In This Article
30-Second Summary
Headline Link: ‘A Giant Leap for Mankind’
Background: Previous Apollo missions; JFK’s ‘man on the moon’ speech
Historical Context: Cold War and the arms race
Opinion & Analysis: Criticism and suspicion
Later Developments: More Apollo missions; the debate over Armstrong’s words
Reference: Images and videos from Apollo 11
Related Topics: Apollo 1; what’s new on the Moon
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Associated Press
Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong walks slowly away from the lunar module to explore
the surface of the moon. (AP)
Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong walks slowly away from the lunar module to explore
the surface of the moon. (AP)
On this Day: Neil Armstrong Is First Man to Walk on the Moon
July 20, 2008 12:10 AM
by
Erin Harris
On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 reached its destination and American Commander Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the Moon.
Email This30-Second Summary
Five previous Apollo missions had failed to bring humans to the moon.
Since the end of the Second World War, the U.S. had been in a race against foreign powers to produce the most advanced space technology. In 1957, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, Earth’s first artificial satellite, America quickened its pace.
President John F. Kennedy asked Congress in 1961 to devote more of its funds, resources, and time to space exploration and set a goal for the country to be first to send a man to the Moon.
On July 16, the spacecraft, crewed by Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center and embarked on its eight-day journey to the moon and back. The team spent 21 hours at their lunar destination, where they set up the American flag, collected rock samples, and left behind an honorary plaque.
Although it was called a “giant leap for mankind,” not everyone supported or even believed in the Apollo 11 mission. Critics argued that it distracted the government from real issues, like poverty and disease, while skeptics questioned whether the event had even occurred.
Six Apollo operations were conducted after Armstrong and Aldrin anchored their flag into the moon’s rocky surface, but human expeditions to the moon were halted in 1972 after the Apollo 17 mission. NASA has made breakthroughs in recent decades, however, and plans to return human astronauts to the moon by 2020.
Since the end of the Second World War, the U.S. had been in a race against foreign powers to produce the most advanced space technology. In 1957, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, Earth’s first artificial satellite, America quickened its pace.
President John F. Kennedy asked Congress in 1961 to devote more of its funds, resources, and time to space exploration and set a goal for the country to be first to send a man to the Moon.
On July 16, the spacecraft, crewed by Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center and embarked on its eight-day journey to the moon and back. The team spent 21 hours at their lunar destination, where they set up the American flag, collected rock samples, and left behind an honorary plaque.
Although it was called a “giant leap for mankind,” not everyone supported or even believed in the Apollo 11 mission. Critics argued that it distracted the government from real issues, like poverty and disease, while skeptics questioned whether the event had even occurred.
Six Apollo operations were conducted after Armstrong and Aldrin anchored their flag into the moon’s rocky surface, but human expeditions to the moon were halted in 1972 after the Apollo 17 mission. NASA has made breakthroughs in recent decades, however, and plans to return human astronauts to the moon by 2020.
Headline Link: ‘A Giant Leap for Mankind’
Time magazine provided vivid coverage of the landing: “The ghostly, white-clad figure slowly descended the ladder. Having reached the bottom rung, he lowered himself into the bowl-shaped footpad of Eagle, the spindly lunar module of Apollo 11. Then he extended his left foot, cautiously, tentatively, as if testing water in a pool—and, in fact, testing a wholly new environment for man. That groping foot, encased in a heavy multi-layered boot (size 9½B), would remain indelible in the minds of millions who watched it on TV, and a symbol of man's determination to step—and forever keep stepping—toward the unknown.”
Source: Time
Background: Previous Apollo missions; JFK’s ‘man on the moon’ speech
Five Apollo missions were launched before Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 crew touched down in July, 1969. None brought man to the moon and the first ended before it even began when its command module burst into flames at Kennedy Space Station on Jan. 27, 1967. Other attempts, however, were more successful and provided NASA researchers with photographs of the Earth and moon and the first live TV transmissions from space.
