To the Moon! The Space Age Begins: A Race to the Moon Mercury - Gemini - Apollo 1961-1972 On to the Moon by Gregory A. Smith & Chris A. Peterson

The Space Age was born of a combination of very different human activities and motivations: imagination and exploration, military weapons development, national prestige, and international scientific cooperation.

It is human nature to be curious, to reach out in exploration to try to understand the world around us. The wonders of the night sky are also part of our world, though seemingly just out of reach. Early astronomers watched movements of the Moon, planets and stars in efforts to understand them and their relation to us. Galileo turned one of the first telescopes toward the Moon and discovered that it was another world with mountains and what he thought were seas. When Galileo and the astronomers that followed him in the 18th and 19th centuries also discovered the (literally) astronomical distances between celestial objects, the age-old desire to reach the Moon became a symbol of the impossible.

But some people like to dream "impossible" dreams. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in Russia and Herman Oberth in Germany described how rockets could propel an object through space. An American dreamer, Robert Goddard, began building and flying small rockets in the 1920s. However, rockets remained little more than curiosities until they were developed into weapons of war. Germany developed V-2 rockets and used them to attack Britain during the Second World War. After the war, some of the remaining V-2 rockets and many of the German rocket scientists, including their leader, Wernher Von Braun, were brought to America to build rockets for the United States. Other German rocket scientists were taken to the U.S.S.R.

While the militaries of the U.S. and the Soviet Union were building on the V-2 technology to develop long-range missiles, scientists around the globe were planning an unprecedented experiment in peaceful scientific cooperation, the International Geophysical Year (IGY, July 1, 1957 - December 31, 1958). The IGY was organized to coordinate activities by scientists and governments around the world to study Earth as a planet. As part of the IGY, the United States announced that it would attempt to orbit an artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union later announced that it would do the same, but the declaration was not taken seriously or even noticed by most Americans. Behind the scenes, however, the Soviets had started an undeclared contest with the United States for superiority in space technology. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union succeeded in launching a satellite called "Sputnik" (traveling companion). The world was stunned by the accomplishment.

While the American civilian space program was openly publicized, and launch attempts were often televised live, the Soviet Union was secretive, only announcing successes after the fact and never admitting failures. Many Americans worried that if the U.S.S.R. could surprise the world by secretly developing the capability to launch the world's first artificial satellite, it could also launch nuclear weapons into orbit where they could be dropped on the United States with little or no warning. The U.S. had to catch up! Fast!! What had started out in a spirit of peaceful scientific cooperation had suddenly become a life-or-death contest. The Space Age - and an undeclared space race - had begun.

The United States successfully launched its first satellite, Explorer 1, which discovered Earth's Van Allen radiation belts, on January 31, 1958. The U.S. government established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and, in 1959, NASA announced the selection of the first seven astronauts. But on April 12, 1961, the Soviet Union scored another first when Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was launched into orbit and became the first human in space. Alan Shepard, the first American in space, followed with a brief suborbital flight on May 5, 1961. Less than three weeks later, on May 25, President John F. Kennedy called on Congress and the nation to attempt to land a man on the Moon and return him safely to the Earth before the end of the decade. The United States now knew it was in a race, and it had declared a finish line. The space race had become a race to the Moon.

Ed White - Space Walking

In 1965 and 1966 the Gemini Program flew 10 crewed flights; Gemini 3 through Gemini 12. These were the first space missions to rendezvous and dock with other spacecraft in orbit and to test astronauts and hardware for up to 2 weeks in Earth orbit. Gemini astronauts also conducted extensive EVAs (Extra Vehicular Activities - space walks). Ed White became the first American to walk in space from his Gemini 4 spacecraft launched June 3, 1965. Only Gemini 3, the first crewed Gemini spacecraft, had a call sign; "Molly Brown." Command pilot Gus Grissom, whose Mercury spacecraft sank and was lost after splashdown in the Atlantic, jokingly named his Gemini spacecraft in reference to the heroine of the musical comedy "The Unsinkable Molly Brown."

