WednesdayOctober 31, 2012(The Race to the
Moon: Project Apollo: Apollo 9 –
Apollo 11)
The Launch PadWednesday, 10/31/12
If you could somehow sit down and talk to
Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger
Chaffee about the cost of the Race to the Moon, what do you
think they would tell you?
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Recent Events in ScienceTwo new Science Teachers Hired at Nimitz High School
www.thisisa bunchofbull.comRead All About
It!
Nimitz High School today announced the resignation of
science teachers Mr. C and Ms. Q.They will be
replaced by two new teachers, one from
Bosnia and one from Romania.
The new teachers are expected to electrify their
students.
The Race to the Moon
Highlands
The Race to the MoonGrumman Aerospace Corporation was
the chief contractor on the Apollo Lunar Module, having received the
contract on November 7, 1962.The Lunar Module (LM) was an
extremely difficult vehicle to build, and as 1969 began it still was not ready to
fly.Concern was high, because without a lunar lander, there would be no Moon
landing.During January and February,
Grumman made strides that allowed the LM to be man-rated for Earth
orbital tests.
The Race to the MoonOn March 3, 1969, Apollo 9 lifted off
carrying the first Lunar Module to fly in space.
Astronauts Jim McDivitt, David Scott, And Rusty Schweickart spent 11 days in Earth orbit testing out the new lander.
McDivitt and Schweikart got into the LM, separated from the Command
Module containing Scott, and went out to a distance of 111 miles before
returning to the CM.
The LM had passed it first spaceflight test.
The Race to the MoonApollo 10 lifted off from Florida
on May 18, 1969 carrying astronauts Tom Stafford, John Young, And Gene Cernan, and
the second LM to fly.
Apollo 10 was a “dress rehearsal for the first lunar
landing mission.
This mission would go to the Moon, and enter lunar orbit, this time carrying the lander.
The Race to the MoonStafford and Cernan
would get into the LM and descend to within
50,000 feet of the surface, then return to
Young waiting in the CM.
The mission was successful, and the door
was open for the first lunar landing attempt.
The Race to the MoonThe mission given to
the next flight, Apollo 11, was to attempt the
first Moon landing.
The crew consisted of Neil Armstrong,
Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin, each
having flown once before of separate Gemini missions.
The Race to the MoonNeil Armstrong was a
38-year-old former Navy pilot.
He flew the X-15 rocket plane earlier in
his career.
Armstrong was the commander of Gemini VIII, the mission that performed the first
docking of two spacecraft in orbit.
The Race to the MoonMichael Collins was
a 38-year-old Air Force test pilot.
He performed America’s third EVA (spacewalk) during
the Gemini X mission in July
1966.
The Race to the MoonBuzz Aldrin was a
39-year-old Air Force test pilot.
He performed America’s fifth EVA (spacewalk) during
the Gemini XII mission in July
1966.
The Race to the MoonApollo 11 left for the
Moon on July 16, 1969 atop a Saturn V launch
vehicle.
The three astronauts coasted to the Moon over
the next three days.
The Race to the MoonOn Sunday morning, July
20th, Armstrong and Aldrin entered the lunar module
“Eagle” and undocked from the Command Module “Columbia”
containing Mike Collins.
Eagle backed away from Columbia and fired its
descent stage engine to begin the long ride down
to the surface.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piQ6r-cJUVI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al1Cs-9JMS8
The Race to the MoonAt 50,000 feet altitude
above the Moon’s surface, the descent
engine was fired again.
This time it remained on to slow the Eagle and allow it to proceed on down to the surface.
This was the Point where Apollo 10 went back up
to join the waiting command module.
The Race to the MoonA series of computer
program alarms sounded in the LM cockpit in the final few minutes of the landing phase, but controllers back on Earth told the astronauts to proceed with the landing
attempt.
Armstrong noticed that he was seeing landmarks on the surface a few seconds
ahead of the time he expected them, leading him
to believe they were heading for a spot a few
miles downrange from their intended target.
The Race to the MoonAs the surface drew and
nearer, Armstrong saw that the computer was flying Eagle into a boulder field with a large crater among
the boulders.Not wanting to land here,
he took over manual control of the lander and flew over the crater and
boulders, but this delayed the touchdown and caused
the spacecraft to run extremely low on fuel.Houston became very
concerned and considered an abort.
The Race to the MoonFinally, with 15 seconds
of fuel remaining, Eagle’s landing pads touched the
lunar surface.
Aldrin called out “contact light!”, Eagle’s descent engine shut down, and the lander settled softly onto the lunar surface.
Neil Armstrong’s first words after landing were
“Houston, Tranquility Base here… the Eagle has
landed.”
The Race to the MoonAfter spending a few hours checking out
all of Eagle’s systems, the
astronauts put on their lunar surface
suits, drained off the cabin pressure,
opened Eagle’s front door, and made final
preparations to make history’s first
“moonwalk.”
The Race to the MoonOn July 20, 1969, at 9:56 p.m.
Houston time, 39-yearold American astronaut Neil
Armstrong, 240,000 miles from Earth, speaks these words to
more than a billion people listening at home: "That's one small step for man, one giant
leap for mankind.“
Stepping off the lunar landing module Eagle, Armstrong
became the first human to walk on the surface of the Moon.
The Race to the MoonThe next morning, July 21st, Armstrong and Aldrin lifted off from the surface on the Moon, rendezvoused and then docked with Collins
waiting in Columbia.
Several hours later, the three Apollo 11 astronauts fires their main engine one more time and began their three-day journey home.
The Race to the MoonOn July 24th, 1969, the Apollo
11 Command Module carrying three American astronauts and many pounds of lunar soil and
rock samples entered the Earth’s atmosphere over the
Pacific Ocean.
Its parachutes opened and Columbia splashed down in
calm waters.
The astronauts were quickly taken onboard a helicopter to be transferred to the waiting
USS Hornet.
The Race to the MoonOver the next several
months, Neil Armstrong, Mike Collins, and Buzz
Aldrin were celebrated as heroes in parades around
the world.
The Race to the Moon was over, and America had
won.
John F. Kennedy’s national goal had been fulfilled.