American program "Apollo". How many people visited the moon?

XX century - the era of human penetration into space. Its main achievements were manned flights to the near-earth orbit, the man's exit to airless space and the development of the moon-moon. The paradox is that people began to forget the contribution made by the American program Apollo (1969-1972), which allowed a person to break out of their own planet, and today few people will be able to answer the question of how many people have visited the moon.

The decision that changed the world

This year marks the 55th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy 's historic announcement of the launch of a project called Apollo. This was a response to the flight of Yuri Gagarin and the current backwardness of the United States in the exploration of outer space. The lunar project was not only to make a quantum leap glorifying the scientific and technical power of the country, but also to distract the people from the unpopular war in Vietnam. There is documentary evidence that Kennedy, after studying the financial and scientific side of the matter, proposed NS. Khrushchev unite the efforts of the two countries to implement lunar expeditions, trying to create a "space bridge" between superpowers, but was refused.

Today it is known that the program cost the US $ 26 billion. This is 10 times the cost of creating an atomic bomb. But Kennedy still made an important decision, proving the boundless possibilities of man and writing his name in the history of the development of space. Answering the question about how many people visited the moon, it should be remembered that 24 pilots reached its orbit, but only 12 managed to leave a mark on its surface. And before the first successful launch, there were four tests, in preparation for which three astronauts were killed in January 1967.

First crew

"Apollo 11" became a spacecraft that delivered the first successful expedition to the surface of the Moon. His start on 16.07.1969 was broadcast live on television. The first days, while the ship was in near-earth orbit, the daily video broadcast continued, indicating great hopes associated with this crew. Captain Neil Armstrong, the main pilot Michael Collins, the pilot of the lunar module Edwin Aldrin - experienced pilots who had been in space on the ships of "Gemini", on the fourth day left on a circumlunar orbit after switching on the engines of the third stage.

The next day, two of them moved to the lunar module and, after activating its systems and undocking, went into the orbit of decline. The peculiarity of this expedition was that after switching on the landing engines, the pilot managed to land the module in seconds before the critical fuel consumption mark. Neil Armstrong is the first Earthman to receive permission to enter the Moon. He was followed by Edwin (in 1988, he changed his name to Buzz Aldrin), who performed the religious rite of the sacrament on the moon.

After spending 2,5 hours on the surface (the rest of the time was spent in the module), the crew collected rock samples, made video and photography, by July 24 safely returning to their home planet, landing in the given square.

Inspired by success

The first crew returned to the United States as heroes, and on November 14, the launch of Apollo-12 was launched under the supervision of an experienced astronaut who completed two spaceflight missions on Gemini ships (1965, 1966). Pete Conrad and his companions (Alan Bin and Richard Gordon) encountered abnormal situations during the start due to two lightning strikes. In front of the presence at the launch of President Nixon, electrical discharges disabled a number of sensors, triggering the shutdown of fuel cells. The crew managed to correct the situation in the shortest possible time.

Conrad and Bin had to spend two days on the surface of the Moon (active output was 3.5 hours). At the landing site, they collided with a cloud of dust and managed to get to the Surveyor-3, making a significant contribution to the development of science. Due to problems with the video camera, it was not possible to make a video broadcast directly from the landing site of the crew.

Listed on the list of people who visited the moon

The United States sent 9 expeditions to the Earth satellite in the framework of the Apollo program. The astronauts from six crews managed to land on the moon. All of them consisted of three people, two of whom were transplanted to the lunar module. After the April failure of 1970, connected with the accident aboard the Apollo-13, which did not fulfill its tasks, the next successful expedition took place in February of the 71st year. Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell (by the way, they were supposed to be the crew of the 13th "Apollo") it was possible not only to conduct seismic experiments, but also to go out into the open space twice.

For three days, David Scott and James Irwin, members of the next expedition (July 1971), and John Young and Charles Duke (April 1972), who made a long trip on the moon rover, were conducted on the surface of the Earth satellite. The crew of "Apollo-17" put an end to the implementation of the lunar program. Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt made the last flight in December 1972, and Cernan succeeded in scratching the initials of his daughter at the moonlit ground . For him, this was the second flight to the satellite of the Earth, as well as with three of his comrades. But answering the question about how many people visited the Moon, it should be borne in mind that only once did each of them touch the lunar surface.

Completion of the Apollo program

Today, the launch pad (Cape Canaveral), owned by the US Air Force, is in desolation. Despite the supposed continuation of the launch of the Apollo, none of the three subsequent launches were carried out. The main reason is huge costs, which do not bring a new breakthrough in space exploration. Of the 12 heroes who escaped beyond the circumterrestrial space, nine remained alive. Their life does not resemble the life of Hollywood stars. All of them soon left NASA, almost forgotten by their fellow citizens. Surprisingly, the participants of the first flight received the highest award of the USA (the Gold Medal of the Congress) only to the fortieth anniversary of the start.

On the question of how many people have visited the moon, many today answer: "not one". These are those who share the "conspiracy theory" that emerged from the easy hand of writer Bill Casing, who questioned the reality of flights to the moon. Defending his honor, 72-year-old Buzz Aldrin in public age publicly struck the face of a journalist who expressed his doubts. In 2009, the United States submitted images to the public from satellites, confirming traces of astronauts' stay on the surface of the Earth's satellite.

The completion of the program and the lack of cooperation in this direction by the two space powers is very sad, for it is capable of becoming a bridge in the way of future flights to Mars.