Apollo Eleven Essay, Research Paper
Apollo Eleven
It?s October 4, 1957. Today is the day that the Soviet Union launched
Sputnik. Sputnik was the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth. This
accomplishment followed by the first manned space flight (also claimed by the
Soviet Union) was the cause of the Cold War. Not long after Sputnik was launched
a Soviet probe passed the moon and another hit it. Following these events the
United States flew past the plant of Venus. Then in 1976 two U.S. probes landed
on Mars. Then only a year after Sputnik was launched The National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA) was formed. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy
addressed Congress saying that the United States needed to commit itself to
"landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth?"
While NASA was preparing for the first manned Apollo flight on January
27,1967, a fire inside the command module killed all three of the crewmembers on
board. Them almost a year later NASA launched Apollo 8. The goal of this Apollo
mission was to test navigation and communication around the moon. Apollo 9
astronauts tested the lunar module in an orbit around the earth. Then during
Apollo 10 the astronauts tested the lunar module in lunar orbit.
"5?4?3?2?1? BLAST OFF!"
On July 16,1969 was Apollo 11 was launched. The goal of this mission was not
to test the lunar module once again but to actually land on the moon. The lunar
module contained three astronauts their names were Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin,
and Michael Collins. After three days of flying to the moon Apollo 11 was pulled
into lunar orbit. Once Apollo 11 entered the lunar orbit of the moon Armstrong
and Aldrin were able to separate the lunar module f
Then once the lunar module had actually landed on the moon Armstrong radioed
back to NASA saying "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has
landed." During the flight of Apollo 11 they called the lunar module Eagle
and they called the command module Columbia they did this to help NASA mission
controllers recognize voice signals from the command module and the lunar
module. After the lunar module landed the crew performed a few checks to make
sure that during the landing nothing had been damaged. Then as Neil Armstrong
stepped out of the lunar module the whole world heard him say "That?s one
small step for a man and one giant leap for mankind." But because of a gap
in the transmission the millions of TV viewers did not hear him say the a before
man.
During the time that they were on the moon they found rocks and soil samples
and photographed their positions before picking them up. While his fellow
crewmembers were below making history on the moon Collins also had an important
job to do. He conducted various scientific observations and took photographs.
Now it was time for the three men to return home. Once the lunar module had
connected with the command module the astronauts transferred samples and film
into the command module. Then the crew fired the on-board rocket again to push
them out of lunar orbit and back to their course for the earth. Once the command
module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24 NASA immediately put the
lunar material, the astronauts, and all the equipment that had been exposed to
the lunar environment into isolation. The isolation lasted 17 days and the
purposed of it was to make sure that no germs or other things had been brought
from the moon.