were supremely confident and launch parties were held all over the country. Local businessmen were quick to take advantage of the celebratory atmosphere, the swing now returns as our countdown continues at the Kennedy Launch Center tensions were high for German-born rocket pioneer Verna von Braun her entire life had led up to this moment.

Everyone at the Cape understood how many different components had to work correctly for a successful launch. The astronauts agreed that the launch made them most anxious. This would be the sixth launch of the Saturn 5 booster and although some of these flights had been a bit irregular. , all were considered successful t-minus 15 seconds the guidance is internal 12 11 10 9 the ignition sequence begins after the launch was authorized, our control was transferred from the firing room at the Cape complex to Mission Control in Houston twelve minutes after launch. Apollo 11 was in low Earth orbit, apart from a slightly rough trip with the third stage, everything had been a routine translunar injection and a docking with the lunar module were now practices that had been done many times before and were also achieved with little effort like a million in damage you're a dog the cruise to the moon and the lunar orbit had been done twice before and the flight manuals and checklists had everything was rewritten with the benefit of previous experience, the Apollo system It had been designed so that all navigation observations and engine firing could be performed by the crew, but radio ranging techniques had improved so rapidly that Mission Control was now giving all instructions, however the crews were still they use them. onboard technology to determine your position in the event of a communications problem the command module pilot took pride in the precision of his navigation both the command module and the lunar module were equipped with the Apollo guidance computer one of the first practical microcomputers for most calculations there was a manual workaround, but because of the complex flight path required for the lunar module to land on the moon, the flight computer was essential in lunar orbit, the Apollo 11 crew would lose radio contact every time they passed behind the moon during orbit 13, the lunar module separated from the command module the two ships now adoptedindividual central science the command module became Columbia and the lunar module was now Eagle The descent to the moon occurred in three separate stages, each controlled by its own computer program the first stage was the breakup phase which changed the orbit so it will reach an area above the designated landing point during this period the crew was traveling feet first looking towards the ground the next stage was the approach phase when the Eagle leaned towards a more vertical attitude this was when Aldrin and Armstrong got his first view of the landing point a long elliptical region in the Sea of ​​Tranquility was his objective the open plane was judged the easiest place for the first lunar landing I would like that but unexpected things began to happen the tanks began fuel in the lunar landers sloshing around, while this was not dangerous, the idea meant that the craft could not give a clear indication about its pre-programmed landing site, so the flight computer started sounding an alarm and there was only one person in Mission Control who knew what a 1202 alarm was, a young man.

The software engineer understood that the computer was overloaded but would still handle critical functions. The mission would continue here. We got you. We are in alarm. The final part of the landing sequence was still computer controlled, but it allowed the commander to override the ship's descent rate and positioning as it headed toward a field of large boulders. Armstrong took control by searching for a suitable landing area. paid 1/2 down 9 forward this took longer than anyone expected 875 feet and looking good down half six forward fuel was running out 60 seconds Python down two and a half forward to nice feet to a nap picking up some dust city ​​feet two and a half down face forward four forward sliding to the right little good and a half closing second or I'm just back, well, engine stop, a PA had a defense control, both, all of these, a command of the engine disabled and then our crowd of thirteen is in the relief at Mission Control was palpable, we copy you, peace of mind of the eagle, we copy you. on the ground you have a group of guys about to turn blue we are breathing again thank you very much oh girl due to the distractions during the descent no one had a clear idea of ​​the exact location of the Eagles after the ship secured the plan flight called for the astronauts to get some sleep, but armstrong and aldrin asked for a change, which was agreed upon, they began to prepare for their walk on the lunar surface seven hours later, armstrong was descending the ladder, a blank television camera and black was now on and around the world six hundred million people were watching this was something new no one had thought that the story would be televised with the world as a witness it had been argued that television is a waste of time now NASA was rescheduling future missions so their astronauts could get to the moon in prime time Armstrong and Aldrin spent two and a half hours on the lunar surface, and much of that time was spent on ceremonial tasks such as planting the U.S. flag and talking. with the president the trip back to lunar orbit went smoothly from here Three astronauts returned to completely familiar terrain.

The three-day cruise back to Earth was a period of calm before a storm of publicity obligations that the Apollo 11 astronauts had not prepared for Armstrong Aldrin and Collins faded into parades across the United States. and then around the world NASA was eager to ride this wave of popularity, but the last three scheduled moon landings were soon canceled and although the remaining lunar missions became more ambitious and complex, the American people lost interest as the Apollo program ended in 1972. no one has been back to the moon since you