Tag: apollo 11

Moon landing conspiracy theories: Arguments and answers
Was NASA on the Moon? Of course, most people — including myself — will respond in that manner. However, some critics question if Apollo 11 really landed on the Moon. We provide reasons why the “Moon hoax” idea is false. The theory of a “Moon landing conspiracy” has been popular since a 2001 documentary aired on the American television channel Fox TV. It claims that NASA manufactured the whole event for media impact in an effort to persuade the Russians and the rest of the world at the same time of their dominance in space. The photographs and video recordings made by the astronauts are allegedly full of proof of this fraud, according to skeptics supporting this hoax. But how credible is the whole argument?
Is the whole Moon landing just fake?
Even though the Moon landing remains one of the most impressive and successful feats in the history of human spaceflight, this very fact has been called into question more and more recently.
A “documentary” and its consequences
In a reenacted environment, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin practiced the lunar landing. Credit: NASA.
The program “Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon” that was shown on February 15, 2001, by the American television network Fox-TV served as both the catalyst and the culmination of the campaign started by certain “skeptics.” In it, self-proclaimed experts attempt to demonstrate that the Moon landing could not have occurred and that all images and media stories are consequently faked based on supposed faults and hints in NASA photographs and interviews.
The creators of the idea claim that NASA simply lacked the technological capacity to carry out such a landing in the 1960s. The whole event was just fabricated in order to win the “race to the Moon”; Hollywood had plenty of acceptable backgrounds.
Contradictory evidence is abounding
View of the Eagle lander that has just been detached from the command module. Credit: NASA and KSC.
NASA and independent astronomers responded to the claims and categorically and unambiguously denied the purported “proof” before the episode ever aired. The majority of critics’ claims were just the result of poor research or ignorance of the lunar surface’s basic characteristics.
For instance, Bill Kaysing, one of the most persuasive proponents of a lunar landing conspiracy, said that NASA scientists had estimated the likelihood of a successful lunar landing at 0.017 percent, making it improbable that the project would really be implemented. However, even though these estimates could have been popular during the early stages of the Apollo program, various analyses carried out in the middle of the 1960s anticipated a success rate of at least 90%. Kaysing, of course, keeps this information private.
Persistent and long-lasting
Unmistakable evidence: The lowest portion of the Apollo 11 lander is still in place on the Moon. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft captured this in 2009. Credit: NASA
However, despite the evident ridiculousness of their claims, the “skeptics” were still able to unnerve at least some of the American public, which did not lessen the effectiveness of the “conspiracy theory.” The “Moon Hoax” theme persisted, especially in the USA, where more and more books and websites about it were produced.
These notions, which had long ago been disproven as illogical, were even spread in Europe, where they are genuinely taken seriously. The media businesses acquired the “documentary” from Fox and aired it on their networks many times, unmodified and often without any commentary.
The issue was ultimately brought up in court in the USA, where Bill Kaysing even charged NASA with purposefully causing the Apollo 1 catastrophe in an effort to silence any dissidents inside its own ranks. Jim Lovell, the commander of the Apollo 13 mission, was outraged by these ridiculous claims and referred to Kaysing as a maniac; Kaysing then filed a defamation suit against Lovell. But the presiding judge decided not to hear the case after the first hearing of the evidence.
Shadows and starry skies
The “indications” of a forgery put forward in the Fox documentary and the books of the “moon landing skeptics” can, in principle, be summarized as a handful of phenomena. Here, we’ve laid out the most important arguments for and against the Moon landing conspiracy theories.
The direction, duration, and form of the shadows in the NASA astronaut images are among the pillars of the doubters’ case. Kaysing argued that the pictures had to have been shot in a studio rather than on the Moon.
Shadow direction argument
These rock crystals have a crystal character that is easily discernible, however, this is not true of all of them. Credit: Ngsoft/pixabay
The shadows cast by various items and individuals on the surface of the Moon do not run parallel in the photos, and their lengths vary. The shadows of both astronauts seem to be leaning toward one another in the photo of Armstrong and Aldrin hoisting the American flag, and Aldrin’s shadow is also longer. Skeptics claim that this is a blatant indication that the “studio” employed various light sources.
Answer: This argument fails to take into account fundamental principles of perspective and vanishing point distortion. Every time parallel lines are shown in a picture, a photograph, or other two-dimensional media, they seem to converge on a three-dimensional surface. This idea may also be seen in action on Earth, such as while seeing a road heading in its direction.
The shadows of Aldrin and Armstrong are similarly distorted. The fact that the ground is not level but somewhat undulating accounts for the variations in the length of the shadows. A slope visually shortens a shadow on a sloping plane while optically lengthening it. There is a tiny drop between where Armstrong is standing and the modest elevation in front of him.
Each rise would have had numerous shadows if the photos had really been shot in a studio with various light sources; this effect may be seen, for instance, at a soccer stadium when a game is played under floodlights: Each player is encircled by four shadows.
Shadow depth argument
On the lunar surface, Buzz Aldrin exits the lunar lander. Credit: NASA and KSC
Why are the places that are under darkness still so brilliant if there is actually just one source of light, the sun, and no air to disperse the light? While Aldrin departs the LEM, for instance, why is he so easily visible when the ladder ought to be in deep shadow?
In response, this reasoning fails to take into account the fact that the lunar surface is extremely reflective due to its brightness and abundant microglass. As a result, it bounces the sunlight that strikes it back in its direction, illuminating the shadows.
Starry sky argument
This picture of the ISS space station also doesn’t show any stars. Credit: NASA
None of the NASA photos show any stars in the sky. But they ought to be present.
Answer: Although the skeptics’ main argument is the simplest to disprove, it is often raised. The photographic method is to blame for the alleged absence of stars: On the sun-lit, dazzling surface of the Moon, the astronauts recorded the happenings. They had to choose a short exposure time and a narrow aperture in order to make sure that these photographs weren’t overexposed. The stars, which were just extremely dim in comparison to the high-reflecting surface, were simply too faint for this exposure period.
Other conspiracy theories
Aldrin is seen next to the US flag. Credit: NASA and KSC
Waving flag argument
The American flag is another long-time favorite of conspiracy theorists: In certain TV scenes, the flag seems to be blown by a breeze or wind, and in photographs at least, it still exhibits unmistakable waves. However, because the Moon has no atmosphere, there is no wind.
Answer: If one carefully examines the TV records, they reveal that the flag only waves when a straight astronaut positions himself at its stalk. The vibrations produced by slamming the stem into the lunar surface are longer lasting than they would be on Earth because of the absence of an atmosphere.
The alleged ripples in the still photographs are not caused by the flag moving in waves, but rather by a setup error: The astronauts were unable to completely extend the pole that distributes the top of the flag widely, causing the flag fabric to hang down in folds rather than being taut. Later, NASA was so taken with the “natural” appearance of this folding that the crossbar was purposefully cut shorter on all following Apollo flights.
