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1971-1972
From Tragedy to Triumph: America's Crowning Achievement
The Moon was close and the final push was on. Then in 1967, two tragedies brought both programs to an unfortunate halt. In January, in a final dress rehearsal for the first Apollo flight, astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee were killed in a flash-fire that engulfed the Apollo 1 spacecraft. As a country dealt with the loss of heroes and looked for answers, the Moon would have to wait.
The Soviets’ quest for the Moon was derailed in April, although it would be years later before the world knew why. After a successful mission onboard the Soyuz 1 capsule, Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov was killed when the parachutes that were to bring the spacecraft safely back to Earth failed, slamming the capsule into the Earth. The dream of planting the Soviet flag on the Moon slipped further out of reach.
Compounding the difficulties of the Soviet lunar program, the development of their massive N-1 rocket, the equivalent of the American Saturn V, was beset with problems and was never successfully launched. The world didn’t know it at the time, but the delays associated with the loss of Soyuz 1 and the failure to get the N-1 operational ended the Soviet’s chance at the Moon.
The glow of the Moon was now focused on the United States.
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“You can tell the world we have arrived”
In December 1968, on the first manned flight of the mammoth Saturn V rocket, the crew of Apollo 8 set its sights on the Moon. After the first operational flight of the redesigned Apollo Command Module in Earth’s orbit during the Apollo 7 mission, the flight of Apollo 8 was to take the spacecraft to its ultimate destination–some 250,000 miles away. Crew members Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders became the first humans to see the backside of the Moon, and on a memorable Christmas Eve, addressed their home planet by reading from the book of Genesis.
By July of 1969, after two more flights of the Saturn V and the full operational tests of the Command and Lunar Module, it was time to fulfill the dream set in motion by President Kennedy. Apollo 11 left Earth on July 16, 1969 and the entire world watched with eager anticipation at what would be the greatest scientific accomplishment in the history of humankind. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, detached from the Command Module and their crew member Michael Collins, descended towards the desolate lunar surface while the world held its collective breath.
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One small step for man...
On July 20, 1969 man first set foot on another world. President Kennedy’s goal was met with six months to spare.
From 1969 to 1972, six Apollo missions made it to the Moon’s surface, collecting Moon rocks and a wealth of scientific data allowing us to better understand our universe. But Apollo’s greatest accomplishment–the legacy of the Moon–was not in what it brought back from the Moon, but rather that it went at all.
An impossible task... the focused energy and collective might of a country... the
will to overcome incredible lows and to take pride in amazing highs... the Moon
will forever shine as a reminder of how great a country can be and serve as a
nightly reminder that we belong amongst the stars.
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