Still frame from the video transmission of Neil Armstrong stepping onto the surface of the Moon on 20 July 1969. Events 1304 - Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of Stirling Castle - King Edward I of England takes the last rebel stronghold Year 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. An estimated 500 million people worldwide watched this event live, the largest television audience for a live broadcast at that time. ^[1][2]

A moon landing is the arrival of an intact manned or unmanned spacecraft on the surface of a planet's natural satellite. A spacecraft is a Vehicle or machine designed for Spaceflight. A planet, as defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU is a celestial body Orbiting a Star or stellar remnant that is A natural satellite or moon is a Celestial body that Orbits a Planet or smaller body which is called the primary. The concept has been a goal of humankind since it was first appreciated that the Moon is Earth's closest large celestial body. EARTH was a short-lived Japanese vocal trio which released 6 singles and 1 album between 2000 and 2001 One of the clearest early examples of the concept in fiction was Jules Verne's novel From the Earth to the Moon, written in 1865. Jules Gabriel Verne ( February 8 1828 &ndash March 24 1905) was a French Author who pioneered the science-fiction From the Earth to the Moon (De la Terre à la Lune 1865) is a humorous Science fantasy Novel by Jules Verne and is Since the Soviet Union first succeeded in implementing the concept in 1966, this term referred to eighteen spacecraft landings on the Moon through 1976. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Nine of these missions returned to Earth bearing samples of moon rocks. Moon Rock is the debut Album by Paul Steel. It was cancelled for release after the album's first single Your Loss failed to chart upon

The United States achieved the first manned landing on Earth's Moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission commanded by Neil Armstrong. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Neil Alden Armstrong (born August 5 1930 is a former American Astronaut, Test pilot, University Professor, and United States On July 20, 1969, Armstrong, accompanied by Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin, landed the lunar module Eagle on the surface of the Moon. Events 1304 - Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of Stirling Castle - King Edward I of England takes the last rebel stronghold Year 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Buzz Aldrin (born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr, January 20, 1930 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey) is an American Aviator Armstrong and Aldrin spent a day on the surface of the Moon before returning to Earth. A total of six such manned moon landings were carried out between 1969 and 1972.

The Soviet Union later achieved sample returns via the unmanned Luna 16, Luna 20 and Luna 24 moon landings. A sample return mission is a Spacecraft mission with the goal of returning tangible samples from an extraterrestrial location to Earth for analysis Mission profile The Luna 16 automatic station was launched toward the Moon from a preliminary Earth orbit and after one mid-course correction on 13 September it entered Luna 20 (Ye-8-5 series was an Unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 20 Since this was during the time of the Cold War, the contest to be the first on the Moon was one of the most visible facets of the space race. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the The Space Race was a competition of space exploration between the Soviet Union and the United States, which lasted roughly from 1957 to 1975

Progress in space exploration has since broadened the phrase to include other moons in the solar system as well. History First orbital flights The first successful orbital launch was of the Soviet unmanned Sputnik The Solar System consists of the Sun and those celestial objects bound to it by Gravity. The Huygens probe of the Cassini mission to Saturn performed a successful unmanned moon landing on Titan in 2005. The Huygens probe, supplied by the European Space Agency (ESA and named after the Dutch 17th century astronomer Christiaan Huygens, is an atmospheric entry Cassini–Huygens is a joint NASA / ESA / ASI Robotic spacecraft mission currently studying the planet Saturn and its TemplateInfobox Planet.--> Titan (ˈtaɪtən, or as Similarly, the Soviet probe Phobos 2 came within 120 miles of performing an unmanned moon landing on Mars' moon Phobos in 1989 before radio contact with that lander was suddenly lost. The Phobos (Фобос Fobos program was an Unmanned space mission consisting of two probes launched by the Soviet Union to study Radio is the transmission of signals by Modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible Light. There is widespread interest in performing a future moon landing on Jupiter's moon Europa to drill down and explore the possible liquid water ocean beneath its icy surface. TemplateInfobox Planet.--> Europa (jʊˈroʊpə; or as

Scientific background

The primary concern of any moon landing is the high velocity involved that arises from the effects of gravity. Gravitation is a natural Phenomenon by which objects with Mass attract one another In order to go to any moon, a spacecraft must first leave the gravity well of the Earth. In Physics, a gravity well is the Gravitational potential field around a massive body (a particular kind of Potential well) The only practical way of accomplishing this feat is with a rocket. A rocket or rocket vehicle is a Missile, Aircraft or other Vehicle which obtains Thrust by the reaction of the Unlike other airborne vehicles such as balloons or jets, only a rocket can continue to increase its speed at high altitudes in the vacuum outside the Earth's atmosphere. "Ballooning" redirects here For the behavior of Spiders and other Arthropods see Ballooning (spider. A jet aircraft is an Aircraft propelled by Jet engines Jet aircraft fly much faster than Propeller -powered aircraft and at higher altitudes -- as high as Speed is the rate of motion, or equivalently the rate of change in position often expressed as Distance d traveled per unit of Altitude is the Elevation of a point or object from a known level or datum (plural data This vacuum means "absence of matter" or "an empty area or space" for the cleaning appliance see Vacuum cleaner. An atmosphere (from Greek ατμός - atmos, " Vapor " + σφαίρα - sphaira, " Sphere "

Once the Earth has been left behind, a moon landing next requires a spacecraft to shed or lose at least an amount of speed equal to the escape velocity of the target moon to overcome its gravitational attraction. In Physics, escape velocity is the speed where the Kinetic energy of an object is equal to the magnitude of its Gravitational potential energy For Earth's Moon, this figure is 2. 4 kilometers per second or around 5,000 miles per hour. This so-called delta-v is usually provided by a landing rocket, which must be carried into space by the original launch vehicle as part of the overall spacecraft. In Astrodynamics, the term delta-v, literally "change in velocity" (see symbol delta) has a specific meaning it is a Scalar which takes In Spaceflight, a launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a Rocket used to carry a payload from the Earth's surface into Outer space. An exception is a moon landing on Titan such as that carried out by the Huygens probe. As the only moon with an atmosphere, landings on Titan may be accomplished by using atmospheric entry techniques that are generally lighter in weight than a rocket with equivalent capability.

Whatever method is used to slow a spacecraft as it nears a moon, the key requirement for a moon landing is to be traveling at a survivable speed upon reaching the moon's surface. In Engineering, a requirement is a singular documented need of what a particular product or service should be or do Survivability is the ability to remain alive or continue to exist Otherwise the space mission ends not in a landing but a crash. Spaceflight is the use of Space technology to fly a Spacecraft into and through Outer space. Such crashes can occur because of malfunctions in a spacecraft, or they can be deliberately arranged for vehicles that do not have an onboard landing rocket. There have been many such moon crashes. The following table is a partial list of artificial objects on the surface of the Moon. For example, during the Apollo program the S-IVB third stage of the Saturn V moon rocket as well as the spent ascent stage of the lunar module were deliberately crashed on the moon several times to provide impacts registering as a moonquake on seismometers that had been left on the lunar surface. The S-IVB (sometimes S4b always pronounced "ess four bee" was built by the Douglas Aircraft Company and served as the third stage on the Saturn V and second The Saturn V (pronounced 'Saturn Five' popularly known as the Moon Rocket was a multistage liquid-fuel expendable Rocket used by NASA 's A moonquake is the lunar equivalent of an Earthquake, ie a quake on the Moon. Seismometers (from Greek Seism - "the shakes" - and Metro - "I measure" are instruments that measure and record motions of the ground including Such crashes were instrumental in mapping the internal structure of the Moon. The Moon is a differentiated body being composed of a geochemically distinct crust, mantle, and core.

