Apollo program

The Apollo Project is a human spaceflight program to the moon by　NASA the first as human beings. It carried out from 1961 to 1972 and succeeded in the 6 times manned landing on the moon.

The Apollo Project was considered as a project after the Mercury Project at the beginning of 1960. Although the Mercury spacecraft picked up a one pilot and only go around a low orbit. But in the spaceship Apollo, to pick up three pilots, and to go the moon around, and also to land on the moon was made into the target.

By then Director NASA, the plan name was connected with Helios Apollo of Greek mythology, and was named. He is saying later, "He named that his child is named in the feeling." John F. Kennedy was elected as the 35th generation of United States of America President in November, 1960. Kennedy promised making the United States superior to the Soviet Union on field of space development and missile defense during the election.However, after being elected as the President, immediately Kennedy did not make a decision about the Apollo Project. He didn’t know about the details of space technology very much and hesitated the immense budget needed for a manned landing on the moon.

Astronaut Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union was successful on April 12, 1961 in the first manned space flight in Vostok 1. The American citizen saw this and felt anxious losing the space race with the Soviet Union.

On May 25, 1961, Kennedy announced support of the Apollo Project in the speech in both-legislative-houses joint Parliament.

“First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important in the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.”

The manned flight was performed by three persons, a captain, command service module pilot and a lunar excursion module pilot. When landing on the moon, the captain and the landing module pilot landed and the command service module pilot was standing on the moon circumference orbit in the meantime.

NASA conducted three manned flights (8, 9 and 10) from December 21, 1968 to May 18, 1969 using the Saturn 5 type rocket. Although three pilots joined and the whole of each flight, also carried the landing module in No. 9 and No. 10, it did not aim at the landing on the moon. Then, human beings came down on heavenly bodies other than the earth for the first time in the history of the earth by Apollo 11. And captain Neil Armstrong left the language of the famous following.

“That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”

 
     Although the rumor that the Apollo Project was a fabrication was flowing till the beginning of 2000, there is no now. I don’t know who followed such this rumor, but I think that it is too impolite to the people in connection with this plan. There are many people who risked life to this plan, and three crew have risked their life. So I don’t understand the feeling of the person that Apollo Project is a lie.