The United States human space flight effort has progressed through a series of programs of ever increasing scope and complexity. The first Mercury launch required only a few hundred people. The launch of Apollo 11 for man's first lunar landing engaged thousands. The complex and sophisticated Space Shuttle of today began with this tiny Mercury capsule in 1961.
• Project Mercury was America's first human space flight program and it proved that human space flight was possible. The greatest challenge to Mercury engineers was to devise a vehicle that would protect a human from the temperature extremes, vacuum, and newly discovered radiation of space.
• The selection process of the astronaut crew began in 1958. Applicants had to be less than 40 years of age, shorter than 5 feet 11 inches, in excellent physical shape, and have a test pilot background with at least 1,500 hours in the air. From an initial pool of 508 candidates, NASA winnowed the number down to seven. Mercury Seven, Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Walter Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Don Slayton, were introduced to the public at Washington, D.C. in 1959.
• John Glenn was the first American to make an orbital flight, traveling three times around the Earth in this Friendship 7 in 1962. He was the first American to see a sunrise and sunset from space and the first photographer in orbit. Glenn returned to Earth as a national hero, having achieved Project Mercury's primary goal.
• This spacecraft that was designed with a volume of only 60 cubic feet, there was barely enough room for its pilot, who sat in a couch facing a panel with 120 controls, 55 electrical switches, 30 fuses, and 35 mechanical levers. The cabin's atmospheric pressure was one-third of that on Earth and contained pure oxygen.
• Project Mercury had taken the critical first step to demonstrate that humans could survive in space, a spacecraft could be designed to launch them into orbit, and that the crew could return safely to Earth.
Project Gemini
• At the near the conclusion of Project Mercury, the Project Gemini was initiated in early 1960s to perfect the techniques required for a lunar mission. Its primary purpose was to demonstrate space rendezvous and docking techniques that would be used during the later Apollo flights to the Moon.
• The Gemini spacecraft was an improvement on the Mercury capsule. But it had only 50 percent more cabin space for twice as many people, and was extremely cramped. Unlike Mercury, which had been able to change only its orientation while in flight, Gemini needed to have the capability to move forward, backward and sideways in its orbital path, and even change orbits to rendezvous with other spacecraft. The complexity of rendezvous demanded two people on board, and more piloting than had been possible with Mercury. It also required the first onboard computers to calculate complicated rendezvous maneuvers.
• Gemini IV, a four-day flight piloted by James McDivvitt and Edward White, was launched in 1965. The highlight of this flight was the first extravehicular activity (EVA) by an American; Edward White's 22minute spacewalk. Using a handheld maneuvering unit, he swam through space while attached to his lifeline tether, moving at nearly 18,000 miles per hour. The mission also attempted to rendezvous with the second stage of the Titan launch vehicle but was unsuccessful. They later learned that a spacecraft trying to catch up with another needed to drop to a lower, faster orbit first before rising again.
• During Gemini, ten piloted missions lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in less than 20 months. By Gemini's end, orbital rendezvous and docking had become routine, and it seemed clear that humans could live, work, and stay healthy in space for days or even weeks at a time. Above all, the program had added nearly 1,000 hours of valuable space flight experience in the years between Mercury and Apollo, which by 1966 NASA was nearing flight readiness.
Project Apollo
• The Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia is certainly among the most historic artifacts in the National Collection. It carried astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins on their historic voyage to the Moon and back in 1969. Columbia was the living quarters and overall spacecraft control center for the three-man crew during the first manned lunar landing mission.
• On July 16, 1969, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins climbed into Columbia for their 8-day journey. A thrust of 7.6 million pounds took 2.5 minutes to take the rocket to a 40 mile altitude, at a speed of 6,000 mph. After the first stage detached, the second stage took the craft to 115 miles above sea level, with a thrust of one million pounds, at speeds over 15,000 mph.
• After the second stage detached, the third stage brought the craft into a stable Earth orbit. The astronauts performed systems checks. The third stage brought them to the moon. The Apollo Command/Service Module separated from the Saturn third stage, turned around, then reconnected, docking with the Lunar Module. The spacecraft was ejected from the Saturn third stage and the spacecraft traveled to the Moon.
• Three days later, the craft entered a stable orbit. Two of the three astronauts went into the Lunar Module, while one stayed in the Command/Service Module. The Lunar Module detached from the Command/Service Module and descended to the Moon.
• Following their historic landing and exploration of the lunar surface, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin rejoined Michael Collins aboard the Command Module and headed back to Earth. Three days later, on July 24, they entered Earth's atmosphere at a speed of 25,000 miles per hour and its exterior reached a temperature of 5,000º F. To protect the crew and the priceless cargo, Columbia's exterior was covered with a heat shield.
• The Command Module was one of three parts of the complete Apollo spacecraft. The other two were the Service Module and the Lunar Module. The Service Module contained the main spacecraft propulsion system and consumables (oxygen, water, propellants, and hydrogen). The Lunar Module was the part Armstrong and Aldrin would use to descend to the moon's surface. Columbia is the only portion of this historic spacecraft that returned to earth.
• The Command Module is divided into three compartments: forward, crew, and aft. The forward compartment contained the parachutes and recovery equipment. The aft compartment included 10 reaction control engines, fuel and helium tanks for the roll, pitch and yaw thrusters, and the crushable ribs of the impact attenuation system. The crew compartment has a volume of 210 cubic feet.
• In all, 12 American astronauts left their footprints in the lunar soil during Project Apollo. More than 842 pounds of lunar rock and soil were collected, sophisticated lunar surface experiment stations were deployed, and thousands of photographs were taken during the six lunar landing missions, yielding a wealth of scientific data that is still being analyzed today. Apollo's total cost was $24 billion in 1968 dollars.
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