If a return to Earth is desired after a moon landing is accomplished, the escape velocities of the moon and Earth must again be overcome for the spacecraft to come to rest on the surface of the Earth. Rockets must be used to leave the moon and return to space. Upon reaching Earth, atmospheric entry techniques are used to absorb the kinetic energy of a returning spacecraft and reduce its speed to zero for landing. The kinetic energy of an object is the extra Energy which it possesses due to its motion These functions greatly complicate a moon landing mission and lead to many additional operational considerations. Any moon departure rocket must first be carried to the moon's surface by a moon landing rocket, increasing the latter's required size. The moon departure rocket, larger moon landing rocket and any Earth atmosphere entry equipment such as heat shields and parachutes must in turn be lifted by the original launch vehicle, greatly increasing its size by a significant and almost prohibitive degree. A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag. This necessitates optimizing the sizing of stages in the launch vehicle as well as consideration of using space rendezvous between multiple spacecraft and reaching intermediate orbits prior to landing; in particular, lunar orbit rendezvous. A space rendezvous between two Spacecraft, often between a spacecraft and a Space station, is an Orbital maneuver where the two arrive at the same Lunar orbit rendezvous (LOR was the method used by the Apollo missions for Human spaceflight to the Moon. Thus systems engineering and logistics become major factors in the design of any moon landing mission. Systems engineering is an Interdisciplinary field of Engineering that focuses on how complex engineering projects should be designed and managed

Political background

The intense and expensive effort devoted in the 1960s to achieving first an unmanned and then ultimately a manned moon landing can only be understood in the political context of its historical era. World War II with its 60 million dead, half Soviet, was fresh in the memory of all adults. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including In the 1940s, the war had introduced many new and deadly innovations including blitzkrieg-style surprise attacks used in the invasion of Poland and in the attack on Pearl Harbor; the V-2 rocket, a ballistic missile which killed thousands in attacks on London; and the atom bomb, which killed tens of thousands in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Blitzkrieg (German for "lightning war" is a popular name for an Offensive operational-level Military doctrine which involves an initial The Invasion of Poland (1939 precipitated World War II. It was carried out by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small German-allied The attack on Pearl Harbor (or Hawaii Operation, as it was called by the Imperial General Headquarters) was a surprise Military strike conducted by See also Vergeltungswaffe The V-2 rocket ( Vergeltungswaffe 2 was the first Ballistic missile and first man-made object to achieve A ballistic missile is a Missile that follows a Sub-orbital ballistic flightpath with the objective of delivering a warhead to a predetermined target London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuclear attacks near the end of World War II against the Empire of Japan by the United States at In the 1950s, tensions mounted between the two ideologically opposed superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union that had emerged as victors in the conflict, particularly after the development by both countries of the hydrogen bomb. An ideology is a set of beliefs aims and Ideas especially in politics A superpower is a State with a leading position in the international system and the ability to Influence events and project power on a worldwide scale The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 The Teller–Ulam design is a Nuclear weapon design which is used in Megaton -range Thermonuclear weapons and is more colloquially referred to as "the

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 as the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth and so initiated the Space Age. Events 610 - Heraclius arrives by ship from Africa at Constantinople, overthrows Byzantine Emperor Phocas Year 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar) A rocket launch is the first phase of the flight of a Rocket. Sputnik 1 ( "Спутник-1", "Satellite-1" ПС-1 ( PS-1, i This article is about artificial satellites For natural satellites also known as moons see Natural satellite. The Space Age is a contemporary period encompassing the activities related to the Space Race, Space exploration, space technology and the cultural developments This unexpected event was a source of pride to the Soviets and shock to the Americans. Culture shock refers to the Anxiety and Feelings (of surprise disorientation uncertainty confusion etc This dramatic and successful demonstration of the new R-7 Semyorka rocket on only its third test flight meant that the Soviets could use ballistic missiles carrying hydrogen bombs in a surprise attack against any target on Earth, a frightening new capability the Americans did not have. The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the Further, the steady beeping of the radio beacon aboard Sputnik 1 as it passed overhead every 96 minutes was widely viewed on both sides as effective propaganda to Third World countries demonstrating the technological superiority of the Soviet political system compared to the American one. Electric beacons are a kind of Beacon used with direction finding equipment to find ones relative bearing to a known location (the Beacon Propaganda is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people Third World is a name given to nations that are generally considered to be underdeveloped economically A political system is a System of Politics and Government. It is usually compared to the Law system, Economic system, Cultural This perception was reinforced by a string of subsequent rapid-fire Soviet space achievements. In 1959, the R-7 rocket was used to launch the first escape from Earth's gravity into a solar orbit, the first crash impact onto the surface of the Moon and the first photography of the never-before-seen far side of the Moon. A heliocentric orbit is an Orbit around the Sun. In our Solar System, all Planets Comets and Asteroids are in such orbits Photography (fә'tɒgrәfi or fә'tɑːgrәfi (from Greek φωτο and γραφία is the process and Art of recording pictures by means of capturing Far Side of the Moon, in original French, La face cachée de la lune, is a 2003 film by Robert Lepage. These were the Luna 1, Luna 2 and Luna 3 spacecraft, respectively. Luna 1 (E-1 series also known as Mechta (Мечта lit: Dream) was the first Spacecraft to reach the vicinity Luna 2 (E-1A series was the second of the Soviet Union's Luna program spacecraft launched in the direction of the Moon. The Soviet spaceprobe Luna 3 (E-3 series was the third spacecraft sent successfully to the Moon and was an early triumph in the human exploration of outer space

The American response to these Soviet achievements was to greatly accelerate previously languishing space and missile projects. Military efforts were initiated to develop and produce mass quantities of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that would bridge the so-called missile gap and enable a policy of deterrence to nuclear war with the Soviets known as Mutually Assured Destruction or MAD. Missile Gap is a 2006 Science fiction Novella originally published in the anthology "One Million AD" by British author This article refers to deterrent theories of punishment For the legal theory of justice see Deterrence (legal. Mutual assured destruction ( MAD; sometimes written as mutually assured destruction) is a Doctrine of military Strategy in which a full-scale These newly-developed missiles were made available to civilians of the newly formed NASA space agency for various projects which would demonstrate the payload, guidance accuracy and reliabilities of American ICBMs to the Soviets. A missile (see also pronunciation differences) is a self-propelled explosive Projectile used as a weapon towards a target The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA, ˈnæsə is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program While NASA stressed peaceful and scientific uses for these rockets, their use in various lunar exploration efforts also had secondary goal of realistic, goal-oriented testing of the missiles themselves and development of associated infrastructure just as the Soviets were doing with their R-7. The tight schedules and lofty goals selected by NASA for lunar exploration also had an undeniable element of generating counter-propaganda to show to other countries that American technological prowess was the equal and even superior to that of the Soviets.

