In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the former Soviet Union won several space races in succession:/KOOC-0/957 65438+/KOOC-0 launched its first artificial earth satellite on October 4th,/KOOC-0/96/KOOC-0/2 April, the first astronaut Gagarin went into space ... Less than four weeks after Gagarin's flight, American astronaut Lieutenant Colonel alan shepard made a suborbital flight (186 km) in the Mercury spacecraft, which showed that the United States had the ability to get rid of the space dilemma. 1961On May 25th, American President Kennedy announced a grand manned moon landing plan to the whole world.
Although the Apollo manned moon landing program is the product of the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, it can also be regarded as the first step for mankind to expand into the solar system.
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Apollo manned moon landing project started in May of 196 1, and the first moon landing is expected to be realized from July 20th to July 20th of 1.
The first step of the project is to determine the moon landing plan, including demonstrating the flight orbit of the spacecraft to the moon and determining the overall layout of the manned spacecraft. Finally, the lunar orbit rendezvous scheme is selected, and the overall layout of the spacecraft consisting of command module, service module and lunar module is determined accordingly.
In order to carry out manned landing on the moon, the United States first implemented four auxiliary plans, namely, launching nine rover lunar orbiters from 196 1 to 1965 to understand the possibility of Apollo spacecraft landing on the moon in the future; Five "Explorer" lunar landers were launched from 1966 to 1968 to understand the physical and chemical characteristics of lunar soil. Three lunar orbiters were launched from 1966 to 1967, and more than 40 pre-selected landing sites were observed in detail, thus 10 landing sites were selected. From 1965 to 1966, 10 Gemini spacecraft was launched for biomedical research and spacecraft maneuvering flight, docking and extravehicular activity training.
The third aspect of "Apollo" plan is to develop Saturn V carrier rocket with high thrust and low orbital carrying capacity of 1.27 tons.
The development of Apollo spacecraft is the "highlight" of the project. The command module of the spacecraft is the place where astronauts live and work, and it is also the control center of the whole spacecraft. The service cabin is equipped with host computer and other systems; The lunar module consists of a descending stage and an ascending stage.
The first manned moon landing was completed by Apollo 1 1. At that time, there were three astronauts on board. When the spacecraft was separated from the third stage of Saturn V rocket, it began to approach the moon after flying in the transitional orbit for 2.5 days. At this time, the main engine of the spacecraft service module slowed down, making the spacecraft enter the orbit around the moon. Then, two astronauts entered the lunar module and drove it away from the spacecraft. At this time, one astronaut in the command module of the spacecraft continued to fly around the moon, while the other two astronauts landed on the surface of the moon in the lunar module. After landing on the moon, astronauts collected rocks and soil (22kg), deployed solar cell arrays and installed lunar seismographs. After the mission was completed, they returned to the lunar orbit by upgrading the lunar module, docked with the spacecraft, and finally returned to Earth.
From1969165438+10 to1972 65438+February, the United States successively launched the Apollo 12 to 17 spacecraft, among which "Apollo/.
Astronauts drilled a three-meter-long lunar core on the moon and found as many as 57 layers, each representing a meteorite impact, and measured the heat flow from the inside of the moon ... The "Apollo" project was spectacular and excited countless people's hearts, making the Millennium dream of manned landing on the moon a reality.
The eagle landed on the moon.
1July, 969 16, the huge Saturn 5 rocket (a 40-story building) slowly lifted off with the attention of millions of people. On this day, Wan Li was clear and Wan Li was cloudless. The sleeping moon seems to be quietly waiting for the arrival of Saturn 5 messenger. When Saturn V sent Apollo 1 1 spacecraft into low-earth orbit, the latter began to fly to the moon alone.
There are three astronauts on the Apollo spacecraft. The commander is neil armstrong, the lunar module pilot is Edwin Aldrin, and the command module pilot is Michael collins. It is about 380,000 kilometers from the earth to the moon. Apollo 1 1 spacecraft carrying three astronauts entered the gravitational circle of the moon on 19 after a long journey of 75 hours. On the morning of 20th, after Apollo reached 4,900 kilometers above the moon, he received an order from Houston Flight Command Center to slow down and enter the lunar orbit, so the engine of the spacecraft's service module injected reversely and entered the elliptical orbit with an apogee of 3,654,38+03 kilometers and a perigee of 654,38+065,438+03 kilometers. At this time, it took only two hours for the spacecraft to fly around the moon. In the lunar orbit, astronauts are nervously making preparations before landing on the moon. The most important time was that Armstrong and Aldrin entered the lunar module named Eagle, while Collins stayed in the command module named Columbia.
The great moment has finally arrived. 2 1 day at 2: 00, the engine of the lunar module was ignited and separated from the command module. The command module was driven by Collins and continued to fly around the moon, while the lunar module carried two astronauts slowly to the moon. When Armstrong saw a jumble of pebbles outside the window where he was going to land, he decided to continue flying and find a flat place. Finally, Aldrin's hand-controlled lunar module landed on the corner of the "Sea of tranquility" of the moon successfully.
One small step for the individual, one giant leap for mankind.
They looked out of the window and saw a strange world full of craters and big stones. Although both of them couldn't help but want to go out and see this mysterious place outside the earth, they restrained themselves and waited for instructions from the ground center as scheduled. They had a good sleep in the cabin first. After waking up, they ate the first meal on the moon in the cabin and checked the instruments, fuel devices and oxygen supply in the cabin. When everything was checked correctly, Armstrong and Aldrin helped each other put on the moon suit. On July 2 1 day, 1 1: 56, Armstrong opened the door of the lunar module, squeezed out and carefully put the ladder on the moon (this action has never been simulated on earth). He slowly walked down the ladder with a TV camera and set foot on the moon that people have dreamed of for thousands of years. At this time, he said, "This is a small step for me, but for me, after 19 minutes, Aldrin followed Armstrong's footsteps out of the lunar module. When he walked on the moon, his first sentence was, "Oh, how beautiful!" " "Like Armstrong, he quickly learned a moving method that people on earth are not used to: jumping. Sometimes they jump on one foot, sometimes they jump on both feet, and some of them are like kangaroos. The two men first placed a metal commemorative plaque on the moon, which read: "June 65438+July 0969. This is the place where the earth people landed on the moon for the first time. We arrived here safely on behalf of all mankind. "
On the afternoon of July 22nd 1: 56, Armstrong was ordered to command the command module of Apollo-1 1 spacecraft to leave the lunar orbit and embark on a journey back to Earth. On the morning of July 25th 1: 5 0, Apollo-1/the command module of the spacecraft splashed down safely in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and the first landing on the moon ended successfully.
Go down in history forever
After "Apollo 1 1" landed on the moon, five more spacecraft landed on the moon one after another, among which "Apollo 15" and "Apollo 16" each launched a scientific satellite around the moon. Apollo-15, 16 and 17 were also equipped with a lunar rover, which was used to expand the activities of astronauts and reduce physical consumption. The astronauts of these six spacecraft stayed on the moon for 280 hours, with a footprint of 100 km, and brought back about 440 kilograms of rock samples, which greatly enriched people's understanding of the moon.
Apollo program is one of the largest and most expensive scientific and technological projects in the contemporary era. Its appearance led to the emergence of a large number of high-tech industrial clusters such as liquid fuel rockets, microwave radars, radio guidance, synthetic materials, computers, etc. Later, the planned technological progress was transferred to civilian use, which promoted the development of the whole science and technology and the prosperity of the industry. The benefits of its secondary development and application far exceed the direct economic and social benefits brought by the Apollo program itself.