Man's Journey to the Moon

The arrival of man on the Moon, on July 20, 1969, constitutes one of the greatest scientific achievements of the 20th century.

On July 20, 1969, two American astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, became the first human beings to set foot on lunar soil. A third, Michael Collins, stayed in orbit supporting the companions.

This feat was only possible due to a heavy technical-scientific investment of 22 billion dollars that involved more than one hundred thousand people.

Likewise, in the 1960s, the two world powers, the United States and the Soviet Union, used space conquest to advertise the benefits of their respective political systems.

The Soviets sent the first man to fly into space, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Feeling that they were left behind in the space race, US President John Kennedy launches the challenge of landing on the Moon before the end of the 60's.

Apollo 11 Project

Apollo 11 was the name of the project and spacecraft that took the first humans to Earth's satellite.

It consisted of a 45-ton ship, made up of three modules:command, service and lunar. It was launched into the nose of the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, the Saturn V, 110 meters high.

At the time of departure, the Saturn V weighed more than 3 thousand tons and most of it was fuel. This one should burn fast enough to propel its charge at a speed of 40,000 kilometers per hour.

In turn, the lunar module was 4.5 square meters inside and did not have a bathroom, which made hygiene very difficult for the astronauts.

To enter the capsule, the astronauts made a symbolic offer to the person responsible for introducing them into the module, engineer Gunter Wendt. Armstrong gave him a one-way ticket to the moon, Buzz a dedicated Bible, and Michael a stuffed trout.

Before taking off, however, the crew had to check 417 points.

Contact with Earth

In addition to the operating base in Houston, the Manned Space Flight Network (MSFN) was created.

This consisted of 11 land stations, five boats with satellite dishes, and eight planes to provide support during the launch and re-entry of Apollo 11.

Also built were three large stations with identical antennas of 26 meters in diameter and 300 tons that were located in Goldstone (California), Honeysuckle Creek (Australia), and in Fresnedillas de la Oliva (Spain).

These locations were no accident, as the earth stations were at equidistant distances and longitudes so that communication was maintained at all times with the crew.

Lift to the Moon

Takeoff took place on July 16, 1969 at 1:32 pm.

The trepidation was so strong that it was felt within a radius of 6 km. The noise was unbearable and even killed the birds that flew in the surroundings.

An estimated one million people flocked to Cape Canaveral (now Cape Kennedy) in Florida to watch the event. About 850 journalists from 55 countries recorded the event.

Based on this information, an estimated one billion people saw the landing on TV.

Trip to the Moon

Twelve minutes after takeoff, the spacecraft was already out of Earth orbit. On the 19th, they entered the moon's gravitational field.

Michael Collins released the lunar module (Eagle), so that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin could land. Meanwhile, Collins was circling the moon, waiting for his companions.

The Eagle landing was predicted to take place in the Sea of ​​Tranquility (despite the name it was a plain).

The landing, however, almost ends in tragedy, as there were only 30 seconds left for the fuel to run out. Fortunately, the two astronauts managed to make the maneuver in time. So Neil Armstrong landed a kilometer beyond the predicted point.

Mission on the Moon

Once the cabin was depressurized, the astronauts were able to descend. As pilot-in-command, Neil Armstrong did it first and went on to describe everything he saw. At this moment, he uttered his famous phrase:

Aldrin would join his colleague about ten minutes later. They planted the American flag and began to collect rocks and moon dust.

Then they installed a seismograph, a laser beam reflector, a communication antenna, a panel to study the solar winds and a TV camera, which would work for five weeks.

In addition to the aforementioned instruments, they left the American flag, the mission badge and the medals of the late Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Vladmir Komarov.

Back to Earth

On July 24, eight days, three hours and 18 minutes after launch, Apollo 11 plunged into the South Pacific off Polynesia.

The trio was isolated for three weeks to ensure they had not brought in any foreign bodies that could jeopardize the planet.

NASA would still send manned vehicles to the Moon until 1972 when Apollo 17 made the last trip to the Earth satellite. For its part, the Soviet Union would dedicate itself to the research and construction of an orbital station that would be the precursor of the International Space Station.

Watch a summary of man's journey to the moon here:

Be sure to read these texts too :

• Sputnik Satellites
• John Kennedy
• Characteristics of the Moon
• 60's