Even today, this moon landing is considered as a very important milestone or a great achievement in human history. Although there are various controversial stories about this unique event, the fact that man landed on the moon is one thing that we as humans are very proud of. So we felt that it would be good if anyone who knew or did not know the end of this important event was written to read. This is the complete story of the efforts to land on the moon, the obstacles they faced and the victory.
1. The idea of the moon landing
The very idea of the moonwalk came about as a result of the Cold War. It was the Cold War between the US government and the Soviet Union. With the launch of the first artificial satellite called Sputnik 1 by the Soviet Union in 1957, Americans were a little worried about the capabilities of the Soviet Union. It was with that warmth that American President Dwight D. Eisenhower starts this space story by establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA. But the Soviet Union was the first to send a man into space, even though America tried to be ahead of it. It was in April 1961 with the astronaut Yuri Gagarin’s space journey. A month after this event, the first American goes into space.
So because of all these events, John F. Kennedy became the American president after Mr Dwight. After discussing with NASA, Kennedy decides to work on this moon trip. This project is called “Apollo”.
2. Team selection
In the team of Apollo 11 that successfully landed on the moon, Neil Armstrong was the chief pilot, Michael Collins was the command module pilot, and Edwin Aldrin was the lunar module pilot. But only Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, who were in the lunar module, will land on the moon.
3. Basic preparation
Even the selection of the mission’s official emblem was done very carefully, taking many factors into consideration. Also, the mission’s main module and lunar module have been named Columbia and Eagle, respectively, for ease of identification. Also, the astronauts participating in the mission were allowed to take some of their favourite personal items on the trip. But the weight of all these carried items was very small like 0.23 kg.
After many considerations based on photographs taken from two years of operations, a low, flat landing site was selected. After some controversy, it was officially announced on April 14, 1969, that lead pilot Neil Armstrong would be the first to land on the moon.
4. People’s reactions and feedback
A crowd of approximately one million, including the US Army Chief of Staff, cabinet members, and state governors, gathered along the roads and beaches near the launch site to watch the event live. Also, a large number of local and foreign media representatives were waiting to cover the event. This historic event was broadcast live in 33 countries.
5. The mission
After separating all the additional parts attached to the plane, the plane will successfully travel and enter the lunar orbit. It was July 19 at 5:21 pm. On July 20, that means Armstrong and Aldrin will enter the lunar module from the main module to land on the moon at 12:52 the next day. At 5:44 p.m., Eagle or the Lunar Module will separate from Columbia or the main module. It is said that during the landing process, the pilots observed that the speed of the plane had increased and due to this, they were able to land at a place several miles away from their target. It is also mentioned that an alarm was sounded by the computer system due to some errors at 6000 feet above the surface of the moon. However, in the last half, Armstrong decides to transfer the control of the plane to semi-autonomous control and carry out the landing.
The two astronauts will also plant pre-prepared American flags while walking on the moon collecting samples. US President Richard Nixon will address the astronauts via telephone-radio transmission while the planting of the American flag will be broadcast live. He specifically mentions that this is the most historic call received from the White House. After spending more than two hours on the moon, they leave the moon. On July 21st at 21:44 i.e. at 9:44 pm, the Eagle Lunar Module rejoined the main module moving around the lunar orbit and on July 24th, 1969, it was successfully landed on the Earth’s ocean water and brought back to the land by the marines.
6. Time spent on the moon
Neil Armstrong goes down in history as the first man to land on the moon. Apollo 11 landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 Standard Time, which is 17 minutes after 8 PM. Exactly 6 hours and 39 minutes later, on July 21st at 2:56 am, Neil Armstrong will land on the moon according to the plan. Exactly 19 minutes later, his companion Edwin Aldrin would join the history books as the second person to set foot on the moon. It is said that these two spent about two hours and 15 minutes on the moon. During that time, they collected about 21.5 kilos of samples from the moon that they need to bring back to Earth.
7. Apollo program
Apollo 11 is not the first flight to the moon. As mentioned earlier, this entire project is called Apollo. So before this 11 plane, several planes have been used for this project and tests have been done. Apollo 7 and 9 were launched to test the success of the modules. Apollo 8 and 10 entered lunar orbit and took pictures of the lunar surface. Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17 successfully landed on the moon. Although Apollo 13 could not land on the moon due to an error, it successfully took the necessary photographs.
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