![]() When I ask Buzz how it felt, the former pilot, who shot down two Russian-built MIG 15 jets in the Korean War, gives me a mischievous smile. Speaking of the moment he heard Armstrong had died of a heart attack he said: “I was getting ready to get on an airplane when the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation called to let me know” "He was extraordinary in his talents, his reactions and his ability to make judgements.” “Neil wasn’t a person that was a back-slapping easy to get along with kind of guy. “He was an absolutely essential major contributor to the success of the mission. When I ask Buzz, two months after Armstrong’s death, if they were friends, he pauses for a second. And one of the most enduring is that the pair didn’t get along. Like other incredible feats, many myths have become attached to the Apollo 11 landing. Perhaps there will be another space race between the US and the new world superpower, China, that will reignite interest in humanity's possibilities beyond our own planet.AS the first men to walk on the Moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s act of amazing human endeavour has become the stuff of legend. Both China and India have joined Russia in creating plans to return to the Moon. The first test mission is due in November of this year.Īnd it hasn't just been the US in planning further lunar flights. NASA announced in 2017 that their plan was to put the first woman on the Moon as well as crating plans to build a human colony. NASA's eyes turned toward plans for shuttles and the ISS, away from rocket engineering.īut in recent years there has been renewed focus on the Moon. However, after the first successful manned mission, the follow up missions were nowhere near as popular and only three years later moon missions were halted. It answered questions about our planet, asked new ones and generated stunning photos that showcased our planet and reflected the technological brilliance humanity can create. The samples gathered from the satellite helped decipher what the Moon was, what it was made of and how it got there. Visiting the Moon gave humanity the first glimpses of how our planet was created, a ball of floating rock drifting listlessly through space. Customs declaration after first moon landing by astronauts of today 1969: /z4F7Lx3xLl- Michael Beschloss July 20, 2021 ![]() It was here that Armstrong uttered the famous words: "that's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind."Īpollo 11 U.S. Collins stayed in the command module while Armstrong and Aldrin went to the surface of the Moon. Without a hitch the crew reached the Moon's orbit. There was no certainty that their mission would be a success and several astronauts had perished before in disasters on the launchpad. The landing itselfĪfter setting off July 16, the three-man crew of Commander Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins let Cape Canaveral in Apollo 11, their craft for the journey. The US had many tests and many failures which resulted in deaths of astronauts.īut finally in 1969 NASA was prepared to take on the challenge mere months before President Kennedy's lunar deadline as up. Played against the backdrop of the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement, the two superpowers engaged in hurried rocket development. ![]() The stakes had been raised but there was only one more obstacle. Kennedy announced a month later, "I believe 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 Earth." The Soviets achieved the first victory when on April 12 1961, they sent pilot Yuri Gagarin into the Earth's orbit, the first man in space. The USSR tested their first nuclear bomb in 1949 and took the first steps into space by sending Sputnik, the world's first satellite, into orbit around the planet in 1957. After the Americans detonated the first atomic weapon in August 1945, the Soviets felt they had to match the Americans in scientific capability. Both nations engaged in a technological challenge to see who was superior. Both sides engaged in numerous proxy wars with smaller countries, by either sponsoring warring factions or sending soldiers to fight, without going to war against each other.īut it was not just a war of armies. d1kRCZb1Pd- National Air and Space Museum JThe Cold Warīetween 19 the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in what is now known as the Cold War. ![]() This photo shows both astronauts on the Moon, with Armstrong reflected in the visor of Aldrin's helmet. Today in 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the Moon. ![]()
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