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Still frame from the video transmission of Neil Armstrong stepping onto the surface of the Moon on 20 July 1969. An estimated 500 million people worldwide watched this event live, the largest television audience for a single broadcast ever to date.

A moon landing is the arrival of an intact manned or unmanned spacecraft on the surface of a planet's natural satellite. The concept has been a goal of mankind since it was first appreciated that the Moon is Earth's closest large celestial body. 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. Since the Soviet Union first succeeded in implementing the concept in 1966, this term referred to eighteen spacecraft landings on the Moon through 1976. Nine of these missions returned to Earth bearing samples of moon rocks. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links Gnome-globe. ... Image File history File links Apollo_11_first_step. ... Image File history File links Apollo_11_first_step. ... is the 201st day of the year (202nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1969 (Stargate SG-1) episode. ... The Space Shuttle Discovery as seen from the International Space Station. ... This article is about the astronomical term. ... A natural satellite is an object that orbits a planet or other body larger than itself and which is not man-made. ... This article is about Earths moon. ... This article is about Earth as a planet. ... This article is about the French author. ... The projectile, as pictured in an engraving from the 1872 Illustrated Edition. ... Genesis Rock returned by the Apollo 15 mission. ...

The first manned moon landing on Earth's Moon was the United States' Apollo 11 mission, commanded by Neil Armstrong accompanied by Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin. Armstrong landed the lunar module Eagle on the surface of the Moon at 4:17:42 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, July 20, 1969. They spent a day on the surface of the Moon and then returned 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 moon landings Luna 16, Luna 20 and Luna 24. 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. The Apollo 11 mission was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. ... This article is about the former American astronaut. ... Buzz in the LM Colonel Edwin Eugene Buzz Aldrin, Jr. ... The LEM flight instrumentation panel and front windows. ... Metronome, a public art installation showing the time in New York City The Eastern Time Zone (ET) of the Western Hemisphere falls mostly along the east coast of Northern America and the west coast of South America. ... is the 201st day of the year (202nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1969 (Stargate SG-1) episode. ... Luna 16 (Ye-8-5 series) was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 16. ... Luna 20 (Ye-8-5 series) was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 20. ... Luna 24 was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 24. ... For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Space Race (disambiguation). ...

Progress in space exploration has since broadened the phrase to include other moons in the solar system as well. The Huygens probe of the Cassini mission to Saturn performed a successful unmanned moon landing on Titan in 2005. Similarly, the Soviet probe Phobos 2 came within 120 miles of performing a unmanned moon landing on Mars' moon Phobos in 1989 before radio contact with that lander was suddenly lost. There is widespread interest in performing a future moon landing on Jupiter's moon Europa to drill down and explore the liquid water ocean beneath its icy surface. Space exploration is the physical exploration of outer space, both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft. ... This article is about the Solar System. ... The Huygens probe, supplied by the European Space Agency (ESA) and named after the Dutch 17th century astronomer Christiaan Huygens, is an atmospheric entry probe carried to Saturns moon Titan as part of the Cassini-Huygens mission. ... Cassini-Huygens is a joint NASA/ESA/ASI unmanned space mission intended to study Saturn and its moons. ... This article is about the planet. ... Titan (, from Ancient Greek Τῑτάν) or Saturn VI is the largest moon of Saturn and the only moon known to have a dense atmosphere. ... The Phobos program was an unmanned space mission consisting of two probes launched by the Soviet Union to study Mars and its moons Phobos and Deimos. ... Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the solar system, named after the Roman god of war (the counterpart of the Greek Ares), on account of its blood red color as viewed in the night sky. ... Phobos (IPA: or [ˈfoʊ.bəs]) (systematic designation: ) is the larger and closer of Mars two moons (the other being Deimos). ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 70 kPa Hydrogen ~86% Helium ~14% Methane 0. ... Apparent magnitude: 5. ...

Scientific background

The primary concern of any moon landing is the high velocity involved that arise from the effects of gravity. In order to go to any moon, a spacecraft must first leave the gravity well of the Earth. The only practical way of accomplishing this feat is with a rocket. 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. Gravity is a force of attraction that acts between bodies that have mass. ... A gravity well is the scientific/science fictional term for the distortion in space-time caused by a massive body such as a planet. ... This article is about vehicles powered by rocket engines. ... A hot air balloon is prepared for flight by inflation of the envelope with propane burners A hot air balloon takes off The balloon has just landed and is being pulled nearer to a road for deflation A balloon is a type of aircraft that remains aloft due to its... Jet aircraft are aircrafts with jet engines. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Altitude is the elevation of an object from a known level or datum, called zero level. ... Look up Vacuum in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Atmosphere (disambiguation). ...

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. 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. 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. General In general physics delta-v is simply the change in velocity. ... A Saturn V launch vehicle sends Apollo 15 on its way to the moon. ... “Reentry” redirects here. ...

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. Otherwise the space mission ends not in a landing but a crash. 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. 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. Such crashes were instrumental in mapping the internal structure of the Moon. This article is about engineering. ... In engineering, survivability is the quantified ability of a system, subsystem, equipment, process, or procedure to continue to function during and after a natural or man-made disturbance; nuclear electromagnetic pulse from the detonation of a nuclear weapon. ... Space exploration is the physical exploration of outer space objects and generally anything that involves the technologies, science, and politics regarding space endeavors. ... Map of the moon showing some landing sites. ... The S-IVB (sometimes S4b) was built by the Douglas Aircraft Company and served as the third stage on the Saturn V and second stage on the Saturn IB. It had one J-2 engine. ... For the moon designated Saturn V, see Rhea. ... Description Role: Lunar landing Crew: 2; CDR, LM pilot Dimensions Height: 20. ... A moonquake is the lunar equivalent of an earthquake, i. ... A seismometer is an instrument for measuring earthquakes and other ground motions. ... Schematic illustration of the internal structure of the Moon. ...