Moon dust argument
The time Aldrin spent on the surface was brief. Credit: NASA and KSC
Although the “Eagle’s” touchdown created dust, the landing module’s foot pads are absolutely dust-free.
Answer: Because the Moon lacks an atmosphere, there is also no drag, which on Earth causes the whirled-up dust to hover for a very long period until it ultimately settles. On the Moon, the dust does not go far before falling back to Earth in a ballistic arc. As a result, the landing’s dust was blown away from the module and did not physically rest on the lander’s feet.
Footprints argument
The lunar rovers’ tracks and the astronauts’ footprints are both very distinct and crisply detailed. But without water, dust is unable to leave these traces.
Yes, it is true. if the dust has very few grains. This is also conceivable with Moon dust, just as an impression is plainly discernible even in perfectly dry flour.
Backgrounds and crosshairs
Many different things can be argued about when it comes to photography techniques and hints of supposed retouching.
Crosshairs argument
In order to make it easier to determine the magnitude of the things being shot in the future, crosshairs were included in the cameras’ design. But how else can this be explained, if not by shoddy post-processing, since in some images the crosshairs are hidden by items in the frame?
On the one hand, cameras with crosshairs might have been utilized in research right away, thus, even a hoax wouldn’t have required a second application of such crosshairs.
Second, these occlusions seem to always occur when a crosshair is close to a starkly white or brilliant item. Printers and photographers are aware of the “bleeding” effect: The thin black line seems to vanish because the white region is brighter than the black area on the film material. Using a camera, one may easily recreate this phenomenon on Earth.
Identical backgrounds
The same background, the mountains, and their placement appear in two NASA footages that were supposedly filmed three days and a few miles apart. Was this scene perhaps staged using a studio background? Similar patterns may be seen in two photographs, where the landing module is sometimes visible in the foreground and other times it is not.
Answer: The first “argument” once again stems from the filmmakers’ shoddy research: They did not directly copy both segments from NASA, but rather from another documentary where it was wrongly claimed that they were both filmed three days apart. This error may have been resolved with a quick NASA study. The sequences were captured during a lunar outing at roughly the same location and three minutes apart, as the astronauts’ accompanying voice remarks further demonstrate.
On the other hand, physical effects are the reason the landing module seems to be “missing” in the pictures: Since the Moon lacks an atmosphere, it also lacks a feature that allows humans to estimate distances on Earth—the blurring of landforms or objects as they get closer to the viewer. Even if a shot is taken a few meters in front of the lander and another a few meters behind it, the mountains in the distance that seem to be so near are really kilometers distant and consequently scarcely alter.
Micrometeorites, radiation, and weak computers
Voyager 1 is now traveling across interstellar space after leaving our solar system. Credit: NASA/ESA, G. Bacon (STScI)
Was the Apollo mission technically possible?
The onboard computer of the Apollo lander module was incapable of controlling the lunar landing and had less processing capability than the microprocessor in a contemporary washing machine. Even the construction of such a compact but capable onboard computer was not possible in the 1960s due to the lack of computer technology.
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Answer: While there were no current microprocessors in use in the 1960s, there were microchips that could do basic arithmetic calculations. Supercomputers on the ground handled a large portion of the intricate calculations required for navigation. A modest memory was adequate to temporarily retain the outcomes of the ground computations for the remainder of the navigation, leaving just a very small portion of the navigation to be handled by the onboard computer.
Radiation argument
Lunar landscape as seen via the lander Eagle’s window. Credit: NASA and KSC.
The Van Allen radiation band surrounding Earth, in particular, exposed the Apollo missions to lethal radiation without any safeguards. According to Kaysing, if the astronauts had really gone to the Moon, the radiation would have been so intense that they would have either died from radiation poisoning or suffered serious radiation damage.
The Apollo astronauts needed nearly an hour to get through the Van Allen belt, in response. The dosimeters indicate that they got a radiation dosage of roughly one SEM during the procedure.
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Only at levels of 100 and more than 300 SEM may radiation illness or even death occurs.
However, if a solar storm had happened while the journey was in progress, the cosmic radiation would have considerably risen. But happily, for NASA and the crew, there were no significant radiation bursts or plasma ejections throughout the lunar trip since the sun stayed quiet.
Meteorites argument
Inadequate shielding prevented the spacecraft from withstanding the continual barrage of micrometeorites. Therefore, if the spacecraft had really been launched, thousands of holes would have been carried away.
Answer: Despite having a relatively little mass, micrometeorites are quite quick. Therefore, they may be stopped by even a small covering of metal. Such micrometeorite defense layers were included in both the spacecraft and the crew’s spacesuits.
Conclusion
The actions of the Moon landing deniers are terrifying in two ways: In addition to the space that such theories obtain in the media without response, numerous comparable Internet sites and book releases make pseudoscientific claims that mostly avoid debate.
Even while the documentary’s creators instruct the audience to “make up your own opinion based on all the facts” at the outset, the spectator regrettably does not obtain this precise information throughout the program. The purportedly damning images or video clips are often shown and discussed.
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The truth speaks for itself
The arguments put forward by NASA or other objective astronomers, as outlined below, do not, however, find much room. When compared to the in-depth interviews with doubters, the remarks of NASA officials are at most brief, noncommittal, and dismissive, which must create the impression that NASA has nothing to really contradict or may even have something to conceal.
In reality, NASA doesn’t generally reply to many charges since it doesn’t have to because it doesn’t take the doubters seriously. Because the plethora of images, videos, and background information that the space agency has provided online, among other things, speaks a language that is really adequately clear and disproves many arguments on its own.
Dissemination without reflection
Nevertheless, people who see such material without a lot of background information might sometimes get confused. especially when it is broadcast on apparently legitimate TV channels. The viewers’ confidence is exploited to provide a platform to a loud but doubtful minority.
The Apollo astronauts were on the Moon, and the “Eagle” truly landed. Certainly, one may debate the wisdom or folly of human space flight, particularly the Moon landing, but at least this fact is undeniable among the worldwide scientific community.
October 11, 2022
Apollo 8: The first flight to the Moon
50 years ago, in December 1968, mankind made history by going outside of Earth’s low orbit for the first time and reach an extraterrestrial body. The Apollo 8 crew became the first humans to orbit the Moon, allowing them to glimpse Earthrise over the lunar terrain and see the far side of our satellite for the first time. NASA began a historic and exceedingly risky mission on December 21, 1968. Astronauts left the protective confines of Earth’s orbit for the first time and explored the immensity of space. And the first Moon landing in July of 1969 was made possible by the Apollo 8 mission to the Moon.
Fifty years after its completion, the Apollo 8 mission remains a thrilling chapter in the human exploration of space.
Competition: Moon
Bankruptcies, bad luck, and unfortunate events
At first, NASA intended Apollo 8 to be a pretty routine test trip in Earth orbit, during which they would put the new lunar module through its paces. After all, this was the deciding factor in whether or not a lunar landing would be possible.
Accidents keep piling up
The Apollo lunar module during a test in Earth’s orbit – it was not ready in time for Apollo 8. Credit: NASA.
