“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”, These were Neil Armstrong’s words as he became the first human to step onto the Moon’s surface.
As space studies were growing, so was the Cold War with the Soviet Union. At that time, the United States was still behind in the space race, and President John F. Kennedy had set a goal to safely land a man on the moon. He said, “I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”
Five years after, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) were able to send the first Apollo test flight. The first test for the flight unit, LM-1 was an uncrewed test flight. Its main purpose was to simulate the steps of a lunar landing mission and verify the structural integrity of the Lunar Module.
on January 27, 1967, at Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, a fire broke out during a test of the Apollo spacecraft and Saturn rocket. Due to the fire, three astronauts, Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White II, and Roger B. Chaffee, passed away.
Despite the loss, NASA continued on their mission, until October 1968, the first manned Apollo mission, Apollo 7, orbited Earth successfully. In December of the same year, Apollo 8, with three astronauts, were sent around the far side of the moon and orbited it 10 times before returning. Another test in March 1969, Apollo 9 test, which, for the first time, tested the lunar module while in Earth orbit. Then in May, three astronauts of Apollo 10 took the first complete Apollo spacecraft in 31 orbits around the moon.
On July 16, Apollo 11 lunar module, Eagle (LM-5), took off from Kennedy Space Center with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin Jr., and Michael Collins.
Armstrong was the commander. After 76 hours, Apollo 11 entered a lunar orbit. The next day, the lunar module Eagle separated from the command module, where Collins remained. Two hours later, the Eagle began its descent to the lunar surface. Armstrong radioed his famous message to Mission Control, “The Eagle has landed.” Then he added, “And the the surface is fine and powdery. I can pick it up loosely with my toe.”
The astronauts left some items on the moon, among these was a note that read: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon, July 1969 A.D, We came in peace for all mankind.”
The mission went back home safely. The crew remained in the specialized Airstream trailer for their 21-day isolation period, they were even required to complete official US Customs Declaration Forms for their return trip from the Moon.
The Apollo program had an estimated 400,000 engineers, technicians, and scientists working on the mission that cost around $24 billion.
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