In the early 20th century, the Wright brothers were thinking of conquering the sky, and Russian schoolteacher Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was trying to conquer space. His pioneering calculations published in 1903 proved the possibility of space travel. He even proposed the fuel that powers many modern rockets today, such as liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. All these developments became the fuel for the space race.
How Did the Space Race Start?
Robert H. Goddard launched his first rocket in 1926. In 1937, he designed a more advanced one.
Moon emphasis: It was an American pioneer who first imagined the flight to the Moon. Robert H. Goddard launched his first rocket in 1926. In 1937, he designed a more advanced one.
In the same period, New England physics teacher Robert Goddard published a book named A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes in 1919. He took care not to reveal his main purpose; the “extreme altitude” in his mind was actually the Moon, and he was ridiculed for this idea. The first test rocket launched by Goddard in 1926 flew 165 feet (55 m) and fell into his aunt’s garden, where she grew cabbage.
Dr. Wernher von Braun’s V2 rocket targeted London in 1944.
The Rocket Man: Dr. Wernher von Braun was on duty in Germany’s World War II rocket program. His V2 rocket targeted London in 1944.
Meanwhile, another stargazer named Hermann Oberth in Germany was on the job. His work, Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen (The Rocket into Interplanetary Space), published in 1923, formed the basis for the world’s longest-range rocket, the “V2 which Germany used in the Second World War. The V2 was developed by German engineer Wernher Von Braun, who later became America’s most important rocket scientist after the war.
What Did Apollo Achieve?
The Soviet Union had so far dominated the intercontinental ballistic missile system field, with heavy missiles superior to those produced by the US in size and power. The most important contribution of the American Apollo Program was in this field. However, scientifically, the Moon trip was not worth the effort. Astronauts did seismology studies and radiation experiments and brought 379 pounds (172 kg) of rock, but they could do very little that robots couldn’t.
However, the technology developed for this program has benefited satellites around the world. As a result, there has been a huge improvement in astronomy, communications, weather forecasts, and other unmanned space missions. In fact, less than one in every 30 space flights was manned. The most dramatic of the space flights were the Russian landing on Venus in 1975, the US landing on Mars in 1976, and Voyager passing near Jupiter in 1979.
In pictures sent from the Moon, the Earth appeared like a small, beautiful sphere in the dark and star-filled space, a sphere that is our planet.
How Did Russia React?
Allies in Orbit: Following the developments in building a space station, American Thomas Stafford and Russian Aleksey Leonov shake hands at the Apollo-Soyuz docking in 1975. In 1986, Russia launched the MIR space station.
Although there was no publicly declared promise of the Russian government that the Moon would be reached, evidence points to a hidden Moon landing program created by Russians. In the late 1960s, Russian scientists were testing the G-1, a giant rocket 40 percent stronger than the US Saturn rocket. With this rocket exploding on the test ramp in 1969, the Soviets fell behind America in the Space Race.
The Russians began to focus more on space stations. In April 1967, the first manned Soyuz satellite was launched; it was intended to dock with another satellite to form the first space station. However, Soyuz 2 was never launched, and Soyuz 1 was torn apart while entering the atmosphere. Soyuz 4 and 5 successfully connected in 1969 and created a living environment half the size of Apollo.
In 1971, the first Salyut space station hosted three astronauts for more than three weeks; but when returning to the atmosphere, a malfunction caused the pressure to drop suddenly, and all three astronauts died. By 1978, more than 50 Soyuz and Salyut missions and an American-Russian joint project were completed. The age of the space race was over, but a new page was about to be turned.
The Future of Humanity in Space
The techniques used in the Apollo Program are unlikely to be reused. These methods were surprisingly extravagant. 98 percent of the weight of the Saturn rocket was the fuel stored in its first three sections. All three of these sections were separated from the spacecraft before it left the Earth’s orbit.
On the return journey, the Lunar Module was abandoned early and only the Command Module returned to Earth. This was like starting the ocean voyage with a transatlantic cruise, then abandoning most of the ship to the sea after leaving the port, continuing the voyage in a lifeboat, and leaving it to swim ashore on a lifebuoy.
The Space Shuttle, a more efficient spacecraft with reusable fuel tanks and an atmosphere reentry vehicle capable of placing satellites in orbit at a lower cost, was later adopted by the United States. The Soviet Union focused on the construction of space laboratories that are sent into orbit and are able to make an astronaut live in space for six months or more.
One day, these technologies could enable people to initially live in Earth’s orbit and then in the depths of space. It may be possible to build city-size space colonies that can produce their own food and obtain their minerals from small planets. Sunlight can also serve as a power source.
