Apollo 11 and Man on the Moon

Apollo 11 had two parts, Columbia that would stay in the moon's orbit, and the Eagle that would land on the moon (that's why there's an Eagle on the mission badge.) The Columbia (CSM-107) and the Eagle (LM-5) would go to the moon and the Eagle that was carrying Neil Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin parted and landed on the moon while Columbia that was carrying Micheal Collins, stayed in orbit.



On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy, and on July 20, 1969. Neil Armstrong was officially the first man on the moon and said, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."



Armstrong and Aldrin stayed on the moon for 21 hours and 36 minuets, and while Armstrong and Aldrin, they were able to communicate with President Richard M. Nixon, and they posted a U.S. flag on the moon. Armstrong and Aldrin soon returned to the Eagle, and went up to dock on to the Columbia and returned to Earth. On July 24, 1969, Apollo 11 and its crew returned safely in the Pacific Ocean and were recovered by the USS Hornet.

The International Space Station

The International Space Station is a giant satellite with over 15 crew members working and building it in space. It will have eight Solar Panels that will supply 100 kilowatts and are attached to a metal frame work which is 360 ft. long. It's being built by 15 different countries including: United States, Brazil, Russia, Canada, Japan, and other European countries called the E.S.A.

The first six modules of the Soviet Salyut Station and the U.S. Skylab, were launched in the 1970's. In 1986, the Soviet Union sent their first space station called "Mir" into space, they built it based on the Soyuz space craft. Soon in 1991,when the Cold War was over and the Soviet Union fell from power, Russian cosmonauts took over Mir and sent it crashing towards Earth.

In the 1990's, the Russians wanted to make a Mir 2, and the United States wanted to make a station called Freedom , in partnership with Canada, Japan, and the E.S.A. but due to financial funding, neither were made. In 1993, Russia and the United States agreed to make a combined space station called the International Space Station.

There were several modules sent to be combined in space. The first module was sent by Russia called Zarya (Sunrise in Russia.) The second module was sent by the U.S. that is called Unity, that was sent into space by the space shuttle Endeavour in December 1998. Unity has seven hatches, one connected to Zarya, and he others will connect to the other six modules.

In July, 2000, Russia sent a proton rocket to bring another module called Zvezda (star), this module was the part where astronauts and cosmonauts lived. In October 2000 the shuttle Discovery brought in supplies including support truss for connecting soar panels and a connecting unit called the Pressurized Mating Adapter (P.M.A.) which allowed shuttles to dock. In November, 2000, the first full time crew arrived called Expedition One. Expedition One arrived in a Soyuz, and their crew commander was William Shepherd, with the rest being cosmonauts.

Latter in November, space shuttle Endeavour brought the first four U.S. built solar panels to the station. In February, 2001, the U.S sent another shuttle called Atlantis that carried the U.S. built Destiny laboratory module, and in the next few months, it was activated and scientific research began. Two more modules were sent in 2001, a U.S. and a Russian airlock and docking port where added.

Later in 2001, N.A.S.A. planned to make seven person escape craft for the full time crew but, N.A.S.A. underestimated the cost and to build it would be $5 billion over budget, so instead of enlarging the crew, N.A.S.A. decided to to make the escape craft, and to suspend the plan to enlarge the crew. N.A.S.A.'s partners in Japan and Europe strongly objected to that decision.

In 2002, the station continued to operate with it's crew. Russian cosmonauts flew a new Soyuz every six months to serve as a "Bail -out-capsule" in case of life threatening emergency and a shuttle would come every 4-5 months to replace parts.

Up until 2003, the operation on making the space station had been almost perfect, but on February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia burned up reentering earth's atmosphere. N.A.S.A. halted sending space shuttles up for a while, Soyuz missions where made to bring crews to and fro the station to reduce supplies.

Starting Off

Late 1945, after World War II, the Cold War began. The Cold War was when the Soviet Union and the United States of America raced to produce more nuclear weapons and a race in space exploration. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched their first satellite called "Sputnik 1." The public o the United States thought that this had something to do with "Pearl Harbor." On January 31 1958, the U.S. was quick to follow and sent their first satellite into space called "Explorer 1." Explorer 1 documented existing radiation zones surrounding Earth that are caused by the Earth's Magnetic fields that is called "Van Allen Radiation Belt."

N.A.S.A.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or N.A.S.A. started on October 1, 1958, as the Cold War continued to continue. It was started by Congress and the president. It started off with 8,000 employees, an annual budget of 100,000,000 dollars, and later started to move around the country. It now has ten locations around the U.S. The Cold war lasted for 46 years. After the 1970's the Soviet Union failed to grow and soon fell from power and the Cold War ended in 1991.