Human in Moon

> Human in Moon

In 1969, humankind achieved the long-sought goal of landing on the Moon. The historic flight of Apollo 11 was launched on July 16. After entering lunar orbit, Colonel Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., of the air force and Neil A. Armstrong transferred to the LM. Armstrong, a civilian, was a naval veteran. Lieutenant Colonel Michael Collins of the air force remained in lunar orbit following the separation, piloting the command and service module. The LM descended to the surface of the Moon on July 20, landing at the edge of Mare Tranquillitatis. A few hours later, Armstrong, in his bulky space suit, descended the ladder and, at 10:56 pm (Eastern Daylight Time) stepped on to the surface of the Moon. His first words were, “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind”. He was soon joined by Aldrin, and the two astronauts spent more than two hours walking on the lunar surface. They gathered 21 kg (47 lb) of soil samples, took photographs, and set up a solar wind experiment, a laser-beam reflector, and a seismic experiment package. Armstrong and Aldrin also erected an American flag and talked, by satellite communications, with President Richard M. Nixon in the White House. They found that walking and running in one-sixth the gravity of Earth was not difficult. Also via satellite, millions of people watched live television broadcasts from the Moon. Returning to the LM and discarding their space suits, the two astronauts rested for several hours before take-off. They left the Moon in the ascent stage of the LM, using the lower half, which remained on the Moon, as a launchpad. The ascent stage was jettisoned after docking with the command and service module and the transfer of the astronauts to the spacecraft. The return flight of Apollo 11 was without mishap and the vehicle splashed down on July 24 in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii and was recovered.

On the Moon

On July 20, 1969, American astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr. (pictured) became the second person to walk on the moon. Aldrin stepped onto the moon shortly after fellow Apollo 11 astronaut, Neil Armstrong. While millions of people on earth watched a televised broadcast of the event, Armstrong and Aldrin spent two hours exploring the lunar surface, gathering samples, taking photos, and setting up experiments. Armstrong captured the exultant mood in this brief speech broadcast from space.

Because of the slight possibility of terrestrial contamination by living lunar organisms, the astronauts put on biological isolation garments before leaving the spacecraft and were placed in quarantine for three weeks. They remained in good health.

Contents:

1. Apollo 12

2. Apollo 13

3. Apollo 14 & 15

4. Apollo 16 & 17

Apollo 12

The next moon-landing flight began on November 14, 1969, when Apollo 12 was launched with astronauts Pete Conrad, Richard F. Gordon, Jr., and Alan L. Bean, all of the navy, aboard. After entering lunar orbit, command pilot Conrad and Bean, the pilot of the LM, transferred to the LM. They landed north of the Riphaeus Mountains, at a spot just 180 m (600 ft) from where the Surveyor 3 spacecraft had landed two years before.

The two astronauts explored their surroundings during two periods, each lasting nearly four hours. They set up scientific experiments, took photographs, collected samples of lunar soil, and removed pieces from Surveyor 3 to be examined on their return to Earth. After take-off from the Moon and rendezvous with the CM piloted by Gordon, successful splashdown and recovery took place on November 24. Quarantine procedures were repeated, but the astronauts emerged in good health on December 10.

Apollo 12 demonstrated many improvements over Apollo 11 techniques, particularly in the accuracy of landing guidance. So successful were these changes that Apollo 13 was intended to land on more rugged terrain on the Moon.

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Apollo 13

On April 11, 1970, Apollo 13 was launched, carrying the veteran astronaut Lovell and the civilian astronauts Fred W. Haise, Jr., and John L. Swigert, Jr. The craft met with disaster during the flight when an oxygen tank ruptured. The astronauts were obliged to cancel their planned landing on the lunar surface. Instead, using the power and survival systems of the LM, they swung behind the Moon and were then brought back to Earth for a splashdown south of Pago Pago in the South Pacific Ocean on April 17.

