NASA A CHC 2D Canadian History Presentation

To The Moon the most important race in the sixties was the space race the Soviets had kicked off the race with the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957 Sputnik 1 was only a remote satellite capable of low orbit Eisenhower’s response was to re-establish a government agency aimed at air travel into the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA)

To The Moon in April 1961, Vostok 1 took Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into orbit — the first human to get there the American response was for John F. Kennedy to announce they would go to the moon by the end of the decade NASA accomplished this in three phases: Mercury, Gemini and Apollo

PROJECT: MERCURY Mercury’s mission was to beat the Soviets into getting a man in orbit seven astronauts were chosen from America’s test pilots Alan Shepard would become the first man launched John Glenn would become the first human being to orbit the planet multiple times

PROJECT: MERCURY the Mercury rocket would fire a capsule into space that would, upon re-entry, deploy a chute and land safely in the ocean, at which point a carrier would pick up the astronaut and the capsule

PROJECT: GEMINI Gemini is Greek for “two” — because these were now two-man missions into space the purpose of the missions was to practice extra- vehicular operations in low orbit, such as docking between units, which would be essential in the next missions Gemini was also intended to lead to a space lab that astronauts could dock to, but only one lab was made (Skylab) and therefore not really needed beyond the missions

PROJECT: GEMINI sixteen astronauts were needed for these missions, including three who flew in the Mercury missions more importantly, Gemini was the first to interact with the new mission control in Houston, Texas

PROJECT: APOLLO the third and final set of missions would reach the moon the first manned Apollo mission ignited on the tarmac, killing Gus Grisson, Edward White and Roger Chaffee Apollo 4 would successfully test the ability to restart engines and the heat shields on the lunar module Apollo 5 would successfully test whether the lunar module could maneuver in space on its own

PROJECT: APOLLO Apollo 6 was unmanned to see if the landing could be aborted if necessary Apollo 7 only went around the Earth but was televised live — the first of the missions to do so Apollo 8 went to the moon but only orbited Apollo 9 checked the life support systems… in Earth orbit Apollo 10 got close to the lunar surface but didn’t touch down

PROJECT: APOLLO on July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 touched down on the lunar surfaceApollo 11 touched down on the lunar surface astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin would take the first steps on the moon the world watched as Armstrong uttered his famous words “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

PROJECT: APOLLO Apollo didn’t end there! Apollo 12 repeated the same feats as Apollo 11 Apollo 13 had to abort the mission due to a mechanical failure — and be repaired on the way back that is the mission that uttered the famous words “Houston: we have a problem”

PROJECT: APOLLO Apollo 13 also changed the way news was made since the astronauts were trapped in space, the news crews focused on the families of the victims and how they felt… something that wasn’t done before Apollo 15 would introduce the lunar rover that allowed astronauts to drive on the moon final mission Apollo 17 would launch at night — and be the first to actually look for specific geological samples now that the astronauts were trained what to look for

PROJECT: APOLLO