Science Inspiration: Journey to the Moon

The three manned Apollo-11, which had enough space for astronauts to not only move about but also to stand erect within it, set out on a journey to the moon on July 16, 1969. The special feature of Apollo’s landing on the moon was that its two astronauts could touch the surface of the moon with the help of the four legged lunar module Eagle.

At 10.56 pm on July 20, 1969. Neil Armstrong set his foot on the surface of the moon. He was the first human being to put his foot on the moon.

In his radio communication sent to the earth Neil Armstrong described it as one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind. Therefore, Edwin Aldrin stepped out on the moons surface. Michael Collins remained aboard the Apollo 11 command module in orbit. The two astronauts spent around 2 hours 30 minutes on the moon. During this period, they collected samples of moon’s rocks and soil weighing over 20 kg.

The total estimated expenditure on this US space programme at sending men to the moon, with Apollo 17 was around 2,554.1 million dollars. With a view to reduce expenditure space shuttle was invented by the US scientists. Space shuttle is a reusable manned space vehicle with a speed of about 28,000 km. per hour. The first space shuttle Columbia was launched on April 12, 1981. The USSR launched a similar space vehicle named buran in September 1988 which returned to the earth safely after successfully completing the mission.

After the success of this mission, the following persons made journey to the moon under the Apollo programme. They brought with them rocks and soil weighing 3,800 kg.

Apollo 12 : Conrad, Bean, Gordon November 14, 1969

Apollo 14 : Shepard, Mitchell, Roosa January 31, 1971

Apollo 15 : Scott, Irwin, Worden July 26, 1971

Apollo 16 : young, Duke, Mattingly II april 16, 1972

Apollo 17 : Cernan, Schmitt, Evans December 7, 1972