However, in the summer of 1968, everything changed. The Grumman Corporation’s design for NASA’s landing module was incomplete at first, and then problems started piling up: cables were connected improperly or caused short circuits, components were broken, and the nozzles that were meant to lift the module off the lunar surface didn’t work. In a short amount of time, it became apparent that the module would not be completed in time for the December launch of Apollo 8.
The Saturn V’s progress has been discouraging as well; it’s the only rocket capable of lifting the lunar module, the command capsule, and three astronauts into orbit. In April of 1968, during a second unmanned test, the rocket began vibrating so strongly that it ruptured several of the cables. Consequently, two of the rocket’s five engines go out prematurely, and the craft just barely reaches orbit. Then, the failure occurs during the third and final firing stage of the lunar mission. The signs for Saturn V’s human missions are not good.
Take on the Soviets in a race
U.S. space officials are also concerned that the Soviet Union is close to launching the country’s first human mission to the Moon. In September of 1968, the unmanned spacecraft Zond 5 completed its first orbit of the Moon. Soviet engineers have begun designing and testing a rocket designed for human trips called the Soyuz. There are hints that a cosmonaut may be doing a test journey toward the Moon soon.
NASA is now under significant time constraints. As far as we can tell, the Soviet Union is much ahead of the United States in the space race. They sent the first satellite into orbit with Sputnik, and cosmonaut Yuri Gargarin went into space before any American astronaut. This is a humiliating setback for the United States, which likes to see itself as the leader of the free world. Consequently, the race to the Moon must be won at whatever cost.
Is Kennedy’s programme tipping?
US President John F. Kennedy at Rice University Stadium in Houston during his famous “Moon Speech”.
It is also crucial to fulfilling John F. Kennedy’s pledge. In a speech delivered in Texas in September 1962, Kennedy said that a human would walk on the Moon before the end of the decade. “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” Since then, NASA and its subcontractors have devoted massive resources to meeting this deadline, creating space capsules, docking methods, and rockets at breakneck speed and putting them through their paces in both human and unmanned trips around Earth.
However, by the summer of 1968, the whole Apollo program was in danger of being delayed. Despite all this, would the Soviets end up being ahead of the Americans?
How Apollo 8 became a lunar mission
Originally planned for Apollo 9, but then preferred to Apollo 8: James Lovell, William Anders and Frank Borman.
Time to make a decision
On this day in 1968, Apollo 9’s soon-to-be commander, Frank Borman, is in California running the ship’s Command Module through its last testing. This former Air Force pilot is no stranger to space travel; in 1965, he and James Lovell spent two weeks in a Gemini spacecraft orbiting the Earth. They plan to return to Earth orbit in early 1969 with a third guy, space rookie William Anders.
An insane scheme
The problem is that NASA officials in Houston have just canceled Borman’s scheduled trip, and he has no idea about it. Since the lunar module will not be completed in time for the December trip, a choice must be made. The Americans asked “Should we risk having the Soviets beat us to the Moon and missing Kennedy’s objective by delaying Apollo 8 and all following flights?” Or do you take an unusual risk even for the still young NASA?
As a NASA engineer, George Low has a seemingly insane plan: Apollo 8 should be launched without the landing module, bypassing Earth orbit entirely and heading straight for the Moon. The spaceship would next enter a lunar orbit and begin circling the Moon. The rationale for this is that while waiting for the lunar module, the crew could practice the required flying maneuvers. These are still simply conceptual at this point, existing solely on paper and in the thoughts of engineers. It’s also uncharted terrain for space travelers to establish contact with one another across such vast distances. A lunar orbit with Apollo 8 would offer the chance to test all this – and to beat the Soviets.
“Have you gone mad?”
Credit: NASA
But are astronauts and technology up to the task? Low keeps NASA Director James Webb in the dark about the Apollo team’s preparations for launch by having them surreptitiously figure out the required course adjustments and maneuvers and inspect the state of the rocket and space capsules. They conclude that by December 1968, the Apollo 8 spacecraft would have had advanced enough technology to make a trip to the Moon and even a spin into lunar orbit.
Now, all that remains is to persuade NASA’s upper management to go along with this strategy. As for Low’s relationship with Thomas Paine, the deputy director, there are no major issues. James Webb, who is now in Europe for a conference, may be an exception. Those that answer Paine’s appeal are less than enthusiastic. According to Andrew Chaikin’s “A Man on the Moon,” “Webb shouted down the transatlantic telephone line: ‘Have you gone mad?’”
To be fair, Webb is not completely incorrect. The strategy makes sense and is technically possible, but it’s also very dangerous. In the event of a problem with the command module, the astronauts would be stranded in space without the Lunar Module to rescue them. And not a single Apollo module had ever been crew-tested; suddenly they were all set to go for the Moon.
This makes it official
In spite of these worries, a middle ground was found: In a news conference held on August 19, 1968, NASA revealed that the Apollo 8 mission would proceed without the lunar module and with a new crew consisting of Borman, Lovell, and Anders. It seems highly probable that the two veteran Gemini astronauts will be able to complete this challenging first voyage.
Where the flight will go, however, NASA initially leaves in the dark. After all, the Soviet Union must not be given advance notice. The first human flight of an Apollo shuttle, Apollo 7, took place in October 1968, and it was then, the mission profile of Apollo 8 was finally decided. The test flight of Apollo 7 was a success, with the Saturn 1B rocket successfully lifting the command capsule into orbit and the propulsion nozzles on the capsule working as expected.
It’s finally time for Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the Moon.
First humans to orbit Moon
Goodbye, planet Earth
It’s the morning of the Apollo 8 launch, December 21, 1968. The Saturn V rocket, assembled on Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, soars into the sky. This 110-meter-tall monster is the most powerful rocket ever constructed. This, however, is the day when the Saturn V is put to the ultimate test, as astronauts will be placing their lives in the rocket’s hands for the first time.
The launch
Saturn V, Apollo 8 launch.
The Saturn V’s fuel tanks were refilled with liquid oxygen, kerosene, and liquid hydrogen for many hours the night before. Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders, all astronauts, entered the spaceship at roughly five o’clock that morning. The astronauts must now put their faith in the rocket and the Apollo capsule’s onboard computer, both of which are quite rudimentary in comparison to what we have today.
The Saturn V’s engines start roaring to life at 7:51 a.m. local time. Even at a distance of 10 kilometers, the launch’s noise and vibrations are powerful enough to break the glass. The first combustion stage consumes 20 tons of fuel per second, or over two million liters, in only 2.5 minutes of operation as the rocket slowly, almost reluctantly, lifts off the ground.
However, the rocket’s force can only lift the space capsule 65 kilometers into the air. Then the five engines of the rocket’s second stage take over, followed by the third stage’s thrusters. The latter is what propels the Apollo spacecraft (composed of a command capsule and a service module) into low Earth orbit, at an altitude of around 190 kilometers.