U. S. unmanned hard landings (1958-1965)

In contrast to Soviet lunar exploration triumphs in 1959, success eluded initial American efforts to reach the Moon with the Pioneer and Ranger programs. The US Pioneer program of Unmanned space missions was designed for planetary exploration The Ranger program was a series of Unmanned space missions by the United States in the 1960s whose objective was to obtain the first close-up images of the surface Fifteen consecutive U. S. unmanned lunar missions over a six year period from 1958 to 1964 all failed their primary photographic missions; however Rangers 4 and 6 successfully repeated the Soviet lunar impacts as part of their secondary missions. Failures included three American attempts in 1962 to hard land small seismometer packages released by the main Ranger spacecraft. These surface packages were to use retrorockets to survive landing, unlike the parent vehicle, which was designed to deliberately crash onto the surface. The final three Ranger probes performed successful high altitude lunar reconnaissance photography missions during intentional crash impacts at around 6,000 miles per hour as planned. Reconnaissance (also scouting) is a military and medical term denoting exploration conducted to gain information

Three different designs of Pioneer lunar probes were flown on three different modified ICBMs. The Pioneer 0 (also known as Thor - Able 1) probe was designed to go into orbit around the Moon Thor was a space Launch vehicle derived from the PGM-17 Thor Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile. On 1958-10-11, Pioneer 1 became the first spacecraft launched by NASA, the newly formed space agency of the United States Pioneer 2 was the last of the three project Able space probes designed to probe lunar and cislunar space Pioneer 3 was a spin stabilized spacecraft launched at 054512 UTC on 6 December 1958 by the U Pioneer 4 was a spin-stabilized spacecraft launched as part of the Pioneer program on a lunar flyby trajectory and into a Heliocentric orbit making Pioneer P-1 was a failed mission in the Pioneer series The spacecraft was a 1 meter diameter sphere with a propulsion module Pioneer P-3 (also known as Atlas- Able 4 or Pioneer X was intended to be a lunar orbiter probe but the mission failed shortly after launch Pioneer P-30 (also known as Atlas- Able 5A or Pioneer Y was intended to be a lunar orbiter probe but the mission failed shortly after launch Pioneer P-31 (also known as Atlas- Able 5B or Pioneer Z was intended to be a lunar orbiter probe but the mission failed shortly after launch Spacecraft design The spacecraft was of the Ranger Block 1 design and consisted of a hexagonal base 1 Spacecraft design Ranger 2 was of the Ranger Block 1 design and was almost identical to Ranger 1. Spacecraft design Ranger 3 was the first of the so-called Block II Ranger designs Spacecraft design Ranger 4 was a Block II Ranger spacecraft virtually identical to Ranger 3. Spacecraft design Ranger 5 was a Block II Ranger spacecraft similar to Ranger 3 and Ranger 4. Spacecraft design Rangers 6 7, 8, and 9 were the so-called Block 3 versions of the Ranger spacecraft Ranger 7 was designed to achieve a lunar impact trajectory and to transmit high-resolution photographs of the lunar surface during the final minutes of flight up to impact Ranger 8 was a Spacecraft designed to achieve a lunar impact Trajectory and to transmit High-resolution photographs of the lunar surface during the final Ranger 9 was designed to achieve a lunar impact Trajectory and to transmit high-resolution photographs of the lunar surface during the final minutes of flight up to impact Those flown on the Thor booster modified with an Able upper stage carried an infrared image scanning television system with a resolution of 1 milliradian to study the Moon's surface, an ionization chamber to measure radiation in space, a diaphragm/microphone assembly to detect micrometeorites, a magnetometer, and temperature-variable resistors to monitor spacecraft internal thermal conditions. Thor was the first operational Ballistic missile in the arsenal of the United States, operated by the US Air Force. Infrared ( IR) radiation is Electromagnetic radiation whose Wavelength is longer than that of Visible light, but shorter than that of Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic Image resolution describes the detail an Image holds The term applies equally to Digital images film images and other types of images The radian is a unit of plane Angle, equal to 180/ π degrees, or about 57 An ionization chamber is a device used for two major purposes detecting particles in air (as in a Smoke detector) and for detection or measurement of Ionizing radiation Radiation, as in Physics, is Energy in the form of waves or moving Subatomic particles emitted by an atom or other body as it changes from a higher energy A Micrometeoroid (also micrometeorite, micrometeor) is a tiny Meteoroid; a small particle of rock in space usually weighing less than a Gram A magnetometer is a scientific instrument used to measure the strength and/or direction of the Magnetic field in the vicinity of the instrument The first, a mission managed by the United States Air Force, exploded during launch; all subsequent Pioneer lunar flights had NASA as the lead management organization. The next two returned to Earth and burned up upon reentry into the atmosphere after achieved maximum altitudes of around 70,000 and 900 miles, far short of the roughly 250,000 miles required to reach the vicinity of the Moon.

NASA then collaborated with the United States Army's Ballistic Missile Agency to fly two extremely small cone-shaped probes on the Juno ICBM, carrying only photocells which would be triggered by the light of the Moon and a lunar radiation environment experiment using a Geiger-Müller tube detector. The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. Juno is a NASA mission to Jupiter, slated to cost about USD $700 million (FY03 and scheduled to launch in August 2011 A photoresistor or Light Dependent Resistor or CdS Cell is a Resistor whose resistance decreases with increasing incident light intensity A Geiger-Müller tube (or GM tube) is the sensing element of a Geiger counter instrument that can detect a single particle of Ionizing radiation, and typically The first of these reached an altitude of only around 64,000 miles, serendipitously gathering data that established the presence of the Van Allen radiation belts before reentering Earth's atmosphere. The Van Allen radiation belt is a Torus of energetic Charged particles ( plasma) around Earth, held in place by Earth's Magnetic The second passed by the moon at a distance of over 37,000 miles, twice as far away as planned and too far away to trigger either of the onboard scientific instruments, yet still becoming the first American spacecraft to reach a solar orbit. A heliocentric orbit is an Orbit around the Sun. In our Solar System, all Planets Comets and Asteroids are in such orbits

The final Pioneer lunar probe design consisted of four "paddlewheel" solar panels extending from a one-meter diameter spherical spin-stabilized spacecraft body that was equipped to take images of the lunar surface with a television-like system, estimate the Moon's mass and topography of the poles, record the distribution and velocity of micrometeorites, study radiation, measure magnetic fields, detect low frequency electromagnetic waves in space and use a sophisticated integrated propulsion system for maneuvering and orbit insertion as well. A paddle steamer is a ship or boat driven by a Steam engine that uses one or more Paddle wheels to develop thrust for propulsion. In the field of Photovoltaics, a photovoltaic module is a packaged interconnected assembly of photovoltaic cells also known as Solar cells An installation of Peak of Eternal Light (PEL describes a point on a body within the Solar System which is eternally bathed in Sunlight. See also Earth's magnetic field The magnetic field of a rotating body of conductive gas or liquid develops self-amplifying Electric currents and thus Spacecraft propulsion is any method used to change the velocity of Spacecraft and artificial Satellites There are many different methods None of the four spacecraft built in this series of probes survived launch on its Atlas ICBM outfitted with an Able upper stage. The SM-65 Atlas was a missile built by the Convair Division of General Dynamics.

