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.—John F. Kennedy, delivered to a Joint Session of Congress, May 25, 1961
Bold words from the leader of a nation that just 20 days earlier had launched its first man into sub-orbital flight, and would not put a man in Earth orbit for another nine months. During the space race, the Soviet Union had beaten the United States at everything up to this point. Sputnik, the first artificial satellite. Laika (a dog), the first animal in orbit, who sadly was also the first death in orbit, as the Soviets did not yet have the technology to return a payload to Earth. Belka and Strelka, also dogs, the first animals to survive being sent into orbit and be returned to Earth. One of Strelka’s puppies was later given to Jacqueline Kennedy as a gift. The Soviets landed Luna 2, the first probe to reach the moon, in 1959. This was followed by the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin; the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova; the first spacewalk, by Alexei Leonov; and capped off with the first remotely controlled rover on the moon, Lunokhod 1.
Kennedy’s audacious challenge to land a man on the moon within eight short years seemed impossible. Beating the Soviets seemed beyond the realm of possibility.
The Mercury program, the first step to the moon, had already begun.
The objectives of the program, which made six manned flights from 1961 to 1963, were specific:
- To orbit a manned spacecraft around Earth
- To investigate man's ability to function in space
- To recover both man and spacecraft safely
The Mercury Seven, America’s first astronauts, flew six manned missions. Mercury 3, piloted by Alan Shepard, and Mercury 4, piloted by Gus Grissom, were suborbital flights. Mercury 6, piloted by John Glenn, and Mercury 7, piloted by Scott Carpenter, each completed three Earth orbits. Mercury 8, piloted by Walter Schirra, completed six orbits. The final Mercury flight, Mercury 9, piloted by Gordon Cooper, completed 22 orbits.
Mercury was followed by the Gemini program, considered a bridge to the moon.
Gemini had four main goals: to test an astronaut's ability to fly long-duration missions (up to two weeks in space); to understand how spacecraft could rendezvous and dock in orbit around the Earth and the moon; to perfect re-entry and landing methods; and to further understand the effects of longer space flights on astronauts.
The Gemini missions would allow NASA to prove that spacecraft could maneuver and dock with each other in space—key milestones in the journey to the moon. The manned Gemini missions took place from March 1965 through November 1966.
- On Gemini 4, Ed White became the first American to make an extravehicular activity (EVA, or "space walk") on June 3, 1965.
- Gemini 5 (August 21-29, 1965) demonstrated the 8-day endurance necessary for an Apollo lunar mission with the first use of fuel cells to generate its electrical power.
- Gemini 6A and 7 accomplished the first space rendezvous in December 1965, and Gemini 7 set a 14-day endurance record.
- Gemini 8 achieved the first space docking with an uncrewed Agena target vehicle.
- Gemini 10 established that radiation at high altitude was not a problem, further demonstrated the ability to rendezvous with a passive object, and would also be the first Gemini mission to fire the Agena's own rocket. Mike Collins would be the first person to meet another spacecraft in orbit, during his second successful EVA.
- Gemini 11 set a crewed Earth orbital altitude record of 739.2 nautical miles (1,369.0 km) in September 1966, using the Agena target vehicle's propulsion system. This record still stands as of 2017.[23]
- On Gemini 12 Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first space traveller to prove that useful work could be done outside a spacecraft without life-threatening exhaustion, due to newly implemented footholds, handholds and scheduled rest periods.
Once Gemini was completed, NASA focused on the Apollo program. The goals of the Apollo program were to land humans on the Moon and bring them safely back.
NASA could not just send Apollo 1 to the moon. It had to approach the final goal in stages. Apollo 1 was scheduled to be the first manned flight of the program. Sadly, it ended up costing the lives of three astronauts in January 1967.
Tragedy struck on the launch pad during a preflight test for Apollo 204 (Since redesignated Apollo 1), scheduled to be the first Apollo manned mission. It would have been launched on February 21, 1967, but Astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee lost their lives when a fire swept through the Command Module (CM).
The program was put on hold while the accident was investigated. The investigation of Apollo 1 found multiple deficiencies in the command module, requiring it to be redesigned.
Apollo 7 was the return to manned flight, and launched on October 11, 1968, carrying a crew consisting of Walter Schirra, Donn Eisele, and Walter Cunningham. There would be no lunar module carried on this flight.
Apollo 8 launched on December 21, 1968, with a crew of Frank Borman, James Lovell, and Willam Anders. No lunar module was carried on this flight. Apollo 8 flew to the moon, orbited it, and returned to Earth.
Apollo 9 launched on March 3, 1969, with a crew of James McDivitt, David Scott, and Russell Schweickart. According to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum,
The primary objectives were to demonstrate crew, space vehicle and mission support facilities performance during a manned Saturn V mission with the command-service module (CSM) and the lunar module (LM); demonstrate LM/crew performance; demonstrate docking, intervehicular crew transfer, extravehicular capability and LM-active rendezvous and docking; and conduct CSM/LM consumables assessment. All primary objectives were accomplished.
Apollo 10 was a dress rehearsal for landing on the moon. Crewed by Eugene Cernan, Thomas Stafford, and John Young, Apollo 10 launched on May 18, 1969. Apollo 10 was inserted into lunar orbit, and Stafford and Cernan flew the lunar module to 14 kilometers above the lunar surface.
Apollo 11 marked the attainment of Kennedy’s goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Launched on July 16, 1969, and landing on the moon on July 20th, Apollo 11 was crewed by Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, and Michael Collins. At 10:56 PM EDT, on July 20,
Astronaut Armstrong emerged from the spacecraft first. While descending, he released the Modularized Equipment Stowage Assembly (MESA) on which the surface television camera was stowed, and the camera recorded humankind's first step on the Moon. A sample of lunar surface material was collected and stowed to assure that, if a contingency required an early end to the planned surface activities, samples of lunar surface material would be returned to Earth. Astronaut Aldrin subsequently descended to the lunar surface.
Armstrong’s first words upon setting foot on the moon were, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
The first moonwalk lasted a little over two hours, after which the astronauts re-entered the lunar module for a sleep period (who could sleep on the moon?), and then launched from the moon back to the command module for the journey home.
The story of Apollo did not end there. Apollo’s missions numbered 12 through 17 would each be a little longer, or would bring something new with it to the moon (the moon buggy was the coolest thing ever to me as a young child). Disaster would narrowly be averted with Apollo 13, which I believe to be NASA’s finest hour, as it worked to return a crew in great danger safely to Earth.
While Neil Armstrong took a small step for a man, it was a lot of little steps that allowed for that giant leap he took for mankind.