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. 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. 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. Thus systems engineering and logistics become major factors in the design of any moon landing mission. The kinetic energy of an object is the extra energy which it possesses due to its motion. ... This article is about the device. ... The second stage of a Minuteman III rocket A multistage (or multi-stage) rocket is a rocket that uses two or more stages, each of which contains its own engines and propellant. ... 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 orbit, make the orbital velocities the same, and bring them together (an approach maneuver, taxiing maneuver); it may or may not include docking. ... Lunar Orbit Rendezvous was the method of flying to the moon used in the Apollo Missions, where a Main ship would carry a ferry to the moon which would carry astronauts down to the surface. ... Systems engineering techniques are used in complex projects: from spacecrafts to chip design, from robotics to creating large software products to building bridges, Systems engineering uses a host of tools that include modeling & simulation, requirements analysis, and scheduling to manage complexity Systems Engineering (SE) is an interdisciplinary approach and means...

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. 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. 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. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The defining characteristic of what is commonly known as Blitzkrieg is that it is a highly mobile form of mechanized warfare. ... Polish Defensive War of 1939 Conflict World War II Date 1 September - 6 October 1939 Place Poland Result Decisive German and Soviet victory The Polish September Campaign or Defensive War of 1939 (Polish: Wojna obronna 1939 roku) was the conquest of Poland by the armies of Nazi Germany, the Soviet... This article is about the actual attack. ... For other uses, see V2. ... Diagram of V-2, the first ballistic missile. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 lifted nuclear fallout some 18 km (60,000 feet) above the epicenter. ... The mushroom cloud over Hiroshima after the dropping of Little Boy. ... An ideology is a collection of ideas. ... A superpower is a state with the ability to influence events or project power on a wide scale. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 lifted nuclear fallout some 18 km (60,000 feet) above the epicenter. ...

Mosaic of Luna 3 lunar photographs showing the far side of the Moon after image processing by modern computers unavailable in 1959. In addition to being a major scientific achievement, the mission highlighted the payload, guidance accuracy and reliability of the Soviet R-7 ICBM

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. This unexpected event was a source of pride to the Soviets and shock to the Americans. 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. 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. 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. These were the Luna 1, Luna 2 and Luna 3 spacecraft, respectively. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Far side of the Moon. ... In cargo transport, the payload is the valuable contents of the vehicle. ... A guided bomb strikes an underground facility Missile guidance technologies of missile systems use a variety of methods to guide a missile to its intended target. ... Reliability engineering is the discipline of ensuring that a system (or a device in general) will perform its intended function(s) when operated in a specified manner for a specified length of time. ... A Minuteman III missile soars after a test launch. ... is the 277th day of the year (278th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar). ... Rockets (including missiles) can be launched from the following: for a launch into an orbital spaceflight and beyond: a launch pad, including a floating platform (see San Marco platform, Sea Launch) for the launch into a suborbital flight also: a missile silo a mobile launcher vehicle a submarine air launch... Sputnik 1 (Russian: , Satellite-1, or literally Co-traveler-1 byname ПС-1 (PS-1, i. ... For other uses, please see Satellite (disambiguation) A satellite is an object that orbits another object (known as its primary). ... The Space Shuttle takes off on a manned mission to space. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... R-7 with Sputnik 2 The R-7 Semyorka was the worlds first intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War from 1959 to 1968. ... Telegraph Signal Tower at Cobbs Hill, near New Market, Virginia, 1864. ... Soviet Propaganda Poster during World War II. The text reads Red Army Fighter, SAVE US! Chinese propaganda poster from the time of the Cultural Revolution. ... For the Jamaican reggae band, see Third World (band). ... A political system is a system of politics and government. ... A heliocentric orbit is an orbit around the sun. ... Photography [fәtɑgrәfi:],[foʊtɑgrәfi:] is the process of recording pictures by means of capturing light on a light-sensitive medium, such as a film or electronic sensor. ... Far side of the Moon. ... Luna 1 is the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and the first of the Luna programme of Soviet automatic interplanetary stations successfully launched in the direction of the Moon. ... Luna 2 (E-1A series) was the second of the Soviet Unions Luna program spacecraft launched in the direction of the Moon. ... 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. 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. 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. A Minuteman III missile soars after a test launch. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Deterrence theory is a defensive strategy developed after World War II and used throughout the Cold War. ... Nuclear War is a card game designed by Douglas Malewicki, and originally published in 1966. ... Mutually assured destruction (MAD) is the doctrine of military strategy in which a full scale use of nuclear weapons by one of two opposing sides would result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender. ... For other uses, see Missile (disambiguation). ... This article is about the American space agency. ...

