The American spacecraft Apollo 11 made a flight, during which the inhabitants of the Earth, for the first time in history, landed on the lunar surface.

The launch of the Saturn 5 launch vehicle, which put the Apollo 11 spacecraft into orbit, took place on July 6, 1969, at 09.32 US East Coast time (16.32 Moscow time) from Cape Kennedy. The spacecraft's crew included three astronauts - Commander Neil Armstrong, Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Aldrin, and Command Module Pilot Michael Collins. The main purpose of this space flight was the landing on the Earth satellite of the Moon and the successful return to Earth, which was set by US President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961.

The Apollo 11 spacecraft consisted of two modules - a command module (call sign Columbia) and a lunar module (call sign Orel). In the command compartment, the crew spent most of the flight, and the lunar module was intended directly for landing and subsequent takeoff from the moon.

On July 20 at 22 hours 56 minutes on the East Coast of the United States (July 21 at 5 hours 56 minutes Moscow time) Armstrong set foot on the moon. Standing on the moon, first with his right and then with his left foot, he said: "This small step of one person means a giant leap for mankind." A video camera installed outside the module broadcast Armstrong's exit to the lunar surface. After 20 minutes, Aldrin also went to the moon.

All the equipment of the astronauts weighed about 80 kilograms, but in lunar conditions the weight is reduced by about six times. Therefore, on the moon, even with such equipment, the astronaut weighed less than 25 kilograms. The unprecedented "lightness" allowed the astronauts to move on the Moon in leaps two meters high. It was also noticed that in lunar conditions it became possible to lean strongly in any direction without losing balance. During their entire stay on the Moon, the astronauts never fell and did not feel tired at all.

From above, the surface of the moon was covered with a fine-grained, powdery black substance, similar to crushed coal. And therefore, wherever astronauts walked, imprints of clear traces remained on the lunar surface.

During the trip to the moon, astronauts took samples of lunar rocks, installed scientific instruments on the moon - a seismometer and a laser reflector. They reinforced the US national flag on the lunar surface and left medals depicting people who gave their lives to the study of the Universe: Soviet - Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Komarov, and American - Virgil Grissom, Roger Chaffee and Edward White, who died at the launch of the Apollo spacecraft. one". In addition, miniature flags of 136 states of the world were delivered to the moon, including the flag of the Soviet Union, and a metal plate with the words engraved on it: "Here people from planet Earth first set foot on the moon. July 1969 from the birth of Christ. We came with peace from all mankind. "

Aldrin stayed on the moon for about an hour and a half and returned to the lunar module. Then, 40 minutes later, Armstrong followed. His walk on the moon lasted over 2.5 hours.

After the completion of the exit to the surface of the Earth satellite, the American astronauts, having checked onboard systems and after dinner, slept for about seven hours. Armstrong slept in a hammock suspended above the main engine cover of the module's takeoff stage, Aldrin on the cockpit floor. When they woke up, they ate breakfast and went into circumlunar orbit, where the command module awaited them. In total, the astronauts stayed on the moon for 21 hours and 36 minutes.

The operation to approach and dock the command and lunar modules lasted 3.5 hours. After its completion, the lunar travelers moved to the Apollo command compartment, and the take-off stage was left in orbit as unnecessary. The landing stage of the lunar cabin, which served as the launch pad, remained on the Moon.

On July 22, the astronauts turned on the main engine of the command compartment, and the spacecraft "laid down on a course" to Earth.

On July 24, at 12.50 US East Coast time (19.50 Moscow time), the command bay splashed down in the Pacific Ocean southwest of the Hawaiian Islands. The crew was taken to the deck of the aircraft carrier by helicopter. They were then taken to Houston.

After the completion of the mission, all astronauts underwent a mandatory 18-day quarantine due to the assumption of the possible existence of lunar organisms.

After quarantine and vacation on August 13, 1969, ceremonial meetings of the astronauts were organized in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

A team of astronauts Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin began preparations for space flight as part of the Apollo program. It is noteworthy that all of the crew members were experienced test pilots, all already had a space flight to their account, all of the same age (1930), in addition, Aldrin and Armstrong took part in the Korean War.

The priority was the crew of Frank Bormann, however, on January 9, Frank finally announced that he would no longer take part in space flights, as he made a promise to his wife and children. At the moment when it became clear that it was the Apollo 11 crew who would be the first to land on the moon, they began to decide who would be the first to step onto the satellite's surface. Since in most flights, access to the open was carried out by the pilot, and not the commander, it was assumed that it was Edwin Aldrin who would be the first person on the moon. But due to the design of the lunar module hatch, which opened towards Aldrin, it was more expedient for Armstrong to go outside first. If the choice falls on Aldrin, the pilot will have to climb over the hatch and the ship's commander to get out. Such maneuvers not only take a long time, but can also damage the suit or the ship's instruments.

On July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 spacecraft took off towards space. The event was watched by 5,000 guests of the Kennedy Space Center and several tens of thousands of Florida residents and tourists. Some hotels sold tickets to watch the event from prepared platforms and balconies. The start was followed by 25 million TV viewers.

