WednesdayOctober 31, 2012(The Race to the

Moon: Project Apollo: Apollo 9 –

Apollo 11)

The Launch PadWednesday, 10/31/12

If you could somehow sit down and talk to

Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger

Chaffee about the cost of the Race to the Moon, what do you

think they would tell you?

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Recent Events in ScienceTwo new Science Teachers Hired at Nimitz High School

www.thisisa bunchofbull.comRead All About

It!

Nimitz High School today announced the resignation of

science teachers Mr. C and Ms. Q.They will be

replaced by two new teachers, one from

Bosnia and one from Romania.

The new teachers are expected to electrify their

students.

The Race to the Moon

Highlands

The Race to the MoonGrumman Aerospace Corporation was

the chief contractor on the Apollo Lunar Module, having received the

contract on November 7, 1962.The Lunar Module (LM) was an

extremely difficult vehicle to build, and as 1969 began it still was not ready to

fly.Concern was high, because without a lunar lander, there would be no Moon

landing.During January and February,

Grumman made strides that allowed the LM to be man-rated for Earth

orbital tests.

The Race to the MoonOn March 3, 1969, Apollo 9 lifted off

carrying the first Lunar Module to fly in space.

Astronauts Jim McDivitt, David Scott, And Rusty Schweickart spent 11 days in Earth orbit testing out the new lander.

McDivitt and Schweikart got into the LM, separated from the Command

Module containing Scott, and went out to a distance of 111 miles before

returning to the CM.

The LM had passed it first spaceflight test.

The Race to the MoonApollo 10 lifted off from Florida

on May 18, 1969 carrying astronauts Tom Stafford, John Young, And Gene Cernan, and

the second LM to fly.

Apollo 10 was a “dress rehearsal for the first lunar

landing mission.

This mission would go to the Moon, and enter lunar orbit, this time carrying the lander.

The Race to the MoonStafford and Cernan

would get into the LM and descend to within

50,000 feet of the surface, then return to

Young waiting in the CM.

The mission was successful, and the door

was open for the first lunar landing attempt.

The Race to the MoonThe mission given to

the next flight, Apollo 11, was to attempt the

first Moon landing.

The crew consisted of Neil Armstrong,

Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin, each

having flown once before of separate Gemini missions.

The Race to the MoonNeil Armstrong was a

38-year-old former Navy pilot.

He flew the X-15 rocket plane earlier in

his career.

Armstrong was the commander of Gemini VIII, the mission that performed the first

docking of two spacecraft in orbit.

The Race to the MoonMichael Collins was

a 38-year-old Air Force test pilot.

He performed America’s third EVA (spacewalk) during

the Gemini X mission in July

1966.

The Race to the MoonBuzz Aldrin was a

39-year-old Air Force test pilot.

He performed America’s fifth EVA (spacewalk) during

the Gemini XII mission in July

1966.

The Race to the MoonApollo 11 left for the

Moon on July 16, 1969 atop a Saturn V launch

vehicle.

The three astronauts coasted to the Moon over

the next three days.

The Race to the MoonOn Sunday morning, July

20th, Armstrong and Aldrin entered the lunar module

“Eagle” and undocked from the Command Module “Columbia”

containing Mike Collins.

Eagle backed away from Columbia and fired its

descent stage engine to begin the long ride down

to the surface.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piQ6r-cJUVI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al1Cs-9JMS8

The Race to the MoonAt 50,000 feet altitude

above the Moon’s surface, the descent

engine was fired again.

This time it remained on to slow the Eagle and allow it to proceed on down to the surface.

This was the Point where Apollo 10 went back up

to join the waiting command module.

The Race to the MoonA series of computer

program alarms sounded in the LM cockpit in the final few minutes of the landing phase, but controllers back on Earth told the astronauts to proceed with the landing

attempt.

Armstrong noticed that he was seeing landmarks on the surface a few seconds

ahead of the time he expected them, leading him

to believe they were heading for a spot a few

miles downrange from their intended target.

The Race to the MoonAs the surface drew and

nearer, Armstrong saw that the computer was flying Eagle into a boulder field with a large crater among

the boulders.Not wanting to land here,

he took over manual control of the lander and flew over the crater and

boulders, but this delayed the touchdown and caused

the spacecraft to run extremely low on fuel.Houston became very

concerned and considered an abort.

The Race to the MoonFinally, with 15 seconds

of fuel remaining, Eagle’s landing pads touched the

lunar surface.

Aldrin called out “contact light!”, Eagle’s descent engine shut down, and the lander settled softly onto the lunar surface.

Neil Armstrong’s first words after landing were

“Houston, Tranquility Base here… the Eagle has

landed.”

The Race to the MoonAfter spending a few hours checking out

all of Eagle’s systems, the

astronauts put on their lunar surface

suits, drained off the cabin pressure,

opened Eagle’s front door, and made final

preparations to make history’s first

“moonwalk.”

The Race to the MoonOn July 20, 1969, at 9:56 p.m.

Houston time, 39-yearold American astronaut Neil

Armstrong, 240,000 miles from Earth, speaks these words to

more than a billion people listening at home: "That's one small step for man, one giant

leap for mankind.“

Stepping off the lunar landing module Eagle, Armstrong

became the first human to walk on the surface of the Moon.

The Race to the MoonThe next morning, July 21st, Armstrong and Aldrin lifted off from the surface on the Moon, rendezvoused and then docked with Collins

waiting in Columbia.

Several hours later, the three Apollo 11 astronauts fires their main engine one more time and began their three-day journey home.

The Race to the MoonOn July 24th, 1969, the Apollo

11 Command Module carrying three American astronauts and many pounds of lunar soil and

rock samples entered the Earth’s atmosphere over the

Pacific Ocean.

Its parachutes opened and Columbia splashed down in

calm waters.

The astronauts were quickly taken onboard a helicopter to be transferred to the waiting

USS Hornet.

The Race to the MoonOver the next several

months, Neil Armstrong, Mike Collins, and Buzz

Aldrin were celebrated as heroes in parades around

the world.

The Race to the Moon was over, and America had

won.

John F. Kennedy’s national goal had been fulfilled.