Theorists believe that through these types of orbital colonies, humanity can establish substantial settlements in space. Unless special scientific research is in question, no group will spend their energy coming out of one pit just to fall into another. Whether mankind can reach the stars may remain a matter of speculation forever. The space travel of Pioneer 10 and 11 probes is currently underway, but even if they travel in the right direction, it will take 80,000 years to reach the nearest star.
However, a big leap was made in space exploration during the last century. Some scientists believe that a new breakthrough will take place in the next century, when humans will form colonies in the galaxy.
Timeline of the Space Race
In 1975, the first manned spacecraft of two nations met in space, Soyuz and Apollo.
In the 1950s, the technology had advanced enough to allow mankind to realize its dream of reaching the Moon, and thus, the space race had begun.
1957: The USSR launches Sputnik 1.
1958: US Explorer 1 launches.
1959: An unmanned space probe of the USSR, Luna, hits the Moon.
1961: Soviet citizen Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person to travel into space. (He would die in a plane crash in 1968.)
1961: Astronaut Alan Shepard becomes the first American to go to space.
1961: USSR cosmonaut Gherman Titov spends a day in Earth orbit.
1962: John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, makes three turns around the planet.
1963: Valentina Tereshkova of the USSR becomes the first woman to go to space.
1964: The USSR makes its first three-manned space flight. The US space probe Ranger 7 hits the Moon.
1965: USSR’s Alexei Leonov makes the first space flight that lasts ten minutes.
1966: Luna 9 of the USSR makes its first soft landing on the Moon. The US Surveyor 1 makes a soft landing. The US Lunar Orbiter begins to map the Moon from its orbit.
1967: The USSR interlocks two unmanned satellites returning from their orbits.
1967: An accident occurs during a countdown and three American astronauts die.
1969: The first human reaches the moon with the Eagle module of the Apollo 11 mission, United States.
1970: Luna 17 of the USSR leaves the automated lunar traveler on the Moon’s surface.
“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.”
The Earth’s satellite is supposed to appear unusually large in the sky at certain times of the year. And if you go outside – assuming the weather is good – and look at the Moon, you get truly amazed. The full Moon hovers majestically above the horizon. In its orbit around the Earth, the Moon comes particularly close to us several times a year. This promises a particularly large and bright full Moon in the night sky called ‘supermoon‘. But although this effect is hardly visible to the naked eye, the supermoon amazes many observers. In fact, the amazement is rather due to another effect: An optical illusion makes the Moon appear bigger near the horizon.
When the Moon Is Especially Close to Us
The distance between the Moon and the Earth varies by around 50,000 kilometers. When the Moon is at its closest point to the Earth, the perigee, a supermoon occurs. In the apogee, at which the maximum distance of more than 400,000 kilometers is achieved, a minimoon is observed.
But “supermoon” is neither a historically coined nor an astronomical or generally a scientific term. Rather, it was an astrologer, Richard Nolle, who first wrote in 1979 about a supermoon that was supposed to be responsible for earthquakes and volcanic eruptions – namely, whenever the Earth’s satellite is particularly close to the Earth at a full Moon or new Moon.
But even if Nolle’s considerations are not based on scientific principles – they cannot be completely dismissed. The tidal forces of the Moon and the sun not only lead to ebb and flow, but also to movements in the Earth’s crust.
If the sun, Earth, and Moon are almost in a straight line, the tidal forces of the sun and Moon add up and particularly strong spring tides occur. The high tides, often colloquially referred to as spring tides, are about 20 percent higher than ordinary high tides. In fact, strong earthquakes also occur more frequently in parallel with spring tides, as a team led by geologist Satoshi Ide showed in 2016 by analyzing more than 10,000 earthquakes.
However, since the Moon does not move in a circular but an elliptical orbit around the Earth, not all spring tides are the same. The distance of the Moon from Earth varies between 221.456 miles (356.400 km) and 252.711 miles (406.700 km). It is therefore quite obvious that the effects of the tides are stronger when the Moon is also close to the Earth during a spring tide. However, this influence is very small: On average, spring tides are only about two percent stronger when the Moon is close to the Earth. Accordingly, a connection between the supermoon and earthquakes has not yet been proven.
Bigger and Brighter
The right supermoon appears 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than the minimoon on the left.
Nevertheless, the term supermoon was recently taken up in the past years but is still different than originally meant by Nolle. Today, a supermoon does not refer to the alleged effects of earthquakes or volcanic eruptions any longer. Instead, it simply refers to a full Moon in a near-Earth position and the associated size and brightness of the Earth’s satellite in the night sky.
