Going to the Moon As of August 29, 2009, 505 individuals from 38 countries had flown in space.

This is Rocket Science First U.S. spy satellites, the Discoverer series (1960-) Designed to take photos, drop film canisters for mid-air recovery. Thirteen consecutive failures before success Eventually evolved into standard U.S. space intelligence systems Spy satellites key in keeping peace during the Cold War

The Soviets Press On Yuri Gagarin (one orbit) April 12, 1961 Gherman Titov, August 6-7, 1961, more than 24 hours in orbit. Andrian Nikolayev and Pavel Popovich, 1962; first two manned spacecraft to be simultaneously in orbit. This series of spacecraft was called Vostok (Russian for "east", connoting sunrise).

More Soviet Firsts In June, 1963, a second twin launch carried Valery Bykovsky and Valentina Tereshkova into orbit. Tereshkova became the first woman into space, and the last for two decades.

And Still More In 1964 the Soviets launched the first of the Voskhod (meaning "ascent") multi-person spacecraft. Three cosmonauts orbited on Voskhod 1 in 1964 Two orbited on Voskhod 2 in One of these, Alexei Leonov, made the first space walk.

Project Mercury U.S. response: adapt a space capsule to an existing missile. The first series of U.S. manned space missions was called Mercury. Nobody had a clue what qualities would be necessary to travel in space. Military test pilots were chosen. Two suborbital flights Four orbital flights (3-22 orbits)

Project Gemini, Two-man craft Ten flights up to 14 days long First (and only) U.S. rendezvous (Gemini 6 and 7) First emergency landing, also first Pacific landing (Gemini 8) Altitude record (Gemini 11, 1370 km)

Russians to the Moon In 1959 Luna II became the first spacecraft to strike the Moon. In 1960, Luna III returned the first (very crude) pictures ever of the Moons far side : First lunar soft landing, lunar rover and sample-return mission.

Did the Russians ever have a serious manned lunar program? Critics: a myth to sustain NASA through the use of cold war hysteria. In early 1990s artifacts from the supposedly nonexistent Soviet lunar program, including lunar spacesuits, went on sale at Sotheby's in New York.

Did the Russians ever have a serious manned lunar program? Several catastrophic explosions of the Soviet lunar rocket booster made it clear that they would not beat the U.S. to the moon. Failure probably due to cutting corners and false economizing (Dan Goldin, are you listening?)

Did the Russians ever have a serious manned lunar program? Author James Oberg calls continued denial of a Soviet lunar landing program a "cover- up".

Kennedys Challenge U.S. had 15 minutes experience in space when Kennedy proposed a race to the Moon. Reason: would require both sides to develop new technology Would be a level playing field

U.S. Robots to the Moon, Ranger series: designed to impact the Moon, returning pictures on the way. –Only last three of nine worked, but results were spectacular. Surveyor soft-lander series; most of the seven worked well. Five Lunar Orbiter missions mapped almost all of the Moon. First pictures ever of the Earth rising above the lunar horizon.

Tragedy for the Russians Vladimir Komarov, on Soyuz 1, 1967, was Russia's first two-time space traveler. In 1967 His parachute failed on re-entry; first space traveler to be killed. Soyuz 11, 1971, lost pressurization on reentry; three-man crew died from lack of oxygen.

Tragedy at the Cape On January 26, 1967, astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee were killed in a fire. The Apollo Program was delayed for 18 months while equipment and procedures were redesigned.

Apollo Gets Off the Ground Apollo 7, October 11, 1968, was first launch of a manned Apollo capsule into orbit. Decision was made to reverse the order of the next two missions Apollo 8: lunar flyby and return. Live broadcast from lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, 1968.

More Rehearsals Apollo 9 in Earth orbit, was a test of the lunar module. Apollo 10, a return to the Moon, practiced maneuvering the lander in lunar orbit but did not touch down.

The Eagle Has Landed At 4:17:41 P.M. (EDT) on July 20, 1969, an estimated 500 million people watched worldwide as Apollo 11 touched down on the Moon, confirmed by the message: "Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." 6-1/2 hours later, Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon.

Houston, Weve Had a Problem Apollo 12 landed near the site of the Surveyor 3 lunar lander as a test of pinpoint lunar navigation. Apollo 13: side of the lunar service module blew out halfway to the Moon and only heroic innovations on the ground and in space got the crew back.

Apollo Science Apollo 14: first to explore lunar highlands. Apollo 15: first to use the lunar rover. Apollo 16 made three rover expeditions totaling 27 km. Apollo 17 made three rover expeditions lasting 22 hours and travelling 35 kilometers.

Apollo astronauts John Young (10, 16), Eugene Cernan (10, 17), and Jim Lovell (8, 13) each made two lunar flights. No one has actually set foot on the Moon twice. September 2, 1970: Apollo cancelled. We just quit. End of Apollo