Space Flight The Complete Story From Sputnik To Curiosity

By Buzz Aldrin 7 The Apollo 11 moonwalk was the first time that humans had set foot on another world. It was the symbolic highlight of the whole Apollo program, but the credit for it should be shared widely. That first landing would not have been possible without the astronauts who flew the earlier exploratory missions. For example, before we could establish that a landing was possible at all, we had to send two especially hazardous missions, Apollo 8 and Apollo 10, into orbit around the Moon. In fact, it was not until Apollo 13 came close to ending in disaster that we realized just how much danger the astronauts on those earlier missions had been in. Yet, when I talk to anyone about the Apollo program, one of the first questions they usually ask is, “How many people walked on the Moon?” I have to give them the answer—12. However, it should not be forgotten that, in all, 24 men left Earth orbit (a feat that has not been repeated since) and went to the Moon. As well as the other astronauts, we also owe a great debt to the many thousands of people who were involved on the ground. Since leaving NASA, I have tried to continue to play an active part in the future of space exploration, and some of the pioneering engineers who worked on the Apollo program continue to inspire me in that work. In one way or another, I have now been involved in the manned exploration of space for more than 40 years—that is to say, for almost the entire duration of the Space Age and a large part of the period covered by this book. It is generally accepted that the Space Age began when the Soviet Union sent the satellite Sputnik 1 into orbit on October 4 ,1957. I have to be honest and say that at the time Sputnik did not make a great impression on me. I have my reasons, though. At the time, the United States was in the thick of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. As a pilot in the United States Air Force, I was stationed in West Germany, where I was training to fly tactical fighters to send nuclear weapons into the Soviet Union. In the event that a nuclear exchange did break out, it was unlikely that I would have a base to return to. That was a sobering reality for a 28-year-old with a young family. When Sputnik went into space and sent back its radio signal, it seemed to me little more than a stunt. It was different when Yuri Gagarin became the first person to fly in space, in April 1961. By then, my own circumstances had changed. I was halfway through a doctoral thesis on piloting techniques for space rendezvous. In those early years of the Space Age, one thing quickly led to “ Walking on the Moon was a piece of cake. It was easy. But getting to the Moon was anything but easy.”