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A Short History Of The U.S. Space Program
Space, is the new frontier, make no mistake about it. Man has always tried to spread out and go into new, unexplored areas. One has just to look at the expansion in the United States to see what I mean. Pioneers couldn't wait to head west. Even the government sponsored a group of men led by Louis and Clark to cross the continent and they reached the Pacific Ocean. Exploring is in our nature, it is as much a part of us as eating and breathing. We all know that at one time the U.S. and the Soviet Union were competing to see who could launch the first satellite and who would send the first human into space. The Soviets won on both counts, but lost the race to the moon. When the U.S. was racing the Soviets to get a tiny satellite into space, we were sent reeling by the fact that they beat us.
Sputnik I Sputnik I was launched into orbit by the Soviets on October 4, 1957 and as its signal was heard all over the earth, many people became very scared, thinking that not only was it some kind of weapon, but also that the Soviets had the ability to launch nuclear weapons into orbit, a capability we were yet to acquire.
Yuri Gagarin - First Man In Space Again the Soviets beat us, this time by assuring for all eternity that they would be known as the country that sent the first man into space. He was not only the first man in space, but a very likeable guy and toured the world, while being very well received. Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin became the first man in space on 12 April 1961.
Alan Shepard - First American In Space Alan Shepard flew into space on May 5, 1961 on a flight that had originally been scheduled for October 1960, which would have meant that he would have been the first man in space, but things just have a way of not working out sometimes. The mission had been put off two other times. The Gagarin space ship was on automatic, but Shepard's had a degree of self control. His flight was part of the Project Mercury Series.
The Original Mercury Astronauts After the Mercury Project finished we moved on to Project Gemini, with a bigger capsule. Ten manned Gemini flights were conducted between 1965 and 1966. Its purpose was to develop different techniques that could be used in the Apollo program which was to follow. It perfected docking and rendezvous with other ships. A detachable module carried many of the main systems of Gemini rather than having them squeezed into the capsule as the Mercury had.
Gemini
Two Gemini Astronauts, Gus Grissom and Walter Schirra The Gemini astronauts had become very famous in their day and still retain some of that fame. Their names were, Gus Grissom, John Young, Jim McDivitt, Ed White, Gordon Cooper, Pete Conrad, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, Wally Schirra, Tom Stafford, Neil Armstrong, Dave Scott, Eugene Cernan, Michael Collins, Richard Gordon and Buzz Aldrin. You will notice that some of them became Apollo astronauts.
Apollo Astronauts, Grissom, White and Chiffe Now it was time to get ready to start the Apollo program. which was designed to ultimately take us to the moon and back and even land men on the moon. The first Apollo crew is pictured above, it was Grissom, White and Chaffe. You will notice that Grissom and White were former Genini astronauts. The Apollo capsule was mounted atop a huge Saturn rocket that dwarfed all previous rockets. We didn't land on the moon with our first mission. Apollo I never even flew. Sadly it caught fire and the crew burned to death during a training exercise. The capsule contained pure oxygen and it was believed that an electrical spark ignited it. This led to a more earth like atmosphere being used and much tougher quality control, since a wrench was found that should not have been there. Apollo two was an unmanned flight of the Saturn 1B. Apollo 3 was a sub-orbital test flight of the Saturn 1B and Command and Service Module. Apollo 4 was the first unmanned flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle. Apollo 5 was the first unmanned flight of the Apollo Lunar Module. Apollo 6 was the last unmanned test flight of the Saturn V. Apollo 7 was the first manned mission to be launched. It orbited the earth for 11 days. Apollo 8 flew to the moon and the crew of Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders became the first people to see the dark side of the moon as the Apollo orbited around it before returning to earth. Apollo 9 was the first manned flight of the Command Service Module and Lunar Module. It tested several aspects of landing, but never landed itself. Apollo 10 orbited the moon again and did an all out test of the lunar module and came within a little over 8 miles of the moon's surface. Apollo 11 was the mission where men landed on the moon. The crew consisted of Neil Alden Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin Jr. On July 20, 1969 the lunar module touched down on the moon's surface.
Apollo 11 Crew
Right: Saturn V Liftoff Of Apollo 11 The Apollo program did not end with Apollo 11. Apollo 12 also landed on the moon. The crew consisted of Charles Conrad Jr., Richard F Gordon Jr. and Alan L. Bean. Apollo 13 almost didn't make it home. It never landed on the moon because an explosion occurred onboard and the crew had to ride out the mission in the Lunar Module, which saved their life even though it had never been designed for this purpose. Apollo 14 landed on the moon and the crew was Alan B. Shepard Jr., Stuart A. Roosa and Edgar D. Mitchell. Apollo 15 landed on the moon and was known as a J mission. That meant it was long duration. The mission lasted from July 26, 1971 to August 7, 1971 and the crew was composed of David Scott, James Irwin and Alfred Worden. Apollo 16 was the tenth manned mission. It was another J class mission and the crew was comprised of John W. Young, T. Kenneth Mattingly Jr., and Charles M. Duke Jr. Apollo 17 was the first night launch in the history of human space flight. It was also the final mission to the moon. The crew consisted of Eugene A. Cernan, Ronald E. Evans and Harrison H. Schmitt. The Apollo program was now discontinued even though there were still several Saturn V rockets available with Apollo capsules. The official word was that it was discontinued because the public was tired of the moon landings, but many say it was because we were warned off by aliens. The fact is that we could have switched to what is known as a black ops program and continued our missions using other rockets, in secret. The next competition was taking place between the U.S. and the Soviets to develop a space shuttle. The Soviets went broke, the wall came down and we won that race. The maiden flight of the first space shuttle was April 12, 1981. It is an engineer's nightmare. It was originally designed to be a lot smaller, but upon the instance of the military. it was up sized to carry huge secret satellites into orbit. It is said that it has a 1 in 200 chance of blowing up and indeed this has happened a couple of times. The Space Shuttle Columbia blew up on February 1, 2003 and the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up on January 28, 1986
Left: Space Shuttle Challenger Explodes On Liftoff
Left: Debris Coming Off Columbia's Wing Before Explosion NASA has decided to discontinue shuttle use in 2010. Here are a few more photos for your enjoyment:
Left: Apollo 15 Circling the Moon
Left: Launch Of Shuttle Columbia
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