Only in the Sixties
"It was the best of times, it was
the worst of times ... "
We had to know what lay beyond our planet and when we found out,
we had to know more. Our curiosity and perseverance have put us into space,
on the moon and now: to Mars.
"It was the best of times, it was
the worst of times ... "
The Sixties could be described in words Charles Dickens had written just over a century before the decade began: “It was the best of times, it was the worst
of times ... “
It was a time of stark contrasts. On one hand, it was an era of enormous political and social unrest. On the other, it offered unparalleled scientific advancement and artistic creativity.
The Sixties were Vietnam and protests against the war. But they were also the Beatles and Flower Power.
They were the assassinations of popular political leaders. But they were also movements in support civil and human rights. The Sixties have been described as the end of innocence but also as the end of naïveté.
John F. Kennedy
______
1958–1963
We are driven to explore the unknown, discover new worlds, push the boundaries of our scientific and technical limits, and then push further.
May 5
Alan Shepard became the first American in space
with the launch of the Mercury Freedom 7 mission. His
sub-orbital flight lasted 15 minutes and 28 seconds.
May 25
President John F. Kennedy, addressing a Joint
Session of Congress, said, “First, I believe that this
nation should commit itself to achieving the goal,
before this decade is out, of landing a man on the
Moon and returning him back safely to the earth.
No single space project in this period will be more
impressive to mankind, or more important for the
long-range exploration of space; and none will be
so difficult or expensive to accomplish.”
July 21
The Mercury Liberty Bell 7 mission, piloted by Virgil
“Gus” Grissom, was launched. The sub-orbital flight
lasted 15 minutes and
37 seconds.
February
20
John Glenn became the first American to orbit the
Earth on the Mercury Friendship 7 mission. The
duration of Glenn’s flight, which included three
Earth orbits, was 4 hours, 55 minutes,
23 seconds.
May
24
Mercury Aurora 7, piloted by Scott Carpenter,
orbited the Earth three times. The flight lasted 4
hours, 56 minutes and 16 seconds.
September 12
In a speech at Rice University, President Kennedy
said, “No nation which expects to be the leader
of other nations can expect to stay behind in this
race for space. (...) We choose to go to the Moon
in this decade and do the other things, not because
they are easy, but because they are hard.”
Seven years later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
would be the first men to walk on the Moon; ten
years later, Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt
would be the last.
October 3
Wally Schirra’s Sigma 7 flight lasted 9 hours,
13
minutes, 11 seconds and included six Earth orbits.
May 15
Gordon Cooper was the first American to spend
more than a day in space and the last to orbit the
Earth solo. His flight lasted one day, ten hours,
nineteen minutes and 49 seconds. He orbited the
Earth 22 times.
November 22
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
He was 46 years old.
Kennedy, Johnson and ... watching flight of Astronaut Shepar on television, 05 May 1961
1962 - 1966 | The moon comes closer
The Bridge to the Moon… The Gemini program was designed as a bridge between the Mercury and Apollo programs, primarily to test equipment and mission procedures in Earth orbit and to train astronauts and ground crews for future Apollo missions.
March 23
The first manned Gemini mission, Gemini III, was
launched with astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom and
John Young aboard.
In 4 hours, 52 minutes and
31 seconds they orbited the Earth three times.
June 3-7
On the Gemini IV mission, astronaut Ed White
was the first American to perform a space walk.
James McDivitt was the pilot.
August 21-29
On Gemini V, Gordon Cooper and Pete Conrad
were the first Americans to spend a week in space.
It was the first mission to use fuel cells for electrical
power. They evaluated a guidance and navigation
system for use in future rendezvous missions. They
completed 120 orbits of the Earth in 7 days, 22
hours, 55 minutes and 14 seconds.
December 04-18
Gemini VII had the primary objective of determining
whether humans could live in space for 14 days.
During their flight which lasted 13 days, 18 hours, 35
minutes and one second, astronauts Frank Borman
and James Lovell also welcomed their colleagues
Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford of Gemini VI- A
in the first space rendezvous on the 15th of December
1965. The two capsules orbited in tandem for over
five hours at distances of 0.3 meters to 90 meters
(one to 300 feet).
March 16-17
On the Gemini VIII mission, Neil Armstrong and Dave
Scott accomplished the fi rst docking with another
space vehicle, an unmanned Agena satellite.
June 3-6
Thomas Stafford’s and Eugene Cernan’s Gemini IX
flight included two hours of EVA and 44 orbits in a
period of just over three days.
June 18-21
Gemini X saw the fi rst use of the Agena target vehicle’s
propulsion systems. During the mission’s 43 orbits,
Michael Collins had 49 minutes of EVA standing
in the hatch and 30 minutes of EVA to retrieve an
experiment from the Agena stage.
September 12-15
Gemini XI set a record altitude for the program:
1,189.3 km (739.2 miles) after rendezvousing and
docking with an Agena target.
November 11-15
The final Gemini fl ight, Gemini XII, rendezvoused
and docked manually with its target Agena satellite
and kept station with it during Buzz Aldrin’s recordsetting
EVA of 5 hours and 30 minutes for a space
walk and two stand-up exercises.
The three missions NASA developed to navigate their path to the moon were markedly different in their respective goals, yet each built directly on the successes and failures of the prior. The selection criteria for astronauts changed with the mission, not only in terms of education and technical aspects, but some physical standards as well.
The initial Mercury astronauts were required to be 5 feet 11 inches or shorter, but height requirements for Gemini were relaxed by an inch as the capsules grew — slightly — more spacious. Here’s a look at how the three projects and crew capsules differed.
Project Mercury was America’s first human spaceflight program. It successfully sent Alan Shepard into space, John Glenn around the world three times, and thoroughly tested the ability of a person to function in space. Mercury completed a total of six manned flights and four uncrewed flights with monkeys (Sam and Miss Sam) and chimpanzees (Ham and Enos) aboard.
