People have always been interested in space. The moon, being closest to our planet, became the only celestial body that man has visited. How did the research of our satellite begin, and who won the palm in landing on the moon?
Natural satellite
The moon is a celestial body that has been accompanying our planet for centuries. It does not emit light, but only reflects it. The moon is the satellite of the earth, which is closest to the sun. In the firmament of our planet, it is the second object in brightness.
We always see one side of the moon due to the fact that its rotation is synchronized with the rotation of the earth around its axis. The Moon moves around the Earth unevenly - either moving away or approaching it. The great minds of the world have long puzzled over the study of its movement. This is an incredibly complex process that is affected by the flattening of the Earth and the attraction of the Sun.
Scientists still argue about how the moon was formed. There are three versions, one of which - the main one - was put forward after obtaining samples of the lunar soil. She was nicknamed the giant collision theory. It is based on the assumption that more than 4 billion years ago two protoplanets collided, and their breakaway particles stuck in low Earth orbit, eventually forming the moon.
Another theory suggests that the Earth and its natural satellite formed due to a gas and dust cloud at the same time. Proponents of the third theory suggest that the moon arose far from Earth, but was captured by our planet.
The beginning of the exploration of the moon
Even in ancient times, this celestial body haunted humanity. The first exploration of the moon was conducted in the II century BC by Hipparchus, who tried to describe its motion, size and distance from the Earth.
In 1609, Galileo invented the telescope, and the exploration of the moon (albeit visual) moved to a new stage. It became possible to study the surface of our satellite, to see its craters and mountains. For example, Giovanni Riccioli made it possible to create one of the first lunar maps in 1651. At that time, the term “sea” was born, which means dark areas of the surface of the moon, and craters began to be named after famous personalities.
In the 19th century, photography came to the aid of astronomers, which allows more accurate studies of the features of the relief. Lewis Rutherford, Warren de la Rue and Pierre Jansen at different times actively studied the lunar surface from the images, and the latter created her "Photographic Atlas."
Mastering the moon. Rocket attempts
The first stages of the study have been completed, and interest in the moon is getting hotter. In the XIX century, the first thoughts about a space journey to a satellite were born, with which the history of the exploration of the moon begins. For such a flight, it was necessary to create an apparatus whose speed would be able to overcome gravity. It turned out that existing engines are not powerful enough to gain the necessary speed and maintain it. There were also difficulties with the motion vector of the vehicles, since after take-off they necessarily rounded off their movement and fell to Earth.
The decision came in 1903, when the engineer Tsiolkovsky created a project for a rocket capable of overcoming the gravitational field and reaching the goal. The fuel in the rocket engine was supposed to burn at the very beginning of the flight. So, its mass became much smaller, and the movement was carried out due to the released energy.
Who is first?
The 20th century was marked by large-scale military events. All scientific potential was directed into the military channel, and with the exploration of the moon it was necessary to slow down. The Cold War unfolded in 1946 made astronomers and engineers think again about space travel. One of the questions in the rivalry between the Soviet Union and the USA was the following: who is the first to land on the lunar surface?
The championship in the struggle for the exploration of the Moon and outer space went to the Soviet Union, and on October 4, 1957, the first artificial Earth satellite was launched , and two years later the first space station “Luna-1”, or, as it was called, “Dream”, went to the Moon .
In January 1959, the AMS - an automatic interplanetary station - traveled about 6 thousand kilometers from the moon, but could not land. The "Dream" fell into the heliocentric orbit, becoming an artificial satellite of the Sun. The period of its revolution around the star is 450 days.
The moon landing failed, but very valuable data were obtained on the outer radiation belt of our planet and the solar wind. It was possible to establish that the natural satellite has an insignificant magnetic field.
Following the Union, in March 1959, the United States released the Pioneer-4, which flew 60,000 km from the moon, falling into solar orbit.
The real breakthrough occurred on September 14 of the same year, when the Luna-2 spacecraft made the world's first “moon landing”. The station did not have depreciation, so the landing was tough, but significant. Did it "Moon-2" near the Sea of Rains.
