Dark Side of the Moon
Dark Side of the Moon
Dark Side of the Moon
Dark Side of the Moon
Uncovering
the mysteries of our moon
PRESENT - Space Race
In the 20th Century, a technology race started between the Soviet Union and the United States of America. Various milestones were achieved in space exploration, as each nation tried to reach the moon.
The First Artificial Satellite
The start of the space race began with the use of ballistic missiles originally planned for World War II that had just finished. Both nations had ambitions to send artificial satellites by 1958.
The Soviet Union was the first to achieve this by launching Sputnik 1 into orbit using the rocket R-7. Sputnik 1’s purpose was to photograph Earth, take readings of radiation, and investigate the magnetic field of Earth. This sent the United States into the ‘Sputnik Crisis’ as resources spent towards automobiles and other manufacturing purposes became dedicated towards the development of rockets and rushing their first public test project Vanguard. Televised throughout the US, it became a catastrophic failure only seconds after its launch, earning nicknames like flopnick and dudnick as it become mocked internationally. Four months after Sputnik 1’s launch, the United States managed to successfully launch their own satellite, Explorer-1. Containing a Gieger-Muller tube, it was sent to prove a theory of the radiation belt (Van-Allen Belt) that existed around Earth. It also made other observations, like the existence of cosmic rays, micrometeorites, and the temperature of the spacecraft.
Lunar Touchdown
With the possibility of sending satellites into Earth’s atmosphere, the next step was sending unmanned spacecraft onto the moon. Using an upgraded R-7, the Soviet Union attempted to launch 3 separate lunar rovers, and the fourth attempt managed to launch, but it’s trajectory missed the moon. After failing their fifth attempt, Luna-2 landed on the moon at 14 September 1959 with information of the Van Allen belt, electromagnetic information of the moon’s surface, and small explosives that sent metal plates engraved СССР СЕНТЯБРЬ 1959 ("USSR SEPTEMBER 1959"). By October, Luna 3 had been launched which orbited the moon and revealed the dark side of the moon through pictures. The US was still behind, reacting the the Luna project with Ranger-1 and 2 which had both failed, but Ranger-3 passed Earth’s atmosphere and missed the moon. Ranger-7 was the attempt that successfully reached the moon on 31 July 1964.
The First Human in Space
The Soviet Union was predictably first to reach space, as they launch Yuri Gagarin into a single orbit aboard Vostok 1 on 12 April 1961. He was dubbed as the first Cosmonaut for the achievement. Flight of Vostok 1 was completely automated, with an emergency override if desperately needed. Vostok 1 completed a full orbit around Earth and landed back in the Soviet Union. April 12 is now celebrated as the International Day of Human Space Flight due to Gagarin’s flight.
The US had its own plans with project Mercury, which stated with developing unmanned spacecraft, then non-human primates, before launching Alan Shepard on May 5 1961 aboard Freedom-7.
"One Small Step for man, One Giant Leap for Mankind"
Various tests from Apollo 1 through 10 lead to Apollo 11 using the Saturn V rocket by the US. The mission itself took 3 days, with Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins as crew. They achieved orbit around the moon, and Neil Armstrong with Buzz Aldrin used the lunar vessel Eagle to land on the moon while Michael Collins remained on Columbia as he inspected the landing gear and supervised their descent for any errors. During the descent, various errors occurred because of an antenna switch left in the wrong position causing errors in the downrange. By 180 meters until touchdown, Armstrong overrode the automatic descent and touched down 20:18:14 (UTC) 20th July 1969. The crew waited 6 hours before leaving the craft, where Armstrong said his famous phrase “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” which is actually misspoken, as he rehearsed it as “one small step for a man...” 20 minutes after Armstrong had left, Aldrin joined and spent under 2 hours and 15 minutes on the moon. By the next day, the first lunar launch was completed and rendezvoused with Columbia and reentered Earth on the pacific ocean on 24 July 1969.
