October 1 , 1958 the official start of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) , was the begining of the great history of unique scientific and technological achievement in human space flight. It was a result of the Sputnik crisis because on October 4 , 1957 Russians launched the first artificial Satellite from Balkonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan which demonstrated the technological superiority of Communism. They equipped the Sputnik with transmitters to broadcast on frequencies at 20 and 40 Mhz so everyone will know it’s up there. The Soviet Satellite Circles the Globe every 90 minutes.
In 1961 , President Kennedy challenged the Russians in a race to the moon. In 1969 , the U.S. got to the MOON first and the Russians re-focused their efforts on permant presence in space with a Space Station.
NASA successful sent human land on the Moon by Three Programs as follows:
first program was Mercury Project, an effort to learn if humans could survive in space. The project demonstrated the abilities to reach the space , maintain an orbit and return to earth safely.
second follow the mercury project was Gemini Project, which built upon Mercury’s successes and used spacecraft built for two astronauts. The project demonstrated rendezvous and docking with other spacecraft , Extravehicular Activity (EVA) or space walking , and sustaining astronuats for extended period of time in space.
third , Apollo project which finally demonstrated the capabilities of reaching the MOON , Orbiting it , Landing on it , and Returning to Earth safely.
Project Mercury began on October 7,1958 one year and three days after Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1. Mercury was the United States first manned space program. The program made up of six manned flights from 1961 to 1963. The objectives were : 1) to otbit a manned spacecraft around the earth. 2) to investigate man’s ability to function in space. 3) to recover both man and spacecraft safely .However ,three weeks after Alan Shepard’s First U.S. human suborbital flight, on May 5,1961 and only 15 minutes, President John F.Kennedy announced the goal of landing a man on the MOON before the end of the decade.
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The Mercury capsule was a tiny one person craft barly large enough to hold the occupant. The capsule was two meters (6 ft 10 in.)long, 1.9 meters (6 ft 2.5 in.)in diameter, 5.8 meters (19 ft 2 in.) escape tower fastened to a cylinder mounted on top.The blunt end was cover with an ablative heat shield to protect it against the 3000 degrees heat when entry into the atmosphere. The main conical portion of the spacecraft contained the crew,life support system, power,and controls system . The cylidrical section housed parachute and landing system. The top most section had antenna for RF transmission. The first two missions were lifted by the Redstone. The rest of the missions used the Atlas, a lot more powerfull than Redstone
^ Mercury 4 launching
^ Mercury’s astronauts
^ JohnGlenn and Mercury6
^ Mercury 8 and Walter schirra
^ Mercury 8 Splashdown
^ Mercury 9 launching
^ Gemini 9 Splashdown
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Himalaya mountain, view from Mercury 9
Gemini Project
The second U.S. manned space program was announced in January 1962. Its two-man crew gave its name ,GEMINI . Project Gemini was a transitional step between the Mercury program and the actual landing a man on the moon. Its success was critical to achieving the goal of reaching the MOON. The main objectives of the ten Gemini missions spanning a period of 20 months from 1965 to 1966 were: 1) To subject man and equipment to space flight up to two weeks in duration . 2) To Rendezvousing and docking with other orbit vehicle, 3) To perfect methods of entering the atmosphere and landing at preselected point on land. which were essential skills for the later apollo missions. With Gemini, american erased all doubts that we could make it to the moon. Gemini did many other things such as rendezvous and docking.
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The Gemini craft was an enlargement of the Mercury capsule and the size were 5.8 m (19 ft )long , 3 m.( 10 ft ) in diameter , it had to fit two astronauts. Gemini was composed of two major components , the Adapter Module and Re-entry Module. Prior to Re-entry , the Re-entry Module was seperated from Adapter Module which will be remained in orbits with no provision for recovery.The Titan rocket , more powerful than Redstone ,placed the larger spacecraft into orbit. Only the first capsule that has the nicknamed " MOLLY BROWN
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^ Gemini 5 Splashdown
^ Gemini 6 and 7 Rendezvous.
^ Gemini 8 is docking to Agena target
^ Gemini 11 and conrad
^ Gemini 11 seperated from docking
^ Gemini 11 Target launch
^ Australia , view from Gemini 11
^ Gemini 12 , Agena target
^ Gemini 12 Spacecraft
^ Gemini12,Edwin E Aldrin,jr.space walk
^ Egyp and nile river from gemini 12
Apollo Project Apollo project was designed to land humans on the Moon and bring them safely back to Earth.
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The missions of Apollo as follows:
[LEFT]Earth Orbit : Apollo 7, Apollo 9
Lunar Orbit : Apollo 8 , Apollo 10
Lunar Landing : Apollo 11 , Apollo 12 , Apollo 14 , Apollo 15 , Apollo 16 , Apollo 17.
Apollo 1 cause a huge setback when the fire struck the Apollo 1 Command module during a pre-flight test on the launch pad. on January 27 , 1967 . American lost three of heroes Astronauts, Gus Grissom , Edward White , and Roger Chaffee.
Apollo 7 which tested the Command module . Apollo 9 which tested both Command module and Lunar module.
Apollo 8 and Apollo 10 tested various components while orbiting the Moon, and returned photography of thr Lunar surface.
Apollo 13 did not land on the Lunar surface due to malfunction.
Apollo 11 , First Lunar Landing : The voyage began at 9:32 a.m. EDT, July 16, 1969 ,when a saturn V rocket launched Apollo11 into Earth orbit from Cape Kennedy. After 1.5 orbits of the earth, third stage of the saturn V refired to send Apollo on its outward journey to the moon.Shortly afterward, the command-service module, “COLUMBIA”, seperated from the saturn third stage,turned around,and connected nose to nose with the lunar module ," EAGLE " ,which had been stored in the third stage . With EAGLE attached to its nose , COLUMBIA draw away from the third stage and continued toward the MOON. On July 19 , Apollo 11 neared and went behind the MOON. At 1:28 p.m. EDT , it fired its service module rocket to go into lunar orbit. After 24 hours in lunar orbit Armstrong and ALdrin seperated EAGLE from COLUMBIA , to prepare for descent to the lunar surface. On July 20 at 4:18 p.m. EDT , the Lunar Module touched down on the Moon at Tranquility Base. Armstrong reported " The EAGLE has landed." and at 10:56 p.m. , Armstrong, descending from eagle ladder and touching one foot to the MOON SURFACE,announced: " that’s one small step for a man , one giant leap for mankind ". Aldrin soon joined Armstrong. Man’s first venture on the lunar surface ended at 1:54 p.m.,July 21 when Armstrong and Aldrin lifted off from the MOON . They rejoined Eagle to Columbia, in which Collins had waiting for them ,in lunar orbit. The Astronuats then fired their service module rocket to break from the moon gravitational and heading for home. Finally they landed in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Hawaii at 12:51 p.m. EDT , July 24, 1969.
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[LEFT] اولرايك …اي حاجه
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