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

In contrast to Soviet lunar exploration triumphs in 1959, success eluded initial American efforts to reach the Moon with the Pioneer and Ranger programs. 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. However, by 1966 the Soviet Union succeeded in performing the first unmanned Moon landing and returning photographs of the Moon from the lunar surface. 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 of the Moon. ... Mixed reconnaissance patrol of the Polish Home Army and the Soviet Red Army during Operation Tempest, 1944 Reconnaissance is the military term for the active gathering of information about an enemy, or other conditions, by physical observation. ...

Three different designs of Pioneer lunar probes were flown on three different modified ICBMs. 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. 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. The Pioneer 0 (also known as Thor-Able 1) probe was designed to go into orbit around the Moon and carried a TV camera and other instruments as part of the first International Geophysical Year (IGY) science payload. ... Thor-Ablestar Thor was the United Statess first operational ballistic missile. ... Pioneer 1 atop its launcher Pioneer 1, the second and most successful of three project Able space probes and the first spacecraft launched by the newly formed NASA, was intended to study the ionizing radiation, cosmic rays, magnetic fields, and micrometeorites in the vicinity of the Earth and in lunar... NASA photo of the Pioneer 2 probe Pioneer 2 was the last of the three project Able space probes designed to probe lunar and cislunar space. ... Pioneer III Pioneer 3 was a spin stabilized spacecraft launched by the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile agency in conjunction with NASA. The spacecraft was intended as a lunar probe, but failed to go past the Moon and into a heliocentric orbit as planned, but did reach an altitude of... Pioneer III 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 it the first US probe to escape from the Earths gravity. ... Pioneer P-1 was a failed mission in the Pioneer series. ... 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. ... Ranger 1 was a spacecraft in the Ranger program whose primary mission was to test the performance of those functions and parts necessary for carrying out subsequent lunar and planetary missions. ... Ranger 2 was a flight test of the Ranger spacecraft system of the Ranger program designed for future lunar and interplanetary missions. ... Ranger 3 was a spacecraft of the Ranger program that was launched to study the Moon on January 26, 1962. ... Ranger 4 was a spacecraft of the Ranger program designed to transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations during a period of 10 minutes of flight prior to impacting on the Moon, to rough-land a seismometer capsule on the Moon, to collect gamma-ray data in flight... Ranger 5 was a spacecraft of the Ranger program designed to transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations during a period of 10 minutes of flight prior to impacting on the Moon, to rough-land a seismometer capsule on the Moon, to collect gamma-ray data in flight... Ranger 6 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. ... First image of the Moon taken by a US spacecraft. ... Ranger 8 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 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. ... Thor-Ablestar Thor was the United Statess first operational ballistic missile. ... For other uses, see Infrared (disambiguation). ... Image resolution describes the detail an image holds. ... The radian is a unit of plane angle. ... 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 used in physics, is energy in the form of waves or moving subatomic particles. ... A Micrometeoroid (also micrometeorite, micrometeor) is a tiny meteoroid; a small particle of rock from space, usually weighing less than a gram, that poses a threat to space exploration. ... 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 U.S. Air Force” redirects here. ...

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 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 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. The United States Army is the largest and oldest branch of the armed forces of the United States. ... Hermann Oberth (front) with officials of the ABMA in 1956. ... // Juno may refer to: Juno (mythology), a major Roman goddess June, the month named after Juno Juno (band), an American indie rock band Juno (musical), a Broadway musical with score by Marc Blitzstein based on Sean OCaseys play Juno and the Paycock Juno Reactor, a trance music project... A photocell is a device that uses the photoelectric effect to convert energy from sunlight into electrical energy. ... 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 produce an audible click for each. ... Van Allen belts The Van Allen radiation belt is a torus of energetic charged particles around Earth, trapped by Earths magnetic field. ... A heliocentric orbit is an orbit around the sun. ...

Humanity's first attempt at achieving a moon landing took place in 1962 with the 10-foot-tall, 730 pound Ranger 3 spacecraft. Seen here are the spherical black-and-white lander, its orange braking retrorocket, and the Block II mother ship which was to crash on the moon at 6,500 miles per hour. Extending outward to the upper left is a boom-mounted gamma ray spectrometer; to the lower left, one of two solar cell panels; to the lower right, a circular antenna for communications with Earth. The hard landing portion of the missions failed, as did similar attempts with Ranger 4 and Ranger 5, although the Ranger 4 mothership impacted the moon as planned and became the first American craft to do so.

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. None of the four spacecraft built in this series of probes survived launch on its Atlas ICBM outfitted with an Able upper stage. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Ranger 3 was a spacecraft of the Ranger program that was launched to study the Moon on January 26, 1962. ... Ranger 4 was a spacecraft of the Ranger program designed to transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations during a period of 10 minutes of flight prior to impacting on the Moon, to rough-land a seismometer capsule on the Moon, to collect gamma-ray data in flight... Ranger 5 was a spacecraft of the Ranger program designed to transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations during a period of 10 minutes of flight prior to impacting on the Moon, to rough-land a seismometer capsule on the Moon, to collect gamma-ray data in flight... A paddle steamer, paddleboat, or paddlewheeler is a ship or boat propelled by one or more paddle wheels driven by a steam engine. ... A photovoltaic module is composed of individual PV cells. ... See also Earths magnetic field The magnetic fieldof a rotating body of conductive gas or liquid develops self-amplifying electric currents, and thus a self-generated magnetic field, due to a combination of differential rotation (different angular velocity of different parts of body), Coriolis forces and induction. ... A remote camera captures a close-up view of a Space Shuttle Main Engine during a test firing at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi Spacecraft propulsion is any method used to change the velocity of spacecraft and artificial satellites. ... Atlas missile launch from Cape Canaveral in 1957 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. 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. For the singer/songwriter, see Jon Peter Lewis. ... Launch of Mariner 1 (NASA) The Mariner program was a program conducted by the American space agency NASA that launched a series of robotic interplanetary probes designed to investigate Mars, Venus and Mercury. ... 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 of the Moon. ...

