Moon Landing Significance

On September 12, 1962, President Kennedy gave a groundbreaking speech announcing his goal of placing a man on the moon before the end of the decade. He had previously had a joint session with congress on the matter, and after many meetings and long nights studying and worrying he finally decided that a Moon landing was a field in which America had a potential lead. The Americans had watched the Communist SSR put a satellite into orbit, the famous Sputnik Satellite on October 4, 1957, and, more recently, the first man in orbit on April 12, 1961. A comeback was desperately needed by the Americans to show a win for Democracy compared to Communism. Although there are many significant events that transpired during the 1960’s, many believe the
The spacecraft designated to carry travel to the moon had a total of five rockets which amounted to seven point seven million pounds of thrust, a groundbreaking amount. The first few rockets carried the craft thirty-eight miles above the earth after only two minutes where the craft separated. One used the momentum to soar with three brave men among the stars, the other, its mission completed, began the long fall back to the planet's surface. The trip took four days and six hours to complete, not long at all after considering that they had to travel at least two thousand twenty-five miles to the moon. After which the two astronauts, Buzz, and Neil landed on the lunar surface while leaving Collins to orbit above the men. The two men spent a total of twenty-one hours on the moon, performing a variety of scientific, and instrumental achievements. After the long exhilarating time on the satellite, the men climbed back in the landing vehicle to ascend towards the orbiting Columbia and fellow astronaut Collins. They then made the much quicker approach to Earth. After two days and twenty-two hours they landed heavily in the ocean, to be greeted as