Destination: the Moon
Since Apollo 7 and numerous Gemini flights have already reached Earth orbit, the three Apollo astronauts have not yet mapped out any new terrain. It takes Borman, Lovell, and Anders two orbits around the planet to double-check everything. The next step is to relight the third rocket stage, which will propel the spacecraft out of Earth’s orbit and onto the Moon.
It’s a critical time; if the burn stage’s ignition fails now, the lunar mission will be a failure, and the astronauts will stay in orbit. A mistimed or delayed ignition may throw a spaceship off track. But all goes according to plan, and two hours, 47 minutes, and 37 seconds after liftoff, the Apollo capsule is propelled by its engines and begins a steady, gradual acceleration away from the gravitational pull of Earth. The engines were turned off for the last time at 5 minutes and 18 seconds, putting Apollo 8 on a direct track to the Moon.
Approaching to the Moon
The historical moment
One of the first images of the Earth from outside the Earth’s orbit taken from Apollo 8.
It’s a big deal: Apollo astronauts Borman, Lovell, and Anders became the first people to ever gaze upon Earth from space. As their ship speeds away from the planet, Earth becomes a tiny blue dot on the command module’s display.
In one of the first space TV broadcasts, astronauts attempt to describe this incredible scene to viewers on Earth. The clouds that float above the Earth and are described by them as white bands and swirls also seem to be the color scheme they use to represent the planet itself. Jim Lovell told Anders, “Mike, here’s what I can’t stop imagining: I’m a lone space traveler from another planet, looking down at Earth for the first time. Whether or not I would assume there were people living there.”
Drawn to the Moon by its gravity
View over Mare Tranquillitatis, taken from Apollo 8.
A few times later, the astronauts pass another significant milestone as their spaceship exits the gravitational pull of Earth and enters the Moon’s gravitational field. It’s the first time that humans have made it this far. At this point, 326,400 km from Earth and 62,000 km from the Moon, the astronauts, and their spaceship are being drawn toward it. Therefore, Apollo 8’s speed in flight keeps increasing.
On their way to the Moon, the astronauts won’t be able to view it since the Moon would be right in front of them and the command module’s side windows are too tiny. Since they have no way of knowing whether or not the path is true or whether or not their flight is being tracked by the ground station, they have no choice but to trust on faith alone. The United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and a number of ships in the Indian and Pacific Oceans all contribute to this effort.
Here, on the Moon’s dark side
Apollo 8, Frank Borman, during an orbit around the Moon.
The Apollo 8 crew reached the Moon early on December 24, 1968. But now they must do a tricky maneuver: they must slow down Apollo’s trajectory and swing it into lunar orbit. To slow down enough, they run the engines in reverse for around four minutes.
The challenge is that this ignition has to occur on the far side of the Moon when radio communication with Earth is down. At this point, not even NASA’s ground personnel can assist the astronauts. As an added safety measure, the spacecraft stays on the dark side of Earth’s satellite until just before the last braking maneuver. As a result, the astronauts are essentially flying blind. However, everything goes well, and Apollo 8’s engines bring its speed to slightly under 6,000 kilometers per hour. With its current velocity, the spacecraft can be captured by the Moon’s gravity and guided into orbit.
After a long and perilous journey, the three Apollo astronauts arrived…
Earthrise
With Apollo 8, humans left Earth’s orbit for the first time – and saw the rise of the Earth. © NASA
Borman, Lovell, and Anders’ primary focus now that they are in lunar orbit is to observe and photographically map the lunar surface. They are the first people to observe the Moon’s dark side and the closest humans have ever been to the Moon’s surface, at a distance of around 100 kilometers.
Like gray sand on the seashore…
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At first, Jim Lovell tries to relay his thoughts about the lunar surface to mission control: “Almost entirely devoid of hue, the Moon is a uniform gray. It resembles plaster or slightly grey beach sand. There is a great deal of specificity in view. All of the craters are circular in shape. Numerous examples exist, including some that occurred quite recently. It seems that meteorites or other projectiles may have damaged several of them, particularly the spherical ones.”
Unfortunately, Earth’s satellite is, on the whole, a very underwhelming sight. The landscape is flat and gloomy, with no striking landmarks such as mountains or canyons. Quite differently from how Stanley Kubrick’s soon-to-be-released film, “2001: A Space Odyssey,” portrayed it.
Making of a legendary photograph
Anders peered out the window during the third orbit and beheld a scene that has never been seen before: Earth rising over the drab lunar surface, bathed in blue light. “Oh my God, look at that sight, too!” he cries. Borman, who is busily rotating the Apollo spacecraft, gasps in surprise. The Earth is rising!” exclaims Anders.
Anders quickly swaps the black-and-white film in his camera for color so he may record the majesty of the Earth as it rises. Yes, it does work. Apollo 8’s “Earthrise” remains one of the world’s most iconic photographs. Anders later reflects, “It was the most gorgeous one I had ever seen — and absolutely unexpected.” While in lunar orbit, I had a revelation: “The most fascinating part of the voyage was viewing Earth from the Moon.”
Inspirational Christmas message
In the Christmas Eve live TV broadcast the astronauts transmit to Earth, Jim Lovell gives a similar account: “It’s terrible to be so far from civilization on the Moon’s surface. A sense of gratitude for Earth and everything we have here is sparked. From this vantage point, Earth seems like a magnificent paradise in the middle of empty space.” In the minutes that follow, the astronauts elaborate more on their first reactions to the lunar surface and the way that sunlight and shadows interact with the otherwise featureless landscape.

The three men on board the Apollo spacecraft then begin the ritualistic end to their live broadcast as they near the day-night limit of Earth’s satellite “The Moon dawn is rapidly coming. Finally, the Apollo 8 crew would want to relay a message to everyone back on Earth,” Anders says. Then he jumps into the opening of the biblical account of creation: “God created the universe and everything in it in the beginning. And all the land was barren and empty, and there was night over all the oceans. When God commanded, “Let there be light,” the Holy Spirit dove into the ocean. And finally, the Sun came out. Then God decided the light was good and built a barrier between it and the darkness.”
The reading from the account of creation is then continued by Lovell and Borman. And from the crew of Apollo 8: “We finish now with a good night, good luck, Merry Christmas, and God bless you all — all of you on the good Earth,” Borman says at the end of the 29-minute transmission. From the orbit of an extraterrestrial celestial body, a billion people across the planet may see and hear this Christmas greeting.
Let’s go down to Earth
Tension-filled seconds after the Moon
The crew of Apollo 8 gets ready to return to Earth while the rest of humanity sleeps in on Christmas Day, 1968. As the spacecraft completes its tenth and last lunar orbit, another critical maneuver—the spacecraft’s acceleration—is quickly approaching.
As we bid farewell to Earth’s satellite
View into the control center of the Apollo missions – here at Apollo 9.
This move must likewise be carried out on the far side of the Moon, away from Earth, leaving Borman, Lovell, and Anders to fend for themselves once again. Apollo 8’s engines fired just after midnight on December 25. After roughly three minutes, the spacecraft had gained enough speed to break free of the Moon’s gravitational influence.
