11 November 2014
The Short Answer (TSA)
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In 1961,
President John F. Kennedy made a speech to Congress in which he proposed a
national goal of landing a man on the moon before the end of the decade. Kennedy’s vision was born of the Cold War. The “space race,” between the United States
and Soviet Union, was a sort of on-going “cold battle” between the two
superpowers. Whether by accident or
design, President Kennedy proposed moon landing came to define “victory” in the
space race.
In 1961,
President John F. Kennedy made a speech to Congress in which he proposed a
national goal of landing a man on the moon before the end of the decade. Kennedy’s vision was born of the Cold War. The “space race,” between the United States
and Soviet Union, was a sort of on-going “cold battle” between the two
superpowers. Whether by accident or
design, President Kennedy proposed moon landing came to define “victory” in the
space race.
Immediately
embraced by the nation, the goal was actually an amazingly ambitious one. Space exploration had, up to that time, been
designed to serve purely military objectives.
In the military scheme, manned flight served only a marginal
purpose. Now manned missions were a
primary objective presenting a variety of amazing challenges for engineers who
were tasked with designing habitable spacecraft for the long trip to the moon.
Apollo
space craft, carrying three astronauts, traveled to, and around, the moon on
three missions without landing. Then, on
the fourth mission, Apollo 11 traveled three days before entering lunar
orbit. Leaving astronaut Michael Collins
in the orbiting command module, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
entered the Lunar Module and descended to the moon surface landing in the Sea
of Tranquility on 20 July 1969.
After spending six hours in the module, Neil
Armstrong stepped out onto the lunar surface with the words, "one small step for man, one giant leap for
mankind." Armstrong and Aldrin spend about two and one half hours walking
on the lunar surface. After a stay of 21
1/2 hours, the Lunar Module, carrying the two astronauts, left the
surface of the moon and to re-joined the command module. The astronauts returned to earth splashing
down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969.
The historic flight and landing was televised world-wide.
The 40th
Anniversary of the moon landing was celebrated in 2009. The regular anniversary is marks a yearly
celebration by the Aerospace Workers world wide.
In an odd
epilogue: In spite of the rather ample evidence of the event, opinion polls
show numbers ranging at different times between 6% and 20% of people the U.S.
don’t believe the landing ever took place! See related blog: What is the "Moon Landing Conspiracy"?
Mark Grossmann of Hazelwood, Missouri
& Belleville, Illinois
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