The Significance of Apollo 11 and Moon Landing in American History

The Apollo 11 mission trip to the moon was very significant in american history. Everybody stopped what they were doing to watch or listen to history being made in the United States. For once in the United States history everybody honestly came together as one to root on the astronauts. The Apollo 11 mission trip brought the United States together as they sent astronauts to the moon and safely back.

Apollo 11 was the very first time in all of history, that a man stepped foot on the moon. The Soviet Union and the United States was in a huge moon race to see who could get there first and safely come back. The moon race began when the Soviet Union launched the very first man ever into space and safely back. The Soviet Union also sent the first woman into space and safely back. President Kennedy responded back by announcing on May 25, 1961, the United States was going to put a man on the moon and bring him safely back home. At this particular time in American history, the United States only had 15 minutes of human-spaceflight experience. Alan Shepard did a suborbital flight which just had happened three weeks prior to President Kennedy’s announcement. It was important for the United States to get to the moon and collect data to see if there could ever be life on the moon. The moon landing could lead to further discoveries that tell the United States more about space.

This Apollo mission wasn’t just about getting to the moon, it was about showing that the United States could do something so special and significant in a zero-sum Cold War competition with the powerful Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was ahead of the United States when they launched the Sputnik satellite into space in 1957. Then a Soviet Union astronaut, Yuri Gagarin, became the first human ever to go into space on April 12, 1961. These great achievements by the Soviet Union spooked the United States who created the moon landing goal in response. In 1966, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration directed the first unmanned Apollo mission. They tested the structure of the spacecraft and to see how would it do in a six day journey to the moon, (three days there and back). In January 1967, a tragedy occured when a fire broke out at the Cape Kennedy Space Center. It happened when they were testing a manned launch-pad of the Apollo six spacecraft and Saturn Rocket. Three astronauts ended up dying because of this fire.

Apollo 11 was launched from Cape Kennedy Space Center on July 16, 1969. The astronauts involved were Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin Aldrin. The spacecraft used for this trip was called the Apollo Command Module. The capsule only had room for three astronauts. The spacecraft only had as much room as a car. While on this trip the astronauts were the first to have hot water in space, and the meals were color-coded. The astronauts didn’t have a bathroom to use so instead they used bags and roll-on cuffs. A simple task like using the bathroom could take up to 45 minutes. After traveling three days and four hours, the astronauts finally entered the lunar orbit on July 19. The lunar module Eagle, which had Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, parted away from the command module, where Michael Collins was. Neil Armstrong was the first astronaut to step foot on the moon and then Edwin Aldrin was the second astronaut to put his footprints on the moon.. Together they took pictures of the terrain, planted a United States flag, and ran a few scientific tests. They successfully made it back three days later, splashing into the Pacific Ocean on July 24.

Since Apollo 11 occurred there have been other Apollo missions to the moon.There have been six Apollo missions since Apollo 11. All of them have been based on going to the moon and gathering data. A total of 12 astronauts have walked on the moon. They all made scientific researches and studied the lunar surface. The Apollo program was costly and very intensive labor. Around 400,00 engineers, technicians, and scientists were involved with these Apollo missions. The cost was $24 billion (almost $100 billion in today’s money).

The benefits of the Apollo missions was huge for the United States. Much of the technology used in the Apollo missions were non-existing when President Kennedy first mentioned going to the moon. When the Apollo missions were designed, there was a lot of worry that the lunar module might sink into the moon's surface or become stuck into it. When the Apollo missions first began, the pilots controlled planes mechanically. The pilots used cables and rods connecting to the aircraft’s control surfaces. This means that the plane was human controlled and an error could occur. To banish human error and guide the flight more smoothly during the 72 hour trip, NASA is going to build a computer guidance system for the Apollo command module and the lunar module. NASA and their partners have spent many years using the system for use in airplanes. This system is now used in automobiles features like cruise control, anti lock brakes, and electronic stability control systems.

A machinery that started with the Apollo missions and computers now protects buildings and bridges all around the world from earthquakes. A corporation that constructed dampers to run the big arms that swung away from Apollo’s Saturn five rocket during launch had to push conventional shock isolation mechanics to the limit. The Apollo missions help create the world’s first rechargeable hearing aid batteries which came about in 2013. Hearing aid batteries have always been a problem, the small zinc batteries were made so small that they couldn’t be recharged. This problem made the zinc batteries disposable and they would have to be replaced. Lithium-ion batteries aren’t as small as the zinc batteries but they had problems overheating. The new silver zinc batteries can hold enough power to last a whole 24 hours and can be recharged up to 1,000 times without losing their performance. These new silver-zinc batteries are also recyclable. These are just a few of the many inventions that were made because of the Apollo missions. Both of the inventions are things people use in everyday life.