How We Got to the Moon (the first time)

[rod]

There’s no denying that the moon landing was an impactful and significant event in human history. When the first astronauts stood on a chunk of rock that none of our kind had ever touched before, we began to wonder if there really are any limits to what we can achieve. What’s even more amazing is the fact that the moon landing took place before we had the incredible technology of today’s world. Intelligence and sheer will combined to send us away from our home planet, just to see if we could. Here’s how those amazing pioneers of the space industry got us to the moon:

1. President Kennedy issued a challenge: get mankind to the moon before the end of the decade.
The so-called “space race” was no joke. The US and Russia were competing to see who could get their technology into space and propel their countries to the forefront of exploration. President John F. Kennedy recognized the importance of supporting NASA and stressed this to Congress in 1961. Eight years later, NASA was ready to launch.

2. On July 16th, Apollo 11 astronauts left Earth.
It was 9:32 a.m. when Apollo 11 lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It took 12 minutes for the crew to reach Earth orbit, and one and a half orbits later they were ready to head for the moon. To reach lunar orbit, it took three days. The next day, on July 20, 1969, Aldrin and Armstrong were ready to get in the lunar module Eagle and head for the surface.

3. After a testy landing, the Eagle safely touched down on the lunar surface.
Armstrong admitted after the fact that the landing process was what had him the most worried. The landing site, known as the Sea of Tranquility, was anything but when the Eagle’s computer systems went haywire. Armstrong manually maneuvered the lunar module away from a section full of boulders and, with about 30 seconds of fuel remaining, touched down. And, as those famous words remind us, in that moment the world witnessed “...one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Today, the Internet and social media has many claiming Apollo 11 and the other missions were all fake and a government conspiracy. SCI channel recently had a program covering some of the issue and problems here. I enjoyed watching Apollo 8 broadcast from the Moon as they orbited and reading of Genesis 1 as well as watching Apollo 11, and return of the crew too. There were radio telescopes used in Australia to track Apollo 11 and broadcast the mission to Earth on TV.

 

[Loonybin]

I must admit I once thought the moon landings were fake, mainly because what they landed in looked so fragile and made of tin foil, it looked like a homeless persons make-do shelter, but I've watched and learned alot since then. One thing I cannot get to grips with is.....The moon has no atmosphere and no gravity, thats why the astronauts wear weighted boots or apparantly they'd float off in to space. If this is so, how come it is claimed that the moons gravitational pull is the reason we have high tides on Earth as it tries to lift the water from the oceans, where does the moon get the gravity from, twice a day.

 

[David777]

G=mM/r2.

 

[Hawkstein]

M O O N that spells moon

 

[Helio]

The moon has no atmosphere and no gravity, thats why the astronauts wear weighted boots or apparantly they'd float off in to space. If this is so, how come it is claimed that the moons gravitational pull is the reason we have high tides on Earth as it tries to lift the water from the oceans, where does the moon get the gravity from, twice a day.

You have answered, sorta, your question whether or not the Moon has gravity; tides are a result of gravity. The Sun also affects our tides by about 1/3 (Moon is about 2/3 rds). All matter exerts gravity. We have an atmosphere because we have far more surface gravity than the Moon.

 

[Leonardo]

I never thought the moon landing was fake, and I still don’t.

However there is a problem: “The Unified S-band or simply called USB”. This according to NASA was the system they used in 1969 to transmit Video, Audio and data together in a live streaming from the moon to here. Exactly this is my field of expertise and my daily job. I tried to research for days and days about this USB system, and guys... it doesn’t make any sense. It’s not even possible today (2020) for such a long distance, all that data in the S-Band and achieve a Live Streaming.

Not only that, I did made longer and more detailed questions in other forums about this problem, and I noticed they changed the Wikipedia page of this USB system after that! In the beginning it was mentioned there where 2 companies involved in the USB project, NASA and a private company under contract with NASA, the problem was researching that private company you will not find any data. The company existed only in the NASA archives. NASA also mentioned in the Wiki the USB technology was used ONLY for the Apollo missions and the technology died with that private company (?! A Tecnology that we do not have today).

Now, today if you read the Wiki page they changed the USB was developed by NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory(JPL) based in Altadena CA, that is exactly where I live (what a irony). Why and Who changed???

Researching you also find the only test they did before try the stream from the moon (obviously you couldn’t test that before), was to transmit with this technology via cable (?!) between 32Km of distance, to check the noice level. Also this doesn’t make any sense. I sent emails to NASA about this, nobody ever answered.

 

[BillyW]

I must admit I once thought the moon landings were fake, mainly because what they landed in looked so fragile and made of tin foil, it looked like a homeless persons make-do shelter, but I've watched and learned alot since then. One thing I cannot get to grips with is.....The moon has no atmosphere and no gravity, thats why the astronauts wear weighted boots or apparantly they'd float off in to space. If this is so, how come it is claimed that the moons gravitational pull is the reason we have high tides on Earth as it tries to lift the water from the oceans, where does the moon get the gravity from, twice a day.

The Lunar Module was built like that because weight was such a problem In fact, the TV camera that showed Armstrong taking the first step onto the lunar surface almost didn't make the trip. NASA public relations director, the late Julian Scheer, told the design team "if you don't include the camera, nobody will believe we did it." The camera weighed 7 pounds. At Scheer's insistence, they 7 pounds to trim elsewhere and the TV camera made it.

I'm not smart enough to answer the gravity question.