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Meanwhile, down at NASA’s Houston control center, everyone is on edge as they wait for Apollo’s first sign of life after the radio silence. In order for Apollo 8 to successfully return to Earth, radio contact must be established at the precise moment planned in advance.
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And it works: Lovell, to the delight of the ground crew, declares, “This is Apollo 8 calling Houston. Bear in mind, there is a Santa Claus.”
Re-entry
Apollo 8 re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere.
No big problems arise on the trip back to Earth.
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After departing lunar orbit, the astronauts return to Earth’s protective zone eleven hours later. Their ship is suddenly being drawn to Earth at a frantic rate. The crew and spacecraft won’t face their next challenge until they re-enter Earth’s atmosphere.
The Apollo astronauts had already jettisoned the service module, at a distance of fewer than 3,000 kilometers from Earth’s surface, not long before. The control capsule is the only one still heading home. If the capsule malfunctions and crashes into Earth’s atmosphere, for example, all three astronauts would be killed. The oxygen and power in the capsule will run out just before the touchdown.
The Apollo spacecraft slows down as it hits the gas shell of Earth’s upper atmosphere at a height of 122 kilometers. When the capsule’s heat shield reaches 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit, it generates an ionized plasma. From outside, the astronauts notice a dazzling light that they initially think to be dawn.
Apollo 8 lands back on Earth
After landing on December 27, 1968: Apollo capsule aboard the USS Yorktown.
Forces of up to six grams are exerted on Borman, Lovell, and Anders as the Apollo spacecraft flies through the atmosphere, its bright heat shield illuminating the night sky. They say that after almost a week in zero gravity, they feel like an elephant is resting on their chest.
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Fortunately, this stress doesn’t endure forever; the braking parachutes deploy and the capsule slows to subsonic speeds before long. Once the final few kilometers are reached, the Apollo spacecraft touches down on the ocean’s surface.
As of 5:51 a.m. EST on December 27 (13:51 GMT), the Apollo astronauts have safely returned to Earth. Their spacecraft crashes into the Pacific Ocean, but it is upside down when it first makes contact with the water. The three of them are being thrashed about by the powerful surf while hanging upside down in their harnesses. However, the capsule righted itself after a few minutes, and the hatch was opened by American combat swimmers. The three Moon explorers return to Earth and take their first deep breaths of sea air after a week of breathing “canned air.”
What Apollo 8 left behind
The Apollo 8 crew not only became the first humans to reach the Moon but also changed the course of space travel forever. Approximately six months after their mission, Apollo 11 successfully landed on the Moon for the first time. The path paved by Borman, Lovell, and Anders was eventually followed by Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. The three men on Apollo 8 captured the first photographs of the lunar surface from such a close range. Therefore, NASA was able to choose an appropriate landing location for Apollo 11.
Apollo 8 was an important stride for humanity since it was the first time humans ventured into deep space, even though it is generally eclipsed and replaced by Apollo 11 nowadays. In addition, the first lunar landing in July 1969 would not have been feasible without Apollo 8.
October 11, 2022
The First Moon Landing (1969): Man’s Journey to the Moon
“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Armstrong’s famous Moon landing quote were the final point of the race to reach the Moon, which began 12 years ago when Russia placed the first satellite orbiting the Earth. In 1961, President Kennedy promised his country that the first person who would step on the Moon would be sent at the end of the 1960s. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) embarked on an enormous and complex project under the code name Apollo in 1962, worth $25 billion and involving 400,000 people. In 1968, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders were out of the world’s gravitational pull and became the first humans to orbit around the Moon with Apollo 8. Five months before the end of the decade, Apollo 11 was ready to launch in July 1969.
The Launch Vehicle Saturn V
The Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket launch vehicle lifts-off with astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., at 9:32 a.m. EDT July 16, 1969, from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex Pad 39A. Image: NASA.
The launch vehicle Saturn V, which weighed around 6,600,000 lb (3,000 metric tons) and was 360 ft (110 m) long, consumed 600,000 gallons (2,300,000 liters) of fuel in the first 2.5 minutes of the flight. This vehicle was installed on the world’s largest indoor platform at a height of 500 ft (152 m) and transported to the launch pad with the world’s largest vehicle with a payload capacity of 310,000 lb (140 metric tons).
The 95,000 lb (43 metric tons) spaceship at the top of the rocket had three sections: the service module, the command module, and the lunar module. The service module provided propulsion for the spaceship during the three-day lunar journey. The service and the command modules were planned to remain in orbit while approaching the Moon, and the 31,000-lb (14 metric tons) weighted Lunar module would perform the landing.
On the Verge of a Disaster
The man’s journey to the Moon and return to Earth was not trouble-free. American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin were on the verge of a disaster on July 20, 1969, while heading toward the Moon. The bug-shaped, bulky lunar module Eagle carried them and left its orbit to find a soft surface suitable for landing. But when they approached the surface of the Moon by 690 ft (210 m), they realized how low they were and how difficult it was to distinguish the reference craters that had previously been spotted with the help of Apollo 10.
The first steps: The second man who set foot on the Moon, Aldrin, realizes the man’s most impossible dream: Walking on another planet. Aldrin’s helmet shows the reflection of Neil Armstrong, the mission’s commander and the first man to set foot on the Moon. Image: NASA
Armstrong began to operate the module manually and slow down the vehicle’s descent. First, it descended to 300 ft (90 m) and then to 200 ft (60 m). Eagle grazed the dusty and pocky-looking soft landing surface named “The Sea of Tranquility,” which was the planned site. About 4 miles (6.5 km) away, Armstrong reported what he saw below: Spooky ground with VW Beetle-sized rocks. It would be suicide to get down here.
While Armstrong was speeding the vehicle safely over the rocks, a terrible concern arose at the Mission Control Center in Houston. Only 60 seconds of fuel remained in the landing tank; either Armstrong would find a place to land at this time, or Aldrin would have to end the mission by putting the take-off tank into action. The Eagle descended to a height of 40 ft (12 m), then 30 ft (9 m). Without the ability to lift upward, the engine that would provide this elevation could crash on the ground.
The surface is like a fine powder. It has a soft beauty all its own, like some desert in the United States.
Neil Armstrong
But everything went smoothly, and the Mission Control Unit heard Armstrong’s voice amid static rustling; “Houston, Tranquility base here. The Eagle has landed.“
The rise of the Earth from the Moon’s surface: Apollo 11’s astronauts were the first people to watch the earth rise from the horizon of the Moon. While the command module continues to orbit around the Moon, the lunar module has made the risky landing on the surface of the planet filled with craters. Image: National Air and Space Museum.
Using the last drops of landing engine fuel, Armstrong lowered the module to the Moon’s surface. Aldrin was still waiting, ready to fire the launching engine and end the mission in case the dusty surface of the Moon could not bear the weight of the module or the module appeared to be damaged.