This is because when the Moon is close to Earth, its apparent diameter is up to 14 percent larger than that of a Moon far from Earth – a so-called minimoon. And with the larger area that the supermoon occupies in the night sky, the perceived brightness of the Earth’s satellite also increases. The Moon appears up to 30 percent brighter near the Earth than far away.
However, these are extreme values. The Moon’s orbit is by no means invariable but varies due to the gravitational forces of the sun and the major planets. The distance of the Moon from the Earth at perigee, the closest point to the Earth in the respective orbit, varies between 221,456 mi (356,400 km) and 230,155 mi (370,400 km).
Therefore, those theoretically possible extreme values occur only rarely. This raises the question of when a full Moon is considered a super full Moon. Nolle himself has changed his definition again and again over the decades – currently, he uses an arbitrarily chosen distance of less than 229,056 mi (368 630 km) at the full Moon as a limit.
Only a Near Full Moon Is Also a Supermoon
An illustration showing the Moon’s apogee and perigee positions. Numbers indicate the extreme values of the distance betWeen the two phases of the Moon: supermoon on the right and minimoon on the left. (Source: NASA (Earth) Gregory R. Revera (Moon))
There are two to four supermoons each year. After the first supermoon on May 16, the Earth’s satellite was 222,238 mi (357,658 km) away from the Earth for the second time on June 14, 2022. On the following full Moon on July 13, the Moon was even a tiny bit closer to the Earth and only one month after on August 11 there was the fourth (and last) supermoon of 2022 that occurred.
The November 14, 2016 supermoon was the closest recent supermoon since January 26, 1948, and will not be exceeded until November 25, 2034. The closest ever supermoon of the 21st century will be on December 6, 2052. Supermoons and complete lunar eclipses may occur together. The last time was May 2022; the next time will be October 2032.
A Worthwhile Observation?
So whether a particular full Moon is “super” or not is consequently debatable. Also the phenomenon “super moon” has no special scientific meaning. But isn’t it nevertheless worthwhile to have a look at the Earth’s satellite when it is particularly close to us? After all, the differences in apparent size and brightness are quite remarkable. However, the differences between a normal full Moon and a supermoon can hardly be seen with the naked eye in the night sky due to the lack of objects to compare them with. Thus, a supermoon standing high in the sky does not appear much different to the observer than any other full Moon.
Nevertheless, motivated by news of the supermoon, many people go outside in the evening hours and are amazed at the size of the Moon when they see it near the horizon shortly after it rises. The seemingly enormous size of the Moon on the horizon is due to a completely different phenomenon: An optical illusion makes the Moon appear larger near the horizon than when they are high in the sky. So this has nothing to do with the supermoon itself.
NASA aims to return people to the Moon by 2025 under the “Artemis” program.
“Artemis 1” is an unmanned mission in 2022 to test the Orion spacecraft and European Service Module.
The Artemis program’s estimated cost is $93 billion, with each Artemis launch costing around $4 billion.
Returning to the moon is meant to mark the beginning of a new era for American space exploration. NASA hopes to return people to the Earth’s satellite by 2025. This puts “Mission Artemis” under a lot of strain, however. The launch vehicle, space capsule, and lunar module weren’t ready until recently, and there wasn’t enough money either. The new American lunar program, dubbed “Artemis” after Apollo’s twin sister, is a clear reference to the first trips that humans made to the moon. Additionally, there is a similarity between Artemis and Apollo just like when John F. Kennedy pledged a moon landing “before this decade is out.” In 2019, a U.S. president once again assigned NASA a specific deadline: American astronauts should return to the moon in five years.
Artemis 1 fly date is November 16, 2022 at 9:04 AM GMT+3.
The Return to the Moon
The idea of going back to the moon has been discussed for a very long time, and not just at NASA. The moon is once again proving to be a highly intriguing destination 50 years after the first moon landing. After all, it not only provides fresh supplies of raw minerals but also a strategically advantageous starting point for further missions to Mars and beyond.
But carrying out such plans is the issue. After being restricted to low Earth orbit for decades, human spaceflight is now starting to go farther out. This has represented a fresh start for NASA in many ways. Because the required technology and expertise were initially insufficient, despite all the technological advancements since the Apollo period. Since the final Apollo manned mission to the moon took place 47 years ago, the spacecraft, landing modules, and launch vehicles from that era are only useful as museum exhibits.
