Monday July 20, 2009 will mark the 40th anniversary of the first men ever to land on the moon. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon. Armstrong was quoted making the famous statement, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." They boarded the Saturn V rocket to the moon. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins took the famous voyage while Collins orbited above. It was the third human space mission. The famous launch took place on July 16, 1969 at the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Many people had camped out to view this momentous event. President Nixon viewed the space landing on television. It's a day in history that changed the world forever. It was a feat that had never been accomplished before that time. The U.S. fufilled it's pledge by landing the first men on the moon before the end of the 60's.
The event that paved the way for man to make this voyage to the moon was the Sputnik I incident on October 4, 1957. The Soviets launched the Sputnik I satellite into outer space. At the time the United States was in a Cold War with the Soviet Union. The Soviet's satellite launch alarmed America about its fledgling space program as well as our national security interests. America was concerned about the threat the Soviets posed on us so it propelled then President Eisenhower to sign a bill establishing NASA (National Aeronautics Space Agency). NASA started finding ways to make it possible for man to land on the moon. President John F. Kennedy told a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961 that he had a goal for the United States to send the first man to the moon before the end of the 60's.
One of the programs that NASA established to land man on the moon and to land them safely back was the Apollo program. Apollo 1 was the first mission tested and all astronauts inside that spacecraft perished as a result of fire in the command module due to an experimental simulation. Due to this incident, there were a few unmanned tests before the men boarded the spacecraft. Apollo 8 and 10 tested various components while orbiting the moon and returned photographs. The first successful mission to land man on the moon was Apollo 11.
On July 20, that goal was reached as both Armstrong and Aldrin set foot on the moon. Aldrin placed his bootprint on the moon. Also, the astronauts placed a U.S. flag, a plaque, and an Apollo 1 insignia patch. They also collected soil samples and used scientific instruments to measure moonquakes and meteorite impacts. The men then orbited back to earth on July 21. They made it to splashdown on July 24, 1969 in the Pacific Ocean. They were then taken to confinement and were quarantined for three weeks. That was done for precautionary reasons in case they picked up any unexpected pathogens on the moon. Then after three weeks on August 13 there were parades held in their honor in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and even Mexico City, Mexico. Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins were then later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
In examining the events that took place during that great historical time it was noticeable that Americans as well as the national leaders of that time had a great sense of patriotic fervor. They viewed America as no. 1 in the world and they weren't going to allow themselves to be outdone by anybody. Kennedy set a goal for America to set the first man on the moon and the goal was finally achieved on July 20, 1969. Americans had a sense of pride and nationalism. That's something that's lacking in today's America; including our elected officials. Our leaders in the 60's didn't go globetrotting around the world apologizing for America. They were proud to be Americans. If America's elected officials during the 60's had the same mentality about America like our elected officials do today, then America wouldn't have been the first country to land man on the moon. On top of that, we would've lost the Cold War to the Soviet Union.
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