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The Apollo Missions - Transcending Space

The Apollo missions brought the moon closer to us. Reaching the moon was an unattainable dream until 1969 when a space mission put the first man on the moon. At the time there were many that were skeptical but the creators of the Apollo missions were not. They had been working toward putting a man on the moon for a very long time and worked vigorously until the dream became reality. Although there were small successes and many failures, July 1969, was the crowning moment.

The Early Years

The early years of the Apollo program were a race to be the first nation to reach the moon. Even so, the intention of these missions was for peaceful purposes to gain useful knowledge about the moon and space in general. Every launch was a learning experience, including the failures. After the Soviet Union landed an unmanned probe on the moon (Luna 2), NASA speeded up their efforts. The success of the Apollo missions helped NASA to grow from the baby stages, eventually becoming the first to successfully land a man on the moon.

Apollo - Successes

The Apollo program grew out of the imagination of the engineers and others who had the foresight of believing that man could leave the Earth's atmosphere and actually land on the surface of the moon. Due to this, the Apollo missions continued their quest with the support of the people and the government with Apollo growing in its ideas as well as its stature.

On July 20th, 1969 the Apollo dream became a reality when Neil Armstrong took the first step on the moon. Of course the price for this success was marred with failures that preceded this event such as the deaths of some astronauts in Apollo 1.

Just The Beginning

In our quest for space there have been things that have totally amazed us. Before 1969 we didn't believe that that any attempt to land on the moon could ever succeed. Although the Apollo missions ended with the safe return of Apollo 17 on December 19, 1972, there is no doubt the program has influenced and inspired generations of people interested in human exploration of space.