The twelve main space organizations in the world, including NASA and ESA, decided in 2013 to work together on a shared timeline called the Global Exploration Roadmap to have adequate time for the required new advances. Thus, human flights to Lagrange Point 2, 1 million miles (1.5 million km) away, or near-Earth asteroids were to begin by 2025. The return of people to the moon and the presumably slow building of a lunar outpost were only envisaged after that, until about 2030.
But then, in 2017, Donald Trump’s “Space Policy Directive-1” gave the US space programs a new focus, moving away from Earth surveillance and asteroids and toward a heavier emphasis on the Moon and Mars. Additionally, there was to be greater involvement by commercial suppliers. The objective was to land on the moon in 2028 and gradually build a lunar gateway, or space station, in lunar orbit.
This was unquestionably good news for the NASA departments and subcontractors working on the lunar mission since it implied more money for them. Since then, NASA’s effort in the lunar program has substantially increased. Tests of the Orion spacecraft and work on the new launch vehicle, the Space Launch System (SLS), have been accelerated.
Three main parts make up the Artemis mission: an unmanned test flight in 2022, an astronaut-led lunar orbit in 2024, and a lunar landing near the lunar south pole in 2025.
In September 2022, the first unmanned flight of the next lunar mission is planned to launch from Cape Canaveral. The main purpose of this mission is to test the Orion spacecraft and the attached European Service Module (ESM). The capsule is to house the astronauts, just as the Apollo missions did. The engine, power, and life support systems are provided by the service module. Two dummies outfitted with instruments in Artemis 1 stand in for the astronauts.
The Artemis 1 mission’s sequence is similar to the Apollo 8 mission’s flight plan from more than 50 years ago: The spacecraft sails to the moon, reaches lunar orbit, and spends a few days orbiting the Earth’s satellite. The capsule is then propelled out of lunar orbit and back toward Earth by the firing of its propulsion nozzles.
The main difference is that Artemis 1 will send the spacecraft further than any previous lunar mission, in a loop that extends some 40,000 miles (65,000 km) beyond the moon. The mission will also launch 13 CubeSat miniature satellites as a tiny extra service. Still, in theory, Artemis 1 doesn’t have to achieve anything that hasn’t previously been done.
Trying to Find A Launch Vehicle
The initial issue was finding a launch vehicle for the Artemis mission. As stated by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in March 2019, NASA did not have a rocket that could launch Orion plus the European Service Module to the Moon in 2019. Since the Saturn V was retired, there hasn’t been a launch vehicle on the planet that can lift the weight of such a spacecraft not just into Earth’s orbit but also beyond.
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) was created especially for this use, but it took a while to determine if it would be ready in time. That’s because, as of 2019, only the various components of this launch vehicle—including the primary engines, which are manufactured from reused space shuttle engines—had been put through testing. Moreover, the intricate, 321-foot-tall (98-meter) colossus had never flown.
Two Steps to Reach the Moon
Artemis I 2022 mission profile by NASA.
Orion and its service module could also be sent to the moon on a commercial rocket. For the Artemis 1 mission, NASA had been debating between employing a Falcon Heavy from SpaceX or a Delta IV from Boeing. However, these rockets didn’t have the upper stage necessary to send this payload from Earth orbit. For that, a rocket’s upper stage would need to be blasted into orbit independently using a different launch vehicle before being attached to Orion. However, this operation had never been tried, and Orion was not equipped with the necessary docking module anyway.
Even if some of the commercial vehicles could function, none would enable NASA to accomplish Artemis Mission 1’s intended lunar orbit on time and within a set budget. This investigation has given NASA the go-ahead to keep using the SLS. Despite significant obstacles, the strategy was successful; the Space Launch System (SLS) is now ready, allowing Artemis 1 to launch with a two-year delay.
Artemis 2 and the Lunar Gateway: Astronauts on a Lunar Trajectory
Artemis II 2024 mission profile by NASA.
The return of human lunar missions is planned in the second stage of the Artemis program. In 2024, a human lunar orbit will be the focal point. Parallel to this, the initial parts of a lunar space station will be launched into lunar orbit. This Lunar Gateway will act as a staging area and base for future lunar landings. Gateway will be humanity’s first space station in lunar orbit.
Similar to its previous mission’s flight plan, Artemis 2 is manned. An SLS launch vehicle will place the service module and the four passengers aboard the Orion spacecraft into Earth orbit, where they will orbit the satellite a few times before receiving the thrust for their journey to the moon. However, unlike Artemis 1, the Artemis 2 mission will take a so-called free return trajectory rather than enter a lunar orbit. Without the need for extra braking or acceleration procedures, the spacecraft will be deflected by lunar gravity alone and restored to Earth’s trajectory throughout an eight-shaped loop.