Perfect Touchdown
The launch on July 16 was broadcast live from the Kennedy Space Center and the Houston Mission Control Center. Six hours after the landing on the Moon, Armstrong went down the ladder in his bright space suit. As he stepped onto the dusty surface and bounced off due to the low gravity, he declared the famous words that reflect the idealism of this particular space mission, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” During the 13 hours they spent on the Moon’s surface, Armstrong and Aldrin collected rock fragments, made experiments, and then prepared to take off.
Safe landing: At the end of their space mission that marked a new era, the Apollo 11 astronauts landed in the Pacific waters and left the command module with a rubber boat. Image: NASA/Public Domain.
This was a tense moment; they could not survive if the engines failed. Everything went according to plan; the lunar module’s legs were used as the launch pad, and they fired the ascent engine. The module reunited with the main module, in which Michael Collins awaited them. The crew fired the service module engine to begin the return to the Earth.
After entering the Earth’s atmosphere, the command module slowed down due to air friction and landed in the Pacific Ocean with the help of a parachute. After the landing on July 24, the crew was happy to swing on a sea on the Earth inside the spacecraft, which turned into a lifeboat. Then the astronauts were rescued and kept isolated for 17 days, in case they or the cargo they brought from the Moon would carry an unknown Moon germ and spread to the whole world. After the “Danger Has Passed” sign, they were all ready for the delayed welcome.
With his “one giant leap for mankind,” astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first person to set foot on the Moon more than 50 years ago, on July 20, 1969. Thus, the Apollo 11 Moon landing was a watershed moment in the history of human space exploration. This was the first time that humanity had entered an alien celestial body.
During the superpower conflict known as the “Cold War,” the Soviet Union was the United States’ primary adversary, therefore, the American Moon landing was a major victory. What was once hailed as a scientific and political achievement is mostly forgotten now. After receiving frequent human visits beginning in the early 1970s, the Moon fell out of human sight and has since been circling the Earth in beautiful isolation.
“Luna” vs. “Apollo”
Cold War in Space
For the United States, the Moon landing was not only a much-needed triumph in a fierce war, but also a huge stride for humanity and a historic milestone in space travel. In 1961, then-U.S. President John F. Kennedy issued a challenge to the archrival Soviet Union by declaring that an American would be the first to set foot on the Moon within the decade.
According to Kennedy in his 1961 address, no space endeavor would create a larger effect on all humanity and be more important in the long-term conquest of space. It was not lost on either Soviet President Khrushchev or his American equivalents, Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, or Richard Nixon, how monumental a symbolic gesture this would be. The race was on to determine who would be the dominant space power for their nation.
An Advantage for the Soviet Union
In 1957, the Soviet Union beat the United States to the launch of the first artificial satellite when they sent up Sputnik. Thus, the race to “conquer space” was officially underway. American leaders could not sit back and watch this Soviet victory for political reasons alone. It was crucial that they beat the Soviet Union to the next space step, the Moon landing, to prove their scientific and technological supremacy and military power.
Both the United States and the Soviet Union attempted to place unmanned space probes into lunar orbit towards the end of the 1950s, but practically all of them failed on their way there or sailed past the Moon entirely. The United States sent the Pioneer probe, while the Soviet Union sent the Luna probe. The American “Ranger” series, which was launched in 1961, was similarly a flop until 1964, when “The Ranger 7” spacecraft successfully reached the Moon and sent back more than 4,000 pictures of the lunar surface.
The Soviet Union, too, overcame its poor luck and started reporting victories again a year later. In 1966, the landing capsule of their probe “Luna 9” successfully touched down on the lunar surface, and in 2008, their probe “Zond 3” successfully orbited the Moon and produced the first photos from the far side of the Moon.
The US Is Making Up Ground
Apollo 11 crew Neil Armstrong (left), Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin (right) and Michael Collins
The human flight phase of the Moon race started while the unmanned probes were still busily mapping the lunar surface. In 1967, however, the United States encountered a catastrophe at the very outset of their Apollo program. Virgil Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee perished when the control module of the Apollo 1 spacecraft caught fire during a launch pad rehearsal.
After this disaster, all launch preparations were placed on hold, and the lunar program faced an early collapse danger. However, in October 1968, an Apollo was launched once more for dress rehearsals in Earth orbit after major changes were made to the main module of the Apollo series.
During this time period, the Soviet Union’s primary focus was still on lunar research using robotic rovers. At the end of 1968, the United States accomplished the first manned lunar orbit with the Apollo 8 spacecraft, making its crew the first people to travel beyond Earth orbit.
On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong said, “The Eagle has landed,” effectively ending the race to conquer the Moon. With this “great leap for mankind,” the United States not only won the race, but was also guaranteed a massively positive media echo at a crucial time in terms of both foreign and domestic policy. The Vietnam War, racial tensions, and other social issues seemed to fade into the background for a time. In its place, “Our Man in the Moon” became the talk of the nation and sparked a newfound sense of togetherness in the United States.
The Timeline of the First Moon Landing
July 16, 1969; 9:32 a.m. EDT: The launching
Apollo 11 and its Saturn V launch vehicle lifted off from Launch Pad 39A at Cape Kennedy Base in Florida on the morning of July 16, beginning one of the most historic journeys in space history.
Aldrin reflected on his time in space, saying, “Even though Earth didn’t seem to have changed much since my first journey, I still couldn’t tear my gaze away from it. Mentally, I knew I was finally leaving; emotionally, I was still unable to get my head around it.” The third stage of the Saturn launch rocket propels the three astronauts out of Earth orbit and onto a new trajectory for the Moon at speeds approaching 40,000 kilometers per hour after they have completed one and a half orbits of the planet.
At 2:49 p.m.: Everything goes according to plan
Separating the Eagle Lander from Saturn, turning it around, and connecting it to the Apollo command capsule were the tasks that must be completed while the spaceship is traveling away from Earth.
“Performing this move was essential to the overall flying strategy. Failure of the separation and docking technique would have required us to return to Earth,” NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin elaborates. “We wore our spacesuits the whole time to shield us in the event of a collision or damage to our capsule,” the crew said. Everything goes according to plan, and the “double being” (the command capsule and the “Eagle”) resume their flight toward the Moon with the nose of the capsule attached to the “Eagle’s” top.
There wasn’t a whole lot to report on days two and three in space. On day three, Armstrong and Aldrin tested out the lander by entering it themselves.
July 19: Soon after Apollo 11 vanishes from view
The gyrating motion of the space capsule is complete, and it swings around. The astronauts had their first glimpse of the Moon during the mission. “These new developments are quite exciting. The Moon I’ve seen in the sky my whole life, a flat yellow disk, has become a breathtaking sphere.” Collins adds, “All of a sudden, it’s so real that I feel like I can touch it; its globe protrudes toward us.”
Armstrong relays the following message to the ground station: “Seeing the Moon in all its splendor is a remarkable sight. Two-thirds of our window is taken up by it. That one sight just about paid for the whole vacation.”
Soon after Apollo 11 vanishes from view behind the Moon, another critical move is required: the astronauts must momentarily activate the thrusters to slow their travel to the point where they may be trapped by the Moon’s gravitational field. They have also had their first close-up view of the spot where they plan to land.
