Apollo XI
On July 16, 1969, the whole world has experienced an unprecedented event that has attracted the attention and curiosity of even the unbelievers. It was 9:32 am when the Saturn V launch vehicle weighing just over 3 000 tonnes off from Launch Complex 39, Cape Canaveral. The camera moves in low orbit around the earth to await the relative positioning of the rocket. Two half hours later, after a revolution and a half around the earth, the 3rd floor of the unit is turned on for six minutes to allow the space trying to cling to the gravity and to take the lead before the lead near the moon according to the distance and as scheduled. Already in 1961, US President John F. Kennedy had set a goal to be a crew safe on the moon before the end of the 1960s wanted by this fact demonstrate and prove to the world indisputably and unequivocally supérioté US on the Soviet Union, his then challenger in the field of space flight. This experience is the culmination of a project that has mobilized and engulfed the human, human lives and considerable financial resources. It allowed the space agency to catch up and surpass the Soviet astronautics. The US space agency NASA has been used for this purpose. During this historic mission, 21, 7 kg of lunar rocks and soil were collected. Several scientific instruments were installed on the surface of our satellite. The mission provided substantial and satisfactory results. It took place without incident and the first steps of man on the moon were filmed and broadcast live by a video camera to several hundred million people mobilized in the circumstances.
To realize this program is both ambitious and-spending, the US spent $ 135 billion and mobilized more than 400,000 engineers and designed several preparatory space missions, including Apollo XI was consecration. The bad experience of Apollo I whose spaceship was burned to the ground and the crew perished burned had led to a postponement of nearly two years of the calendar. The experiences that followed were conducted without crew. They were intended to test in low Earth orbit Saturn V rocket and the two spaceships. Four other missions were launched in a very short term of seven months but with crew. They were intended to complete the qualification of vessels by a repetition of the different phases. All these tasks were conducted without major difficulties. Apollo 7 was the 1st manned mission of the Apollo program. It was launched in October 1968 to validate the changes made to the spacecraft after the fire of Apollo I. Apollo 8 was launched in December 1968, was the first authorized flight to leave Earth's orbit. It was a risky mission because no charging alternatives were considered in the event of a technical failure of the ship's engine at the time of its lunar orbit injection and on the return path since the Lunar Module was replaced by a model. Apollo 8 has allowed for the first time for a man to directly observe the far side of the moon. In March 1969, they launched Apollo 9, which carries out the first flight test of all equipment provided louse a lunar mission. The astronauts performed a spacewalk from 56 seconds to simulate the crew transfer to the lunar module Apollo spacecraft through the outside. Before the launch of Apollo X NASA managers decided that this mission was that of the first landing on the Moon, for all vehicles and maneuvers were tested without any major problem has been detected .
The crew of Apollo XI crew of Apollo XI was composed of three full members: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Edwing Collins; three alternates in the event of failure of one of them before the flight. Armstrong would be replaced by Jim Lovell; Aldrin and Collins Fred Haise Bill Anders. Armstrong was a graduate of the University PURDUE. He began his career as a fighter pilot in the US Navy from 1949 to 1952. He participated as such in the Korean War. In 1955, he became a test pilot at the NACA which is the forerunner of NASA. He was recruited as an astronaut by NASA in 1962 and became the commander of the Gemini 8 mission, which succeeded the first docking with another spacecraft. He commanded the Apollo XI mission and piloted the lunar module to the lunar surface. Aldrin was educated at West Point in 1930 to become a fighter pilot in the air force. He also participated in the Korean War. He picked up a doctorate in astronautical science in 1963 with a dissertation on orbital rendezvous techniques between vessels with crew. He was selected by NASA in the group of three astronauts. It was in 1966 the commander and the mission's pilot GEMINI 12 whose main objective was to demonstrate that an astronaut can also work in space. In the Apollo XI mission, he was the second member of the crew to go to the moon. Collins also studied at West Point in 1930. He also became pilot of Air Force fighter. He was selected by NASA in the same group Aldrin. He participated in the mission Gemini 10 during which he performed two spacewalks. In the Apollo XI mission, he was the pilot of the command module. This extraordinary transaction made these famous men because they were the first to touch the lunar soil even if part of the mission Apollo XI was performed by Apollo X during the rehearsals; however some crucial phases such as landing and take off of the moon and the use of the space suit on the Moon were never carried out and present significant and very high risk. Realizing this mission and returning to earth intact, these men made history and entered immortality.
The time is not a place but a dimension in which are hidden the biggest revelations and the biggest achievements in history. Apollo XI is a typical example
