Humans in space orbiting the earth was beyond the imagination in the 1960s. It would take all those involved working with a common purpose, with a knowing of the difficulties they might face, yet remain dedicated, so that mankind might somehow prosper from the endeavor. It would take the American spirit, along with a bit of German ingenuity.
America reached for the stars …
The space race opened in 1957 when Russia launched, Sputnik, the first artificial Earth satellite into space. When Kennedy was elected President of the U.S., in 1960, he was committed to the idea, that before the decade’s end Americans would walk on the moon. “We need to take a leading roll”, President Kennedy had declared.
The Marshall Flight Center, together with a team of German rocket engineers and technicians headed up by, Wernher von Braun, developed a rocket capable of carrying a man to the moon. By 1963 the rocket manufacturing processes were ironed out and the Saturn V was selected, by NASA, (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) to carry a man to the moon.
The spacecraft carried a 2 member crew, in which, 10 crews flew, on low earth orbit missions, under NASA’s, Project Gemini, they began in 1961. Three astronauts died in air crashes during training, including both members of the prime crew for Gemini 9. NASA ended this program in 1966, however, this project though, paved the way for the Apollo missions.
The Apollo Mission Program (1963 – 1972), low earth orbit flights continued and lunar missions began.
The first three manned flight set to orbit the earth was the Apollo 7. Scheduled to launch in February of 67, the flight was delayed due to a fire, in the cabin during a test. The flight crew, Chaffee, White, and Grissom, died in the fire.
The following year on, Oct. 11, 1968 Apollo 7 launched. On board the flight was, Commander Walter Schirra, Commander Module Pilot, Donn Eisele and Lunar Module Pilot, R. Walter Cunningham, for a mission complete. This was also the first space mission of earth’s orbit to include a live Televised broadcast from the spacecraft. The flight lasted 10 days and 20 hours.
Subsequent missions that followed, the Apollo 8 mission, set to lunar orbit and return, in December of ’68, duration 6 days and 3 hours. The Apollo 9 mission, March 3, 1969, earth orbit, 10 days 1 hour. As well as, the Apollo 10 mission, lunar orbit, and return, May of ’69, duration 8 days.
On June 28th, before the Apollo 11 launch, a monkey, so-called Astromonk, named Bonny, from Thailand was launched into orbit around the earth. The little 14 pound monkey was given a mission, to stay alive, on his month long voyage. The monkey had 23 sensors surgically implanted in his body, so as to give scientist a better understanding of the physical and mental conditions one might endure, during space travel.
Bonny died though, 10 days after his mission began. His space capsule was brought down after 9 days, because he became unresponsive to commands; he died later in intensive care. In order for his mission to have been deemed successful, he would have needed to have been in orbit 15 days, according to officials. [Kansas State Collegian, July 9, 1969, Volume 75, archive.org]
One of the most awesome and celebrated moments in its time was the Apollo 11 mission; the first time humans walked on the surface of the moon. Most people in America if you ask them where they were or what they were doing, and if they were old enough to remember, they will be able to tell you. It was that kind of moment in time. Roughly 500 – 600 million viewed the event on their Televisions; some like I did, on black and white sets.
Despite the sensation, one quarter of the rest of the world was unaware of the event. The news media in nations, Asia, China, North Korea, North Vietnam and a tiny portion of Eastern Europe, elected not to cover the event. It was acknowledge by the Soviet Union, 10 minutes after the fact, with newspapers in Moscow giving extensive coverage. [Kansas State Collegian, July 22, 1969, Volume 75, archive.org]
On July 20th, 1969, the Apollo [Eagle] Lunar Module, piloted by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, landed on the moon, on the Sea of Tranquility at 4:17 p.m EDT, while Micheal Collins continued to orbit in the [Columbia] Command Module. Neil Armstrong radioed to, Mission Control Center, in Houston, “the Eagle has landed”. Seven hours later Neil Armstrong stepped from their craft out onto the moon. In that magnificent moment he said,
“That’s one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.”