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. 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. 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 magnetometer is a scientific instrument used to measure the strength and/or direction of the magnetic field in the vicinity of the instrument. ... The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) is an example of a large particle detector. ... 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. ... “Space dust” redirects here. ... A scintillation counter measures ionizing radiation. ... A magnetosphere is the region around an astronomical object in which phenomena are dominated or organized by its magnetic field. ...

Ranger 4 became the first American spacecraft to crash on the Moon and so equalled what the Soviets had accomplished with Luna 2 three years before.

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. 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. 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. Ater 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. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Ranger 4 was a spacecraft of the Ranger program designed to transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations during a period of 10 minutes of flight prior to impacting on the Moon, to rough-land a seismometer capsule on the Moon, to collect gamma-ray data in flight... Luna 2 (E-1A series) was the second of the Soviet Unions Luna program spacecraft launched in the direction of the Moon. ... Binomial name Ochroma lagopus Sw. ... Freon is a trade name for a group of chlorofluorocarbons used primarily as a refrigerant. ... General Name, Symbol, Number cadmium, Cd, 48 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 12, 5, d Appearance silvery gray metallic Standard atomic weight 112. ...

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. 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. Sterilization (or sterilisation) refers to any process that effectively kills or eliminates transmissible agents (such as fungi, bacteria, viruses and prions) from a surface, equipment, foods, medications, or biological culture medium. ... Boiling, a type of phase transition, is the rapid vaporization of a liquid, which typically occurs when a liquid is heated to its boiling point, the temperature at which the vapor pressure of the liquid is equal to the pressure exerted on the liquid by the surrounding atmospheric pressure. ...

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. 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. Subsequent successes with Ranger 8 and Ranger 9 further buoyed American hopes. Download high resolution version (720x707, 87 KB) Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech [1] First image of the Moon from a US spacecraft. ... Download high resolution version (720x707, 87 KB) Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech [1] First image of the Moon from a US spacecraft. ... This article is about Earths moon. ... Alphonsus is an ancient impact crater on Earths Moon that dates from the immediate post-Nectarian era. ... Type Bicameral Houses Senate House of Representatives President of the Senate President pro tempore Dick Cheney, (R) since January 20, 2001 Robert C. Byrd, (D) since January 4, 2007 Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, (D) since January 4, 2007 Members 535 plus 4 Delegates and 1 Resident Commissioner Political...

Photograph showing both craters and moon rocks, taken on the lunar surface by Luna 9 after the first successful Moon landing

Luna 9, launched by the Soviet Union on February 3, 1966, performed the first successful Moon landing using the "hard landing" technique. 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. Luna 13 duplicated this feat with a similar moon landing on December 24, 1966. Both returned panoramic photographs that were the first views from the lunar surface. Image File history File links Luna-9_surface_image. ... Image File history File links Luna-9_surface_image. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article is about impact craters. ... Genesis Rock returned by the Apollo 15 mission. ... Luna 9 (E-6 series), also known as Lunik 9 (internal name E-6 N. 13), was an unmanned space mission of the Soviet Unions Luna program. ... Luna 9 (E-6 series), also known as Lunik 9 (internal name E-6 N. 13), was an unmanned space mission of the Soviet Unions Luna program. ... is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. ... An airbag is a flexible membrane or envelope, inflatable to contain air or some other gas. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Luna 13 (E-6M series) was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 13. ... is the 358th day of the year (359th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. ...

In the Ocean of Storms, a widely reprinted 1967 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. 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.

Image File history File links Size of this preview: 429 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (644 × 900 pixel, file size: 136 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)In the Ocean of Storms (Russian: В ОКЕАНЕ БУРЬ) (1967) by Aleksei Leonov & Andrei Sokolov. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 429 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (644 × 900 pixel, file size: 136 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)In the Ocean of Storms (Russian: В ОКЕАНЕ БУРЬ) (1967) by Aleksei Leonov & Andrei Sokolov. ... Astronaut Bruce McCandless on an untethered EVA Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth and outside of his or her spacecraft. ...

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. Five of Surveyor's seven missions made successful unmanned moon landings: For other uses, see robot (disambiguation). ... Photograph of Surveyor(3) lunar landing spacecraft taken by Apollo 12 astronauts (descriptions added). ... For other uses, see Radar (disambiguation). ...

• Surveyor 1—June 2, 1966 at Oceanus Procellarum
• Surveyor 3—April 20, 1967 at Oceanus Procellarum
• Surveyor 5—September 11, 1967 at Mare Tranquillitatis
• Surveyor 6—November 10 1967 at Sinus Medii
• Surveyor 7—January 10, 1968 at Tycho crater

Surveyor 1 was the first lunar lander in the American Surveyor program that explored the Moon. ... is the 153rd day of the year (154th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Ocean of Storms of the Moon. ... Surveyor 3 was the third lunar lander of the Surveyor program that explored the Moon. ... is the 110th day of the year (111th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Surveyor 5 was the fifth lunar lander of the Surveyor program that explored the Moon. ... is the 254th day of the year (255th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Sea of Tranquility of the Moon. ... Surveyor 6 was the sixth lunar lander of the Surveyor program that explored the Moon. ... is the 314th day of the year (315th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Categories: Wikipedia cleanup | Stub ... Surveyor 7 was the seventh and last lunar lander of the Surveyor program that explored the Moon. ... is the 10th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Tycho is a prominent lunar impact crater located in the southern lunar highlands. ...

