3.+Voyage+to+the+Moon

=Voyage to the Moon =

On January 2, 1959, the Soviet Union launched Luna I. This object was meant to be the first lunar probe. However, the probe was not able to make contact with the lunar surface and instead orbited the moon for the next two days. Despite failing to make contact however, Luna I became the first manmade object to gain a heliocentric orbit. This effectively made it a miniature man-made planet. Following the discovery that Luna I had gained orbit, Soviet scientists renamed the probe "Mechta" (Dream). Unphased by Luna I's failure to reach the lunar surface, the Soviet Union launched Luna 2 on September 14, 1959. Built for the sole purpose of crashing directly into the lunar surface, Luna 2 successfully made contact with the lunar surface near the crater Autolycus after 33.5 hours of flight time. Aside from dealing another blow to America's space efforts, Luna 2 also yielded several scientific discoveries, most notably that the moon contained no magnetic fields or radiation belts. Once again, Russia's space program had prevailed over NASA.

media type="youtube" key="subwg_gW10c" height="215" width="258" align="center" ||
 * **"...two minutes and 24 seconds after midnight Moscow time on 14 September 1959, the end of the long era when knowledge about the Moon which came from quiet nights at the telescope, was heralded by the crash of the Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 onto the rim of the crater Autolycus. Scientifically, Luna 2 ("Lunik" 2) did little more than reach its target and show that the Moon possessed little or no magnetic field or radiation. (25) However, it initiated the era of direct contact that would be necessary for learning the composition and age of the lunar surface rocks. In the same month, the United States lost another Pioneer on the test pad." - Don E. Wilhelms, //To A Rocky Moon, 36//**

[]

Not content with being the first nation to send both a satellite and living organism into space, and a probe to the lunar surface, the U.S.S.R then set its sight on sending a man into space. This time however, the Soviets intended to bring their living cargo back to earth in one piece. Still utilizing the archaeic R-7 rockets used during the Sputnik missions, the Soviet Union sent cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space on April 10, 1961. Once the R-7 boosters had entered earth's orbit, Gagarin orbited the planet in the Vostok 3K spacecraft, built with equipment to broadcast radio messages back to Moscow. Gagarin not only became the first man into space, but also the first man to orbit the earth successfully. After 108 minutes in orbit, Gagarin reentered earth's atmosphere, ejected from Vostok I and parachuted to safety in the Saratov region of the U.S.S.R.

media type="youtube" key="J2C1FkPz5vU" height="192" width="251" align="left"

Twenty-three days later, the Americans caught up with Russia and launched astronaut Alan Shepard into space aboard Project Mercury's Redstone 3 rocket. Named Freedom 7, the rocket did not allow Shepard to orbit the earth as Gagarin had, but merely allowed him to shoot up out of earth's atmosphere and then promptly land again. However, Shepard did manage to be the first man to return to earth in his spacecraft, whereas Gagarin was forced to eject from Vostok I. Shepard was also the first person in space to assume manual control of his spacecraft when he utilized the retro-rockets which enabled him to decelerate for landing.

​

media type="youtube" key="0MYTu1K33RM" height="175" width="307" align="center"