Mercury

It was only in 1958 that studies and tests con­ducted by government and industry indicated the feasibility of manned space flight. America’s first manned space flight program was named Mercury on October 7, 1958 with the objectives of placing a manned spacecraft in orbital flight around the earth, to investigate man’s capabilities and ability to function in space, and to recover the man and spacecraft safely from space.

The American space program, like that of the U. S.S. R., had to begin from a standing start. This meant that all aspects of the program had to be originated, tested, and approved, including the selection of the launch vehicle, the space­craft, and the selection of the men who were to participate in the program. After the completion of a pervasive and exhausting testing regimen and selection process, seven military pilots were chosen as the original participants in the pro­gram and were introduced to the Congress as astronauts on May 28, 1959. They were quickly accepted as a new kind of hero.

The initial flights for the Mercury mission were conducted on Redstone rockets (subor­bital flights of Shepherd and Grissom in 1961). A modified Atlas rocket carried John Glenn to America’s first manned orbit on February 29, 1962 and to the following orbital missions of the program, ending with Gordon Cooper’s 34-hour,

19- minute final Mercury mission on May 16, 1963.

The project was terminated in 1963.

Gemini

Gemini was the second manned space program, begun in 1962. Its name derived from the third constellation of the Zodiac (the Twins), since the capsule was designed to carry two astronauts into space. Its mission included launching men and equipment for up to two weeks in low earth orbit, to rendezvous and dock, and to refine a system for maneuvering the docked combination by using the target vehicle’s propulsion system. The program’s launch vehicle was the Titan II rocket. The project successfully flew 10 manned missions, achieved the first extra vehicular activ­ity in space (EVA) and a record altitude of 739.2 miles. This project was canceled in 1964.

Apollo

The Apollo Program was designed for lunar exploration using a three-man spacecraft and lunar orbiter and a serially developed Saturn rocket.

The Apollo Program consisted of 33 flights, of which 11 were manned. The 22 unmanned flights were conducted to qualify the launch vehicle and spacecraft for manned space flight. Four of the manned flights were also conducted to man-rate the overall vehicle for lunar explo­ration. The final 7 flights were conducted to explore the lunar environment and lunar surface. During the program, no launch failure occurred to prevent a mission and only one in-flight fail­ure (Apollo 13) occurred to prevent the intended mission from being accomplished.

Testing Phase: The original launch vehicle for the Apollo program was the Saturn I mis­sile, first tested in October 1961 in a suborbital trajectory. The first orbital mission (unmanned) occurred on January 29, 1964 on the Saturn’s fifth launch. Testing progressed using the Sat­urn IB launch vehicle and an unmanned Apollo spacecraft. November 9, 1967 marked the first flight of the Saturn V three-stage rocket, which was to be used for lunar missions.

Manned Phase: On January 27, 1967, a flash fire occurred in the Apollo spacecraft (denomi­nated command module 012) while positioned on the launch vehicle and during a launch pad test of the vehicle for the first manned flight, kill­ing three astronauts. Dead were Lt. Col. Virgil I. Grissom, one of the original seven and a veteran of flights in the Mercury and Gemini programs; Lt. Col. Edward H. White, the first astronaut to conduct an EVA (Gemini Program); and Roger B. Chaffee, who was prepping for his first space flight. As a result of a comprehensive investiga­tion, which caused an 18-month delay in the first manned mission, significant design and engineer­ing modifications were made to the spacecraft.

The first manned mission, known as Apollo 7, flew on October 11, 1968 and began the series of missions that would land men on the moon. Apollo 8 was the first mission designed to leave earth orbit and to circle the moon, and the first manned flight to be launched using the three – stage Saturn V rocket. Aboard this flight were

Frank Borman, Commander; James A. Lovell, Command Module Pilot; and William A. Anders, Lunar Module Pilot.

The mission of Apollo 11 was to land Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. on the surface of the moon, have them exit the lunar module and perform certain minimum tasks, and return safely to the command module for the return to earth. Ed Collins remained in lunar orbit in the command module. The lunar module successfully landed on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969 and six hours later, at 0256 UTC on July 21, Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon, followed by Ed Aldrin. Together they spent over 21 hours on the moon’s surface and collected over 47 pounds of lunar material for return to earth. Most of their activi­ties were seen by a live television feed broadcast to a world-wide audience. All three astronauts returned to earth on July 24, 1969.

Subsequent missions in the program, with the exception of Apollo 13, were carried to successful conclusion, ending in the mis­sion of Apollo 17 (launched on December 7, 1972). Apollo 17 brought to a close one of the most ambitious and successful endeavors ever attempted by man.24