Precursor lunar orbit missions (1966-1969)

Luna 10 became the first spacecraft to orbit the Moon on April 3, 1966. Luna 10 was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 10. ... is the 93rd day of the year (94th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. ...

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. 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. With the failure of the unmanned Soviet sample return moon landing attempt Luna 15 in July 1969, the stage was set for Apollo 11. Download high resolution version (2400x2400, 303 KB) Description Taken by Apollo 8 crewmember Bill Anders on December 24, 1968, showing the Earth rising above the lunar surface. ... Download high resolution version (2400x2400, 303 KB) Description Taken by Apollo 8 crewmember Bill Anders on December 24, 1968, showing the Earth rising above the lunar surface. ... is the 358th day of the year (359th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Apollo 8 was the second successful manned mission of the Apollo space program, in which Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders became the first humans to orbit around the Moon. ... is the 358th day of the year (359th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For the moon designated Saturn V, see Rhea. ... Apollo 10 was the fourth manned mission in the Apollo program, and the first (and only manned Saturn V) mission to launch from pad 39B. The mission included the second crew to orbit the Moon, and the test of the lunar module in lunar orbit. ... Topography (top) and corresponding gravity (bottom) signal of lunar Mare Smythii containing a significant mascon. ... Luna 15 (Ye-8-5 series) was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 15. ... The Apollo 11 mission was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. ...

American manned Moon landings (1969-1972)

American strategy

The U.S. Moon exploration program originated during the Eisenhower administration. 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. 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. 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. Dwight David Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American General and politician, who served as the thirty-fourth President of the United States (1953–1961). ... Colliers (May 7, 1932) Colliers Weekly was an American magazine founded by Peter Fenelon Collier and published from 1888 to 1957. ... For other uses of von Braun, see von Braun (disambiguation). ... Atmospheric entry is the transition from the vacuum of space to the atmosphere of any planet or other celestial body. ... Ablation is defined as the removal of material from the surface of an object by vaporization, chipping, or other erosive processes. ... Sputnik 1 The Sputnik program was a series of unmanned space missions launched by the Soviet Union in the late 1950s to demonstrate the viability of artificial satellites. ...

After the early Soviet successes, especially Yuri Gagarin's flight, U.S. President John F. Kennedy looked for an American project that would capture the public imagination. 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. 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. 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. For other uses, see Space Race (disambiguation). ... “Gagarin” redirects here. ... John Kennedy and JFK redirect here. ... Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908–January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was an American politician. ... For the Jamaican reggae band, see Third World (band). ... R-7 with Sputnik 2 The R-7 Semyorka was the worlds first intercontinental ballistic missile and was deployed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War from 1959 to 1968. ... Soviet Propaganda Poster during World War II. The text reads Red Army Fighter, SAVE US! Chinese propaganda poster from the time of the Cultural Revolution. ...

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. This superficially indicated action to alleviate the fictional "missile gap" between the U.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. Project Apollo was a series of human spaceflight missions undertaken by the United States of America (NASA) using the Apollo spacecraft and Saturn launch vehicle, conducted during the years 1961 – 1975. ... Official language(s) No official language See languages of Texas Capital Austin Largest city Houston Largest metro area Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington Area  Ranked 2nd  - Total 261,797 sq mi (678,051 km²)  - Width 773 miles (1,244 km)  - Length 790 miles (1,270 km)  - % water 2. ... This article is about the American space agency. ... “Houston” redirects here. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... James E. Webb James Edwin Webb (October 7, 1906–March 27, 1992) was the second administrator of NASA, serving from February 14, 1961 to October 7, 1968. ...

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 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% of Americans favored Apollo, up from 33% 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. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 285 × 598 pixelsFull resolution (1675 × 3517 pixel, file size: 139 KB, MIME type: image/png) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 285 × 598 pixelsFull resolution (1675 × 3517 pixel, file size: 139 KB, MIME type: image/png) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... For the moon designated Saturn V, see Rhea. ... Two N1 Moon rockets appear on the pads at Baikonur Cosmodrome in early July 1969. ...

Soviet strategy

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev did not relish "defeat" by any other power, but equally did not relish funding such an expensive project. 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. Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (Russian: , Nikita Sergeevič Chruščiov; IPA: , in English, , or , occasionally ); surname more accurately romanized as Khrushchyov[1]; April 17 [O.S. April 5] 1894[2]–September 11, 1971) was the chief director of the Soviet Union after the death of Joseph Stalin. ...

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. 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 unravelled. 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. Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov (Ukrainian: ; Russian: ), often transliterated less phonetically as Sergei Korolev[1] (January 12 [O.S. December 30 1906] 1907, Zhytomyr, now Ukraine – January 14, 1966, Moscow), was the head Soviet rocket engineer and designer during the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the... The Russian Federal Space Agency, formerly the Russian Aviation and Space Agency (RKA) (in Russian: Российское авиационно-космическое аге&#1085... Soyuz (Russian: Союз, pronounced sah-YOUS, meaning union) is a series of spacecraft designed by Sergey Korolyov for the Soviet Unions space program. ... Two N1 Moon rockets appear on the pads at Baikonur Cosmodrome in early July 1969. ... General Aleksei Arkhipovich Leonov, Soviet Air Force (Ret. ...

