Apollo space program in the 1970s

Identification Exploratory spaceflights to the Moon

Date Ran from 1964 to 1972

The Apollo program, which achieved the first manned lunar landing in 1969, continued its mission of human exploration of the Moon in the early 1970’s.

In May, 1961, President John F. Kennedy challenged the United States to send a man to the Moon and back before 1970. First, six Mercury astronauts orbited Earth in single-occupant spacecraft. They were followed by ten two-man Gemini missions, with astronauts learning and refining all the techniques needed to pilot a spacecraft to the Moon. The first Apollo mission ended in tragedy. On January 27, 1967, the pressurized cabin of the Apollo 1 spacecraft erupted into flames, killing the three-man crew.

In October, 1968, the manned mission Apollo 7 orbited Earth for eleven days to test spacecraft systems. On Christmas Eve, 1968, Apollo 8 entered the lunar orbit. Apollo 9 flew in an Earth orbit during March, 1969, achieving a key rendezvous test. Apollo 10 in May, 1969, performed a lunar landing dress rehearsal, practicing all maneuvers but the final touchdown. Apollo 11 landed on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility on July 20, 1969. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the lunar surface, collected samples, and performed science experiments before rejoining Michael Collins for the return trip to Earth. Apollo 12 touched down in November, 1969, in the Ocean of Storms near the robotic Surveyor 3 spacecraft. This flight included two expanded geological investigations of the landing site and the establishment of a complex surface science station to collect data well after the astronauts departed.

Spaceflights in the 1970’s

Originally, the Apollo program was to include ten landings. Since the principal program goal had been achieved, however, three of these landings were cancelled. Five more manned lunar landings were planned for the 1970’s, with the program conclusion set for late 1972.

Apollo 13 did not enjoy the same success as Apollo 11 and 12. Astronauts James Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert were launched on April 11, 1970. Two days later, an oxygen tank exploded, crippling the spacecraft’s life-support capabilities. Fortunately, the lunar module was still attached. With exceptional ingenuity, Mission Control safely rescued the astronauts. Twenty-five years after the mission, the film Apollo 13 (1995), starring Tom Hanks, accurately portrayed the saga and ensured its place in American culture as well as history.

Apollo 14 landed on the Moon on February 5, 1971, in the Fra Mauro region, which had been the designated Apollo 13 landing site. Astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell pulled a small cart that held samples, tools, and experiments as they walked farther away from their lunar module than had been attempted during Apollo 11 and 12.

Apollo 15 was the first of three expanded science missions. They included extended lunar surface stays, with three longer rather than two shorter moonwalks. A solar-powered vehicle could traverse as much as 25 kilometers across the surface. These rovers were equipped with a television camera remotely controlled from Earth, thus freeing the astronauts to perform geology experiments and other tasks. Also, a greater amount of research was conducted from lunar orbit by the lone astronaut circling the Moon while his two colleagues were on the surface.

Apollo 15 explored the Hadley-Apennine region, landing on July 29, 1971, on a cratered plain near Hadley Rille and the Apennine Front. The crew was able to investigate a deep canyon, an ancient plain of the Mare Imbrium basin, and a mountainous region. Astronauts David Scott and James Irwin spent sixty-seven hours on the Moon collecting about 82 kilograms of rocks. A small subsatellite was left in orbit before the astronauts departed lunar orbit; the same thing was done on the next two missions.

Apollo 16 explored the Descartes region, landing on April 20, 1972. This was the only landing in the lunar highlands region. During twenty hours on the surface spread over three moonwalks, astronauts John Young and Charles Duke collected 97 kilograms of samples for return to Earth.

The liftoff of Apollo 17 on December 7, 1972, provided a meloncholy mixture of pride and sense of loss, since every Saturn 5 launch had been successful but humans would not be returning to the Moon for the foreseeable future. Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt landed in the Taurus-Littrow valley. During three moonwalks, they drove their rover 11.6 kilometers and collected 66 kilograms of samples. The Apollo program officially ended on December 17, 1972, when their command module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.

With three Moon landings canceled, Apollo hardware remained without mission assignments. Some was used to launch the Skylab space station in 1973 and to send three teams of astronauts to that orbital workshop for extended stays in 1973 and 1974, ranging from twenty-eight to eighty-four days. A final spacecraft was launched in July, 1975, for a joint rendezvous and docking mission with a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. This mission included serious scientific research, but it was overshadowed by the joint flight’s political significance. Apollo originated in the heat of the Cold War but ended in the spirit of détente.

Impact

Going to the Moon occurred in the twentieth century only as a result of a number of convergent geopolitical consequences. If the Soviet Union had not launched Sputnik in 1957 and cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in 1961, and if the Cuban insurrection at the Bay of Pigs had not gone awry, then a Moon landing might never have become a central focus of American life in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Although often acclaimed for its scientific and technological advancements, all of which were undeniably true, the Apollo program became the crowning nonmilitary achievement in the U.S.-Soviet Cold War competition. The program ended early in the 1970’s because Apollo had fulfilled its geopolitical purpose, the peaceful demonstration of the Free World’s technological superiority over communism. Future historians will surely list the Moon program as one of the greatest achievements of the twentieth century.

Bibliography

Cernan, Eugene, and Don Davis. The Last Man on the Moon. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999.

Chaikin, Andrew. A Man on the Moon. New York: Viking Press, 1994.

Lovell, Jim, and Jeffrey Kluger. Lost Moon. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.

Shepard, Alan, and Deke Slayton. Moon Shot. Atlanta: Turner, 1994.

Tobias, Russell R., ed. USA in Space. 2d ed. Pasadena, Calif.: Salem Press, 2001.

Wilhelms, Don E. To a Rocky Moon. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1993.