Following the unsuccessful Atlas-Able Pioneer probes, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory embarked upon an unmanned spacecraft development program whose modular design could be used to support both lunar and interplanetary exploration missions. The interplanetary versions were known as Mariners; lunar versions were Rangers. The Mariner program was a program conducted by the American space agency NASA that launched a series of robotic interplanetary probes The Ranger program was a series of Unmanned space missions by the United States in the 1960s whose objective was to obtain the first close-up images of the surface JPL envisioned three versions of the Ranger lunar probes: Block I prototypes, which would carry various radiation detectors in test flights to a very high Earth orbit that came nowhere near the Moon; Block II, which would try to accomplish the first Moon landing by hard landing a seismometer package; and Block III, which would crash onto the lunar surface without any braking rockets while taking very high resolution wide-area photographs of the Moon during their descent.

The Ranger 1 and 2 Block I missions were virtually identical. Spacecraft experiments included a Lyman-alpha telescope, a rubidium-vapor magnetometer, electrostatic analyzers, medium-energy-range particle detectors, two triple coincidence telescopes, a cosmic-ray integrating ionization chamber, cosmic dust detectors, and scintillation counters. A magnetometer is a scientific instrument used to measure the strength and/or direction of the Magnetic field in the vicinity of the instrument In experimental and applied Particle physics and Nuclear engineering, a particle detector, also known as a radiation detector, is a device used to An ionization chamber is a device used for two major purposes detecting particles in air (as in a Smoke detector) and for detection or measurement of Ionizing radiation A scintillation counter measures Ionizing radiation. The Sensor, called a Scintillator, consists of a transparent Crystal, usually phosphor The goal was to place these Block I spacecraft in a very high Earth orbit with an apogee of 670,000 miles. From that vantage point, scientists could make direct measurements of the magnetosphere over a period of many months while engineers perfected new methods to routinely track and communicate with spacecraft over such large distances. A magnetosphere' is a highly magnetized region around and possessed by an Astronomical object. Such practice was deemed vital to be assured of capturing high-bandwidth television transmissions from the Moon during a one-shot fifteen minute time window in subsequent Block II and Block III lunar descents. Both Block I missions suffered failures of the new Agena upper stage and never left low earth parking orbit after launch; both burned up upon reentry after only a few days. A parking orbit is a temporary orbit used during the launch of a Satellite or other Space probe.

Ranger 4 became the first American spacecraft to crash on the Moon and so equaled what the Soviets had accomplished with Luna 2 three years before. Spacecraft design Ranger 4 was a Block II Ranger spacecraft virtually identical to Ranger 3. Luna 2 (E-1A series was the second of the Soviet Union's Luna program spacecraft launched in the direction of the Moon.

The first attempts to perform a Moon landing took place in 1962 during the Rangers 3, 4 and 5 missions flown by the United States. All three Block II missions carried a 94 pound, two-foot diameter landing sphere (made of balsa wood) designed to withstand a 150 mile per hour impact. This lander (code-named Tonto) was designed to provide impact cushioning using an exterior blanket of crushable balsa wood and an interior filled with incompressible liquid freon. Freon is DuPont 's trade name for its odorless colorless nonflammable and noncorrosive Chlorofluorocarbon and Hydrochlorofluorocarbon Refrigerants A 56 pound, one-foot diameter metal payload sphere floated and was free to rotate in a liquid freon reservoir contained in the landing sphere. This payload sphere contained six silver-cadmium batteries to power a fifty milliwatt radio transmitter, a temperature sensitive voltage controlled oscillator to measure lunar surface temperatures, and a seismometer that was designed with sensitivity high enough to detect the impact of a five pound meteorite on the opposite side of the Moon. Cadmium (ˈkædmiəm is a Chemical element with the symbol Cd and Atomic number 48 Weight was distributed in the payload sphere so it would rotate in its liquid blanket to place the seismometer into an upright and operational position no matter what the final resting orientation of the external landing sphere. After landing plugs were to be opened allowing the freon to evaporate and the payload sphere to settle into upright contact with the landing sphere. Four pounds of water were also included to provide thermal control for the lander, absorbing heat and boiling off as low-pressure steam during the hot lunar daytime and retaining sufficient heat to allow the lander electronics to avoid freezing temperatures during the cold lunar nighttime. The batteries and water supply were sized to allow up to three months of operation for the payload sphere. Various mission constraints limited the landing site to Oceanus Procellarum on the lunar equator, which the lander ideally would reach 66 hours after launch.

No cameras were carried by the Ranger landers, and no pictures were to be captured from the lunar surface during the mission. Instead, the ten-foot-high, 730 pound Ranger Block II mother ship carried a 200 scan line television camera which was to capture images from 2,400 miles down to 37 miles during the free-fall descent to the lunar surface. The 13 pound camera was designed to transmit a picture every 10 seconds. Other instruments gathering data before the mother ship crashed onto the Moon at 6,500 miles per hour were a gamma ray spectrometer to measure overall lunar chemical composition and a radar altimeter. At eight seconds before impact and 13 miles above the lunar surface, the radar altimeter was to give a signal ejecting the landing capsule and its 236 pound solid-fueled braking rocket overboard from the Block II mother ship. The braking rocket was to slow the landing sphere to a dead stop at 1,100 feet above the surface and separate, allowing the landing sphere to free fall once more and hit the surface at a survivable speed of 100 miles per hour.

On Ranger 3, failure of the Atlas guidance system and a software error aboard the Agena upper stage combined to put the spacecraft on a course that would miss the Moon. Attempts to salvage lunar photography during a flyby of the Moon were thwarted by in-flight failure of the onboard flight computer. This was probably because of prior heat sterilization of the spacecraft by keeping it above the boiling point of water for 24 hours on the ground, to protect the Moon from being contaminated by Earth organisms. Sterilization (or sterilisation, see spelling differences) refers to any process that effectively kills or eliminates transmissible agents (such as Fungi Boiling (also called ebullition) a type of Phase transition, is the rapid vaporization of a Liquid, which typically occurs when a liquid Heat sterilization was also blamed for subsequent in-flight failures of the spacecraft computer on Ranger 4 and the power subsystem on Ranger 5. Only Ranger 4 reached the Moon in an uncontrolled crash impact on the far side of the Moon.

