XX century - the era of human breakthrough into space. Her main achievements were manned flights to low Earth orbit, man’s exit into airless space and the development of the Earth’s satellite - the Moon. The paradox is that people began to forget the contribution made by the American Apollo program (1969-1972), which allowed people to escape beyond the boundaries of their own planet, and today few people can answer the question of how many people have visited the Moon.
The decision that changed the world
This year marks the 55th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy ’s historic announcement of the launch of a project called Apollo. This was a response to the flight of Yuri Gagarin and the prevailing lag of the United States in space exploration. The lunar project was to not only make a quantum leap glorifying the country's scientific and technological power, but also distract the people from the unpopular war in Vietnam. There is documentary evidence that Kennedy, after studying the financial and scientific side of the issue, suggested N.S. Khrushchev to unite the efforts of the two countries on the implementation of lunar expeditions, trying to create a "space bridge" between the superpowers, but was refused.
Today it is known that the program cost the United States $ 26 billion. This is 10 times the cost of creating an atomic bomb. But Kennedy nevertheless made an important decision, proving the limitless possibilities of man and writing his name in the history of the development of astronautics. When answering the question about how many people visited the moon, it should be remembered that 24 pilots reached its orbit, but only 12 managed to leave their mark on its surface. And before the first successful launch, there were four test runs, during the preparation for which three astronauts died in January 1967.
First crew
Apollo 11 became a spaceship that delivered the first successful expedition to the lunar surface. Its launch on July 16, 1969 was shown live on television. The first days that the ship was in low Earth orbit, the daily video broadcast continued, indicating great expectations associated with this particular crew. Captain Neil Armstrong, the main pilot Michael Collins, the pilot of the lunar module Edwin Aldrin - experienced pilots who were in space on the Gemini spacecraft, entered the lunar orbit on the fourth day after turning on the third-stage engines.
The next day, two of them moved to the lunar module and, after activating its systems and undocking, switched to a descent orbit. A feature of this expedition was that after turning on the landing engines, the pilot managed to land the module in a matter of seconds before the critical mark of fuel consumption. Neil Armstrong is the first earthling to receive permission to enter the surface of the moon. He was followed by Edwin (in 88 he changed his name to Buzz Aldrin), who performed the sacrament on the moon.
After spending about 2.5 hours on the surface (the rest of the time was spent in the module), the crew collected rock samples, made video and photographs, by July 24, had safely returned to their home planet, landing in a given square.
Inspired by Success
The first crew returned to the United States as heroes, and on November 14, the Apollo 12 was launched under the control of an experienced astronaut who made two flights into space on the Gemini spacecraft (1965, 1966). Pete Conrad with his comrades (Alan Bean and Richard Gordon) during the start were faced with emergency situations associated with two lightning strikes. In front of President Nixon, who was present at the launch, electric discharges disabled a number of sensors, causing the fuel cells to turn off. The crew managed to rectify the situation as soon as possible.
Konrad and Bin had to spend two days on the lunar surface (active output was 3.5 hours). At the landing site, they encountered a cloud of dust and managed to get to the Surveyor-3 apparatus, making a significant contribution to the development of science. Due to problems with the camcorder, it was not possible to make a video broadcast directly from the place of disembarkation of the crew.
Included in the list of people who have visited the moon
The United States, in the framework of the Apollo program, sent 9 expeditions to the Earth satellite. Astronauts from six crews managed to land on the moon. All of them consisted of three people, two of whom were transplanted into the lunar module. After the April failure of 1970 associated with the accident aboard Apollo 13, which did not fulfill its mission, the next successful expedition occurred in February 71st. Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell (by the way, they were supposed to be the crew of the 13th Apollo) managed not only to conduct seismic experiments, but also to go out into outer space twice.
Three days each were spent on the surface of the Earth’s satellite by David Scott and James Irwin, members of the next expedition (July 1971), and John Young and Charles Duke (April 1972), who made a long trip on a lunar rover. The crew of Apollo 17 put an end to the implementation of the lunar program. Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt made their last flight in December 1972, and Cernan managed to scratch her daughter's initials on parting on the lunar soil . For him, it was the second flight to the satellite of the Earth, as well as at three of his comrades. But answering the question of how many people have visited the moon, it should be borne in mind that only once each of them touched the lunar surface.
Apollo Program Completion
Today, the launch site (Cape Canaveral), owned by the US Air Force, is in desolation. Despite the alleged continuation of the Apollo launches, none of the three subsequent launches were completed. The main reason is the huge costs that do not bring a new breakthrough in space exploration. Of the 12 heroes who broke out of the near-Earth space, nine remained alive. Their life does not resemble the life of Hollywood stars. All of them soon left NASA, almost forgotten by their fellow citizens. Surprisingly, the first flight participants received the highest US award (Congressional Gold Medal) only for the fortieth anniversary of the launch.
To the question of how many people have visited the moon, many today answer: "not a single one." These are those who share the “conspiracy theory” that appeared with the light hand of writer Bill Casing, who questioned the reality of flying to the moon. Defending his honor, 72-year-old Buzz Aldrin, in venerable age, publicly hit the face of a journalist who expressed his doubts. In 2009, the United States presented satellite imagery to the public, confirming the presence of astronauts on the surface of an Earth satellite.
The completion of the program and the lack of interaction in this direction of the two space powers is very sad, because it can become a bridge to future flights to Mars.