At the height of the Cold War, Soviet Union and United States forces on comparing the ideological control of nations. Serial production of nuclear weapons was a priority, measuring the potential of a nation by how many nuclear warheads it had in his possession. In the late 1950s, the area became a target demonstration of that power. It began in 1957, the space race with the launch of the Soviet artificial satellite Sputnik. Since then, the U.S. government took aim to take the first man to land on lunar soil, in anticipation of the Soviets. On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 fulfilled his mission. Neil Armstrong, U.S. astronaut, was the first man to walk on the moon. In an eloquent and solemn sentence, he summed up his steps in the soil of the Moon " was a small step for man, one giant leap for mankind ".
The trip to the moon, an old dream of men since ancient times, represented a peak in the human adventure in the twentieth century. After the conquest of the poles and higher altitudes on the planet, the man held out his quest for the mythical Earth satellite. Politically, it was a great victory of the ideology of the West against the East, the capitalists against communists, the Americans against the Soviets. At a time when the means used to maintain this ideology were contested, with large demonstrations in the United States and the world against the Vietnam War, served to reach the moon that the U.S. government to distract attention from the nation, giving you a great show, and at the same time, maintaining technological supremacy of power, softening the criticism and harassment. Scientifically, the visit of the man said almost nothing to mankind, being an absolute desolation, so that the project be terminated and never be resumed.
While Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin planted the American flag in lunar soil, the Terrans watched enraptured the great adventure, televised to the entire planet. The thrill of seeing a man stepping onto the soil of the Moon concretized all mythological legends, affecting both the West and the countries of the Iron Curtain. Four decades after the conquest, the feat is still creating controversy, with the current state that it was all a farce. Still, the arrival of the Apollo 11 lunar mission remains the greatest adventure of man on the conquest of the frontiers of the universe, being the farthest he has already achieved in time and space.
Sputnik Launched on Space
The beauty of the moon hovering on the horizon, the complexity and influence of the satellite in several phenomena of the Earth, has always aroused man's imagination. Poets, writers, scientists, all dreamed of one day set foot on the lunar surface, an adventure fueled well before the great civilizations write your story. Officially, the adventure that culminated with the first man to walk the Earth by satellite, in 1969, began in 1957. On October 4 of that year, scientists and engineers Soviets launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Tyuratam in the Soviet Union (now Kazakhstan), the artificial satellite Sputnik, which was a ball of 84 pounds. For the first time an artificial satellite was put into Earth orbit. Was initiated the period that has passed into history as the space age, pointing out the race to heaven. Nikita
Khrustchov then Soviet leader, in collaboration scientist Sergei Korolev, Poso his country ahead of the United States on the issue of space. To prove the success of Sputnik, we had to wait ninety minutes, the satellite would take time to complete one orbit around the Earth. On expiry of the ninety minutes, were captured by scientists sounds emitted by a transmitter of Sputnik, confirming the mission. Also in 1957, on November 3, Sputnik 2 carried the first living whitespace, the dog Laika, race Kudriavka. The Soviets became the masters of space, sending multiple missions for unmanned moon
Yuri Gagarin, the first astronaut in space
The success of Russian satellite has caused great repercussions in the world. In the U.S., the government of President Eisenhower was criticized for letting the Soviets get out ahead. Four months after the launch of Sputnik on January 31, 1958, Americans responded with Explorer I, the first artificial satellite of the country. To minimize the golden era Soviet space, the United States, Always in tow with his Communist opponents, decided to create a civilian space agency in nature, so in July 29, 1958, appeared to National Aeronautics and Space Administration , NASA. The institution has centralized all space activities that were not strictly military in nature. still overshadowed by the Soviet Union, the United States created the Mercury program, which had as main objectives to put into orbit a human being, the study follow-up control of a spacecraft and learn about the ause ; NCIA of gravity on the body human. In April 1959, had already selected the first seven astronauts of the Mercury program.
The conquest of space was a theme that centralized the U.S. presidential elections in 1960, which gave victory to John F. Kennedy over Richard Nixon.
On April 12, 1961, the Soviets once again came out ahead of their American rivals, putting into orbit the first time, a human astronaut Yuri Gagarin, who would become a hero across the globe, visiting many countries, bringing the regime's propaganda of his country.
The U.S. response came on May 5, 1961, the Project Mercury flight, which
sent the first American astronaut, Alan B. Shepard, into space. Shepard failed to international prominence achieved by Yuri Gagarin, much less overshadow his charisma. The Soviets continued as the absolute leaders of the race to space. John Kennedy, already a U.S. president, not left to drift of the Soviet space success on May 25, 1961, made the famous speech at Rice University that urged Americans to the challenge of sending men to the moon, bringing them back safely. The achievement, according to the speech, had to be reached before the 1960s ended. To make the project John F. Kennedy asked Congress for the necessary funding to that which had become the biggest challenge of the Cold War, winning the space race. Assassinated in November 1963, President Kennedy did not attend the arrival of humans to the moon
Projects Gemini and Apollo
The project consisted of a Mercury spacecraft capable of taking only a passenger on board. With the technological development of equipment and ships, projects should also be more sophisticated. To remedy the deficiencies old, created the Gemini program, which aimed to test the techniques developed for the realization of a manned trip to the moon The Gemini program was created in March 1965 successfully held, ten manned missions into space. Their ships behaved two astronauts per mission. The Gemini was closed in 1966, managing to reach the United States and beyond the Soviet Union in the race to space.
