The Apollo 11 space flight landed the first humans on Earth's Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite[nb 4] and is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. It is the largest natural satellite in the Solar System relative to the size of its planet, a quarter the diameter of Earth and 1/81 its mass, and is the second densest satellite after Io. It is in synchronous rotation with Earth, always on July 20, 1969. The mission, carried out by the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language, is considered a major accomplishment in the history of exploration and represented a victory by the U.S. in the Cold War The Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition existing after World War II (1939–1945), primarily between the Soviet Union and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, particularly the United States. Although the primary participants' military forces never Space Race The Space Race was a mid-to-late twentieth century competition between the Soviet Union and the United States (USA) for supremacy in outer space exploration. The term refers to a specific period in human history, 1957-1975, and does not include subsequent efforts by these or other nations to explore space. The race was both ideological and with the Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the Russian: Союз Советских Социалистических Республик (help·info), tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, IPA [sɐˈjʊs sɐˈvʲeʦkʲɪx səʦɪ.
Launched from Florida With an area of 65,758 square miles , it is ranked 22nd in size among the 50 U.S. states. Florida has the longest coastline in the Contiguous United States encompassing approximately 1,350 miles (2,170 km). The state has four large urban areas, a number of smaller industrial cities, and many small towns on July 16, the third lunar mission of NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an Executive Branch agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's civilian space program and aeronautics and aerospace research. Since February 2006 NASA's self-described mission statement is to "pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and's Apollo Program The Apollo program was the American spaceflight endeavor which landed the first humans on Earth's Moon. Conceived during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower and conducted by NASA, Apollo began in earnest after President John F. Kennedy's May 25, 1961 special address to a joint session of Congress declaring a national goal of "landing a man (and the first G-type mission) was crewed by Commander Neil Alden Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong is an American aviator and a former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, and United States Naval Aviator. He was the first person to set foot on the Moon. His first spaceflight was aboard Gemini 8 in 1966, for which he was the command pilot, becoming the first U.S. civilian to fly in space. On this, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins Michael Collins is a former American astronaut and test pilot. Selected as part of the third group of fourteen astronauts in 1963, he flew in space twice. His first spaceflight was Gemini 10, in which he and command pilot John Young performed two rendezvous with different spacecraft and Collins undertook two EVAs. His second spaceflight was as the, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr Buzz Aldrin is an American mechanical engineer, retired United States Air Force pilot and astronaut who was the Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing in history. On July 20, 1969, he was the second human being to set foot on the Moon, following mission commander Neil Armstrong. On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin landed in the Sea of Tranquility and became the first humans to walk on the Moon. Their landing craft The Apollo Lunar Module was the lander portion of the Apollo spacecraft built for the US Apollo program by Grumman to carry a crew of two from lunar orbit to the surface and back. Six such craft successfully landed on the Moon between 1969–1972, Eagle, spent 21 hours and 31 minutes on the lunar surface while Collins orbited above in the command ship The Command/Service Module was a spacecraft built for NASA by North American Aviation. It was one of the two spacecraft that were utilized for the Apollo program, along with the Lunar Module, to land astronauts on the Moon. Together they were called the Apollo spacecraft. After the conclusion of the Apollo program, the CSM saw service as a ferry, Columbia.[2] The three astronauts returned to Earth with 47.5 pounds (21.55 kilograms) of lunar rocks and landed in the Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east on July 24.
Apollo 11 fulfilled U.S. President John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963's goal of reaching the moon before the Soviet Union by the end of the 1960s, which he had expressed during a 1961 mission statement The Apollo program was the American spaceflight endeavor which landed the first humans on Earth's Moon. Conceived during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower and conducted by NASA, Apollo began in earnest after President John F. Kennedy's May 25, 1961 special address to a joint session of Congress declaring a national goal of "landing a man before the United States Congress The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."[3]
Five additional Apollo missions landed on the Moon from 1969–1972.
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Crew
Each crewman of Apollo 11 had made a spaceflight before this mission, making it only the second all-veteran crew (the other being Apollo 10) in manned spaceflight history.[4]
Collins was originally slated to be the Command Module Pilot (CMP) on Apollo 8 Apollo 8 was the first human spaceflight mission to leave Earth orbit; the first to be captured by and escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body; and the first crewed voyage to return to planet Earth from another celestial body – Earth's Moon. The three-man American crew of mission Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot but was removed when he required surgery on his back and was replaced by Jim Lovell James "Jim" Arthur Lovell, Jr., is a former NASA astronaut and a retired captain in the United States Navy, most famous as the commander of the Apollo 13 mission, which suffered a critical failure en route to the Moon but was brought back safely to Earth by the efforts of the crew and mission control. Lovell was also the command module, his backup for that flight. After Collins was medically cleared, he took what would have been Lovell's spot on Apollo 11; as a veteran of Apollo 8, Lovell was transferred to Apollo 11's backup crew, but promoted to backup commander.
