Horizon: 40 years on the Moon

Did you miss the repeat of Brian Cox? Horizon reviewed 40 years on the Moon. Our Y10 students reviewed the documentary. One budding journalist, may take over when Brian retires. See what you think...

 

In this documentary, Professor Brian Cox tells his audience in detail about the Apollo Missions to the Moon, including the near tragedy of Apollo 13. Not only this, but he also talks about the Moon itself, giving us many useful statistics, along with the history itself.

He starts by giving us an introduction to what life was like before the Apollo missions eve existed – during the Cold War. It created a climate of fear and insecurity. Not only this, but there was a huge amount of international competition; particularly between Russia and America. The Russian soviets then launched Sputnik in 1957, which was the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth. This was a challenge to America’s pride; they had failed to dominate.

They then managed to launch another satellite, but this one was carrying a dog. There was no hope of getting the dog back down; they hid from the public that the dog had died. Then, a few years later the first space chimp, Ham, was to be launched into space by the Americans. He returned, completely healthy and unharmed.

In 1961, the Russians again took control, as they successfully launched the first man in space – Major Yuri Gagarin, of the Soviet Union. Many people, even a few Americans, agreed that it was the “greatest achievement in history”. There was a live televisions broadcast about it – “here is a man who has done and seen things that no other living human has done and seen.”

The Americans then decided that if a Russian could go into space, then so could they. However, they were more focused on the Moon and wanted desperately to overtake the Russians in getting there. President Kennedy decided to make a motivational speech on the matter, which inspired many. “I believe 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.” This set a new goal for NASA, but they had a very short time period. They were still raring to go, because they wanted to go to the moon, not because it was easy, but because it was hard.

In 1958, they decided to start recruiting astronauts, following very strict criteria. Of the 508 that had applied, after all the medical tests known to man, as well as exhaustive interviews, only 31 remained. These 31 people then had “stress tests” – the doctors tried to make sure that whoever they selected were “immune to anything”, because they did not know what space was like. Finally, they selected Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee.

Now the problem was getting them to the moon and back. The idea of an orbit came around – if the speed of the rocket were to keep boosting, then they would be able to orbit around earth. If they managed to intercept the speeds, then they would be able to orbit around the moon; after a few touches on the brake pedal, they would be able to land. They just needed to build a safe and accurate rocket.

However, because of the mad rush to get man to the moon before the decade ended, there were many problems with the spacecraft – some parts were not even functioning properly; they were not examined, because they had a tight schedule to follow, and everyone’s main focus was to beat the Russians. 10 minutes before they were about to launch, there was a problem with the oxygen tanks; a fire broke out, and the three astronauts were killed. After the space spacecraft was removed from the launch pad, the air was filled with pure oxygen – very immune to fire. Apollo 1 was a failed mission.

A few days before Christmas in 1968, Apollo 8 was launched into space. The aircraft passed to the far side of the moon, which was very exciting for all of the crew; the astronauts completely lost sight of Earth. It took 3 days to travel into lunar orbit. Apollo 8 sent  a message to earth; they read an extract from the Bible, and wished everybody a merry Christmas. The largest ever television audience, even today, stayed up to watch the success.

Apollo 11 almost turned out to be a huge disaster. The computers misinterpreted the speed of the spacecraft; Armstrong and Aldrin expected to see a clear, flat landing site. All they saw was rocks and craters; back and mission control, they watched Armstrong’s heart rate increase from 77, to 156 bpm. The Eagle had limited fuel – it would have been difficult to clear away rock. They eventually found another landing site, but only had 30 seconds before having to abort. They finally managed. Upon their return, the crew was placed in quarantine, for fear of “lunar germs”!

Apollo 12 was also very successful. However, everybody became very nervous as to what would happen to the 3 astronauts of Apollo 13. One of the oxygen tanks had exploded, and one was leaking. The landing was cancelled, but they were not sure if they would have enough air to make it back to earth. They escaped into an attached lunar module, with a separate lunar supply. They would need to spend the 4 day journey back to Earth with as little oxygen as possible. For the first time in the history of American space flight, there was no back-up to save them if anything went wrong – they would only be able to return to Earth alive if there were no faults at all in the system, and if there was enough oxygen. They would have to fire the only engine they had left; the decent engine. They managed to survive and safely arrive at earth – much to the happiness of everyone.

Many Americans found it offensive that they were fighting for basic human rights, whilst the government was spending most of their money on exploring space and the moon.

America are currently trying to discover more about the moon. Other countries around the world are also very ambitious around the moon. China is talking about launching another mission in about 2025. More countries that are trying include India, Russia, and many places around Europe. “I’m delighted that we’re going back to the moon. And I’d like to see it as the first step to the exploration of a new frontier; out into the solar system and beyond.”

But how were the Van Allen Belt negotiated on the journey to the Moon? There are many theories that answer this, but only one seems to be correct: The Apollo spacecraft passed through the belt quickly, so that in the short time that they were exposed, the astronauts did not receive a dose of radiation that would be considered “dangerous” compared to the other risks in the mission.

 

Thanks to YY, Y10 astronomy, Nonsuch High School for Girls