The Space Race

The Apollo Program

Apollo 11 rocket

• This was the first rocket to take someone to the moon. The rocket itself had three pieces to it:

• 1. The Command module carried the astronauts to the moon and back

• 2. The Service module held the rockets and fuel.• 3. The Lunar module would disconnect from the

command module and it would land on the moon. It would stand on four legs and held a ladder and instruments for the astronauts to carry out experiments on the moon.

Apollo 11 astronauts

• Neil Armstrong was the commander of the mission

• Buzz Aldrin was the pilot of the lunar module

• Michael Collins was the pilot of the command module

• They were constantly in touch with the space centre in Houston.

The Apollo 11 mission

• They left Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on July 16th 1969

• The journey to the moon took three days. • The astronauts had to get used to their

weighlessness in the command module, they had to strap themselves onto beds to stop them floating in their sleep and damaging the spacecraft.

• July 19th Armstrong and Aldrin left in the lunar module to continue to the moon while Collins circled the moon

• July 20th the lunar module landed on a smooth area of the moon called the Sea of Tranquillity.

• Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon; when he stepped out he said the famous line; “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”

• The moon landing was watched by 600 million people

• They spent over 20 hours on the moon. They carried out experiments, left an American flag and collected moon samples.

• They then rocketed in the lunar module back to the command module. Once safely inside they dropped the lunar module to save weight.

• July 24th they landed in the Pacific Ocean where they were picked up by boat.

• They were welcomed back by President Nixon

• They were quarantined (locked away from people) for 21 days to make sure they had not picked up any illnesses.

• The astronauts were treated as heroes around the world.

The importance of the moon landing

• They had beaten Russia in the space race.

• They won because the American presidents were willing to spend $27 billion to get a man on the moon.

• There were 6 more Apollo missions; after that not as much money was given to moon exploration.

• NASA continued its work and began to focus on investigating the other planets.