Again, simply because I can…
PART ONE
(I can’t post this much in one glob so it’s now in two parts)
From the Earth to the Moon
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Although Neil Armstrong was trying to be cool about it, his tone of voice betrayed his excitement. Maybe he was thinking about the money, time, and human lives that had been sacrificed for the success of this very mission, but it’s more likely that his thoughts were devoted wholly to the glory of the moment. After all, he was only human. But not just any human; On July 20, 1969, he became the first man to set foot on the surface of the moon.
On April 27th, 1961, the Soviets sent the first man into space for 1 hour and 48 minutes. The United States felt the pressure to compete. On May 5, Alan B. Shepherd became the first American to leave the Earth’s atmosphere. Aboard the Freedom 7, the first flight of the Mercury program, he orbited the earth for 15 minutes, then returned. The world was in awe. We were now even with the Soviets, but this wasn’t the end of the race. The ultimate challenge was clear: land a man on the moon.
On May 25th, President John F. Kennedy spoke passionately to the United States congress, convincing them to spend millions of dollars on NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated. The loss shook our country. A new space center in Florida was named for him: The John F. Kennedy Space Center.
After many meetings, NASA officials created a list of missions, or tasks, to be completed before we could go to the moon. They came up with the following list: an earth orbit, Eva (or spacewalk), rendezvous, a docking with the egina, and a long duration space flight.
The Soviets countered our Freedom 7 effort with a space walk on March 18, 1965. We were not defeated. On June 6, 1965, Jim McDivvitt and Ed White completed a space walk of their own. Neil Armstrong and David Scott followed this performance with a flight aboard the Gemini 4. They had a successful docking with the Egina on March 16, 1966. The Gemini 12 was the last of the Gemini missions, carrying Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin out into space and back.
Just when it all seemed too good to be true, disaster struck. On January 27, 1967, a fire killed Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee during a routine plugs-out test for the Apollo 1 mission. This posed major problems for NASA. Senator Walter Mondale wanted to shut down NASA for good. After inspecting the fire, it was decided that frayed wiring and Velcro (a very flammable substance) had started the fire. A trial was held. The future looked bleak for NASA. That is, until Frank Borman took the stand. His oratorical power made the difference. He insisted that the real cause was lack of imagination. He also argued that these men were pioneers in their field, and one couldn’t expect them to predict every problem that might arise. In the end, NASA was spared and allowed to continue work.
After the Apollo 1 catastrophe, it was clear to everyone that the next mission had to be successful in order to win back the trust of the government. It was decided the next mission would be named Apollo 7, for luck. It was a simple mission that orbited earth for two weeks. The astronauts aboard were Wally Shara, Walt Cunningham, and Don Isley. Much to the relief of everyone at NASA, Apollo 7 was a huge success.
This flight was followed by Apollo 8, a mission in which Jim Lovell, Frank Borman, and Bill Anders went to the moon, orbited ten times, and most importantly, looked for a spot to land.
Earlier, in 1962, John Hubble had had an idea. In order to land on the moon, a lunar lander had to be created that would enable the astronauts to separate from the command module (the main part of the spacecraft), land on the moon, and re-dock with the command module before leaving the moon and returning home. The job of creating this vessel was given to Tom Kelly and the rest of the scientists at the Grummon facility. It took 6 years of grueling work to build the LM, or Lunar Module. Much of what was needed to build it had not even been invented yet, and it had to be tested over and over. Finally, it was ready to go. Jim McDivvitt, Rusty Schrievehart, and Dave Scott were selected to try it out aboard the Apollo 9. Once in space, they ran into some trouble. Rusty started getting sick. This delayed the testing of the LM. He started feeling a little better, so they let him go for a, “walk on the deck,” so to speak; they let him go for a spacewalk. This was also the first two-man spacewalk that had ever taken place. After a while, Rusty was feeling better. They decided to give the LM tests a go. The re-docking was a monumental success. Before that day, the LM had been the unknown variable in a very big equation. Now, it was all adding up.