Flight to the moon

After reaching the second space speed and reaching the set course to the moon, maneuvers began to rebuild the spacecraft, which were carried out by the pilot. The command module "Columbia" was undocked from the third stage, after which it was removed 30 meters from the entire structure, and turned 180 °. After that, Columbia began a rendezvous with the Eagle lunar module, and a subsequent docking was carried out. The third stage went into flight in a heliocentric orbit.

On the second day of the flight, the White House announced that the Apollo 11 was carrying medals dedicated to the deceased cosmonauts Vladimir Komarov and Yuri Gagarin, which were donated by the widows of the cosmonauts and which will be left on the lunar surface. Already in the first two days of the flight, the astronauts began to broadcast TV, for which they filmed the interior of the ship, where they lived, as well as space views in the window.

On the third day, Armstrong and Aldrin boarded the lunar module to conduct a survey and check its condition, the process was broadcast to Earth. No problems were found. While preparing the astronauts for sleep, Armstrong suddenly contacted the Space Center to request the distance to the launch vehicle's third stage. The fact is that the astronauts noticed an unidentified periodically sparkling object in the windows. Most likely the object was rotating and periodically bouncing off sunlight. Soon there was a response from Houston that the third stage was moving at a distance of 11 thousand km from Apollo 11, and could not be seen by the crew. However, all three astronauts clearly saw a mysterious object that they said looked like the letter "L", "open suitcase" or "open book." It was not possible to determine the exact origin of the object, but it is assumed that it was one of the parts of the adapter panel located in the third stage, in which the lunar module was located during the launch of the spacecraft.

Moon landing

On the fourth day, Apollo 11 entered the gravitational influence of the Moon, which already exceeded the gravitational force of the Earth. The ship was in circumlunar orbit. At this time, several images of the lunar surface were taken, as well as video filming. After choosing the landing site, astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin again switched to the lunar module and on the 13th orbit, above back side The moons, command module and lunar module have separated from each other. Columbia continued its lunar orbit with Michael Collins, while Eagle began its descent to the moon. Collins noticed from the Columbia that the lunar module was flying upside down, to which Neil Armstrong replied: "Some of us are flying upside down."

460 meters before landing, Astronaut Armstrong noticed that the autopilot had directed the lunar module to the edge of the crater, which was surrounded by many 2 to 3-meter boulders. For this reason, the commander of the lunar module took control of the attitude control engines and changed the trajectory of the ship. Soon there was a notification that only 8% of the fuel remained, later - 5%, the countdown began. After 94 seconds, the crew will have 20 seconds to land the module, or to interrupt the landing and subsequent takeoff.

At the moment of landing the module, the pulse of astronaut Armstrong rose to 150 beats per minute. 21 seconds before the end of the landing fuel, the lunar module "Eagle" landed on the surface of the satellite.

Stay on the moon

Before setting foot on the surface of the satellite, astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin spent two hours practicing emergency takeoff actions, and prepared all the required systems for this. Subsequent Apollo crews did not carry out such actions, since it was already known that the Moon was uninhabited and did not pose any unexpected threats to astronauts.

Further, Aldrin, as an elder in the Presbyterian Church, decided to conduct a short church service by performing the ordinance of the sacrament. At this point, the live radio broadcast was turned off to avoid litigation by atheists. Armstrong, who was an atheist, was not involved.

After opening the hatch, the first thing the astronauts did was toss a bag of debris onto the lunar surface. Next, Neil Armstrong turned on the TV camera located on the lunar module body and began descending the stairs. At the moment the astronaut's foot touched the surface, the famous phrase of Armstrong sounded: "A small step for a man, but a giant step for all mankind." The astronaut made the first observations of the lunar soil, began filming a panorama using a video camera. 15 minutes after the first man went to the moon, Aldrin began to descend to the surface of the satellite. During their stay on the moon, the crew filmed the satellite's surface with a wide-angle camera, installed a sheet of foil to trap neon, argon and helium ions as part of a scientific experiment, and set the US flag, which did not open completely due to the flagpole jamming. Since the top layer of the soil (regolith) of the Moon is fine dust, and solid ground begins a little deeper, Armstrong barely stuck the flag into the regolith only 15-20 cm.

Later, the President of the United States contacted the astronauts - Richard Nixon and TV viewers could watch the astronauts in one part of the screen, and the President in the other. In continuing research, Aldrin left several footprints in the regolith and took a number of photographs from different angles to further study the properties of the soil. Then the crew placed a set of scientific instruments, one of which was a reflector. With the help of this device and a beam launched from the Earth into it, scientists in the future could calculate the distance from the Earth to the Moon. Since the command module "Columbia" has been in the line of sight of the astronauts for some time, the latter began preparations for the return. They placed commemorative medals of other astronauts on the lunar surface and boarded the Eagle.

For 2 hours 31 minutes 40 seconds, the Apollo 11 crew collected 21.55 kg of lunar soil samples, the maximum distance of the astronaut from the lunar module was 60 meters.