Gemini's successor was the Apollo program, and developed the most complex of them all, which aimed to bring the first humans to the Moon Their ships were developed that could carry three passengers. Three goals were established by NASA to materialize the goal is to reach the lunar surface: the number of passengers, the shape of the spacecraft and the rocket would propel the space.
The project had the genius of the German Wernher von Braun, the famous engineer at the time of the Nazi regime, who deserted, fleeing the your country, naturalizing themselves American. Von Braun created the Saturn V rocket, the largest ever, with enough power to launch a spacecraft into space, carrying three astronauts, and from there, take it to For the moon landing, Von Braun
created the lunar module. The first ship of the project, Apollo 1, was the specter of the tragedy to draw your story. On January 27, 1967, during a training ground, a short circuit ignited the cockpit of Apollo 1, killing astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee. Since then, NASA engineers have modified the way through the cabin from the command module.
The tragedy has delayed the project, which was only to have its first manned mission to the Apollo 7, launched three astronauts into orbit, Walter Schirra, Don Eisele and Walter Cunningham. It was the first test so that man could reach the moon
On December 21, 1968, Apollo 8 was launched, carrying astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders aboard. The Apollo 8 mission was the first to bring man to orbit the Moon The ship had serious defects, went through a solar storm and faced a clash with a meteorite, which prevented the crew land on the Moon The Apollo 8 astronauts were the first to contemplate the Earth from the Moon This image, photographed by the crew, ran the planet .
Apollo 11
Two other missions, the Apollo 9 and Apollo 10, although successful, did not reach the lunar soil. The conquest would only be achieved with the Apollo 11. On July 16, 1969, more than a million people concentrated around the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to see the launch of what was scheduled to finally land on the moon, Apollo 11. At 9:32 a.m. on the east coast of the United States, the spacecraft was launched into space, carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin and Michael Collins. After several laps around the Earth, the spacecraft reached the planet's orbit, and the engines fired to start the three-day trip. The world followed the show on all TVs in the world. On July 20, at 16:05, the command module Columbia, where were the three astronauts, separated from the lunar module Eagle, carrying Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin on board. Michael Collins remained in Columbia. At 16h17 that historic day, after Armstrong maneuver the module, concretized the landing. In the module, left fuel for another twenty seconds. Armstrong came into contact with Earth, warning that landed on the moon
The Man on the Moon Pisa
Before the descent to explore the lunar surface, astronauts had to eat and rest a few hours. They would have to be in shape so that they could face a hostile environment, water, atmosphere or wind, which caused drastic fluctuations in temperature, and a gravity of less than one sixth of the earthling. After resting, the astronauts donned their space suits, were ready to face the outside. At 22h56 on 20 July, Neil Armstrong walk on the lunar surface põeo. It is the first man to do it. His words echoed through space: " This is a small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. "
The phrase, the second astronaut, was spontaneous, but its solemnity makes you discredit an alleged improvisation. Eighteen minutes later, "Buzz" Aldrin joined fellow. The two walked with great difficulty by the Moon's surface for two and half hours. Over time, promoted the raising of the flag of the United States, digging it into the lunar soil, asserting U.S. supremacy in the Cold War, causing other nations to prostrate themselves before their ideology. Besides the flag, the astronauts unveiled a plaque that had a map of the hemispheres of the Earth, containing engraved the legend:
" Here men from planet Earth first set foot on the Moon July 1969 AD We came in peace for all mankind. "
Paradoxically, that adventure gave at the height of the Cold War, which claimed that unlike the board, promoted the bloody wars on Earth on behalf of current ideologies. Aldrin and Armstrong collected samples of lunar soil, installed a tool
to measure the oscillations of the ground, an aluminum foil-shaped vertical banner that would capture the solar wind and a device to allow for precisãoa measure the distance between the Moon and Earth. Once the mission, the astronauts returned to the module Eagle and remained there for several hours. Armstrong and Aldrin returned to lunar orbit, where Michael Collins awaits them in the module Columbia. The two modules were connected. In the command module, the three astronauts were joined again by starting the journey back to Earth. On July 24, landing at 12.50 and at one point in the Pacific Ocean. He was fulfilling the mission that led humans to the moon The Apollo project to send space missions over six, including five students, having Apollo 13 failed in his mission. Apollo 17, launched in December 1972 was the last mission in which a man stepped on the lunar surface. Since then, the trips to the moon were suspended, and voltarãoa only be resumed if there is economic and scientific interest. The main goal had been reached, the United States won the space race, showing the nation's most potent in the complexities of the Cold War. Science would be for later!
Years later, conspiracy theories that try to discredit the Apollo 11 has landed in the lunar soil, causing a few thousand people doubt that one day man stepped on the moon theories aside, the arrival of man on the moon was one of the greatest spectacles on Earth, still stirring passions and outbursts. The moon, though understood, continues to exert a mysterious fascination for mankind.
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