How were the different North American space missions prior to the arrival of man on the moon? In About History we explain in detail everything related to one of the most outstanding historical events of the 20th century: The arrival of man on the Moon.
July 20, 1969. The American space mission, Apollo XI landed on the moon for the first time in the history of humanity. The fourth of the manned Apollo missions had left Cape Kennedy in Florida 109 hours earlier. That day, before millions of viewers.
Around the world, the famous words were heard: «One small step for a man; a leap for humanity«.
space missions to the moon
kennedy was the president who started, what became known as, the «american space race«. On May 25, 1961, he exposed before Congress the need for man, before the end of the century, to reach the Moon and return safely to Earth. Without a doubt, it was a time of political tensions, of confrontations with the USSR, of the beginning of the cold war.
Since then they start Mercury and Gemini space programs that later the conjunction of both would give rise to the Apollo project.
The apollo ships They consisted of a command module, a service module and a lunar module. There were several unmanned flights and twelve manned missions, of which six landed on the moon. Apollo VII was the first manned flight, but Apollo XI would be the first to land on the moon.
His mission was to get step on the Moon and extract samples from the lunar surface. However, the program had doubts about the effects of lunar gravity on the behavior of astronauts, their mobility and their minds. On the other hand, it was not known whether they could return contaminated, so a quarantine was prepared.
How was the arrival of man on the moon?
The July 16, 1969in the morning, a strong red flare from the rocket saturn 5 propelled the ship into space. At 40,000 km/h. the Apollo was burning stages and discarding each of the three modules that made it up, as they ran out of hydrogen and liquid oxygen.
On Sunday, July 20, the Columbia spacecraft was within lunar orbit. The astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong headed to the Eagle, while michael collins who remained in the main ship, closed the hatch behind them.
Finally, the Apollo XI successfully achieved its mission when landing his LEM, the lunar module «Eagle» (in honor of the representative animal of the country), in the Sea of Tranquility, the place chosen for the moon landing. It was 10:56 p.m.
Contrary to popular belief, the first words broadcast on television from armstrong, were: “I am at the foot of the ladder. The Eagle’s feet have only depressed the surface a few centimeters. The surface appears to be very fine grained when viewed up close. It is almost a fine powder, very fine. Now I leave the platform.»
Aldrin He was the second man to step on the Moon. He too had his moment of glory before the television cameras. “From here you can see a beautiful panorama. It’s a bit like some deserts in the United States,” he says.
Many doubts and mysteries arose as a result of the photos transmitted to Earth, but the truth is that this space mission laid the foundations for further moon landings. Four months later, Apollo XII would begin its takeoff.
With the Apollo XVII the race to conquer the Moon ended, presumably for economic reasons.
The arrival of man on the moon: reality or myth?
The arrival of man on the moon It is one of the most important events in the history of mankind. Neither more nor less than the conquest of space. But what if it was all a perfectly orchestrated fraud? For many years there have been numerous theories and documentaries that consider that the arrival of man on the moon was all a hoax, a farce. And they provide what for them are exclusive evidence.
The most “accepted” conspiracy theory by those who deny the arrival of man on the moon is the one that says that everything was shot and staged on a movie set. I mean, it was all a movie. To give it an even more Hollywood feel, proponents of this theory point to Stanley Kubrick as the alleged director of this “movie disguised as reality.” According to them, ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, released a year earlier, was a kind of training for the director.
No matter how much experience and knowledge in space matters Kubrick had acquired and no matter how much help he had from NASA, the defenders of the conspiracy theory they state that there is ample evidence that the images of the astronauts were not taken from the moon.
These hypotheses are based on the observation of certain images and on conclusions of no scientific validity. They are also based on socio-political explanations, such as the fact that the United States needed whatever it took to deliver a blow that would allow it to overtake the USSR in the space race.
It should be said that among the theories that deny the images of Armstrong and Aldrin there are also two currents. On the one hand, those who directly deny that man has reached the moon, on the other, those who do not deny the arrival of man on the moon (or do not express themselves in favor or against) but consider that the images that were offered at that time they were shot on a setdue to the impossibility of sending images from the moon.
The point is that there is strong evidence of the veracity of the historic moment, like the traces of the moon landing, recorded in photography by satellites and space probes.
Be that as it may, such an important event is normal that there is much to talk about. For some there is never enough evidence to prove its veracity, and instead it only takes a small hint to shout from the rooftops that everything is a lie.
Theories about the arrival of man on the moon
The most important theory about the falsity of the arrival to the moon is that it was a filming, but we also tell you what aspects are the ones that have caused so much commotion and doubts.
It was all a shoot
The most sustained theories about the arrival of man on the moon is that it was all a farce and the images belong to a filming that was made for this purpose. In the previous section we already mentioned these beginnings, but a curious aspect is that many filming locations are proposed, such as the Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino (California), a secret film studio in Nevada or a Nevada desert, a set cinema, etc.
Why was the American flag waving?
One of the most famous images of the arrival of man on the moon is the moment in which the flag is planted and it waves. The controversy is that there is supposed to be no breeze on the moon, so the flag could not wave in any way.
The explanation that they usually give to this question is that it is an effect of photography, since the mast caused the flag to remain extended and the explanation for the waves was produced by the wrinkles of carrying it folded or the astronauts moved it.
Aldrin’s footprint
Another of the mythical photos is a footprint left by Aldrin’s foot on the moon. It is said that how is it possible that a footprint is left if there is no moisture on the surface and everything was very dry; The reason they offer is that traces can be left, whether or not there is moisture, since it is like ground powder and the trace remains easily.
There are no stars in the pictures
Another detail that caught a lot of attention is that no star appears in the sky in the photographs. The justification given to this fact is that it is due to the short exposure and the light intensity of the same.
There is no crater after the moon landing
This has also led to many questions and theories, the answer they offer is that the engine was turned off before landing, which meant that no dust was raised or any crater formed on the surface.
Consequences of the arrival of man on the moon
One of the questions many conspiracy theorists have about the moon is that it hasn’t been returned to the moon. The explanation that is usually offered is that there are no longer any economic or political interests about it, since the United States demonstrated that it was possible to reach the Moon and step on it. It is true that it is also currently being said that there are countries interested in carrying out projects on the Moon again, from research to business travel who knows if one day they will be realized.
In turn, the arrival to the moon has allowed to have another view of earth and spacea relationship that has not ceased to generate mystery and the desire to know what lies beyond our atmosphere, our Milky Way or what happens on the rest of the planets.
Another detail that you may find interesting is that part of the technology used for this trip to the moon has been included daily among the general population. Some of the inventions The most frequently cited would be mercury-free thermometers, disposable diapers, heart monitors, contact lenses, dehydrated foods, tubes of toothpaste, among many others.