First Man on the Moon

The dream that made Neil Armstrong the first man on the Moon began on May 25, 1961. During his speech to the joint session of Congress, President John F. Kennedy proclaimed: "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 safely to the Earth.”(1)

For the next eight years, the United States of America put her full might behind this mission. On July 20, 1969, the dream became reality when Neil Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface, becoming the first man on the Moon.

It took approximately $20 billion (in 1969 dollars)(2) and the efforts of over 400,000 people(3) throughout the life of the Apollo program, to get the Apollo 11 crew to the moon. Armstrong acknowledged the tremendous accomplishment in his now famous words; “One small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin spent less than a day on the lunar surface, while Michael Collins orbited overhead waiting their return. The mission for the first men on the Moon was planned out to the minute. They had a lot of activities to perform; including several experiments, many photographic tasks, planting the American flag, and leaving a small memorial package to fallen astronauts. One of the experiments, the Lunar Laser Ranging Retroreflector Array they placed, still sits on the lunar surface helping us to measure the exact distance from the Moon to the Earth.

Over the next three years, a total of 12 men would step on the Moon, performing experiments, collecting rocks, taking pictures, driving lunar rovers, and even hitting smuggled golf balls. Today, over forty years later, no other humans have visited the Moon.

It seems that his entire life Armstrong was preparing to take the first steps on the lunar surface. He earned his pilot’s license by the time he was 16 years old and by 21 years old, he was flying combat missions over Korea. After the war, he became a well known test pilot, flying some of the fastest experimental aircraft available. Armstrong also flew in the Gemini program as NASA tried to learn as much as possible before it placed the first man on the Moon.

When asked how he came to be chosen to be the first man on the Moon, Armstrong said: “… I wasn't chosen to be first. I was just chosen to command that flight. Circumstance put me in that particular role.”(3) Being the commander of the Apollo 11 flight, Armstrong’s seating position necessitated that he exit the lunar module before Buzz Aldrin, who had originally been chosen to be the first on the lunar surface.

After the Apollo 11 flight, Armstrong announced that he didn’t plan to fly in space again. However, on November 18, 2010, Neil Armstrong gave a speech at the Science & Technology Summit where he stated that he would offer his services as commander on a mission to Mars, if he were asked. If anyone could do this at over 80 years of age, it would be fitting for it to be the first man who ever stepped on the Moon.

Becci Greif, Dynetics

Sources

1. http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/Speeches/JFK/003POF03NationalNeeds05251961.htm
2. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_did_it_cost_to_go_to_the_moon_in_1969
3. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/03/60minutes/main1008288_page2.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Armstrong#cite_ref-86
5. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo11.html

 

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