Over the course of 11 lunar cycles, the remote controlled rover traveled over The rover was officially shut down on October 4, Zond 8 flew to the Moon and back, taking color pictures of the Earth and lunar surface along the way.
The spacecraft splashed down in the Indian Ocean. Luna 16 was the first robotic mission to land on the Moon, collect samples of dust and rock, and return those samples to Earth.
Luna 16 was also the first spacecraft to land in the lunar darkness. The spacecraft landed in the Sea of Fertility. After collecting dust and rock samples, the spacecraft was launched back into space 26 hours later.
It returned to Earth with a soft landing on bringing back grams of Moon rocks. The spacecraft's rocket failed once it had reached Earth orbit and it was unable to continue on to the Moon. The spacecraft reached Earth orbit, but then its rocket failed and the spacecraft was unable to continue on to the Moon. Launched: August 7 or 8 , Earth landing: August 14, Zond 7 flew to the Moon and back, taking color pictures of the Earth and lunar surface along the way.
The spacecraft soft-landed in Kazakhstan. Luna 15 was launched in a veil of secrecy only three days before Apollo The Soviets did not reveal the target or mission of Luna 15 causing some concern on the part of the United States. Would Luna 15's mission interfere with Apollo 11? Where would it land? Would there be communication interference? Just two hours before the liftoff of Apollo 11, Luna 15 began its descent to the surface in the Sea of Crisis. The spacecraft crashed landed on the lunar surface.
The Soviets issued a statement claiming the research part of the mission was complete, but there had been hints that Luna 15 was intended to be sample return mission. No samples were returned. The spacecraft's second stage rocket shut down early and the rocket failed to achieve Earth orbit. Zond 6 was seen by the western powers as being the Soviet Union's final test before launching cosmonauts to the Moon. Once the spacecraft left Earth orbit, it took 2 days to reach the Moon.
There, it took pictures as it swung close to the lunar surface. Zond 6 then returned to Earth. Instead of splashing down in the Indian Ocean, like the previous Zond 5 mission, controllers programmed the spacecraft to bounce off the atmosphere and redirected the capsule to parachute to a landing within Soviet territory.
Zond 5 left Earth orbit, flew around the Moon and returned to our planet, splashing down in the Indian Ocean. The spacecraft was recovered and taken back to the USSR for study. Not much information was released about this mission, but many believed Zond 5 was one of the last steps before the Soviet Union landed cosmonauts on the Moon. Surveyor 7 landed in the lunar highlands near the crater Tycho.
Scientists used the scoop on the spacecraft to "weigh" lunar rocks, based on how much current was needed to lift each rock. Images sent back from the spacecraft indicated, for the first time, that some of the lunar rocks had been molten at some time in their history. The mission was successfully completed on February 21, Launched: November 7, Lunar landing: November 9, Surveyor 6 touched down in Sinus Medii.
Once on the surface, the spacecraft took a series of pictures and soil samples. Then, on November 17, controllers ordered the spacecraft's engines to fire, lifting Surveyor 6 off the lunar surface 3 meters 10 feet and setting it down again a few feet from the original landing site.
The spacecraft then took pictures of the former landing site, checking for evidence of a crater created by the rocket's exhaust. No crater was found, indicating that the Moon's surface was solid. Last contact with the spacecraft was December 14, Launched: September 8, Lunar landing: September 10, Despite a serious helium leak that occurred during its trip to the Moon, controllers were able to bring Surveyor 5 to a success touchdown.
Once on the ground, controllers ordered the spacecraft to fire its engine to test the composition of the soil beneath the lander. The test firing blew away a few clumps of soil, but did not create a crater.
The final transmission from the spacecraft was received on December 17, The mission ended when controllers sent the spacecraft crashing to the lunar surface on January 31, Controllers lost contact with Surveyor 4 just two and a half minutes before it was to touch down in Sinus Medii. The spacecraft was the first to take pictures of the Moon's south pole. It took images from orbit for eight months before controllers sent the spacecraft crashing to the lunar surface.
Crashing the spacecraft into the Moon kept an area around the Moon clear of debris that might compromise the upcoming crewed missions. As Surveyor 3 came in for a soft landing on the Moon one of its thrusters didn't turn off at the proper time and the spacecraft bounced a couple of times before it came to rest in the Ocean of Storms. Onboard the spacecraft, a scoop was used to collect soil samples, and a camera took over 6, images. The spacecraft's orbit was altered several times during the mission to give controllers on Earth more experience with communications during lunar orbit.