July 20, 9:37 a.m.: The Lander’s first descent
The Apollo 11 spacecraft makes its last lunar orbit after a second-course correction; Michael Collins stays in the “Columbia,” while Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong go onto the lander. To his two coworkers, he said, “You cats take it easy on the surface.”
Armstrong and Aldrin initiate the Lander’s first descent after the “Eagle” separates from the command capsule. N. Armstrong says “The Eagle has wings!” Michael Collins and the Command Module emerge from the Moon’s shadow a few minutes later, allowing them to report back to Earth on the first successful stride toward the surface.
The First Moon Landing
Apollo 11 landing site in the panorama.
July 20 – The landing area is in view
The two astronauts on board the “Eagle” were still able to view the original landing spot, which was in the midst of a crater the size of a soccer field and littered with stones, while the computer-controlled landing approach continued. So, Armstrong takes the helm and moves the lander to a more favorable location manually. Meanwhile, Aldrin keeps giving him support in velocity and altitude.
Armstrong: “Due to the amount of dust we kicked up during the latter stages of the landing approach, we were concerned that we might lose a clear picture of our location and altitude. We knew that a misstep at this stage might have serious consequences.” The ground crew maintains a low profile but listens intently to Aldrin’s updates on the spacecraft’s altitude as the landing approach’s fuel runs short.
First Moon landing: July 20, 1969, 12:50 p.m. EDT
When the lander’s four legs strike the ground, the indication light lights on, and Armstrong shuts off the rockets. Armstrong calls the ground station at 4:17 p.m., local time, to report: “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.” The lander’s fuel supply was down to its last 30 seconds upon touchdown.
A short time later, Aldrin claims that he was gazing outside the Eagle and saw: “The landscape surrounding us seems to be composed of rocks of every imaginable shape, edge, and chunk size. The terrain is practically devoid of color, ranging from an almost white powdery gray to deeper, ash-like tones.”
One small step for a man
The two astronauts have everything set up in the lander for re-entry before they take any “small steps” or anything like that. Having completed this, Armstrong proposed to the ground station that they commence the “extravehicular activity” (the first steps on the Moon) sooner than originally scheduled.
Squeezing through the airlock, Armstrong cautiously descends the lander’s nine-step ladder toward the Moon’s surface. On July 20 at 10:56 p.m., Earth time, history was made as Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon. A human person has landed on the surface of another planet for the first time in history. “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” said Armstrong.
The first minutes on the Moon
Armstrong takes his first steps on the Moon after a brief survey of his new surroundings. Each stride becomes a kangaroo-like jump when gravity is just one-sixth of what it is on Earth. Armstrong said, “I haven’t seen any issues, and getting about is even simpler than it was in our practice sims.”
Experts have previously cautioned that the Moon’s strange atmosphere and gravity may pose serious challenges for humans before the mission ever began. But obviously, this wasn’t the situation. Armstrong: “Within minutes of touching down on the Moon, we had adjusted to the light gravity with ease. We really liked it more than both regular Earth gravity and total weightlessness.”
As Armstrong noted in the logbook, “The topography is powdery and fine, and it adheres to the soles and sides of my shoes like chalk. This high-quality fabric shows every one of my designs.” Armstrong’s thick, carefully insulated “lunar boots” left the first human footprints on the Moon, and since the Moon has no atmosphere, these boots should have survived nearly completely intact.
Aldrin follows Buzz off of the lander a mere fifteen minutes later. Aldrin: “As I broke the surface, I felt a mixture of joy and apprehension. In typical tourist fashion, Neil started shooting photographs of me as I arrived.”
The first of three experiments was begun by the two astronauts as anticipated. In this scene, Aldrin drives a telescoping rod into the ground, to which he has connected a makeshift bag made of aluminum foil. Its purpose is to collect particles from the solar wind and send them back to Earth for further study.
American flag on the Moon
Aldrin: “Eventually, Armstrong proposed erecting the flag. The apparently easy endeavor almost led to complete failure despite our best efforts. Training in public relations seems to be as important as training in any other field.” The flagpole wouldn’t go deep enough into the lunar dirt, and the bracket meant to keep it flat wouldn’t extend far enough, too.
“It took a lot of work, but we managed to achieve a condition of near-balance. On the other hand, I could see the flag crashing to the ground in front of the cameras with millions of people watching.” As the lander lifted off for its return trip, the flag did indeed fall, but not in front of the camera.
While Aldrin was busy installing two devices—a seismograph to record earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other signals of geologic activity, and a laser reflector to make an even more precise measurement of the Earth-Moon distance—Armstrong gathered samples of lunar rocks.
Leaving the Moon
Armstrong and Aldrin returned to the “Eagle” lunar module after spending barely 2.5 hours outdoors. Everything has been finished, including unloading the experiments and taking photos. According to Aldrin, “We felt like little kids in a candy shop. So many plans, so little time.”
The two astronauts are to sleep after removing their spacesuits in preparation for liftoff. Aldrin: “We weren’t able to get much sleep since we were still far too stimulated and because it was fairly chilly.”
The “Eagle” lander leaves the lunar surface at 1:54 p.m., after 21 hours on the Moon, to meet up with the “Columbia” command capsule. Michael Collins spent the whole mission alone in lunar orbit. During each orbit around the Moon, the Columbia was out of communication range for 47 minutes, and a comment from the ground station was recorded, saying something along the lines of, “Since Adam, probably no human being has ever experienced such complete loneliness and isolation as Michael Collins did.”
The exposed film, an aluminum bag with samples of the solar wind, and 20.81 kilos of lunar dust and boulders all departed the Moon with the crew. The U.S. flag, laser reflector, seismograph, and lander descending stairs, all with commemorative plaques, were left behind: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”
No problems arise on the return. The Apollo spacecraft splashes down in the Pacific at 12:54 p.m. on July 24, 1969, around 24 kilometers from the U.S.S. Hornett, which is tasked with retrieving it. A diver releases the escape hatch and provides the three “lunar travelers” with isolation suits; once on board the Hornett, they are brought to a mobile quarantine container where they will spend the next three days.
The total time spent traveling to and from the Moon was 195 hours, 18 minutes, and 35 seconds.
What Did the Apollo Missions Discover?
Though it was no longer thought that the Moon was made of green cheese, as was still held in the Middle Ages, its geology and history of development were still completely unknown until the Apollo missions. The only way we came any closer to understanding the Moon was through the experiments left by astronauts and the samples of Moon rock carried back to Earth.
In any case, the Apollo astronauts’ photographs and experiences promptly put to rest at least one of the “popular ideas” of the time: that the Moon was populated. None of the samples indicated any fossil or recent evidence that the Earth’s satellite could have ever supported any type of life, including the “man on the Moon.”
However, one of the most crucial findings of the Apollo period was that the Moon had a very similar structure to the Earth. Clearly, it shares Earth’s adventurous past, with the surface rocks being melted several times, expelled by volcanoes, and squeezed by meteorite strikes. The stratigraphy of Earth’s satellite is similar to that of Earth, with a solid crust, a partly liquid asthenosphere, and perhaps an iron core.