First image of the Moon taken by a US spacecraft, Ranger 7. The large crater at center right is Alphonsus

Heat sterilization was discontinued for the final four Block III Ranger probes. Alphonsus is an ancient Impact crater on Earth 's Moon that dates from the immediate post- Nectarian era These replaced the Block II landing capsule and its retrorocket with a heavier, more capable television system to support landing site selection for upcoming Apollo manned moon landing missions. Six cameras weighing a total of 350 pounds were designed to take thousands of high-altitude photographs in the final twenty minute period before crashing on the lunar surface. Camera resolution was 1,132 scan lines, far higher than the 525 lines found in a typical American 1964 home television. The final pictures taken were expected to have a resolution of around two feet. While Ranger 6 suffered a failure of this camera system and returned no photographs despite an otherwise successful flight, the subsequent Ranger 7 mission to Mare Cognitum was a complete success. Breaking the six year string of failure in American attempts to photograph the moon at close range, the Ranger 7 mission was viewed as a national turning point and instrumental in allowing the key 1965 NASA budget appropriation to pass through the United States Congress intact without a reduction in funds for the Apollo manned moon landing program. The United States Congress is the bicameral Legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses Subsequent successes with Ranger 8 and Ranger 9 further buoyed American hopes.

U. S. S. R. unmanned hard landings (1958-1966)

While American lunar exploration missions were undertaken in full view of public scrutiny, Soviet moonshots of the 1960s and 1970s were conducted under a policy of extreme governmental secrecy. Only with the coming of glasnost in the late 1980s and the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 did historical records come to light allowing a true accounting of Soviet lunar efforts. (Гла́сность)is literally defined as publicity and sometimes figuratively interpreted as "tipping a vase to let someone see into the vase but not the bottom of the vase" The Soviet Union 's collapse into independent nations began early in 1985 Unlike the American tradition of assigning a particular mission name in advance of launch, the Soviets assigned a public "Luna" mission number only if a launch resulted in a spacecraft going beyond Earth orbit. The Luna programme (from the Russian word "Luna" meaning "Moon" occasionally called Lunik or Lunnik, was a series of Robotic spacecraft If the attempt failed in Earth orbit before departing for the Moon, it was frequently (but not always) given a "Sputnik" or "Cosmos" earth-orbit mission number to hide its failure in reaching the Moon. For the Cosmos 1 solar sail &mdash not part of this series &mdash see Cosmos 1. Launch explosions were not acknowledged at all. This policy had the effect of hiding Soviet moonshot failures from public view, making their successes seem even more impressive.

In the Ocean of Storms, a widely reprinted 1967 Soviet painting by Aleksei Leonov and Andrei Sokolov, depicts a future traveler examining the Luna 9 braking rocket and landing capsule which had performed the first unmanned moon landing in 1966. Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov (Алексе́й Архи́пович Лео́нов (born May 30, 1934 in Listvyanka Kemerovo Oblast, USSR Leonov, who had previously made the first spacewalk, was at this time generally viewed as the Soviet cosmonaut most likely to become the first human on the Moon. Extra-vehicular activity ( EVA) is work done by an Astronaut away from the Earth and outside of a Spacecraft.

The Luna 9 spacecraft, launched by the Soviet Union, performed the first successful Moon landing on February 3, 1966 using the "hard landing" technique. The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the Luna 1 (E-1 series also known as Mechta (Мечта lit: Dream) was the first Spacecraft to reach the vicinity The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the Luna 2 (E-1A series was the second of the Soviet Union's Luna program spacecraft launched in the direction of the Moon. The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the The Soviet spaceprobe Luna 3 (E-3 series was the third spacecraft sent successfully to the Moon and was an early triumph in the human exploration of outer space The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the Luna 4 (E-6 series was the USSR 's first successful spacecraft of their "second generation" Luna program. The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the For the Cosmos 1 solar sail &mdash not part of this series &mdash see Cosmos 1. The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the Luna 5 (E-6 series was an Unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 5 The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the Sources The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the A photograph (often shortened to photo) is an Image created by Light falling on a light-sensitive surface usually Photographic film or an electronic In the broadest sense the term impact crater can be applied to any depression natural or manmade resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with larger body Moon Rock is the debut Album by Paul Steel. It was cancelled for release after the album's first single Your Loss failed to chart upon Sources Sources The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Events 1112 - Ramon Berenguer III of Barcelona and Douce I of Provence marry uniting the fortunes of those two states Year 1966 ( MCMLXVI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. Airbags protected its 200 pound ejectable capsule which survived an impact speed of over 30 miles per hour—the speed of many automobile accidents causing fatalities on Earth. An airbag is part of a vehicle's safety restraint system a flexible envelope designed for rapid inflation in an automobile Collision, to prevent vehicle occupants Luna 13 duplicated this feat with a similar moon landing on December 24, 1966. Events 563 - The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by Earthquakes Year 1966 ( MCMLXVI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. Both returned panoramic photographs that were the first views from the lunar surface.

American unmanned soft landings (1966-1968)

The American robotic Surveyor program was part of an effort to locate a safe site on the Moon for a human landing and test under actual lunar conditions the radar and landing systems required to make a true controlled touchdown. A robot is a mechanical or Virtual Artificial agent In practice it is usually an electro-mechanical system which by its appearance or movements The Surveyor Program was a NASA program that from 1966 through 1968 sent seven Robotic spacecraft to the surface of the Moon. Radar is a system that uses electromagnetic waves to identify the range altitude direction or speed of both moving and fixed objects such as Aircraft, ships Five of Surveyor's seven missions made successful unmanned moon landings.

Transition From Direct Ascent Landings To Lunar Orbit Operations (1966)

Within four months of each other in early 1966 the Soviet Union and the United States had accomplished successful moon landings with unmanned spacecraft. To the general public both countries had demonstrated roughly equal technical capabilities by returning photographic images from the surface of the Moon. These pictures provided a key affirmative answer to the crucial question of whether or not lunar soil would support upcoming manned landers with their much greater weight.

However, the Luna 9 hard landing of a ruggedized sphere using airbags at a 30 mile-per-hour ballistic impact speed had much more in common with the failed 1962 Ranger landing attempts and their planned 100 mile-per-hour impacts than with the Surveyor 1 soft landing on three footpads using its radar-controlled, adjustable-thrust retrorocket. While Luna 9 and Surveyor 1 were both major national accomplishments, only Surveyor 1 had reached its landing site employing key technologies that would be needed for a crewed flight. Thus as of mid-1966, the United States had begun to pull ahead of the Soviet Union in the so-called Space Race to land a man on the Moon.

Advances in other areas were necessary before manned spacecraft could follow unmanned ones to the surface of the Moon. Of particular importance was developing the expertise to perform flight operations in lunar orbit. Ranger, Surveyor and initial Luna moon landing attempts all utilized flight paths from Earth that traveled directly to the lunar surface without first placing the spacecraft in a lunar orbit. Such direct ascents use a minimum amount of fuel for unmanned spacecraft on a one-way trip. Direct ascent was a proposed method for a mission to the Moon.

