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| Race to the Moon |
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| As soon as rockets could break away from the earth's gravity, moon became the next goal. Russians took the lead landing their spacecraft LUNA-3 which photographed the far side of moon in 1959. Meanwhile, the United States launched 11 unmanned moon missions without a single one completing its objective. Then the Apollo programme began and on July 21, 1969, Apollo-11 landed the first astronauts on the moon. |
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| Apollo-11 |
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| Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin descended into the Sea of Tranquillity on the eastern side of the moon. Another astronaut Michael Collins remained in the command module and circled the moon, taking charge of communications with earth. |
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| To land people on the moon and return them to earth, requires very powerful and reliable rockets. The US made use of Saturn-V rocket that gave the necessary boost for the Apollo spacecraft. Apollo spacecraft consists of three parts: |
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 the Lunar Module |
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 the Service Module |
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 the Command Module |
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| Assembly of Apollo XI |
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| There is also a Launch Escape Tower which enables the astronauts to escape should a mishap occur after the blast off. |
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| The Saturn-V space rocket launched the 3 modules into space towards the moon. Upon entering the moon's orbit, the two astronauts entered the Lunar Module from the Command Module. The two parts were separated. The Command Module stayed in orbit around the moon while the Lunar Lander visited the surface. |
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| The Lunar Module then descended to the moon's surface. The Lander made a vertical descent to the surface using its single rocket to slow down the craft. |
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| The Lunar Module on the moon's surface - The Descent stage |
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| When their mission was over, the Lunar Lander blasted off from the moon, leaving the bottom half of the Lander and a remote camera behind. They maneuvered the Lunar Module to meet the Command Module. Once the astronauts rejoined the Command Module their Lander ascent stage was jettisoned (abandoned). It crashed back to the moon's surface, sending shock waves to sensors already in place. This provided information about the structure of the moon. |
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| James Irwin Salutes the U.S. Flag in Front of Apollo -15 Lander |
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| The rocket in the Command Module was fired to return to earth. Later the Service Module Rockets were fired again to send the astronauts back to earth. As the Command Module met the earth's atmosphere, friction made it glow red hot. Then the Service Module was separated from Command Module which alone returned to earth. |
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| After many attempts of landing on Venus, Venera-7 landed on Venus in the year 1970. Another, Mariner-10 has also passed by Mercury and sent back pictures of the mountains and the craters there. Mars is even more interesting and both the Russians and Americans have sent space crafts to it. The Viking, launched by the Americans made gentle landing there in 1976, sending back pictures direct from the surface. Jupiter and Saturn have also been bypassed. Both Voyager-I and 2 sent back clear pictures of Jupiter's clouds and moons and the rings of Saturn whereas Viking I and II sent back data about the Martian atmosphere and soil apart from sending images of Mars. |
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| Mariner IV (United States) |
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| Meanwhile the USA and the former USSR undertook a joint US-Soviet manned space mission called the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. The Apollo Spacecraft carrying three astronauts and the Soyuz-19 Spacecraft, carrying two cosmonauts were launched separately on 15th July 1975. Two days later, the spacecraft approached each other and docked in space. For two days, the crew conducted joint experiments and surveys. Many other probes were launched during the decade of the seventies. The space probe Pioneer-10 sent by USA explored the asteroid belt and took photographs of Jupiter from a close range. |
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| The eighties have seen many significant developments in space science. Space shuttles were designed by the US. The space shuttle takes off like a rocket, flies like a spaceship and lands like a glider. Unlike an ordinary rocket it can be used again and again. The picture below shows a space shuttle Columbia gliding into land. This first space shuttle was launched in 1981. |
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| Space Shuttle |
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| The permanent manned space station called Mir was launched by the Soviet Union in 1986. Since then many crew have manned this space station and conducted experiments in space. |
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| The year 1997 marked the return to the red planet. For almost twenty years every Mars mission ended in failure. The two Russian Phobos crafts failed. The US Mars observer exploded as it prepared to enter the planet's orbit and the mighty Russian Mars' 96 craft did not escape from earth's atmosphere. Finally Mars path finder parachuted down to Mars and its new landing technology proved to be a success. A little six-wheeled river Sojourner, spent nearly three months analyzing Martian rocks before the battery went flat. More missions have been planned, to bring rock samples to earth and even to land first human on Mars. |
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| Mars Sojourner |
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