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Apollo 14 & 15

The mission of the aborted Apollo 13 was accomplished by the crew of Apollo 14, launched on January 31, 1971, after modifications were carried out in the spacecraft to prevent a recurrence of the malfunctions encountered by Apollo 13. Captain Shepard, who had been promoted after his successful sub-orbital flight in 1961 (see “Vostok and Mercury Programmes” above), and Commander Edgar D. Mitchell, also of the navy, successfully landed the LM in the rugged Fra Mauro region of the Moon, while astronaut Stuart A. Roosa of the air force remained in lunar orbit in the CM. Shepard and Mitchell spent more than 9 hours exploring an area believed to contain some of the oldest rocks yet recovered, collecting about 43 kg (96 lb) of geological samples and deploying scientific instruments. The astronauts returned to Earth without incident on February 9, 1971.

Apollo 15 was launched on July 26, 1971, carrying three air force officers: Colonel Scott as flight commander, Lieutenant Colonel James B. Irwin as pilot of the LM, and Major Alfred M. Worden as pilot of the CM. Scott and Irwin spent 2 days, 18 hours on the lunar surface at the edge of Mare Imbrium, close to the 366-m (1,200-ft) deep Hadley Rille and the Apennine mountain range, one of the highest on the Moon. During their 18 hours, 37 minutes of exploration of the lunar surface, the astronauts traversed more than 28.2 km (17.5 mi) in the vicinity of Mount Hadley in an electrically propelled four-wheeled lunar rover. They also deployed an elaborate package of scientific instruments and collected about 91 kg (200 lb) of rocks, including what was believed to be a crystalline piece of the original lunar crust, about 4.6 billion years old. A television camera left on the Moon photographed Scott and Irwin’s departure from the surface, and before the crew left the lunar orbit for their return to Earth, they launched into lunar orbit a 35.6-kg (78.5-lb) “subsatellite” designed to transmit data about gravitational, magnetic, and high-energy fields in the lunar environment. On the return journey, Worden made a 16-minute spacewalk while the spacecraft was about 315,400 km (196,000 mi) from the Earth, a record distance away for an EVA. The Apollo 15 astronauts splashed down without incident on August 7, about 530 km (330 mi) north of Hawaii, and were the first moon-landing crew not required to undergo a quarantine.

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Apollo 16 & 17

Working on the Moon

At the Taurus-Littrow landing site, astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt stopped his lunar-roving vehicle to work. He and fellow astronaut Eugene A. Cernan collected 116 kilograms (255 pounds) of lunar samples during the Apollo 17 mission. Launched on December 6, 1972, Apollo 17 was the final mission of the Apollo space programme.

On April 16, 1972, astronauts Young, Charles Moss Duke, Jr., and Thomas Kenneth (Ken) Mattingly were launched on the Apollo 16 mission to the Moon, to explore the Descartes Highlands and the Cayley Plains regions. While Mattingly remained in orbit, the other two astronauts landed in the assigned area on April 20. They spent 20 hours, 14 minutes on the Moon, setting up a number of experiments powered by a small nuclear station, travelling about 26.6 km (16.5 mi) in the lunar rover, and collecting more than 97 kg (214 lb) of rock samples.

Astronauts on the Moon

Apollo missions 16 and 17 were the last Apollo missions to the moon. The astronauts devoted much of their time to collecting rock and soil samples (Harrison Schmitt of Apollo 17 was the only trained geologist of the 12 Apollo astronauts who walked on the Moon). Both missions used a battery-powered rover to help the astronauts gather material from a wider area than previous missions.

The projected missions to the Moon by the United States were concluded with the flight of Apollo 17, December 6-19, 1972. During their smooth 13-day voyage, the veteran astronaut Cernan and the American civilian geologist Harrison H. Schmitt spent 22 hours on the Moon, travelling 35 km (22 mi) in their lunar rover and exploring the Taurus-Littrow Valley region, while Commander Ronald E. Evans of the navy remained in lunar orbit.

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