THE man's journey to the moon it was one of the great milestones in humanity's technological advancement and the first time a man stepped on the Moon was on July 20, 1969. This feat was accomplished by Neilarmstrong, one of the mission members Apollo 11. Human expeditions to the Moon continued until 1972, when the Apollo 17 mission took place.
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Space race
The manned voyages to the Moon were a result of the dispute waged by the Americans and Soviets during the Cold War, the political-ideological conflict that polarized the world in the second half of the 20th century. This conflict led the two nations to dispute world hegemony and it happened at different levels: in the mightwarlike, at economy, at technology etc.
Technological dispute and scientific advances, which took place in the face of huge investments in the area, caused the Americans and Soviets to fight for space exploration. THE space race was started in 1957, when the Soviets launched the first satellite into space – Sputnik 1 – and ended in 1975, when a space mission was carried out jointly by the Americans and the Soviets.
Between 1957 and 1961, Soviets and Americans vied for the primacy of great achievements and great advances in space exploration, but the Soviets proved to be ahead of the Americans. The Soviets, in sequence, managed to be the first to:
Sending an artificial satellite into space
Send a living being to space
Send a probe that orbited the Sun
send a man into space
All these achievements first made by the Soviets, while discouraging scientists Americans, stirred up the local opinion of the country, since the American population considered it absurd that their country was behind the Soviets. The Soviets were also the first to send a woman into space and the first to carry out operations with humans outside the spacecraft.
The US decides to send man to the moon
Faced with so many advances made primarily by the Soviets, the American government headed by the president John F. Kennedy decided to dare. The space race was one of the symbols that demonstrated the technological superiority in relation to its opponent and, thus, a greater objective to be conquered was established.
On May 25, 1961, the American president announced, in Congress, his intention to take man to the moon. In that speech, Kennedy said: “I believe this nation must commit itself to achieving the goal. of, before the end of this decade, taking a man to the surface of the Moon and bringing him back safe and sound to Earth"|1|.
The president's announcement, of course, was received with enthusiasm by American society and began a period of enormous investments to make this manned expedition to the Moon possible. From a scientific and financial point of view, the trip to the Moon had little sense and the reasons that explain the financing of these expeditions are understood only within the political motivations inserted in the context of the space race and the Cold War, already mentioned in this text.
Gemini Program
The project of taking man to the Moon was challenging and involved, in addition to huge sums of money, a series of studies and tests so that it would be possible to send men to the Moon in safety. In addition, it was necessary to prepare qualified personnel to carry out all the tasks that this mission demanded.
Thus, the Gemini Program that, between 1963 and 1966, carried out a series of tests that were extremely important for the success of the operation that was responsible for taking three astronauts to the moon in 1969. This program recruited 16 astronauts to perform the necessary tests and conducted a series of unmanned and manned expeditions into space that stretched over days.
From the Gemini Program it was possible to carry out important tests on the functioning of systems and equipment. In addition, men were sent into space and remained there for days and these expeditions were important to verify the effects on the human body of a long stay in space. Finally, techniques for approaching and docking the ships were improved with this program.
In the words of scientist Albert Einstein, the Gemini Program “was a splendid success for having generated so many positive results. […] showed that the trip to the Moon was technically possible"|2|. The last step in sending man to the moon was the famous ProgramApollo.
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Apollo program
Symbol of the Apollo 11 mission, responsible for taking man to the moon, in 1969. (Credit: chrisdorney and Shutterstock)
The name of this program was in honor of Apollo, a Greek god who had a great relationship with the colonization carried out by the Greeks around the Mediterranean Sea. The strategy established for the mission to be carried out was designated by Albert Einstein as an “encounter in the orbit of the Moon” and he explains it as follows:
The spacecraft would be modular, consisting of the Command and Service Module (CSM) and the Lunar Module (LM). The CSM would contain the entire life support system so a three-man crew could travel to and from the Moon plus the heat shield for re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. The LM would separate from the CSM in orbit around the Moon and take two astronauts to the Moon's surface and from there back to the CSM|3|.
The Apollo Program took a huge hit on February 21, 1967. On that date, the launch of the ship would take place Apollo 1, as part of the preparations to send man to the moon. At the time, defects in the construction of the spacecraft led to an electrical failure that caused a fire inside the capsule and resulted in the death of three astronauts: Gusgrisson, Edwardwhite and Rogerchafee.
A report on the causes of the accident was carried out which prompted NASA to completely restructure the program and the construction process for the spacecraft. This was critical to ensuring the mission's success in 1969. Until the Apollo 6 mission, all expeditions were unmanned and were useful in fine-tuning important details.
The first manned expedition was Apollo 7, launched on October 11, 1968 with three astronauts. This mission spanned 10 days and was a success despite some setbacks. Apollo 8 was the first manned expedition to enter the Moon's orbit and again involved three astronauts. This expedition was launched on December 21, 1968 and remained in lunar orbit for 20 hours.
The Apollo 9 and 10 expeditions were also manned and carried out important tests on the Lunar Module, first in Earth orbit and then in Lunar orbit. Finally, the big moment happened with the expedition Apollo 11. This expedition had three astronauts: Neilarmstrong, BuzzAldrin and Michaelcollins.
Apollo 11
Command Module that was part of Columbia, spacecraft that took American astronauts to the Moon. (Credit: Tom Durr and Shutterstock)
The spacecraft that the three astronauts took off was the Columbia, and the launch took place on July 16, 1969, at 9:32 am. Twelve minutes later, they were in Earth orbit, on July 19, they reached the hidden face of the Moon and, on the 20th, at 5:17 pm (Eastern Time), the Lunar Module alunissed (landed on the Moon).
In the Lunar Module were Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, and the descent to the lunar ground was started at 23:56 by Armstrong, the expedition's commander. During the descent, Neil Armstrong uttered his famous phrase:
| "This is a small step for man, but a giant leap for humanity." |
The feat performed at Apollo 11 was accompanied approximately by 600 million people on television, and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin remained on lunar ground for 2h31m. During this period, the two astronauts explored the lunar surface and took with them about 21 kg of rocks from the moon. On July 24, 1969, the spacecraft landed (landed at sea) in the ocean and the astronauts were rescued healthy.
Other manned expeditions were sent to the Moon until the year 1972 and were responsible for bringing 380 kg of stones which were and still are the targets of intense studies. In all, the Apollo Program counted around 400,000 people involved at different levels and mobilized an astronomical amount of money. In 2006 values, what was spent on the Apollo Program was the equivalent of 136 billion dollars. Since 1972, man has never stepped on the moon again.
|1| MACAU, Elbert E. No. We arrived at the moon. In.: PRADO, Antônio Fernando Bertochini de Almeida and WINTER, Othlon Cabo. The conquest of Space: from Sputnik to the Centenary Mission. São Paulo: Livraria da Physics, 2007, p. 92.
|2| Idem, p. 98.
|3| Idem, p. 99.