Lunar module take off

After changing their clothes, the crew threw out their shoes and other equipment to reduce the weight of the module. Baz Aldrin reported to the MCC that the engine start button for takeoff was broken, probably one of the astronauts touched the equipment with his equipment. It was revealed that pressing the button could be done using a felt-tip pen that was on board the lunar module. After eating, the astronauts put on their spacesuits and began to depressurize. It is noteworthy that moon dust remained under their nails, which could not be cleaned out. The crew was faced with the task of getting enough sleep before takeoff, but this was difficult for several reasons: the astronauts were in spacesuits, there was little space in the cockpit and it was cold (+ 16 ° C), the noise of the module's pumps and the light of the Sun shining through the window curtains were distracting. And if Aldrin slept for about two hours at breaks, then Armstrong did not fall asleep.

After 21 hours and 36 minutes on the Moon, the Eagle began to take off. It is noteworthy that during takeoff, Aldrin saw through the window that as a result of work jet engine the set flag fell. Four and a half hours after takeoff, the lunar and command modules approached 30 meters. After docking, astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin vacuumed their regolith from their clothes and proceeded to the command module, where Collins was waiting for them.

Return to Earth

On the seventh day of the flight, Apollo 11 was already heading towards Earth. The next day, the ship landed successfully in the Pacific Ocean. The astronauts were greeted by rescuers in bio-protective suits, the same suits were handed over to the descent vehicle, after which the astronauts were transported by helicopter aboard the aircraft carrier Hornet. It is noteworthy that after landing, the crew went directly to the quarantine van, in order to avoid the spread of various kinds of infections that the astronauts could bring from the moon. It was through the glass of this van that the crew communicated with the president. In a quarantine van, the astronauts were taken to Houston and spent 20 days in it.

WASHINGTON, July 20 - RIA Novosti. Forty years ago - on July 20, 1969 - man first set foot on the lunar surface.

NASA's Apollo 11 spacecraft with a crew of three astronauts (commander Neil Armstrong, lunar module pilot Edwin Aldrin and command module pilot Michael Collins) became the first to reach the moon in the USSR and the USA space race. The United States did not pursue research tasks in this expedition, its purpose was simple - to land on an Earth satellite and return successfully.

The spacecraft consisted of a lunar module and a command module, which remained in orbit during the mission. Thus, of the three astronauts, only two visited the moon - Armstrong and Aldrin. They were to land on the moon, collect samples of lunar soil, take pictures on the moon and install several instruments. However, the main ideological component of the trip was the hoisting of the American flag on the moon and the holding of a video communication session with the Earth.

The dispatch of the astronauts took place with famous fanfare - the launch was watched by US President Richard Nixon and German rocket scientist Hermann Obert. A total of about a million people watched the launch at the cosmodrome itself and the mounted observation platforms, and the TV broadcast, according to the Americans, was watched by more than a billion people all over the world.

Apollo 11 launched toward the moon on July 16, 1969 at 1332 GMT and entered lunar orbit 76 hours later. The command and lunar modules were undocked approximately 100 hours after launch. Despite the fact that NASA intended to land on the lunar surface in an automatic mode, Armstrong, as the leader of the expedition, decided to land the lunar module in a semi-automatic mode. He motivated his decision with the words: "Automation does not know how to choose landing sites."

The lunar module landed in the Sea of \u200b\u200bTranquility on July 20 at 20 hours 17 minutes 42 seconds GMT. As NASA historians write, at the moment of landing, Armstrong transmitted: "Houston, this is Tranquility Base. The Eagle (the emblem of the mission was an eagle) sat down." Mission Specialist Charles Duke replied: "Understood, Calm. You landed on the moon. We all turned blue. Now we are breathing again. Thank you very much!"

Before stepping on the surface of the Earth satellite, the astronauts checked the onboard systems and made a simulated launch from the Moon.

Armstrong descended to the lunar surface on July 21, 1969 at 02 hours 56 minutes 20 seconds GMT. Everyone knows his phrase, which he uttered when he set foot on the moon: "This is one small step for man, but a giant leap for all mankind."

A camera installed outside the module broadcast Armstrong's exit to the lunar surface.

Fifteen minutes later, Aldrin also went to the moon, who was remembered for the fact that he immediately began to try various methods of movement on the surface. The astronauts collected the required amount of materials, placed instruments and installed a television camera. After that, they planted the American flag in the field of view of the camera - as you know, Congress rejected NASA's proposal to plant a UN flag on the moon - and held a communication session with President Nixon. Astronauts left a commemorative plaque on the Moon with the words: "Here people from planet Earth first set foot on the Moon. July 1969 AD. We came in peace on behalf of all Humanity."

Aldrin stayed on the Moon for about an hour and a half, Armstrong for two hours and 10 minutes. At the 125th hour of the mission and the 22nd hour of stay on the Moon, the lunar module was launched from the surface of the only satellite of the Earth. The crew splashed down on Earth approximately 195 hours after the start of the mission, and soon the astronauts were picked up by the rescue aircraft carrier. After quarantine and vacation on August 13, 1969, ceremonial meetings of the astronauts were organized in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins were greeted with the enthusiasm with which the pioneer of space Yuri Gagarin was greeted in the USSR.