Named after the twin stars, the two-person Gemini capsule was at the center of the program to create a bridge to the moon. It capitalized on Mercury’s success, and set the stage for the upcoming Apollo program.
Flown by pairs of astronauts, the Gemini missions saw technical achievements such as the first American spacewalk, the first docking of spacecraft in orbit, and longer-duration missions of up to 14 days. Gemini astronauts were also the first to eat solid food in space.
On Gemini 3, John Young surprised Gus Grissom with a contraband corned beef sandwich in orbit. He did not finish it as it was producing too many crumbs floating around, a reason why astronauts prefer the less crumb-prone tortillas to this day.
Standing on the shoulders of the Mercury and Gemini programs, the Apollo program completed nine missions to the moon, including six “soft” landings on the lunar surface. The 363-foot (111-meter) tall Saturn V rocket, the largest rocket ever built, launched the command service module and the lunar module into space.
Once in the moon’s orbit, two astronauts would pilot the lunar module to the surface while the command module circled above with a third astronaut, waiting for its return. When surface exploration was completed, the vessels would rejoin and depart for Earth, ultimately discarding everything but the capsule in the nose of the command module before plummeting back to Earth.
Note: Three astronauts — Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee — died in a fire while training in the capsule for the first crewed Apollo flight. Their training mission was officially assigned the name Apollo 1 in their honor.
1967–1972 | a step | a flight | a dream
“That’s one small step for a man. One giant leap for mankind.” Neil Armstrong
The Apollo 1 tragedy that killed three astronauts
The Apollo 1 astronauts
—Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee—
perished in a fire during a pre-flight test
on January 27, 1967.
Februar 21, 1967
The crew of Apollo 1 was killed when fire engulfed their spacecraft during a ground test.
Gus Grissom
Edward H. White
Roger B. Chaffee
October 11 – 22, 1968
First manned Earth orbital demonstration of Block II CSM, launched on Saturn IB. First live television publicly broadcast from a manned mission.
Wally Schirra
Walt Cunningham
Donn Eisele
December 21 – 27, 1968
First manned flight to Moon; CSM made 10 lunar orbits in 20 hours. The crew of Apollo 8 were the first humans to witness the rising over the Moon's horizon.
Frank Borman
James Lovell
William Anders
March 3 – 13, 1969
First manned flight of CSM and LM in Earth orbit; demonstrated Portable Life Support System to be used on the lunar surface.
James McDivitt
David Scott
Russell Schweickart
May 18 – 26, 1969
Dress rehearsal for first lunar landing; flew LM down to 50.000 feet (15 km) from the lunar surface.
Thomas Stafford
John Young
Eugene Cernan
July 16 – 24, 1969
First manned landing, in Sea of Tranquility.
Surface EVA time: 2:31 hr.
Samples returned: 21.55 kg.
Neil Armstrong
Michael Collins
Buzz Aldrin
November 14 – 24, 1969
Second landing, in Ocean of Storms near Surveyor 3.
Surface EVA time: 7:45 hr.
Samples returned: 34.30 kg.
C. "Pete" Conrad
Richard Gordon
Alan Bean
April 11 – 17, 1970
Third landing attempt aborted near the Moon, due to SM failure. Crew used LM as life boat to return to Earth.
James Lovell
Jack Swigert
Fred Haise
January 31 – Februar 9, 1971
Third landing, in Fra Mauro.
Surface EVA time: 9:21 hr.
Samples returned: 42.80 kg.
Alan Shepard
Stuart Roosa
Edgar Mitchell
July 26 – August 7, 1971
First Extended LM and rover, landed in Hadley-Apennine.
Surface EVA time:18:33 hr.
Samples returned: 76.70 kg.
David Scott
Alfred Worden
James Irwin
April 16 – 27, 1972
Landed in Plain of Descartes.
Surface EVA time: 20:14 hr.
Samples returned: 94.30 kg.
John Young
T. Kenneth Mattingly
Charles Duke
December 7 – 19, 1972
Only Saturn V night launch. Landed in Taurus-Littrow. First geologist on the Moon. Final manned Moon landing.
Surface EVA time: 22:02 hr.
Samples returned: 110.40 kg.
Eugene Cernan
Ronald Evans
Harrison Schmitt
6 LANDINGS
2 HOURS
31 MINUTES
12 DAYS
11 HOURS
28 MINUTES
Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first humans on the Moon
— Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, on July 20, 1969, at 20:18 UTC.
Armstrong became the first to step onto the lunar surface
six hours later on July 21 at 02:56 UTC.
NEIL A. ARMSTRONG | MICHAEL COLLINS | EDWIN E. ALDRIN, JR.
Not every flag needs a breeze – at least not in space
The American flag became synonymous with the U.S. domination in space.
Originally, there was talk within NASA of astronauts placing a United Nations flag on the moon.
But the space agency ultimately went with just an American flag.
Meet the people who put their lives on the line to reach the moon.
The Unsung Heroes of Apollo
The initial Mercury astronauts were required to be 5 feet 11 inches or shorter, but height requirements for Gemini were relaxed by an inch as the capsules grew — slightly — more spacious. Here’s a look at how the three projects and crew capsules differed.
ODE TO APOLLO 11
Discover...
We Choose the Moon: 2019 Fifty years ago astronauts walked on the moon for the first time.
The photography exhibition CONTACT LIGHT | images of apollo celebrates the voyages of the Apollo Astronauts beyond the earth’s boundaries. Discover extraordinary photographs with original quotations and signings.
when the Apollo 11 Eagle landed on the moon. I remember vividly watching it live on a small black-and-white TV
with my family that summer of 1969.
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