On April, 20 1972, the Apollo 16 lunar module landed on the Moon. Astronauts Charlie Duke and John Young set up an observatory on the lunar surface, providing NASA scientists with a bird’s eye view of the Milky Way and beyond. During their three-day-stay on the Moon, Duke and Young collected 208.3 pounds of rocks and soil samples.
The sixth and final manned lunar landing occurred on December 11, 1972. The Apollo 17 mission lasted for 12 days, during which time astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt collected 240 pounds of geological specimens.
Apollo missions 18, 19, and 20 were cancelled due to NASA budget cuts. Apollo’s demise was directly related to economic, philosophical, and political issues. Liberals believed congressional expenditures should be diverted from lunar exploration to address social ills. New York Congressman Ed Koch echoed the sentiments of many fellow lawmakers: “I just can’t for the life of me see voting to find out whether there is some microbe on Mars, when in fact I know there are rats…in Harlem apartments.”
At the same time, many Conservatives championed fiscal restraint and a shift from the big-government, Great Society mentality of the 1960s. Supporters of the burgeoning environmentalist movement also chimed in, alleging that the by-products of science and technology were destructive to the ecosystem.
The general public’s long-standing fascination with lunar missions waned near the end of the Apollo program. After CBS preempted a popular prime time series to televise the Apollo 17 launch, the network was inundated with complaints from angry viewers.
When Project Apollo was cancelled, the United States had not yet fully extracted itself from the costly and futile war in Vietnam. With so many competing agendas, space dollars became scarcer. In 1965, NASA’s annual budget had been 5.25 billion dollars; by 1972, funding for the space program had shrunk to 3.3 billion dollars.
After scrubbing the final three Apollo lunar missions, the Nixon Administration devoted the lion’s share of space appropriations to the Space Transportation System (STS), which would later become known as the Space Shuttle. Apollo 17 astronaut Eugene Cernan remains the last man to have walked on the Moon. In 1976, the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 became the last unmanned vehicle to land on the Moon in the 20th century.
In the 40 plus years since the Apollo 11 mission, the United States, Soviet Union, Japan, India, and the European Space Agency have continued to launch unmanned spacecraft into lunar orbit. In 1994, an American space probe, Clementine, orbited the Moon and generated the first global lunar topographical map.
In 1998, another American spacecraft, the Lunar Prospector, began orbiting the Moon with highly sophisticated molecular detection equipment. Utilizing neutron spectrometry, the unmanned probe discovered excess hydrogen in the Moon’s Polar Regions—suggesting the possibility of hidden water stores on the lunar surface.
On June 18, 2009, the 79 million-dollar Lunar Crater Observation Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) was launched from Cape Canaveral, entering into lunar orbit, 31 miles above the Moon’s pock-marked surface. On October 10th of that same year, the Centaur portion of the spacecraft (roughly the size of a sports utility vehicle) separated from its Atlas V rocket, and crashed into the Moon’s surface at the Cabeus crater. Traveling at a velocity of 5,600 miles per hour, the spacecraft generated a hole, 100 feet in diameter, at impact. The resulting dust cloud rose six miles into the lunar sky, allowing the LCROSS to analyze its contents. The plume’s content included 220 pounds of ice, equivalent to 26 gallons of water.
“We always think of the Moon as dead, and this is sort of a dynamic process going on,” University of Maryland astronomer Jessica Sunshine enthusiastically reported.
Further exploration by India’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter detected an estimated 600 million tons of frozen water in vast reservoirs at the bottom of craters near the Moon’s North Pole. The ice deposits, permanently shaded from sunlight, are estimated to contain 100 times more water than previously thought. The stores of frozen water, two and one-half times the volume of the Great Lakes, are large enough to cover the entire lunar surface in a three-feet-deep sea.
The existence of water on the Moon bodes well for future lunar exploration and colonization. According to NASA geologist, Paul Spudis, lunar water can be purified for drinking purposes and also used to generate oxygen: “Now we can say, with a fair degree of confidence, that a sustainable human presence on the Moon is possible.”