In contrast, manned vehicles need additional fuel after a lunar landing to enable a return trip back to Earth for the crew. Leaving this massive amount of required Earth-return fuel in lunar orbit until it is actually used later in the mission is far more efficient than taking such fuel down to the lunar surface in a Moon landing and then hauling it all back into space yet again, working against lunar gravity both ways. Such considerations lead logically to a lunar orbit rendezvous mission profile for a manned Moon landing. Lunar orbit rendezvous (LOR was the method used by the Apollo missions for Human spaceflight to the Moon. Accordingly, beginning in mid-1966 both the U. S. and U. S. S. R. naturally progressed into missions which featured lunar orbit operations as a necessary prerequisite to a manned Moon landing.

Soviet lunar orbit satellites (1966-1974)

Luna 10 became the first spacecraft to orbit the Moon on April 3, 1966. See also Molniya (rocket The Molniya-M (Молния meaning "lightning" designation 8K78M, was a Russian (previously Soviet See also Molniya (rocket The Molniya-M (Молния meaning "lightning" designation 8K78M, was a Russian (previously Soviet See also Molniya (rocket The Molniya-M (Молния meaning "lightning" designation 8K78M, was a Russian (previously Soviet See also Molniya (rocket The Molniya-M (Молния meaning "lightning" designation 8K78M, was a Russian (previously Soviet See also Molniya (rocket The Molniya-M (Молния meaning "lightning" designation 8K78M, was a Russian (previously Soviet See also Molniya (rocket The Molniya-M (Молния meaning "lightning" designation 8K78M, was a Russian (previously Soviet See also Molniya (rocket The Molniya-M (Молния meaning "lightning" designation 8K78M, was a Russian (previously Soviet Luna 19 (aka Lunik 19 (Ye-8-LS series was an Unmanned space mission of the Luna program. The Proton rocket The Proton rocket Events 1043 - Edward the Confessor is crowned King of England. Year 1966 ( MCMLXVI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the 1966 Gregorian calendar.

Soviet Circumlunar Loop Flights (1967-1970)

Zond 5 was the first spacecraft to carry life from Earth to the vicinity of the Moon. The Proton rocket The Proton rocket The Proton rocket The Proton rocket Zond 4, a member of the Soviet Zond program, was a short flight that was one of the first Soviet experiments towards manned lunar spaceflight The Proton rocket The Proton rocket Zond 5, a member of the Soviet Union 's Zond program, was launched from a Tyazheliy Sputnik (68-076B in Earth parking orbit to make scientific studies during The Proton rocket Zond 6, a member of the Soviet Union 's Zond program, was launched on a lunar flyby mission from a parent satellite (68-101B in Earth parking orbit The Proton rocket The Proton rocket Zond 7, a member of the Soviet Union 's Zond program and the only truly successful test of the Soyuz 7K-L1, was launched towards the Moon from The Proton rocket Zond 8, a member of the Soviet Union 's Zond program, was launched from an Earth orbiting platform Tyazheliy Sputnik (70-088B towards the Moon The Proton rocket Believing a Soviet manned lunar flight was imminent in late 1968, NASA changed the flight plan of Apollo 8 from an Earth-orbit mission to a risky lunar orbit mission.

U. S. lunar orbit satellites (1966-1967)

Earthrise, 24 December 1968 (NASA)

Apollo 8 carried out the first manned orbit of the Moon on December 24, 1968, certifying the Saturn V booster for manned use. The Lunar Orbiter 1 Robotic (unmanned Spacecraft, part of the Lunar Orbiter Program, was designed primarily to photograph smooth areas of the The SM-65 Atlas was a missile built by the Convair Division of General Dynamics. The Agena (designated RM-81 by the USAF) was a rocket upper stage developed by Lockheed for the ill-fated WS-117L US Reconnaissance satellite The Lunar Orbiter 2 Spacecraft was designed primarily to photograph smooth areas of the lunar surface for selection and verification of safe landing sites for The SM-65 Atlas was a missile built by the Convair Division of General Dynamics. The Agena (designated RM-81 by the USAF) was a rocket upper stage developed by Lockheed for the ill-fated WS-117L US Reconnaissance satellite The Lunar Orbiter 3 was a Spacecraft launched by NASA in 1967, designed primarily to photograph areas of the lunar surface for confirmation The SM-65 Atlas was a missile built by the Convair Division of General Dynamics. The Agena (designated RM-81 by the USAF) was a rocket upper stage developed by Lockheed for the ill-fated WS-117L US Reconnaissance satellite Lunar Orbiter 4 was designed to take advantage of the fact that the three previous Lunar Orbiters had completed the required needs for Apollo mapping and site selection The SM-65 Atlas was a missile built by the Convair Division of General Dynamics. The Agena (designated RM-81 by the USAF) was a rocket upper stage developed by Lockheed for the ill-fated WS-117L US Reconnaissance satellite Lunar Orbiter 5, the last of the Lunar Orbiter series was designed to take additional Apollo and Surveyor landing site Photography and The SM-65 Atlas was a missile built by the Convair Division of General Dynamics. The Agena (designated RM-81 by the USAF) was a rocket upper stage developed by Lockheed for the ill-fated WS-117L US Reconnaissance satellite Events 563 - The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by Earthquakes Year 1968 ( MCMLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Saturn V (pronounced 'Saturn Five' popularly known as the Moon Rocket was a multistage liquid-fuel expendable Rocket used by NASA 's Apollo 10 then performed a full dress rehearsal of a manned moon landing in May 1969. This mission stopped short at ten miles altitude above the lunar surface, performing necessary low-altitude mapping of trajectory-altering mascons using a factory prototype lunar module that was too overweight to allow a successful landing. Mass concentration can have different meaning in astronomy or chemistry With the failure of the unmanned Soviet sample return moon landing attempt Luna 15 in July 1969, the stage was set for Apollo 11.

American manned Moon landings (1969-1972)

American strategy

The U. S. Moon exploration program originated during the Eisenhower administration. Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (October 14 1890 – March 28 1969 was President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a five-star general In a series of mid-1950s articles in Collier's magazine, Wernher von Braun had popularized the idea of a manned expedition to the Moon to establish a lunar base. Collier's Weekly was an American Magazine founded by Peter Fenelon Collier and published from 1888 to 1957 Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun (March 23 1912 &ndash June 16 1977 a German rocket physicist and astronautics engineer became one of the leading figures in A manned Moon landing posed several daunting technical challenges to the U. S. and USSR. Besides guidance and weight management, atmospheric re-entry without ablative overheating was a major hurdle. Ablation is defined as the removal of material from the surface of an object by Vaporization, Chipping, or other erosive processes After the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik, von Braun promoted a plan for the United States Army to establish a military lunar outpost by 1965.