Apollo 11 Mission

Over 80 mission milestones had to be accomplished for Apollo 11 to land on the moon and return safely to the Earth.

Note the above diagram is not to scale; the actual relative distance and diameters in the Earth / Moon system are more accurately depicted in this illustration.

While unmanned Soviet probes did reach the moon before any U.S. craft, American Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the lunar surface, after landing on July 20, 1969. Commander of the Apollo 11 mission, Armstrong received backup from command module pilot Michael Collins and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin in an event watched by over 500 million people around the world. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 344 pixelsFull resolution (1600 × 688 pixel, file size: 145 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) This illustration details the various steps an Apollo lunar landing mission. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 344 pixelsFull resolution (1600 × 688 pixel, file size: 145 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) This illustration details the various steps an Apollo lunar landing mission. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 45 pixelsFull resolution (1600 × 90 pixel, file size: 4 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) This image shows the Earth and the Moon at their correct relative sizes and distance. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 45 pixelsFull resolution (1600 × 90 pixel, file size: 4 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) This image shows the Earth and the Moon at their correct relative sizes and distance. ... This article is about the former American astronaut. ... is the 201st day of the year (202nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1969 (Stargate SG-1) episode. ... The Apollo 11 mission was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. ... Michael Collins (born October 31, 1930) is a former American astronaut and test pilot. ... Colonel Buzz Aldrin, Sc. ...

Buzz Aldrin poses on the moon, allowing Neil Armstrong to photograph both of them using the visor reflection. (NASA)

Social commentators widely recognize the lunar landing as one of the defining moments of human history, and Armstrong's words on his first stepping onto the Moon's surface became similarly memorable. Despite Armstrong meaning: Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2700x2700, 2494 KB) Short description: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the moon Full description: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, lunar module pilot, walks on the surface of the Moon near the leg of the Lunar Module (LM) Eagle during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2700x2700, 2494 KB) Short description: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the moon Full description: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, lunar module pilot, walks on the surface of the Moon near the leg of the Lunar Module (LM) Eagle during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity... Colonel Buzz Aldrin, Sc. ... This article is about the former American astronaut. ...

That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.

Radio difficulties failed to transmit the "a", and his words as heard on Earth were:

That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

[2].

While many people believe that the mission was specifically planned so that a civilian, Armstrong, would be the first to set foot on the Moon, this is not true. One of the original flight plans had the lunar module pilot (Buzz Aldrin) coming out first.

The astronauts set up an American flag,^[1] and Buzz Aldrin was photographed saluting it. They also unveiled an inscribed plaque and left it affixed to the lunar lander which remained on the Moon. The sentiment expressed set forth America's attitude about the landing and subsequent landings. Signed by Richard Nixon, President of the United States, the plaque reads: "Here men from the planet earth first set foot upon the Moon July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind" (the plaque is also signed by Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin). Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas  US Government Portal      For other uses, see President of the United States (disambiguation). ... Michael Collins (born October 31, 1930) is a former American astronaut and test pilot. ...

The historical plaque on the Apollo 11 lunar module Eagle, still remaining on the Moon. At left, the plaque as it appears mounted on the landing strut of Eagle, bracketed top and bottom by rungs of the descent ladder; at right, a closeup of the plaque.

Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (871x450, 99 KB) Photograph of the stainless steel dedication plaque (right) placed on the Apollo 11 lunar module Eagle (left). ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (871x450, 99 KB) Photograph of the stainless steel dedication plaque (right) placed on the Apollo 11 lunar module Eagle (left). ... The Apollo 11 mission was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. ... The LEM flight instrumentation panel and front windows. ...

List of manned Apollo Moon landings

Further information: List of Apollo astronauts

• Apollo 11 - July 16, 1969. First manned landing on the Moon, July 20.
• Apollo 12 - November 14, 1969. First precise manned landing on the Moon, within walking distance of Surveyor 3.
• Apollo 14 - January 31, 1971. Commanded by Alan Shepard, the only one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts to walk (and golf) on the Moon.
• Apollo 15 - July 26, 1971. First mission with the Lunar Rover vehicle.
• Apollo 16 - April 16, 1972. First landing in the lunar highlands.
• Apollo 17 - December 7, 1972. 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, Apollo 10 and Apollo 13 were lunar-orbit-only missions with no moon landings. 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."[3] Eugene Cernan operating the Lunar rover during Apollo 17 This is a list of all astronauts directly associated with NASAs Apollo program. ... The Apollo 11 mission was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. ... is the 197th day of the year (198th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1969 (Stargate SG-1) episode. ... is the 201st day of the year (202nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Apollo 12 was the sixth manned mission in the Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon. ... is the 318th day of the year (319th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1969 (Stargate SG-1) episode. ... Surveyor 3 was the third lunar lander of the Surveyor program that explored the Moon. ... Apollo 14 was the eighth manned mission in the Apollo program and the third mission to land on the Moon. ... is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. ... Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. ... Original seven Astronauts portrait (L-R: Schirra, Shepard, Slayton, Grissom, Glenn, Cooper, Carpenter) The Mercury Seven was the group of seven Mercury astronauts picked in April 1959. ... Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the Apollo program and the fourth mission to land on the Moon. ... is the 207th day of the year (208th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. ... For the Soviet robotic rovers, see Lunokhod programme. ... Apollo 16 was the tenth manned mission in the Apollo program and the fifth mission to land on the Moon. ... is the 106th day of the year (107th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Apollo 17 was the eleventh manned space mission in the NASA Apollo program. ... is the 341st day of the year (342nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Apollo 8 was the second successful manned mission of the Apollo space program, in which Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders became the first humans to orbit around the Moon. ... Apollo 10 was the fourth manned mission in the Apollo program, and the first (and only manned Saturn V) mission to launch from pad 39B. The mission included the second crew to orbit the Moon, and the test of the lunar module in lunar orbit. ... Original crew photo. ... Apollo 7 was the first manned mission in the Apollo program to be launched. ... Apollo 9 was the third manned mission in the Apollo program, a ten day earth-orbital mission launched 3 March 1969. ... Alan LaVern Bean (born March 15, 1932 in Wheeler, Texas) is a former NASA Astronaut. ...