Many space enthusiasts long for establishment of a permanent lunar space colony. Moon colony supporters cite the need for a lunar launch pad, which could be used to fire missiles at asteroids and comets threatening to collide with Earth, and also provide mankind a safe haven in the event of Armageddon. Unless more compelling and less far-fetched arguments are offered, the prospect of lunar colonization will be a tough sell to American tax payers.
Nonetheless, many Americans still dream of one day returning to the Moon. On October 28, 2009, a prototype of NASA’s 21st century lunar launch rocket blasted-off from Cape Canaveral. The successful launch of the 327-feet-tall, 425 million-dollar Ares-I-X was part of Project Constellation; an ambitious plan to transport the Orion crew capsule on manned missions to the Moon, Mars, and possibly other planets.
America’s hopes for future manned lunar exploration were dealt a powerful setback on February 1, 2010, when President Barack Obama announced the cancellation of Project Constellation. The 100 billion-dollar funding for lunar exploration was instead diverted to future NASA rocketry development.
At the end of the space shuttle program in 2011, the United States became dependent on Russian Soyuz rockets to ferry American space crews to and from the International Space Station (ISS), for at least seven years. The United States will reimburse Russia 51 million dollars for each astronaut launched into space; considerably more than the 35 million dollars Russia charges private citizens. As of 2012, Russia undertakes 40 percent of all global space launches.
The demise of the space shuttle was predicted to send economic shock waves throughout the Cape Canaveral area. In early 2010, Florida’s Brevard County anticipated a loss of 23,000 jobs after the shuttle stopped flying; 9,000 direct jobs at the Kennedy Space Center, and 14,000 indirect jobs in retail businesses, hotels, and restaurants.
What is America’s future for manned space exploration? In September of 2011, NASA unveiled its 30-story Space Launch System, which will be powerful enough to take astronauts to the Moon and beyond. The 18 billion-dollar rocket, featuring five space shuttle main engines augmented by strap-on boosters, is designed to lift 77 tons of cargo into space. The rocket will carry a modified version of the Orion space capsule, originally designed for the defunct Constellation program.
NASA plans to launch an unmanned Space Launch System rocket in 2017. If this flight proves successful, a manned launch is thought to be feasible by 2021.
In the four plus decades since the conclusion of Project Apollo, the American space program has largely shifted its focus away from the Moon. At the same time, the much ballyhooed Space Race has been supplanted by a cooperative spirit. In May of 1972, President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin signed a five-year Agreement Concerning Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes. On July 17, 1975, an American Apollo capsule and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft docked in Earth’s orbit. The American and Russian crews exchanged handshakes and gifts, and also practiced joint docking maneuvers. The joint space mission marked a rare warming of Cold War tensions between the former Space Race competitors.
“How this new era will go depends on the determination, comsmitment, and faith of both our countries, and the world,” Apollo-Soyuz mission commander Tom Stafford proudly proclaimed.
In May of 1973, the last NASA Saturn V rocket to lift-off in the 20th century launched Skylab—the world’s first orbiting space station. Skylab was equipped with enough oxygen, water, and food to allow astronaut crews to remain in space for several weeks at a time. As large as a three-bedroom house, with 13,000 cubic feet
of space, Skylab offered unprecedented space flight luxuries, including ovens, hot plates, showers, sinks, toilets, and a stationary bicycle. The astronauts visiting the space station were able to wear regular clothes, and were only required to don their bulky spacesuits during launch, re-entry, and extravehicular excursions.
Skylab crews conducted a variety of zero gravity experiments on fish, mice, and spiders. On-board telescopes allowed observers to gain a clearer view of the solar system, and enabled them to take detailed photographs of the Sun. The last Skylab crew established a new record—84 consecutive days in space.
Skylab was abandoned in 1974, with plans to bring it out of its dormant state, once the space shuttle program was underway. After an unanticipated deterioration of battery power, the space station began experiencing orbital decay in 1977. On July 11, 1979, during its fiery re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, Skylab fell in pieces over the Indian Ocean and Western Australia.
