Who Travelled to the Moon?

Neil Morris

Description

How do we know about the select band of astronauts who travelled to the Moon? How were they selected and what happened to them? This book shows how we know about the astronauts and their experiences from primary and other sources. It includes information on some historical detective work that has taken place, using documentary and oral evidence, that has enabled historians to piece together fascinating information about these unique space pioneers.

Informations

• Publié par: Capstone Global Library
• Date de parution: 13 février 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781406273250
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

P YR I M A R  S C EO U R  D E T E C T I V E S

Who travelled TO THE MOON?

Neil Morris

Raintree is an imprint of Capstone Global Library Limited, a company incorporated in England and Wales having its registered office at 7 Pilgrim Street, London, EC4V 6LB – Registered company number: 6695582

www.raintreepublishers.co.uk [e-mail]

Text © Capstone Global Library Limited 2014 First published in hardback in 2014 The moral rights of the proprietor have been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner, except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS (www.cla.co.uk). Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission should be addressed to the publisher.

Edited by Andrew Farrow, Patrick Catel, and  Vaarunika Dharmapala Designed by Steve Mead Original illustrations © Capstone Global  Library Ltd 2014 Illustrated by HL Studios Picture research by Ruth Blair Originated by Capstone Global Library Ltd Printed in China

ISBN 978 1 406 27311 3 17 16 15 14 13 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Morris, Neil Who travelled to the Moon? (Primary source detectives) A full catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Acknowledgements We would like to thank the following for permission to reproduce photographs: Corbis pp. 35 (© Eric Robert/Sygma), 47; Getty Images pp. 11, 12, 27 & 40 (Time & Life Pictures), 14 (SSPL), 17 (Mondadori), 25 (NASA/Handout), 45, 50 (Apic/Hulton Archive); NASA pp. 4, 7, 9, 28, 29, 30, 37, 38, 43, 46, 48, 52, 53, 56; Science Photo Library pp. 20, 22, 44 & 54 (NASA); Superstock pp. 19 (JTB Photo), 33 (Science and Society).

Cover photograph of Apollo 11 engaged in extravehicular activity reproduced with permission of NASA (Glenn Research Center).

Page 51: From A MAN ON THE MOON by Andrew Chaikin, copyright (c) 1994 by Andrew Chaikin. Used by permission of Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Group (USA) LLC.

Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders of material reproduced in this book. Any omissions will be rectified in subsequent printings if notice is given to the publisher.

Disclaimer All the internet addresses (URLs) given in this book were valid at the time of going to press. However, due to the dynamic nature of the internet, some addresses may have changed, or sites may have changed or ceased to exist since publication. While the author and publisher regret any inconvenience this may cause readers, no responsibility for any such changes can be accepted by either the author or the publisher.

Contents

“The Eagle has landed”.....................................................4

Who were the first men on the moon? ..........6

How did the astronauts get there? ................. 14

Reaching the Moon ........................................................ 20

Who were the other lunar astronauts?............................................................................ 30

Who trained to go to the Moon? ...................40

What did the lunar astronauts achieve?....................................................... 48

Timeline ....................................................................................... 58

Glossary......................................................................................60

Find out more ...................................................................... 62

Index............................................................................................... 64

Some words are shown in bold,like this. You can find out what they mean by looking in the glossary.

“The Eagle has landed”

On 20 July 1969, just after 3 o’clock in the afternoon by the clocks in Mission Controlon Earth, a small spacecraft approached the surface of the Moon. The spacecraft was alunar modulecodenamed Eagle . In it were two astronauts, whose aim was to become the first humans ever to walk on the Moon. The commander of the mission, Neil Armstrong, heard Mission Control in Houston, Texas, announce “30 seconds”. He and the module pilot, Buzz Aldrin, knew this referred to the time left until their fuel ran out. They needed to touch down, and they needed to do so very soon. Nine seconds later, a contact light came on in the spacecraft. Then, after another 18 seconds, Armstrong spoke the words that everyone involved in the Apollo 11 programme had been longing to hear: “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”

This photograph of the Eagle was taken from the Apollo 11 command module.

W O R D W AU I E As the first humans landed on the Moon, around 600 million people watched the event live on television. Viewers knew they were watching history being made. But many details of the first Moon landing, and the events leading up to it, were not known to viewers at the time. For example, they were not aware of the significance of the number 30 or the small amount of fuel left in the lunar module. However, the US space agency kept records of the event, so people who were interested in these facts could check them out later (see page 21 for more information about the low fuel problem).

A DECADE’S WORK Just over eight years earlier, on 25 May 1961, President John F. Kennedy had announced that the United States aimed to land a man on the Moon and return him safely to Earth “before this decade is out”. “No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind,” the President said. When the Apollo 11 astronauts landed safely back on Earth, four days after landing on the Moon, it meant that the aim had been achieved with five months to spare. It was an extraordinary achievement, and many books, newspaper articles, and documentary films have been written and made about this and the other lunar landings.

MOONWALKERS This is the story of 12 men who walked on the Moon. Their amazing achievements took place between July 1969 and December 1972, and no one has set foot on the Moon since. Another 12 American astronauts travelled to the Moon without landing on it, and many thousands of other people helped make the lunar missions happen. In this book, we will look carefully at how we know so much about the missions, and how you can find out more. There are many records, and people have done a great deal of research on the subject. You will also discover how you can add your own research to the list.

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