After the early Soviet successes, especially Yuri Gagarin's flight, U. The Space Race was a competition of space exploration between the Soviet Union and the United States, which lasted roughly from 1957 to 1975 S. President John F. Kennedy looked for an American project that would capture the public imagination. John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (May 29 1917&ndashNovember 22 1963 often referred to by his initials JFK, was the thirty-fifth President of He asked Vice President Lyndon Johnson to make recommendations on a scientific endeavor that would prove U. S. world leadership. The proposals included non-space options such as massive irrigation projects to benefit the Third World. Third World is a name given to nations that are generally considered to be underdeveloped economically The Soviets, at the time, had more powerful rockets than the United States, which gave them an advantage in some kinds of space missions. Advances in U. S. nuclear weapons technology had led to smaller, lighter warheads, and consequently, rockets with smaller payload capacities. By comparison, Soviet nuclear weapons were much heavier, and the powerful R-7 rocket was developed to carry them. The R-7 Semyorka (Р-7 "Семёрка" was the world's first true Intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the More modest potential missions such as flying around the Moon without landing or establishing a space lab in orbit (both were proposed by Kennedy to von Braun) were determined to offer too much advantage to the Soviets, since the U. S. would have to develop a heavy rocket to match the Soviets. A Moon landing, however, would capture world imagination while functioning as propaganda. Propaganda is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people

Mindful that the Apollo Program would economically benefit most of the key states in the next election—particularly his home state of Texas because NASA's base was in Houston—Johnson championed the Apollo program. Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA, ˈnæsə is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program This superficially indicated action to alleviate the fictional "missile gap" between the U. Missile Gap is a 2006 Science fiction Novella originally published in the anthology "One Million AD" by British author S. and USSR, a campaign promise of Kennedy's in the 1960 election. The Apollo project allowed continued development of dual-use technology. Johnson also advised that for anything less than a lunar landing the USSR had a good chance of beating the U. S. For these reasons, Kennedy seized on Apollo as the ideal focus for American efforts in space. He ensured continuing funding, shielding space spending from the 1963 tax cut and diverting money from other NASA projects. This dismayed NASA's leader, James E. Webb, who urged support for other scientific work. James Edwin Webb ( October 7, 1906 – March 27, 1992) was the second administrator of NASA, serving from February 14

In conversation with Webb, Kennedy said:

Everything we do ought to really be tied in to getting on to the moon ahead of the Russians [. . . ] otherwise we shouldn't be spending that kind of money, because I'm not interested in space [. . . ] The only justification for [the cost] is because we hope to beat [the USSR] to demonstrate that instead of being behind by a couple of years, by God, we passed them.

The U. S. Saturn V versus the Soviet N1. The Saturn V (pronounced 'Saturn Five' popularly known as the Moon Rocket was a multistage liquid-fuel expendable Rocket used by NASA 's N1 or N-1 was the secret Soviet Rocket intended to send Soviet Cosmonauts to the Moon. The Saturn V booster was the key to U. S. moon landings, using more efficient liquid hydrogen fuel instead of kerosene in its upper stages to lift heavier payloads with a launch record of no failures in thirteen launches. The N-1 exploded in flight during four secret test launches and never achieved operational status.

Whatever he said in private, Kennedy needed a different message to gain public support to uphold what he was saying and his views. Later in 1963, Kennedy asked Vice President Johnson to investigate the possible technological and scientific benefits of a Moon mission. Johnson concluded that the benefits were limited, but, with the help of scientists at NASA, he put together a powerful case, citing possible medical breakthroughs and interesting pictures of Earth from space. For the program to succeed, its proponents would have to defeat criticism from politicians on the left, who wanted more money spent on social programs, and on those on the right, who favored a more military project. By emphasizing the scientific payoff and playing on fears of Soviet space dominance, Kennedy and Johnson managed to swing public opinion: by 1965, 58 percent of Americans favored Apollo, up from 33 percent two years earlier. After Johnson became President in 1963, his continuing defense of the program allowed it to succeed in 1969, as Kennedy had originally hoped.

Soviet strategy

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev did not relish "defeat" by any other power, but equally did not relish funding such an expensive project. Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (April 17 1894 – September 11 1971 served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 following In October 1963 he said that the USSR was "not at present planning flight by cosmonauts to the Moon", while insisting that the Soviets had not dropped out of the race. Only after another year would the USSR fully commit itself to a Moon-landing attempt, which ultimately failed.

At the same time, Kennedy had suggested various joint programs, including a possible Moon landing by Soviet and American astronauts and the development of better weather-monitoring satellites. Khrushchev, sensing an attempt by Kennedy to steal Russian space technology, rejected the idea: if the USSR went to the Moon, it would go alone. Korolyov, the RSA's chief designer, had started promoting his Soyuz craft and the N-1 launcher rocket that would have the capability of carrying out a manned Moon landing. Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov (often Transliterated as Sergei Korolev) (Серге́й Па́влович Королёв Сергій Павлович Корольов The Russian Federal Space Agency ( Russian: Федеральное космическое агентство России Federal'noe kosmicheskoe agentstvo Rossii Design A Soyuz spacecraft consists of three parts (from front to back A Spheroid Orbital module, which provides accommodation for the crew during N1 or N-1 was the secret Soviet Rocket intended to send Soviet Cosmonauts to the Moon. Khrushchev directed Korolyov's design bureau to arrange further space firsts by modifying the existing Vostok technology, while a second team started building a completely new launcher and craft, the Proton booster and the Zond, for a manned cislunar flight in 1966. In 1964 the new Soviet leadership gave Korolyov the backing for a Moon landing effort and brought all manned projects under his direction. With Korolyov's death and the failure of the first Soyuz flight in 1967, the co-ordination of the Soviet moon landing program quickly unraveled. The Soviets built a landing craft and selected cosmonauts for the mission that would have placed Aleksei Leonov on the Moon's surface, but with the successive launch failures of the N1 booster in 1969, plans for a manned landing suffered first delay and then cancellation. Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov (Алексе́й Архи́пович Лео́нов (born May 30, 1934 in Listvyanka Kemerovo Oblast, USSR

List of manned Apollo Moon landings

Further information: List of Apollo astronauts

• Apollo 11 - July 16, 1969. This is a list of all Astronauts directly associated with NASA 's Apollo program. Events 622 - The beginning of the Islamic calendar. 1054 - Three Roman legates fractured relations between the Western and Year 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. First manned landing on the Moon, July 20. Events 1304 - Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of Stirling Castle - King Edward I of England takes the last rebel stronghold
• Apollo 12 - November 14, 1969. Events 1533 - Conquistadors from Spain under the leadership of Francisco Pizarro arrive in Cajamarca, Inca Year 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. First precise manned landing on the Moon, within walking distance of Surveyor 3. Surveyor 3 was the third lander of the Surveyor program that explored the Moon.
• Apollo 14 - January 31, 1971. Events 1504 - France cedes Naples to Aragon. 1606 - Gunpowder Plot: Guy Fawkes Year 1971 ( MCMLXXI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. Commanded by Alan Shepard, the only one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts to walk (and golf) on the Moon. Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr (November 18 1923 &ndash July 21 1998 ( Rear Admiral, USN Ret The Mercury Seven was the group of seven Mercury astronauts picked by NASA on April 9, 1959.
• Apollo 15 - July 26, 1971. Events 657 - Battle of Siffin. 811 - Battle of Pliska; Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus Year 1971 ( MCMLXXI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. First mission with the Lunar Rover vehicle. The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV or lunar rover was a type of surface exploration rover used on the Moon during the Apollo program.
• Apollo 16 - April 16, 1972. Events 1178 BC - A Solar eclipse may have marked the return of Odysseus, legendary King of Ithaca, to his kingdom Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. First landing in the lunar highlands.
• Apollo 17 - December 7, 1972. Events 43 BC - Marcus Tullius Cicero assassinated 1696 - Connecticut Route 108, one of the oldest highways Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Final Apollo lunar mission, first night launch, only mission with a professional geologist.

