Apollo Eleven Essay, Research Paper

Apollo Eleven

It?s October 4, 1957. Today is the day that the Soviet Union launched

Sputnik. Sputnik was the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth. This

accomplishment followed by the first manned space flight (also claimed by the

Soviet Union) was the cause of the Cold War. Not long after Sputnik was launched

a Soviet probe passed the moon and another hit it. Following these events the

United States flew past the plant of Venus. Then in 1976 two U.S. probes landed

on Mars. Then only a year after Sputnik was launched The National Aeronautics

and Space Administration (NASA) was formed. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy

addressed Congress saying that the United States needed to commit itself to

"landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth?"

While NASA was preparing for the first manned Apollo flight on January

27,1967, a fire inside the command module killed all three of the crewmembers on

board. Them almost a year later NASA launched Apollo 8. The goal of this Apollo

mission was to test navigation and communication around the moon. Apollo 9

astronauts tested the lunar module in an orbit around the earth. Then during

Apollo 10 the astronauts tested the lunar module in lunar orbit.

"5?4?3?2?1? BLAST OFF!"

On July 16,1969 was Apollo 11 was launched. The goal of this mission was not

to test the lunar module once again but to actually land on the moon. The lunar

module contained three astronauts their names were Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin,

and Michael Collins. After three days of flying to the moon Apollo 11 was pulled

into lunar orbit. Once Apollo 11 entered the lunar orbit of the moon Armstrong

and Aldrin were able to separate the lunar module from the command module.

Then once the lunar module had actually landed on the moon Armstrong radioed

back to NASA saying "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has

landed." During the flight of Apollo 11 they called the lunar module Eagle

and they called the command module Columbia they did this to help NASA mission

controllers recognize voice signals from the command module and the lunar

module. After the lunar module landed the crew performed a few checks to make

sure that during the landing nothing had been damaged. Then as Neil Armstrong

stepped out of the lunar module the whole world heard him say "That?s one

small step for a man and one giant leap for mankind." But because of a gap

in the transmission the millions of TV viewers did not hear him say the a before

man.

During the time that they were on the moon they found rocks and soil samples

and photographed their positions before picking them up. While his fellow

crewmembers were below making history on the moon Collins also had an important

job to do. He conducted various scientific observations and took photographs.

Now it was time for the three men to return home. Once the lunar module had

connected with the command module the astronauts transferred samples and film

into the command module. Then the crew fired the on-board rocket again to push

them out of lunar orbit and back to their course for the earth. Once the command

module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24 NASA immediately put the

lunar material, the astronauts, and all the equipment that had been exposed to

the lunar environment into isolation. The isolation lasted 17 days and the

purposed of it was to make sure that no germs or other things had been brought

from the moon.