There will be women and people of color on board the spaceship for the first time on a lunar mission. NASA wants to be clear that, unlike Apollo, the leaders of the future lunar missions are no longer all white men, as was the case with that mission’s name, Artemis.
However, there will be several flights to the Moon before the actual lunar landing; Artemis 2 is not the only one. There will be many unmanned cargo rocket trips to the Moon in addition to this initial human test mission. According to NASA, there may be seven or eight of these trips. That’s because it’s also necessary to test and bring to the moon the lunar cargo module and the first components of the lunar orbiting station.
The Utilization Module, a very compact housing, and the power and thruster modules are the initial components of the Lunar Gateway that need to be launched into orbit. The lunar orbiting station’s core is made up of these two modules, which will serve as the launching pad for people to reach the lunar surface in 2025.
The Artemis mission plan also specifies that the lunar lander, or lunar landing module, must initially be built in lunar orbit. Depending on whose business constructs it and how that company intends to handle the travel from the Lunar Gateway down to the lunar surface, this lander will have either two or three components. However, these transport missions won’t be carried out using NASA’s own SLS launch vehicle; instead, they will be given out to private companies.
It’s still obvious how constrained the schedule is. Less than five years remain for NASA and its subcontractors to develop, test, and launch the required space modules and components.
Artemis 3: The Landing
Artemis III 2025 mission profile by NASA.
The lunar landing in 2025 will mark the culmination of the Artemis program. Four people will be placed in lunar orbit by an Orion spacecraft if all goes according to plan. Some of the crew will stay in the primitive lunar space station, while the remainder will use a landing module that was already stationed there to descend to the lunar surface.
In essence, this concept isn’t much more than a rehash of the Apollo missions. That’s because the time frame has been compressed, leaving little of NASA’s initial, more ambitious intentions. For instance, instead of spending at least a week on the lunar surface, the Artemis 3 crew would likely just remain there for a few days, and the base in orbit is essentially just the Apollo spacecraft’s command module.
The Artemis astronauts’ landing location is, at the very least, novel. The South Pole-Aitken Basin, a large, old impact depression on the far side of the moon, will be Artemis 3’s landing spot. Its side that faces away from Earth has mainly been undiscovered up to this point; neither spacecraft nor people have accessed it for decades. But the Chinese space probe Chang’e 4 made history in 2019 when it became the first artificial object to touch down at the lunar south pole.
The first human landing in this intriguing scientific field is anticipated by planetary scientists to provide some fresh revelations. The moon’s far side is dominated by plateaus made of very ancient crustal rock, as opposed to its near side’s huge expanses of basalt lava. The Aitken Basin is seeing a rise in lunar mantle rock, according to data from the Chinese Yutu rover. The first opportunity for scientists to get samples of this lunar rock will be via the Artemis mission.
Who Builds the New Lunar Lander?
The Artemis crew won’t be transported to their landing spot at the moon’s south pole by a NASA lander, in contrast to the Apollo missions. NASA is not able to handle everything on its own. Thus, the required modules have to be provided by commercial sources. The transportation service that will take the astronauts from the Lunar Gateway to the moon will be essentially something NASA would purchase.
NASA had originally chosen eleven American firms to create prototypes for the next lunar lander’s submodules in 2019. Five companies and concepts remained after the selection was completed in 2021. There will be two or three submodules in the lunar module. In the first, humans will be transferred from the Lunar Gateway to the low lunar orbit. A descent module will then assume control and continue the fall to the lunar surface, much like the Apollo missions. Only the capsule carrying the astronauts will return to lunar orbit.
Cost of the Artemis program: $93 Billion
NASA gets over 20 billion dollars annually from the US government. It must, however, utilize this money to fund a wide variety of space operations, from unmanned trips to Mars and other planets in the solar system to satellites in Earth orbit and contributions to the International Space Station (ISS). It appears there isn’t much left over for a human moon trip.
For a long time, NASA kept the expense of the Artemis program a secret. According to initial estimates, the overall cost of the moon landing, including the expenditures of the prelude missions, was to be between 20 and 30 billion US dollars. As a result, NASA had to expand its budget by an extra 6 to 8 billion dollars annually, which would represent a financial boost unheard of since the Apollo period.
But as of September 2022, the Artemis mission had already cost around $43 billion and NASA will end up spending a total of $93 billion on the Artemis program between 2012 and 2025. The overall price of the SLS rocket alone doubled to $20 billion from its initial planned amount of $10 billion. One Artemis launch costs around $4 billion to complete.