A common origin for both celestial entities was deduced from the findings of Apollo drilling samples and seismographic investigations. In many places on the Moon, you may still see evidence of the early processes and events that shaped its present-day appearance. Due to erosion, these artifacts are no longer accessible on Earth, making the Moon an essential “archive” for the early history of our solar system.
The lunar surface also stores information on variations in solar radiation. Without an atmosphere to shield it, the surface rock (known as regolith) remained unprotected from the electromagnetic solar wind for millions of years, allowing it to accumulate isotopes and elements from the sun.
Thirty years after the Apollo missions returned samples from the Moon, scientists in 60 labs across the globe are still studying them. Researchers in their third generation are hard at work deciphering the Moon’s last secrets with the assistance of tools their predecessors in the 1970s could only have dreamed of.
History of the Apollo Program
With Apollo 1 in 1967, the United States launched the Apollo program, which concluded with Apollo 17 in 1972. Thirty astronauts embarked on a total of twelve spaceflights. Apollo 8’s first human spaceflight and Apollo 11’s successful first Moon landing were the program’s crowning achievements.
Apollo 1 (January 27, 1967)
Crew: Virgil (Gus) Grissom, Edward White, Roger Chaffee
A tragedy struck the Apollo program just before the launch of the first human spacecraft in the Apollo series. Apollo 1’s three-person crew perished when a fire broke out on the launch pad and quickly spread to the spacecraft. Launches of the next Apollo spacecraft were originally postponed after this incident while investigators figured out what caused the fire.
Apollo 7 (11 – 22 October 1968)
Crew: Walter Schirra, Donn Eisele, Walter Cunningham
Apollo 4 through 6 were uncrewed test missions for the Saturn launch vehicles, and the next manned flight, Apollo 7, was given the name Apollo. Apollo 7, a practice run for the next mission, did not include a lunar lander since testing could only be done in Earth orbit. The test proved the core Apollo components were spaceworthy, putting to rest concerns that had arisen in the wake of the Apollo 1 mishap.
Apollo 8 (21 – 27 December 1968)
Crew: Frank Borman, James Lovell, William Anders
Humans first left Earth orbit with the Apollo 8 crew. Even though the spacecraft was supposed to conduct yet another test in Earth orbit, the urgent need to beat the Soviet Union in the space race sent it instead to the Moon. On the morning of December 24th, Apollo 8 achieved lunar orbit and spent the next 20 hours circling the Moon. Without a lander on board, the astronauts in the command capsule captured the first images of Earth rising over the Moon. Apollo 8’s voyage to the Moon and back successfully demonstrated that it was feasible to do so with the technology available at the time.
Apollo 9 (3 – 13 March 1969)
Crew: James McDivitt, David Scott, Russel Schweickart
The Lunar Module was first tested in orbit during Apollo 9. The crew spent 10 days in Earth orbit practicing every operation (save the landing) involving the launch vehicle, command capsule, and lander. Scott and Schweickart went on an autonomous spacewalk so that Schweickart could try out his new spacesuit. Furthermore, they were the first Apollo crew to give their vessels official titles.
Apollo 10 (18 – 26 May 1969)
Crew: Thomas Stafford, John Young, Eugene Cernan
The “Snoopy” lander came within 15 kilometers of the lunar surface during the practice landing. The Apollo 10 crew followed the same identical procedures as the Apollo 11 crew, right down to the landing. During Apollo 11, Stafford and Cernan flew over the Sea of Tranquility in the Lander while Young remained in lunar orbit with the Command Module. There was another “first” that Apollo 10 brought to the table: the first-ever live color TV transmission.
Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969)
Crew: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin
On July 20 at 4:17 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Apollo 11 touched down on the Moon as scheduled. Six hours after Armstrong’s “great leap for humanity,” Aldrin followed suit, and the two of them spent the next two and a half hours gathering samples, planting flags, and taking photos. They spent a total of 21 hours on the Moon before heading back to the orbiting command module “Columbia.”
Apollo 12 (14 – 24 November 1969)
Crew: Charles Conrad, Richard Gordon, Alan Bean
The second Moon landing, which took place in the Sea of Storms, was an exemplary feat of accuracy and aiming. With its almost fully automated landing approach, the lander came within 180 meters of the Surveyor 3 probe, which had been sent to the Moon over two and a half years before. The two astronauts gathered further rock samples and placed instruments to monitor the seismicity, solar wind, and magnetic field of the Moon, before bringing sections of the probe back to Earth for study. During this time, multispectral photographs of the Earth were captured in orbit by the Yankee Clipper command capsule.
Apollo 13 (11 – 17 April 1970)
Crew: James Lovell, Fred Heise, John Swigert
With the help of the film starring Tom Hanks, “Houston, we have a problem,” the Apollo 13 mission has become one of the most well-known near-catastrophes in space history. An oxygen tank on the service module burst almost 300,000 kilometers from Earth, nearly incapacitating the Apollo command spacecraft. Only by returning to Earth after circling the Moon could the astronauts hope to escape. The three passengers were trapped in the cramped and freezing landing shuttle for four days before finally making it to Earth.
Apollo 14 (31 January – 9 February 1971)
Crew: Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, Edgar Mitchell
Shepard and Mitchell used a “lunar rickshaw” to bring samples back to the lander after their two lunar walks after landing in the Fra Mauro area, the landing location originally planned for Apollo 13. When the two astronauts “got lost” and couldn’t find their way back, they had to call off another sampling mission. Quarantine was observed for the last group of lunar explorers, the Apollo 14 crew.
Apollo 15 (26 July – 7 August 1971)
Crew: David Scott, James Irwin, Alfred Worden
The first usage of a “lunar rover” occurred on the Moon during the first prolonged mission landing. Scott and Irwin drove their lunar rover for 27 kilometers, during which they gathered several artifacts, including the now-famous “Genesis Rock.” Worden completed the first spacewalk between Earth and the Moon on the return trip to Earth.
Apollo 16 (16 – 27 April 1972)
Crew: John Young, Thomas Mattingly, Charles Duke
The main thrusters on board “Orion” almost failed upon landing due to a technical issue. After that happened, Duke and Young spent three days exploring the area around the Descartes Highlands. They found that the area that looked like a volcano wasn’t really a volcano. The biggest piece of Moon rock ever brought back was one of the samples they carried with them.
Apollo 17 (December 7 –19, 1972)
Crew: Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, Harrison “Jack” Schmitt
Geologist and astronaut Harrison Schmitt was the Moon’s last human visitor and its first scientist. More lunar samples were gathered by Schmitt and Cernan, and they drove the Moon vehicle about 34 kilometers into the Taurus-Littrow Valley. When they left, they also left a plaque that read: “The first human lunar expedition concluded here. It’s December of 1972. Thank you for the serenity that you brought with you. May it permeate the world.”
September 6, 2022