Lunar Orbiter 3 was able to photograph Surveyor 2 on the surface. The mission ended on October 9, , when controllers deliberately crashed the spacecraft into the Moon. Launched: December 21, Lunar landing: December 24, Luna 13 bounced to a landing on the lunar surface coming to a rest in the Oceans of Storms between the craters Selencus and Craft.
The lander collected soil samples and conducted experiments to determine the soil density and radioactivity. The mission ended on December 30, , when the spacecraft's supplies were depleted.
Lunar Orbiter 2 went into lunar orbit and took over pictures during its mission, including an oblique view of the crater Copernicus that was voted one of the best images of the century by the press. The spacecraft was deliberately sent crashing into the lunar surface on October 11, , bringing to an end the successful mission.
The primary mission of the spacecraft was to photograph the lunar surface and it did, taking 1, pictures including images of the Sea of Rains and the area surrounding the crater Aristarchus.
The mission was terminated on January 19, after orbits. Launched: September 20, Lunar impact: September 22, Just before touchdown, one of the thrusters on the spacecraft malfunctioned during a mid course correction and Surveyor 2 tumbled out of control. It crashed into the moon, southeast of the crater Copernicus. The spacecraft, designed to test new technology, completed orbits before its mission was terminated on October 1, It was a feat for the ages.
The non-stop campaign of testing and launches was also a race against time—specifically to honor slain president John F. After World War II drew to a close in the midth century, a new conflict began. Beginning in the late s, space On July 20, , American astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped off the lunar landing module Eagle, and became the first human to walk on the surface of the moon.
Nearly , miles from Earth, Armstrong spoke these words to more than a billion people listening at home: "That's The Eagle The event was the culmination of a technological race started by President John F. Kennedy in with the goal of beating The moment is etched in the collective memory of an entire generation—the blurry black-and-white image of Neil Armstrong descending the stairs of the Apollo 11 lunar module on July 20, to become the first human being to step foot on the moon.
Every epic moment in modern history inevitably spawns a tangled web of conspiracy theories, and the Apollo moon landings are no exception. From the moment astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the lunar surface on July 21, , some believed it was all an On May 25, , the new American president, John F.
Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Recommended for you. The Service Module contained oxygen, water, and electric power for the command module. The Service Module also housed the service propulsion system—the rocket engine that put the spacecraft into lunar orbit and later boosted it back toward Earth. This module was jettisoned just before reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. After three days of travel through space, the astronauts and the three Apollo spacecraft—command module Columbia, the Service Module, and the Lunar Module Eagle—entered orbit around the Moon on July During the flight to the Moon astronaut Michael Collins had repositioned the Lunar Module so that Columbia and Eagle were joined at their respective hatches.
Over the next day the astronauts readied the Lunar Module and themselves for the descent to the Moon. The Lunar Module LM was used for descent to the lunar surface and served as a base while the astronauts were on the Moon. A separate ascent stage, comprising the top portion of the Lunar Module, lifted the astronauts from the Moon's surface to rendezvous and dock with the command module, orbiting the Moon. Because lunar modules were designed to fly only in the vacuum of space, they did not have to be streamlined like an aircraft or carry a heat shield for protection during reentry.
Once a lunar module was launched into space, it could not return to Earth. To learn more about the Lunar Module transposition and docking, as well as descending to the lunar surface, visit the page At the Moon.
This is an actual lunar module designation LM-2 , one of 12 built for Apollo. Engineers planned to use this craft in low Earth orbit to test the techniques of separation, rendezvous, and docking with the command and service module. The second of two such test vehicles, its orbital mission was cancelled after a successful flight in an earlier mission.
The spacecraft subsequently was used for ground testing. A Two-Stage System. The lunar module had two stages: 1. A silver-and-black ascent stage, containing the crew's pressurized compartment and the clusters of rockets that controlled the spacecraft 2.
A gold-and-black descent stage, similar to the ascent stage, containing a main, centrally located rocket engine and tanks of fuel and oxidizer. The descent lower stage was equipped with a rocket motor to slow the rate of descent to the lunar surface.
It contained exploration equipment and remained on the Moon when the astronauts left. The ascent upper stage contained the crew compartment and a rocket motor to return the astronauts to the orbiting command module. After the crew entered the command module for the trip back to Earth, the lunar module was released and eventually crashed into the Moon. To rejoin the command module, the astronauts fired the ascent-stage rocket engine and lifted off, leaving the descent stage on the Moon.
The ascent stage met and docked with the command module in lunar orbit. The ascent stage then was programmed to crash into the Moon. The LM cutaway appears just as it would have during a moon-landing mission. Several materials cover the spacecraft to protect its inner structure from temperature and micrometeoroids. Specially designed materials maintain temperature balance inside the craft.
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