In total twenty-four American astronauts have traveled to the Moon, with twelve walking on its surface and three making the trip twice. Apollo 8 was a lunar-orbit-only mission, Apollo 10 included powered descent and then an abort-mode ascent of the LM, while Apollo 13, originally scheduled as a landing, ended up as a lunar fly-by by means of free return trajectory; thus, none of these missions made landings. A free return trajectory is one of a very small sub-class of Trajectories in which the trajectory of a Satellite traveling away from a primary body (for example the Apollo 7 and Apollo 9 never left Earth orbit. Apart from the inherent dangers of manned moon expeditions as seen with Apollo 13, one reason for their cessation according to astronaut Alan Bean is the cost it imposes in government subsidies. Alan LaVern Bean (born March 15 1932 is a former NASA Astronaut and became the fourth person to walk on the moon at the age of thirty-seven years in November "^[3]

Other aspects of the Apollo Moon landings

Unlike other international rivalries, the Space Race has remained unaffected in a direct way regarding the desire for territorial expansion. After the successful landings on the Moon, the U. S. explicitly disclaimed the right to ownership of any part of the Moon.

President Richard Nixon had speechwriter William Safire prepare a condolence speech for delivery in the event that Armstrong and Aldrin became marooned on the Moon's surface and could not be rescued. William L Safire (born December 17, 1929) is an American author semi-retired columnist and former Journalist and presidential ^[4]

In the 1940s writer Arthur C Clarke forecast that man would reach the Moon by 2000. Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE (16 December 1917–19 March 2008 was a British Science fiction Author, Inventor, and

On August 16, 2006, the Associated Press reported that NASA is currently missing the original Slow-scan television tapes (which were made before the scan conversion for conventional TV) of the Apollo 11 Moon walk. Events 1384 - The Hongwu Emperor of Ming China, Emperor Dong hears a case of a couple who tore paper money bills while fighting Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. The Associated Press ( AP) is an American News agency. The AP is a Cooperative owned by its contributing Newspapers radio SSTV sunset audio -ogg-jpg|thumb|right|A Spectral Analysis of the SSTV audio file later in this page created with Cool Edit 2 Some news outlets have mistakenly reported that the SSTV tapes were found in Western Australia, but those tapes were only recordings of data from the Apollo 11 Early Apollo Surface Experiments Package. ^[5]

Soviet unmanned soft landings (1969-1976)

Future plans

The current U. S. Vision for Space Exploration calls for a lunar sortie mission called Orion 15 that will include humans landing on the Moon in 2019. The Vision for Space Exploration is the United States space policy announced on January 14, 2004 by U A lunar sortie (or lunar sortie mission) is a Human spaceflight mission to the Moon. Orion 15 (Human Lunar Return is the name of a Lunar sortie mission NASA expects to conduct in June 2019

Russia plans to send cosmonauts to the Moon by 2025 and establish a permanent manned base there in 2027-2032. ^[6]

ISRO, the Indian National Space agency, has announced the Chandrayaan program for Lunar exploration. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Chandrayaan I (चंद्रयान-1 lit Lunar Craft is an unmanned Lunar exploration mission by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO. The second mission Chandrayaan II plans to land a motorised rover by 2010/2011. For the film see 2010 The Year We Make Contact. For the book see 2010 Odyssey Two. 2011 ( MMXI) will be a Common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar.

Other nations, including China, have expressed interest in pursuing human landings on the Moon, but none have currently announced formal plans.

The Google Lunar X Prize competition offers a $20 million award for the first privately-funded team to land a robotic probe on the Moon. The Google Lunar X PRIZE, sometimes referred to as simply Moon 2 Like the Ansari X Prize before it, the competition aims to advance the state of the art in private space exploration. The Ansari X PRIZE was a Space competition in which the X PRIZE Foundation offered a US$ 10000000 Prize for the first non-government

Moon landing hoax accusations

Main article: Apollo Moon Landing hoax accusations

Conspiracy theorists insist that the Apollo moon landings were a hoax. A conspiracy theory attributes the ultimate cause of an event or chain of events (usually Political, Social or Historical events or the concealment These accusations flourish in part because predictions by enthusiasts that Moon landings would become commonplace have not yet come to pass. Some claims can be empirically discredited by three retroreflector arrays left on the Moon by Apollo 11,^[7] 14 and 15. In Philosophy, empiricism is a theory of Knowledge which asserts that knowledge arises from Experience. A retroreflector (sometimes called a retroflector) is a device or surface that reflects light back to its source with a minimum scattering of light Today, anyone on Earth with an appropriate laser and telescope system may bounce laser beams off these devices, verifying deployment of the Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment at historically documented Apollo moon landing sites. A laser is a device that emits Light ( Electromagnetic radiation) through a process called Stimulated emission. A telescope is an instrument designed for the observation of remote objects and the collection of Electromagnetic radiation. The ongoing Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment measures the distance between the Earth and the Moon using laser ranging.

In addition, close scrutiny of film footage of the EVAs shows clearly something that could not be replicated in an Earth sound-stage. Lunar dust kicked up by the astronauts and the Lunar Rovers shoots up quite high because of the low gravity, but settles just as rapidly as there is no air resistance. The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV or lunar rover was a type of surface exploration rover used on the Moon during the Apollo program. Watching this film footage, and comparing it to footage from the Tom Hanks miniseries, From the Earth to the Moon—which does show dust clouds resulting from the actors' spacesuits kicking up dust—shows this difference clearly. Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks (born July 9 1956 is an two-time Academy award and Emmy winning American Film actor, director A miniseries (also mini-series) in a serial Storytelling medium is a production which tells a story in a pre-planned limited number of episodes From the Earth to the Moon is a twelve-part HBO Television Miniseries (1998 co-produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer,

Since the first hoax accusations were made - albeit by non-scientists pursuing the conspiracy accusations in part for monetary gain - and although they have been repeatedly debunked by many independent scientists - a small minority of the global population continues to believe the now-obsolete allegations, which has bothered NASA and the astronauts who flew the missions. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA, ˈnæsə is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program This is a list of all Astronauts directly associated with NASA 's Apollo program. However, it has recently become apparent that from the multiple scheduled or proposed governmental and private efforts to send landers or orbiters to the Moon, it is likely that independent infallible proof will be returned, and conclude any conspiracies. The next lunar orbiter currently scheduled for launch is NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, due to launch in November 2008, and will have the ability to photograph the historic landing sites. The Lunar Precursor Robotic Program ( LPRP) is a program of Robotic spacecraft missions which NASA will use to prepare for future Human spaceflight 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common

See also

• Apollo program missing tapes
• Independent evidence for Apollo Moon landings
• Luna programme
• Lunokhod program
• Project Apollo
• Soviet Moonshot

Notes

External links

• NASA's page on moon landings, missions, etc. (includes information on other space agencies' missions
• Moon missions (United States) at the Open Directory Project