Space Travel and the Moon Landing
The Apollo Program and the Space Race
Timeline
The Apollo Program was a spaceflight program run by NASA from 1961 to 1972. During its active run
time, Apollo set several major human spaceflight milestones. The fast pace at which these milestones
were achieved can be attributed to the Space Race between the Soviet Union and the USA.
The completion started, when the Soviet Union responded to the United States announcement four days
earlier of intent to launch artificial satellites for the International Geophysical Year, by declaring they
would also launch a satellite "in the near future". The Soviets proceeded to win this “round” by actually
launching the first satellite “Sputnik 1” on October 4, 1957. The Soviets were also the nation that sent
the first animal and the first human into space. The dog Laika was launched on November 3, 1957, just a
month later with “Sputnik 2”. Official records stated that Laika survived the launch and was put to sleep
after 7 days, using Cyanide aerosols. The public only found out later that Laika didn’t even survive the
launch. Force up to 10G and a cabin temperature around 40°C were too much for the dog. The next big
achievement in the race was the launch of the first human, Yuri Gagarin. The Soviet cosmonaut was
launched into space on April 12, 1961. He orbited the earth for 108 minutes in the automated rocket
“Vostock 1”
By that time the USA were shocked and embarrassed. During his famous speech one month after Yuri
Gagarin orbited earth, President Kennedy vocalized the goal to land a man on the moon and return him
safely back to earth before the end of the decade.
Both nations worked hard to achieve this goal before the other one did. The Soviet Nation had to deal
with major setbacks along the way as their rocket, the N1 failed test after test.
Test Launch Protocol
Test Launch 3L
On February 21, 1969 the rocket was launched. A fire in rear lead to the shutdown off all jet engines after
69 seconds and the rocket fell from 14km to the ground. A search found later that the cause of the fire
were small metal parts in the fuel pipes that destroyed the engine. Strangely, no one found it worrying
that there were metal parts in the pipes and no measures were taken to prevent it from happening again.
Test Launch 5L
The second test flight was launched on July 3, 1969. Only 2 weeks before the start of the Apollo 11. This
time the failure was even worse. After only 10 seconds burning parts fell to the ground. All engines were
shut down and the rocket crashed back on the launch pad, destroying the 150m high complex. The incident
set the program back by 18 months.
The destroyed launch pad was photographed by American satellites shortly after the crash which made it
clear to them that they had won.
Test Launch 6L
Since the race was already lost, there now was time to really focus on making the rocket work. The new
rocket was launched on the June 27, 1971. A new maneuver was tested that made the rocket change its
course right after the start to prevent the launch pad from getting destroyed again.
This maneuver however proved to be useless as the aerodynamic stress became too much for rocket and
cause the front to break off.
Test Launch 7L
The last launch wasn’t any better. On the November 23, 1972 the rocket was launched one last time. It
exploded after 107 seconds.
Apollo 1 – the catastrophe
Command Pilot Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom
Senior Pilot
Edward H. White II
Pilot
Roger B. Chaffee
The test titled AS-204 and later renamed Apollo 1 should have been just a ground simulation. The launch
simulation on January 27, 1967, was a “plugs-out” test to determine whether the spacecraft would
operate nominally on internal power while detached from all cables. Passing this test was essential to
making the February 21 launch date. The test was considered non-hazardous because neither the launch
vehicle nor the spacecraft was loaded with fuel or cryogenics, and all pyrotechnic systems were disabled.
However, the cockpit was filled with pure oxygen and was pressurized.
A voltage transient was recorded at 6:30:54 Ten seconds later Chaffee exclaimed "Hey!", and scuffling
sounds followed for two seconds. White then reported, “I've got a fire in the cockpit!” Some witnesses
said that they saw White on the television monitors, reaching for the inner hatch release handle as
flames in the cabin spread from left to right and licked the window. The final voice transmission is
believed to have come from Chaffee. Six seconds after White's report of a "fire in the cockpit", a voice
cried out, “There's a bad fire!”. The sound of the spacecraft's hull rupturing was heard immediately
afterwards. The transmission then ended abruptly at 6:31:21, only 17 seconds after the first report of
fire. The cabin had ruptured due to rapidly expanding gases from the fire, which over-pressurized the
Command Module to 29 psi (2.0 bar).
It is speculated that this incident could have been prevented. The Soviets had an accident where 3
crewman died in a fire, caused by similar circumstances. The incident was never made public until the
late 80s. No one was allowed to talk about it until the 90s. Had the Apollo team known about the
hazards that come with a pure oxygen atmosphere, they could have change that detail.
Apollo 11 – The moon landing
Commander
Neil A. Armstrong
Command Module Pilot Michael Collins
Lunar Module Pilot
Edwin "Buzz" E. Aldrin, Jr.
Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first humans on the Moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin,
on July 20, 1969, at 20:18 UTC. Armstrong became the first to step onto the lunar surface six hours later
on July 21 at 02:56 UTC. Michael Collins orbited the moon and picked the other two astronauts after
they collected test samples from the moon’s surface.
Each crewman of Apollo 11 had made a spaceflight before this mission. Maybe it was this experience
that helped the crew with the landing that proved to be tricky. When Armstrong again looked outside, he
saw that the computer's landing target was in a boulder-strewn area just north and east of a 300-meter
(980 ft) diameter crater (later determined to be "West crater," named for its location in the western part
of the originally planned landing ellipse). Armstrong took semi-automatic control and, with Aldrin calling
out altitude and velocity data, landed at 20:17:40 UTC on July 20 with about 25 seconds of fuel left
Apollo 13 – the failed success
Commander
Jim Lovell
Command Module Pilot Jack Swigert
Lunar Module Pilot
Fred Haise
After 55:54:53 Ground Elapsed Time the astronauts heard a loud bang, followed by fluctuations in
electrical power and firing of the attitude control thrusters. Their initial suspicion was that a meteorite has
struck the lunar module. The incident proved to be worse than assumed. There had been a short circuit
due to damaged Teflon insulation on the wires to the stirring fan inside one of the oxygen tank. The crew
had turned the fans on just shortly before that, following a command by ground control.
The widely known quote “Houston, we have a problem” arouse from the communication which ensued
after the accident. Not many people know that the actual words of Commander John L. Swigert, namely
“Okay, Houston, I believe we’ve had a problem here.”
After that the public became interested and the media coverage increased dramatically. Millions of people
from all over the world track the fate of the astronauts via their TVs at home. The explosion had put the
commander and his team in grave danger. They could, however, safe themselves by using the Lunar
Module as a kind of life boat.
The astronauts maneuvered the space craft completely around the moon once. This Swing-By maneuver
made it possible to use the moon’s gravitation to get back on a course towards earth.
Apollo 13 ended on April the 17th after the space craft landed in South Pacific Ocean. The mission was still
considered a success for being the first mission to rescue their astronauts from an imminent catastrophe.
The circle around the moon made the astronauts the people who have been the farthest away from earth.