Post-Apollo, NASA’s exploration of distant planets steadily increased. In December of 1973, Pioneer 10 provided NASA with its first close-up photographs of Jupiter. On March 29, 1974, Mariner 10 became the first space probe to orbit Mercury and send back detailed images of the planet closest to the Sun. On July 20, 1976, exactly seven years after the Apollo 11 Moon landing, NASA landed a probe on Mars, marking the first successful exploration of another planet. In September of that same year, Viking 2 also landed on the Red Planet. Since that time, numerous unmanned space probes have traveled to other planets, providing detailed information about orbital, environmental, and topographical characteristics of those extraterrestrial bodies.
In August of 2012, NASA achieved a milestone in planetary exploration, when the 2.5 billion-dollar Curiosity rover successfully landed in Mars’ 3.5 billion-year-old Gale Crater. The landing of the rover, which descended into the thin Martian atmosphere at 13,200 miles per hour, was a complex maneuver. After being slowed by a giant parachute, Curiosity was lowered to Mars’ surface by a specially-designed “sky crane.”
The nuclear-powered, one-ton rover (the size of an automobile) is scheduled to spend two years (and perhaps longer) exploring Mars. The vehicle will ascend Aeolis Mons (Mount Sharp), a three-mile-high mountain, enabling NASA scientists to gain a better understanding of the Red Planet’s geological history and provide clues as to whether the Martian environment is capable of supporting life. The rover is equipped with cameras and instrumentation to test rock and soil samples. Among Curiosity’s most innovative features is a rock-vaporizing laser; once the solid rocks are transformed into gas, instruments aboard the rover can identify the specimen’s chemical make-up. Data from Curiosity will be transmitted to the Odyssey satellite orbiting Mars, and then relayed back to Earth.
Attempts to visit Mars have been fraught with challenges. As of August of 2012, 41 probes have been launched by various world space agencies. In 26 cases, the missions have failed due to probes exploding in Earth’s atmosphere, straying off course, losing power in transit, crashing onto the Martian surface, or failing to operate after a successful landing.
Launched on September 5, 1977, Voyager 1 has maintained steady progress toward visiting distant galaxies. As of June 2012, the space probe was 11 billion miles from Earth, approaching heliopause; the point where solar winds stop, and magnetic fields shift from the solar system to deep space. Travelling at the speed of light, microwave radio signals take 16.7 hours to travel from Voyager to Earth. At some point, between 2012 and 2014, Voyager 1 will become the first spacecraft to leave the solar system. As it races through interstellar space, sometime between 2020 and 2025, the probe will gradually lose power and be unable to transmit further scientific data back to Earth.
NASA’s space shuttle program took flight in 1981. For the first time in manned space exploration history, a reusable, rocket-launched spacecraft was engineered to fly back to Earth and land on a runway. To provide additional thrust, shuttles were equipped with two strap-on solid rocket boosters, as well as a large external fuel tank. The 154-feet-long tank contained 385,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and 140,000 gallons of liquid oxygen, which fueled the spacecraft’s three internal engines. The solid rocket boosters were designed to be jettisoned two minutes after lift-off and parachuted into the Atlantic Ocean, where they would be retrieved and refurbished for future flights. Eight minutes after launch, the external fuel tank would be jettisoned, burning up during re-entry. The less costly external fuel tank design was criticized by some engineers as too risky, foretelling future catastrophe.
The inaugural space shuttle mission occurred on April 12, 1981, when Columbia, piloted by astronauts Robert L. Crippen and John Young (a veteran Apollo Moon walker), was launched from Cape Canaveral. Circling Earth 36 times over the course of two days, the mission was deemed a success. Though overlooked as a minor problem at the time, NASA engineers noted that 16 of the shuttle’s outer protective tiles had been lost during lift-off (another 148 were damaged).
The space shuttle, much larger than previous spacecraft, was designed to accommodate a nine-person crew, and capable of carrying much larger payloads, including full-sized satellites. In addition to astronauts, space shuttle crews included mission and payload specialists, including scientists, teachers, and technicians.
On June 18, 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman to fly in space, serving as a mission specialist aboard Challenger. On launch day, enthusiastic spectators, celebrating another milestone in equal rights, waved signs: RIDE, SALLY RIDE. Since that time, a number of other women have ventured into space. On October 11, 1984, Kathy Sullivan became the first American woman to walk in space.