Backup crew
In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council The National Space Council was a body within the Executive Office of the President of the United States, which existed from 1989 to 1993 during the administration of George H.W. Bush. It was a modified version of the earlier National Aeronautics and Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was delayed past its intended July launch (at which point Anders would be unavailable if needed) and would later join Lovell's crew and ultimately be assigned as the original Apollo 13 Apollo 13 was the third Apollo mission intended to land on the Moon. The craft was successfully launched toward the Moon, but the landing had to be aborted after an oxygen tank ruptured, severely damaging the spacecraft's electrical system. The flight was commanded by James A. Lovell; with John L. "Jack" Swigert, Command Module pilot; CMP.[5]
Support crew
Aldrin Buzz Aldrin is an American mechanical engineer, retired United States Air Force pilot and astronaut who was the Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing in history. On July 20, 1969, he was the second human being to set foot on the Moon, following mission commander Neil Armstrong unpacks experiments from the LM, named Eagle.- Charles Moss Duke, Jr., Capsule Communicator Flight controllers are personnel who aid in the operations of a space flight, working in Mission Control Centers such as NASA's Mission Control Center, or ESA's Operations Center. Flight controllers sit at computer consoles and use telemetry to monitor in real time various technical aspects of a manned space mission. Each controller is an expert (CAPCOM)
- Ronald Evans Ronald Ellwin Evans, Jr. (Captain, USN Ret.) was a NASA astronaut. He was one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon, CAPCOM
- Owen K. Garriott Owen Kay Garriott, Ph.D. is a former NASA astronaut who spent 60 days aboard Skylab in 1973 and 10 days aboard Spacelab-1 in 1983. He is also the father of Robert Garriott and fellow spacefarer Richard Garriott, CAPCOM
- Don L. Lind Don Leslie Lind is an American scientist and a former NASA astronaut. He attended Midvale Elementary School and he graduated from Jordan High School (Sandy, Utah). Later he married Kathleen Maughan of Logan, Utah with whom he had seven children. His interests include amateur theatricals, play writing, and painting, but he is also an avid swimmer, CAPCOM
- Ken Mattingly Thomas Kenneth "Ken" Mattingly II, is a retired American astronaut and rear admiral in the United States Navy who flew on the Apollo 16, STS-4, and STS-51-C missions. He had been scheduled to fly on Apollo 13, but was held back due to concerns about a potential illness (which he did not contract). He is one of only 24 people to have, CAPCOM
- Bruce McCandless II Bruce McCandless II is a former naval aviator with the United States Navy and former NASA astronaut. During the first of his two Space Shuttle missions he made the first untethered, free flight using the Manned Maneuvering Unit, CAPCOM
- Harrison Schmitt Harrison Hagan "Jack" Schmitt is an American geologist, a former NASA astronaut, University Professor and a U.S. Senator for one term, CAPCOM
- Bill Pogue William Reid Pogue is a retired American astronaut who is also an accomplished teacher, public speaker, and author
- Jack Swigert John Leonard 'Jack' Swigert, Jr., was a NASA astronaut, one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon
Flight directors
- Cliff Charlesworth (Green Team), launch and EVA Extra-vehicular activity is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth, and outside of a spacecraft. The term most commonly applies to an EVA made outside a craft orbiting Earth (a spacewalk), but also applies to an EVA made on the surface of the Moon (a moonwalk). In the later lunar landing missions (Apollo 15, 16, and 17) the command module
- Gene Kranz Eugene Francis "Gene" Kranz is a retired NASA Flight Director and manager. Kranz served as a Flight Director, the successor to NASA founding Flight Director Chris Kraft, during the Gemini and Apollo programs, and is best known for his role in directing the successful Mission Control team efforts to save the crew of Apollo 13, which later (White Team), lunar landing
- Glynn Lunney Glynn S. Lunney is a retired NASA engineer. An employee of NASA since its foundation in 1958, Lunney was a flight director during the Gemini and Apollo programs, and was on duty during historic events such as the Apollo 11 lunar ascent and the pivotal hours of the Apollo 13 crisis. At the end of the Apollo program, he became manager of the Apollo- (Black Team), lunar ascent
Nomenclature