Source: SPACE.com
President John F. Kennedy’s speech on May 25, 1961 encouraged Congress to provide funds and resources to bring American space exploration to the moon: “I believe that 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. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space and,” Kennedy added, “none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.”
Source: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Historical Context: Cold War and the arms race
Cold War tensions mounted in 1957 when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I, Earth’s first artificial satellite, into orbit. The United States, fearing that it had fallen behind in the technological development race, began to pour additional funding into its space and weapons programs. Ever since the end of World War II, Germany, the Soviet Union, and the U.S. had also been busy fighting to develop the world’s first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
Source: U.S. Department of State
Opinion & Analysis: Criticism and suspicion
Although most Americans were proud to see their flag waving majestically on the newly breached lunar surface, many criticized the federal government for allocating too much funding for moon exploration, while ignoring problems at home. Time magazine reported, “Opposition to an expensive space program runs especially high among most of the nation's blacks. Black Panther Leader Eldridge Cleaver, a fugitive from justice in California, turned up in Algiers to denounce the moon shot as ‘a circus to distract people's minds from the real problems, which are here on the ground.’”
Source: Time magazine
Conspiracy theories surfaced in the 1970s that the Apollo 11 mission and subsequent moon landings had been faked by NASA. Snopes suggests that people may have believed in the hoax because “Americans’ confidence in their government was at a low ebb due to America’s controversial military involvement in Vietnam,” but the site dismisses the theories as false. NASA provided convincing evidence of the Apollo missions’ validity. In a 2001 CNN report, NASA responded to a TV program that had accused the space agency of faking the landings, pointing out that “the program never raised the issue of more than 800 pounds (363 kg) of lunar rocks that astronauts brought back to Earth.” Such rocks, NASA confirmed, could not be found or manufactured on Earth.
Source: Snopes
Later Developments: More Apollo missions; the debate over Armstrong’s words
Six more Apollo missions were launched to explore the moon after Armstrong’s landing in 1969. However, “Active human exploration of the moon came to an end on Dec. 19, 1972, when Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.” President George W. Bush's Vision for U.S. Space Exploration aims to bring humans back to the moon by 2020 in order to “foster further scientific study of Earth's satellite and to use it as a stepping stone to get to Mars and beyond.”
Source: National Geographic
Among Armstrong’s first words when he stepped foot on the moon were, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Or so America thought. There is a debate surrounding whether or not “a” was omitted from the famous line. After much fuss about such a tiny word, officials agree that Armstrong did say, “one step for a man.” The BBC notes that, “without the missing ‘a’, the meaning of the quote is lost. In effect, the line means: ‘That's one small step for mankind, one giant leap for mankind.’”
Source: The BBC
Reference: Images and videos from Apollo 11
The National Aeronautics and Space Organization image gallery houses photographs of the Apollo 11 mission. See pictures of the liftoff, a footprint in lunar soil, and an image of the Earth rising over the moon.
Source: National Aeronautics and Space Organization
Watch video footage of Armstrong taking his first steps on the crater-drenched moon surface, just like millions of viewers did in their living rooms on the night of July 20, 1969. This clip includes audio of Armstrong’s first impressions of how difficult it was to balance his center of mass in the foreign atmosphere.
Source: YouTube
Related Topics: Apollo 1; what’s new on the Moon
On Jan. 27, 1967, America’s first planned mission to the moon, Apollo 1, ended in tragedy. Astronauts Virgil I. Grissom, Edward H. White, and Roger B. Chaffee were killed when flames erupted in their command module during a practice launch session. The team did not even make it to the real lift-off, which was schedule for February 21.
Source: findingDulcinea
Scientists have recently found evidence that water has been trapped inside of the moon, possibly for billions of years. These findings came after deeper investigation of volcanic rock produced by the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s indicating that the existence of plant life on the moon is not out of the question.
Source: findingDulcinea
© 2008 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