The Gemini Program taught us 1) how to "fly" a spacecraft by maneuvering in orbit and 2) how to rendezvous and dock with another spacecraft. These were the skills that would be required for the upcoming Apollo missions.

The Apollo Program

APOLLO 1

January 27, 1967

Virgil I. Grissom * Edward H. White II * Roger Chaffee

"If we die, we want people to accept it. We're in a risky business, and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life." - Gus Grissom

Apollo astronauts Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White II, and Roger B. Chaffee sacrificed their lives for the space program when a fire swept tough their Apollo Command Module during a pre-flight test at Pad 34, Kennedy Space Center, Cape Kennedy, Florida on January 27, 1967. The mission was scheduled for launch on February 21, 1967 and was to be the first crewed Apollo mission. The investigation of the fire led to major design, engineering and testing modifications that substantially improved the overall safety of the entire Apollo program.

The success of the Apollo space program is founded on the lessons learned in the tragedy of Apollo 1.

APOLLO 7

Apollo 7 Launch - October 11, 1968
The Maiden Voyage of the Apollo Spacecraft

The Apollo program arose from the ashes of Apollo 1 with the successful launch of Apollo 7 on October 11, 1968. Commander Walter "Wally" M. Schirra, Jr., Command Module Pilot Donn F. Eisele and Lunar Module Pilot Walter Cunningham checked out the re-engineered Apollo Command and Service Module for the maiden crewed voyage of the Apollo space program.

APOLLO 8

Apollo 8 Patch

On December 21, 1968, Apollo 8 Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James A. Lovell, Jr., and Lunar Module Pilot William A. Anders became the first human interplanetary space explorers when they left the bounds of Earth's gravity and flew 10 orbits around the Moon. The crew of Apollo 8 brought back the first photograph of the Earth as a globe in space: a Christmas gift for humanity.

From the crew of Apollo 8 The crew of Apollo 8 brought back the first photograph of the Earth as a globe in space; a Christmas gift to humanity.

APOLLO 9

Apollo 9, launched March 3, 1969, was the first flight test Saturn V/Apollo Spacecraft in full lunar mission configuration. Apollo 9 conducted tests of the Command Module and the Lunar Module in Earth orbit. Command Module Pilot David R. Scott, was left alone to fly the Command Module named "Gumdrop," while Mission Commander James A. McDivitt, and Lunar Module Pilot Russell L. Schweickart tested the spindly legged lunar lander they called "Spider."

Spider

APOLLO 10

Earthrise from Apollo 10 Apollo 10, launched on May 18, 1969, was a full dress rehearsal of the landing mission and also a reconnaisance mission in which potential landing sites were reconnoitered. After separating from the Command Module named "Charlie Brown" and dropping from lunar orbit at 60 miles down to 50,000 feet, Mission Commander Thomas P. Stafford and Lunar Module Pilot Eugene A. Cernan barnstormed the mountains of the moon at 3,700 mph in their Lunar Module called "Snoopy." As they skimmed over the mountains of the Moon, Gene Cernan called out; "Houston, this is Snoopy! We is Go and we is down among' em, Charlie!" At the low point in their trajectory, the crew attempted to release their decent stage. Immediately the spacecraft began pitching up and down and violently yawing left and right. "We've got some wild gyrations." Cernan announced as he wrestled with the controls. For 8 tense seconds the crew fought to regain control of their ship. "Hit the AGS!" Cernan yelled to Stafford to deactivate the Abort Guidance System. Somehow an abort system switch had been left in an incorrect position. This caused the spacecraft to begin radar searching and firing rockets in an attempt to find its mother ship, "Charley Brown." The quick thinking of the skilled crew brought their ship back under control and headed back up to a rendevous with the Command ship and Command Module Pilot John W. Young for a flight home to Earth. If the crew of Snoopy had not reacted as swiftly as they had, after another 2 seconds, their spacecraft would have locked into a dive that would have crashed Apollo 10 on the Moon.

Proximity to Earth

The Delphi Project

Education Program

Membership Program

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