Kennedy, "before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth." Background victory in the Space Race to demonstrate spaceflight superiority, by fulfilling a national goal proposed in 1961 by President John F. He described the event as "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Apollo 11 effectively proved U.S. They returned to Earth and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24 after more than eight days in space.Īrmstrong's first step onto the lunar surface was broadcast on live TV to a worldwide audience. They jettisoned Eagle before they performed the maneuvers that propelled Columbia out of the last of its 30 lunar orbits onto a trajectory back to Earth. The astronauts used Eagle 's ascent stage to lift off from the lunar surface and rejoin Collins in the command module. Armstrong and Aldrin then moved into Eagle and landed in the Sea of Tranquility on July 20. The Apollo spacecraft had three parts: a command module (CM) with a cabin for the three astronauts, the only part that returned to Earth a service module (SM), which supported the command module with propulsion, electrical power, oxygen, and water and a lunar module (LM) that had two stages-a descent stage for landing on the Moon and an ascent stage to place the astronauts back into lunar orbit.Īfter being sent to the Moon by the Saturn V's third stage, the astronauts separated the spacecraft from it and traveled for three days until they entered lunar orbit. Armstrong and Aldrin collected 47.5 pounds (21.5 kg) of lunar material to bring back to Earth as pilot Michael Collins flew the Command Module Columbia in lunar orbit, and were on the Moon's surface for 21 hours, 36 minutes before lifting off to rejoin Columbia.Īpollo 11 was launched by a Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, on July 16 at 13:32 UTC, and it was the fifth crewed mission of NASA's Apollo program. Aldrin joined him 19 minutes later, and they spent about two and a quarter hours together exploring the site they had named Tranquility Base upon landing. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, and Armstrong became the first person to step onto the Moon's surface six hours and 39 minutes later, on July 21 at 02:56 UTC. We'll just have to hope that they come in peace…or are vulnerable to Lysol.Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. But even with these standards in place, it may prove impossible to fully contain a runaway space microorganism. In 2020, NASA issued an updated procedure for containing alien microbes, though the document hasn't been used yet. Given its atmosphere and geochemistry, Mars is far more likely to harbor microbial life than the moon. Ultimately, the probable failure of Apollo 11's quarantine protocol could be a valuable lesson for future missions, which aim to return samples (and humans) from Mars and beyond. And since any hypothetical moon germs would have evolved separately from life on Earth for a very long time, they might not even have the ability to interact with our cells. The vast majority of microbial life on Earth is completely harmless to people, and some species are even vital to our health. If Apollo 11 had brought back lunar microbes, it's difficult to say whether or not they would have posed any risk to humans. Possible new 'minimoon' discovered orbiting Earth Scientists discover 62 new moons around Saturn, raising total to 145 - the most in the solar system In a statement at the time, the agency reassured concerned citizens that their efforts "have resulted in a laboratory with capabilities which have never previously existed." They played up their ability to contain a microbial threat so as not to panic the public. The air inside the module was also vented into Earth's atmosphere as the craft reentered, ensuring that the crew wouldn't suffer carbon dioxide poisoning.īut NASA also knew that the risk of the Apollo 11 astronauts bringing home a space plague was extremely low. For example, the Apollo spacecraft hadn't been designed to prevent potential lunar contaminants from being exposed to Earth's environment once it splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, the capsule's cabin had to be fully opened in order to let astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins out. What's more, Degroot's work shows that NASA knew that its quarantine protocol was probably inadequate. This quarantine would have been largely useless at containing lunar microbes, new research finds. The three Apollo 11 astronauts peer out of a window in their mobile quarantine unit to greet President Richard Nixon.
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