Exploring the lunar expanses
The first landing paved the way for further research. Following “Luna-2” was sent “Luna-3”, circled the satellite and photographed the “dark side” of the planet. The lunar map became more complete, new crater names appeared on it: Jules Verne, Kurchatov, Lobachevsky, Mendeleev, Pasteur, Popov, etc.
The first American station landed on a satellite of the Earth only in 1962. It was the Ranger-4 station, which fell on the far side of the moon.
Further, the American "Rangers" and the Soviet "Moon" and "Probes" took turns attacking the space expanses, either by televising the lunar surface or breaking it into smithereens. The first soft landing pleased the Luna-9 station in 1966, and the Luna-10 became the first moon satellite. Having circled this planet 460 times, the "satellite of the satellite" cut off communication with the Earth.
Luna-9 broadcast a telecast shot by an automatic machine. From television screens, the Soviet audience watched the shooting of cold desert expanses.
The United States followed the same course as the Union. In 1967, the American station Surveyer-1 made the second soft landing in the history of space exploration.
To the moon and back
For several years, Soviet and American researchers managed to achieve incredible success. The mysterious night star shone the consciousness of both great minds and hopeless romantics for many centuries. Step by step, the moon was getting closer and more accessible for humans.
The next goal was not just to send a space station to the satellite, but also to return it back to Earth. The engineers faced new challenges. The device, flying back, had to enter the earth's atmosphere at a not too steep angle, otherwise it could burn out. Too a large angle, on the contrary, could create a rebound effect, and the device would again fly into space, without reaching the Earth.
Difficulties with angle calibration have been resolved. A series of devices "Probe" from 1968 to 1970 successfully made flights with landing. "Probe-6" became a test. He had to perform a test flight, so that later he could carry out astronaut pilots. The device circled the moon at a distance of 2500 km, but when it returned to Earth, the parachute opened too early. The station crashed, and the flight of the astronauts was canceled.
Americans on the moon: the first moon explorers
Steppe turtles, this is who first circled the moon and returned to Earth. The animals were sent on a space flight on the Soviet ship Zond-5 in 1968.
The United States was clearly lagging behind in the exploration of the lunar expanses, because all the first successes belonged to the USSR. In 1961, the President of the States of Kennedy made a resounding statement that by 1970 a man would land on the moon. And the Americans will do it.
To implement such a plan, it was necessary to prepare reliable soil. The lunar surface photographs taken by the Ranger ships were studied, the anomalous phenomena of the moon were investigated.
For manned flights, the Apollo program was opened, which used the calculations of the flight path to the moon made by Ukrainian Yuri Kondratyuk. Subsequently, this trajectory was called the “Kondratyuk Track”.
Apollo 8 made its first pilot manned flight without landing. F. Borman, W. Anders, J. Lovell made several circles around a natural satellite, making a survey of the terrain for a future expedition. T. Stafford and J. Young on the Apollo 10 made a second flight around the satellite. The astronauts separated from the module of the ship and stayed 15 km from the moon separately.
After all the preparations, the Apollo 11 was finally sent. The Americans landed on the Moon on July 21, 1969 near the Sea of Tranquility. Neil Armstrong took the first step, followed by Edwin Aldrin. The astronauts stayed on a natural satellite for 21.5 hours.
Further study
After Armstrong and Aldrin, another 5 scientific expeditions went to the moon. The last time astronauts landed on the surface of the satellite in 1972. Throughout human history, it was only in these expeditions that people landed on other space objects.
The Soviet Union did not abandon the study of the surface of a natural satellite. Since 1970, the radio-controlled Lunokhods of the 1st and 2nd series were sent. Lunokhod on the Moon collected soil samples and photographed the relief.
In 2013, China became the third country to reach our satellite by making a soft landing using the Yutu rover.
Conclusion
The natural satellite of the Earth has long been an exciting object to study. In the XX century, the exploration of the moon from scientific research turned into a heated political race. A lot has been done to travel on it. Now the Moon remains the most studied astronomical object, which, moreover, was visited by man.