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.[4] William L. Safire (born December 17, 1929) is an American author, semi-retired columnist, and former journalist and presidential speechwriter. ...

In the 1940s writer Arthur C Clarke forecast that man would reach the Moon by 2000. Arthur C. Clarke, considered by many to be a grand master of science fiction and communication satellites Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (born December 16, 1917) is a British author and inventor, probably most famous for his science fiction novel 2001: A Space Odyssey. ...

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. 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] is the 228th day of the year (229th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Associated Press, or AP, is an American news agency, the worlds largest such organization. ... The Apollo missing tapes are the missing original recordings of the transmissions (Slow-scan television and telemetry data) broadcast during the Apollo 11 moonwalk[1]. // The video of the Apollo 11 moonwalk was transmitted in Slow-Scan TV (SSTV) format (see Apollo TV camera). ... SSTV transmissions often include station call signs, RST reception reports, and radio amateur jargon. ... The Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package, or ALSEP, was a set of connected scientific instruments left on the Moon when the Apollo program ended. ...

Soviet unmanned soft landings (1970-1976)

• Luna 16 - September 20, 1970 at Mare Fecunditatis, Latitude 0.68 S, Longitude 56.30 E - Lunar sample return to Earth.
• Luna 17 - November 17, 1970 at Mare Imbrium, Latitude 38.28 N, Longitude 325.00 E - Carried Lunokhod 1 lunar rover vehicle.
• Luna 20 - February 21, 1972 at Mare Fecunditatis, Latitude 3.57 N, Longitude 56.50 E - Lunar sample return to Earth.
• Luna 21 - January 15, 1973 at LeMonnier Crater, latitude 25.85 N, longitude 30.45 E - Carried Lunokhod 2 lunar rover vehicle.
• Luna 24 - August 18, 1976 at Mare Crisium, Latitude 12.25 N, Longitude 62.20 E - Lunar sample return to Earth, final Moon landing.

Luna 16 (Ye-8-5 series) was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 16. ... is the 263rd day of the year (264th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1970 ([[Rf 1970 == January 1 - The Unix epoch begins at 00:00:00 UTC January 2 - The last studio performance of The Beatles oman numerals|MCMLXX]]) was a common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mare Fecunditatis (the Sea of Fecundity or Sea of Fertility) is a lunar mare 909 km in diameter. ... Luna 17 was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 17. ... 17 November is also the name of a Marxist group in Greece, coinciding with the anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic uprising. ... Year 1970 ([[Rf 1970 == January 1 - The Unix epoch begins at 00:00:00 UTC January 2 - The last studio performance of The Beatles oman numerals|MCMLXX]]) was a common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Oblique view of Mare Imbrium looking south towards Copernicus crater. ... Lunokhod series Soviet Moon exploration robot vehicle A panorama shot from Lunokhod 1 A photo from Lunokhod 1 showing the Luna 17 lander The tracks of Lunokhod showing the little wheel in the center that was used for odometry. ... Luna 20 (Ye-8-5 series) was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 20. ... is the 52nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Luna 21 was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 21. ... is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the song by James Blunt, see 1973 (song). ... Lunokhod series Soviet Moon exploration robot vehicle Lunokhod 2 was the second of two unmanned lunar rovers landed on the Moon by the Soviet Union as part of the Lunokhod program. ... Luna 24 was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 24. ... is the 230th day of the year (231st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1976 Pick up sticks(MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Future plans

The current U.S. Vision for Space Exploration calls for a human landing on the Moon no later than 2019. Image from NASA site Two planned configurations for a return to the moon, heavy lift (left) and crew (right) The Vision for Space Exploration is the United States space policy announced on January 14, 2004 by President George W. Bush. ...

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

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. Like the Ansari X Prize before it, the competition aims to advance the state of the art in private space exploration. The Google Lunar X PRIZE, sometimes referred to as simply Moon 2. ... For other uses, see X Prize (disambiguation). ...

