Moon Exploration, The Apollo program

Essay by Raymond ColaneroHigh School, 12th grade June 1995

download word file, 2 pages 5.0 2 reviews

The U. S. has explored the moon since the 1960,s. 'The

Apollo Program' tells why the United States went to the

moon. 'The Apollo Spacecraft' tells ho we got to the

moon. 'The First Lunar Landing' tells about the first

voyage to the moon. This paper will discus the lunar

landing.

The Apollo progam was made to meet the goal set by

John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961. The goal was to

land a man on the moon and return him to Earth alive

and well.

The program was a succes. There were 11 manned

lunar landings and other test flights totaling 15 manned

flights. Out of all these there was only one major

problem, and no one was injured. There was three

deathes on the lanchpad but none in space.

The Apollo Spacecraft was developed from the work of

two other programs, the Mercury and Gemini Programs.

The actual spacecraft was made of the combined

Command Module and the Service Module also called

the CSM. It was 34ft. long and 10ft. in diameter at the

end. It had a major advantage with its internal guidence

system, that was developed by The Massachusetts

Institute of Technology.

The CSM was made of two parts. The crew stayed in

the Command Module, which had some couches and

was pressurized with oxygen.

Behind the CM was the SM or Service Module which

had the main engine, which had 21,500lb. of thrust.

The reaction control system , oxygen, fuel cells,

hydrogen tanks, and envirnmental control systems. The

main engine was only used for changes in course and

changes in orbit and escape from the lunor orbit.

When the crew came back for reentry the CSM would

split. The Command Module had heat sheilding so it

would not burn-up. When the...