While the early years of the shuttle program proved highly successful, the often-overlooked, but dangerous realities of space exploration were cruelly exposed on January 28, 1986, when Challenger exploded, 73 seconds after launch. A rubber O-ring on the right solid rocket booster, which had been hardened by unseasonably cold Florida weather, ruptured during lift-off, causing the booster to leak flames during the shuttle’s ascent. At an altitude of 48,000 feet, the malfunctioning booster came completely loose and slammed into the external fuel tank, igniting 300,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and 100,000 gallons of liquid oxygen. The force of the explosion, which the astronauts may well have survived, propelled the crew compartment 17,000 feet higher. Free falling from an altitude of 65,000 feet, the still-intact portion of the shuttle struck the Atlantic Ocean at a velocity of 207 miles per hour, which would have most certainly killed the crew; even if they had survived the fuel tank explosion.
Following the Challenger disaster, the entire space shuttle fleet was grounded for 32 months. During this hiatus, changes in shuttle design were affected and new safety measures were adopted. The updated space shuttle took flight again in 1988, highlighted by 77-year-old Ohio Senator John Glenn’s return to space, 36 years after he became the first American to orbit the Earth.
On February 1, 2003, another grim reminder of the hazards of space travel unfolded over the skies of Texas and Louisiana. The space shuttle Columbia broke into pieces during the re-entry process, killing its seven-member crew. The cause of the tragedy was attributed to the long-identified, but largely ignored problem of protective tile loss and damage during launch. Further safety revisions followed, and the space shuttle remained America’s lone manned spacecraft until its retirement in 2011.
On February 24, 2011, Discovery lifted off from Cape Canaveral’s launch pad 39-A, marking its 39th and final flight into space. The space shuttle transported an American-built space station module, spare parts, a robot, and six-person crew to the International Space Station (ISS). When Discovery docked at the space station alongside a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and unmanned spaceships from Europe and Japan, it marked the first time in history that vehicles from every country capable of traveling to and from space were parked side-by-side. On March 9th, Discovery returned to Earth for the final time. Having flown for 27 years, Discovery spent a total of 365 days in space, traveled 148,000,000 m
iles, and orbited Earth 5,830 times.
In July of 2011, Atlantis landed at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, formally ending the 30-year space shuttle program. Over the course of the shuttle’s lengthy history, nearly 15,000 people worked on the project.
Discovery will spend its retirement years at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Washington D.C.’s Dulles Airport, as one of the exhibits featured at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Air and Space Museum. The test shuttle Enterprise will be displayed at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum in New York City. Atlantis will remain at Cape Canaveral’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center, while Endeavor will reside at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.
In the late 1990s, construction was begun on the International Space Station (ISS); aJointventure between the United States, Soviet Union, Canada, Japan, and the 17-country European Space Agency. A Russian service module serves as the control center and living quarters for crews aboard the ISS, and is connected to a separate orbital laboratory. Upon completion, the interior of the ISS will be as large as a Boeing 747 jet airliner. Solar panels generate energy for the space station, and a large robotic arm is utilized for payload transfers and construction work. The 100 billion-dollar ISS remains under active construction and renovation. Crews remain in orbit for five months, until a new group arrives, allowing the ISS to maintain continuous operation. A Russian Soyuz spacecraft remains docked at the orbital station to serve as a “life boat” in the event of an emergency.
On March 13, 2009, ISS crew members were forced to seek shelter in the Soyuz spacecraft, when orbiting debris (pieces of on old rocket) threatened to strike the space station. Fortunately, the space junk, traveling 17,500 miles per hour, missed the ISS. Had the debris collided with one of the space station’s pressurized modules, the crew would have been left with only 10 minutes of oxygen, forcing them to return to Earth.
By today’s estimates, some 500 pieces of debris orbit the Earth. NASA currently utilizes radar maps that can pinpoint orbiting objects as small as five centimeters, hoping to avert potentially catastrophic collisions.
The Eagle Has Landed: The Story of Apollo 11 Page 14