Moon landing hoax accusations

Main article: Apollo Moon Landing hoax accusations

Many conspiracy theorists insist that the Apollo moon landings were a hoax. 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, 14 and 15. Today, anyone on Earth with an appropriate laser and telescope system may bounce laser beams off of these devices, verifying deployment of the Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment at historically documented Apollo moon landing sites. Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong in NASAs training mockup of the Moon and lander module. ... For other uses, see Conspiracy theory (disambiguation). ... In philosophy generally, empiricism is a theory of knowledge emphasizing the role of experience in the formation of ideas, while discounting the notion of innate ideas. ... Retroreflectors are clearly visible in a pair of bicycle shoes. ... For other uses, see Laser (disambiguation). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment from the Apollo 11 mission 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 EVA's 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. 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. For the Soviet robotic rovers, see Lunokhod programme. ... Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American two-time Academy Award-winning film actor, Emmy-winning director, voice-over artist and movie producer. ... A miniseries (sometimes mini-series), in a serial storytelling medium, is a production which tells a story in a 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, Tom Hanks, and Michael Bostick detailing the landmark Apollo expeditions to the Moon during the 1960s and early 1970s. ...

See also

• Apollo program missing tapes
• Space Race
• Project Apollo
• Ranger program
• Surveyor program
• Luna programme
• Lunokhod program
• Soviet Moonshot
• What Happened on the Moon
• Apollo missions tracked by independent parties
• Independent evidence for Apollo Moon landings
• A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon
• List of Apollo astronauts
• Moon Trip Accidents

The Apollo missing tapes are the missing original recordings of the transmissions (Slow-scan television and telemetry data) broadcast during the Apollo 11 moonwalk[1]. // The video of the Apollo 11 moonwalk was transmitted in Slow-Scan TV (SSTV) format (see Apollo TV camera). ... For other uses, see Space Race (disambiguation). ... Project Apollo was a series of human spaceflight missions undertaken by the United States of America (NASA) using the Apollo spacecraft and Saturn launch vehicle, conducted during the years 1961 – 1975. ... 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 of the Moon. ... Photograph of Surveyor(3) lunar landing spacecraft taken by Apollo 12 astronauts (descriptions added). ... The Luna programme (occasionally called Lunik) was a series of unmanned space missions sent to the Moon by the Soviet Union between 1959 and 1976. ... Lunokhod (Russian for Moon walker) 1 and 2 were a pair of unmanned lunar rovers landed on the Moon by the Soviet Union. ... Details of the Soviet Moonshot were kept intensely secret until the arrival of glasnost. ... What Happened on the Moon is a documentary film by David Percy in which he claims NASA Moon Landing photographs are a hoax. ... Aside from NASA, a number of entities and individuals observed, through various means, the Apollo missions as they took place. ... Apollo 12 astronaut Pete Conrad with the unmanned Surveyor 3 lander. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Eugene Cernan operating the Lunar rover during Apollo 17 This is a list of all astronauts directly associated with NASAs Apollo program. ...

Notes

is the 72nd day of the year (73rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ...

External links

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• Impact of Sputnik I
• Reconsidering Sputnik
• Juno II: Space Probes
• Pioneer III and IV Space Probes
• The Moon Probe Pioneer IV
• Luna 9 Soft Landing on the Moon: Soviet Press Communiques
• Luna 9: Highlights of the Press Conference at the Moscow House of Scientists
• Analysis of Luna 9 Photography
• Luna 13 Is On The Moon
• Zond 3: Major Victory For Soviet Science
• Lunar Impact: A History of Project Ranger
• Destination Moon: A History of the Lunar Orbiter Program
• Surveyor Program Results: Final Report
• This New Ocean : A History of Project Mercury
• On The Shoulders Of Titans : A History of Project Gemini
• Apollo Program Summary Report
• Apollo 1 Fire - Report of the Apollo 204 Review Board
• Apollo 7 Press Kit
• Apollo 7 Mission Report
• Apollo 8 Press Kit
• Apollo 8 Mission Report
• Apollo 9 Press Kit
• Apollo 9 Mission Report
• Apollo 10 Press Kit
• Apollo 10 Mission Report
• Apollo 11 Press Kit - Part 1
• Apollo 11 Press Kit - Part 2
• Apollo 11 Mission Report
• Apollo 12 Press Kit
• Apollo 12 Mission Report
• Apollo 13 Press Kit
• Apollo 13 Mission Report
• Apollo 14 Press Kit
• Apollo 14 Mission Report
• Apollo 15 Press Kit
• Apollo 15 Mission Report
• Apollo 16 Press Kit
• Apollo 16 Mission Report
• Apollo 17 Press Kit
• Apollo 17 Mission Report
• Apollo Lunar Surface Journal
• Where No Man Has Gone Before: A History of Apollo Lunar Exploration Missions
• Apollo By The Numbers : A Statistical Reference
• Apollo Expeditions to the Moon
• Chariots for Apollo: A History of Manned Lunar Spacecraft
• Stages to Saturn : A Technological History of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicles
• Moonport: A History of Apollo Launch Facilities and Operations
• "Before This Decade is Out...."
• Project Apollo: A Retrospective Analysis
• Various pdf scans of NASA manned launch press kits
• Various pdf scans of historical Apollo spaceflight mission documents
• Various pdf scans of historical unmanned spacecraft mission documents
• NASA transcript of the first words on the Moon.
• John F. Kennedy Speech, May 25, 1961 - John F. Kennedy Establishing the goal of sending a man to the moon. U.S. Capitol. Washington, DC.
• The Claypole Mission - A humorous short story revolving around the first manned moon landing.
• Moon Trip Accidents