Boilerplate The term boilerplate in rocketry refers to a nonfunctional craft, system, or payload which is used to test various configurations and basic size, load, and handling characteristics. It is far less expensive to build multiple, full-scale, non-functional boilerplate spacecraft than it is to develop the full system . In this way, boilerplate Apollo command module depicting the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia Columbia is a poetic name for the Americas and the feminine personification of the United States of America. It has inspired the names of many persons, places, objects, institutions, and companies in the Western Hemisphere and beyond at the Udvar-Hazy CenterThe lunar module The Apollo Lunar Module was the lander portion of the Apollo spacecraft built for the US Apollo program by Grumman to achieve the transit from lunar orbit to the surface and back. The module was also known as the LM from the manufacturer designation was named Eagle for the national bird Categories: Lists of birds | Lists of birds by country | Lists of national symbols of the United States, the bald eagle The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle. Its range includes most of Canada and Alaska, all of the contiguous United States, and northern Mexico. It is found near large, which is featured prominently on the mission insignia. The command module The Command/Service Module was a spacecraft built for NASA by North American Aviation. It was one of the two spacecraft that were utilized for the Apollo program, along with the Lunar Module, to land astronauts on the Moon. Together they were called the Apollo spacecraft. After the conclusion of the Apollo program, the CSM saw service as a ferry was named Columbia Columbia is a poetic name for the Americas and the feminine personification of the United States of America. It has inspired the names of many persons, places, objects, institutions, and companies in the Western Hemisphere and beyond for the feminine personification of the United States used traditionally in song and poetry. During early mission planning, the names Snowcone and Haystack were used but changed before announcement to the press.[6]
Mission highlights
Launch and lunar orbit injection
Thousands of spectators camped out adjacent to the Kennedy Space Center to watch the launch of Apollo 11. The Saturn V The Saturn V was an American expendable man-rated rocket used by NASA's Apollo and Skylab programs from 1967 until 1973. A multistage liquid-fueled booster, NASA launched 13 Saturn Vs from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida with no loss of crew or payload. It remains the largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever brought to operational status carrying Apollo 11 took several seconds to clear the tower on July 16, 1969. A condensation cloud The point at which a sudden drop in air pressure occurs is generally accepted as the cause of the visible condensation cloud that often surrounds an aircraft traveling at transonic speeds, though there remains some debate. It is an example of a mathematical singularity in aerodynamics. One view of this phenomenon is that it exhibits the effect of forms around an interstage as the Saturn V approached Mach Mach number (generally pronounced /ˈmɑːk/, sometimes /ˈmɑːx/ or /ˈmæk/) is the speed of an object moving through air, or any fluid substance, divided by the speed of sound as it is in that substance. It is commonly used to represent an object's speed (such as an aircraft or missile), when it is travelling at the speed of sound (or 1, one minute into the flight. S-IC separation. Engineers working in the launch control center. The Eagle in lunar orbit immediately after separating from Columbia.In addition to throngs of people crowding highways and beaches near the launch site, millions watched the event on television, with NASA Chief of Public Information Jack King providing commentary. President Richard Nixon viewed the proceedings from the Oval Office of the White House.
A Saturn V launched Apollo 11 from Launch Pad 39A, part of the Launch Complex 39 site at the Kennedy Space Center on July 16, 1969 at 13:32:00 UTC (9:32:00 a.m. local time). It entered orbit 12 minutes later.[1] After one and a half orbits, the S-IVB third-stage engine pushed the spacecraft onto its trajectory toward the Moon with the Trans Lunar Injection burn at 16:22:13 UTC. About 30 minutes later the command/service module pair separated from this last remaining Saturn V stage and docked with the lunar module still nestled in the Lunar Module Adaptor. After the lunar module was extracted, the combined spacecraft headed for the Moon, while the third stage booster flew on a trajectory past the moon and into solar orbit.[7]
On July 19 at 17:21:50 UTC, Apollo 11 passed behind the Moon and fired its service propulsion engine to enter lunar orbit. In the thirty orbits[8] that followed, the crew saw passing views of their landing site in the southern Sea of Tranquility (Mare Tranquillitatis) about 20 kilometers (12 mi) southwest of the crater Sabine D (0.67408N, 23.47297E). The landing site was selected in part because it had been characterized as relatively flat and smooth by the automated Ranger 8 and Surveyor 5 landers along with the Lunar Orbiter mapping spacecraft and unlikely to present major landing or extra-vehicular activity (EVA) challenges.[9]
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Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:48:07 GMT+00:00
Christian Science Monitor The movement of the Apollo 11 crew's movement on the Moon can fit within the size of a soccer field. By Nancy Atkinson, UniverseToday / July 26, ...
Abdul Wahab Khan
Fri, 28 May 2010 00:35:00 GM
Fist man on the moon The . Apollo 11. space flight landed the first humans on Earth's Moon on July 20, 1969. The mission, carried out by the United States, is considered a major accomplishment in human exploration and represented a victory ...
