Apollo 11: The First Manned Mission to the Moon
Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land men on the Moon. It was launched on the 15th of July 1969, and landed in the Sea of Tranquility on the 20th.
Overcoming Challenges
The flight was a successful one, and the landing went smoothly. But as the spacecraft came closer to its target, there were some challenges that needed to be overcome.
Navigation and Fuel Constraints
Firstly, the crew had to navigate a series of alarms that they had never seen in simulations. They called mission control, but flight controllers were unsure what the error code meant. The astronauts were determined to finish the landing, even though they had a limited amount of fuel left.
The Descent and Manual Control
Once the spacecraft was close to its target, the 'descent stage' - a gold-and-black section with rocket engine and fuel - began to descend slowly. At that point, there was only about 25 seconds of fuel remaining. At that point, the automatic landing system began to guide the craft towards a boulder-strewn crater. Armstrong noticed this, and he quickly took manual control to avoid it.
Risk and Decision-making
This is when they had to decide whether to abort the landing or continue on with it. The decision would have been difficult at this late stage of the mission, and it could have cost them their lives. But they continued with the landing, and eventually, with the 68-inch (172-centimeter) probes hanging below the lunar module's footpads, Armstrong touched down in the Sea of Tranquility at about 4:17 pm EDT. After a few minutes, the contact light inside the cockpit illuminated, and Armstrong radioed to NASA Mission Control in Houston: "Houston, Tranquility Base here," indicating that they had landed.
Exploration and Samples
After landing, the LM crew began to explore the surface of the Moon, taking a number of photos of the lunar terrain, the science equipment they had deployed, and the Apollo spacecraft itself. They also gathered samples of moon-surface materials that they could later return to Earth.
Return to Columbia
When they finished exploring, the LM returned to its command module, Columbia. During the two-and-a-half-hour extravehicular activity, or EVA, Aldrin and Armstrong used a spacesuit to survey the area around them, collecting samples for return to Earth. They then returned to the LM and re-entered.
The Journey Back
The LM crew spent the next 21.6 hours on the Moon, returning to Columbia and docking with it at 128 hours. They returned to the command and service module, or CSM, and then jettisoned it into lunar orbit. Once in orbit, the Apollo astronauts circled the Moon 30 times over a period of 2.5 days. In that time, they sent and received a total of 31 messages from the Moon.
Symbolic Acts
While on the Moon, they also planted the United States flag and a plaque in the Moon's surface. The plaque declared: "We have come in peace for all mankind."
The Legacy of the Apollo 11 Landing
The Apollo 11 landing was an event that awoke millions of people worldwide to the reality of space travel and triggered a revolution that has lasted almost half a century. It also provided a powerful moral lesson for those who want to achieve their dreams but who are not ready to understand why the world is moving forward and why we need to take our chances on another planet, rather than simply stay at home.
