What Can We Learn From Moon Landing
What can the human race learn from one of the biggest achievements in history? The excitement of exploring space grew stronger when humans landed on the Moon, but then the excitement went away, until recently. So what had happened in the 1950’s?
The race to explore space stared back in 1957 with the launch of the Soviet satellite, Sputnik 1. Countries around the world started with their space exploration program, this era became known as the space race. On October 1 1958 United States created their civilian space program, National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA. Three years later, John F Kennedy took over the oval office becoming the 35th President of the United States, many Americans believed they were losing the race of exploration, but on May 25, JFK stood before Congress and proposed that the US
“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” — John F. Kennedy
On September 12, 1962, in Huston Texas, President Kennedy famously said “because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone” the challenge was to land a man on the moon and bring him back safely.
Scientists and Engineers at NASA worked for 5years, and they finally conducted the first unmanned Apollo mission. The Apollo program itself involved 400,000 engineers, technicians and scientists, and cost $24 billion, by the mid-60s, NASA was consuming 4% of the US federal budget.
On Jan. 27, 1967 NASA was testing their launchpad, sadly a fire broke out during the test run and three astronauts, Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee — were the first to give their life for the biggest adventures of all., NASA remembering all 3, kept pushing on.
The first mission to carry a crew into space was Apollo 7. In December 1968, Apollo 8 became the first crewed spacecraft to leave lower Earth orbit to reach Moons orbit, and return with astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders. In March 1969 Apollo 9 did its test run by Flying in low Earth orbit. Apollo 10 was the second mission to orbit the Moon.
And then on July 16, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin, walked towards a 363-foot rocket that will use 7.5 million pounds of thrust, to propel them into space and history. Watching from the crowd was the Former President Lyndon Johnson and Vice President Spiro Agnew, many more around the world were glued onto their TV screens, everyone working at NASA was on their feet, the countdown starts and at 9:32 a.m. the engine fires for a split second the world was silent. Apollo 11 had taken off from Kennedy Space Center.
12 minutes later, mission controllers call “Translunar Injection” it’s time to head for the moon. Three days later and after traveling 240,000 miles the crew is in lunar orbit. A day after that, Armstrong and Aldrin say goodbye to Collins and climbed into the lunar module, two hours later, Eagle begins its descent towards the moon surface, tension arises in mission control, as they cannot get a signal from the lunar module, Eagle’s computer started to sound alarms, with only 30 seconds of fuel remaining in the tank, at 4:17, Armstrong radios
“Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”
Mission control erupts in celebration as the tension breaks, and a controller tells the crew “You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue, we’re breathing again.”
Traveling for more than 109 hours, 500,000 people are about to watch Armstrong walk down the ladder and take the first human step on the moon
“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” — Neil Armstrong
“Magnificent Desolation” — Buzz Aldrin
They explore the surface for two and a half hours, collecting samples, and taking photos. The two men slept on the moon for that night. The Eagle began its ascent back to the command module, at 5:35 p.m. Armstrong and Aldrin rejoined Collins, and at 12:56 a.m. on July 22 Apollo 11 began its journey back home, safely splashing down in the Pacific Ocean where US Navy welcomed them back.
Last astronauts to walk on the moon was Gene Cernan in 1972
“We leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace, and hope for all mankind.” — Gene Cernan
Moon landing improved the understanding of space, but it also teaches the value of human behavior, the value of trust, working together, group achievement, collaboration, welcoming new ideas, having self-esteem, dreaming big, and the importance of using resources around you.
The mission was a huge moment not only for the US but for the world. Countries like Russia, Japan, China, the European Space Agency, Israel and India have also joined the adventure of space exploration.
