Fifty years ago on July 16, 1969, an incredible human adventure has begun: Apollo 11 was launched by a Saturn V rocket at 9:32 ET (13:32 UTC) from Cape Kennedy (formerly Cape Canaveral,) Florida, and headed for the Moon.
The spacecraft carried three American astronauts - Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin. It consisted of three parts: a Command Module with the cabin for the three astronauts; a Service Module designed to support the Command Module with propulsion, electrical power, oxygen, and water; and a Lunar Module "Eagle" that had two stages - the descent stage for the landing on the Moon's surface, and the ascent stage for the transport of the astronauts back into the lunar orbit.
Almost a million people descended on Cape Kennedy to watch the lift off of Apollo 11. Millions of people all over the world watched the lift off and followed the progress of the mission on television. It would take another four days for the spacecraft to reach its destination.
The mission to the Moon was initiated on May 25, 1961, when President John F. Kennedy issued his famous challenge to Congress and the American people: “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 Earth.”
Incredible 410,000 people were involved in the mission's success, many nameless, but many well known and remembered to this day. The Saturn V rocket itself was a pet project of a German aerospace engineer, former SS Wernher von Braun, who was involved in the construction of the V2 rocket in Peenemünde during the WWII. The American space program included a few more Germans with a Nazi past, some of them war criminals like Arthur Rudolph who also worked on the V2; and Hubertus Strughold who conducted various medical experiments on inmates from the concentration camp in Dachau.
These "details" cast a very dark shadow over the American space program. They were not revealed to the American public at that time. In the middle of Cold War, NASA simply wanted to succeed in the space race against the Soviets and this would not have been possible without the knowledge and expertise of the German scientists. History was made. The mission was a success. This was all that mattered.
By Dominique Teng
*Hitler's secret V2 project at Peenemünde was an incredible advancement in war technology with grim statistics. In 1944 more than 1,300 rockets were fired at England, Belgium and France killing 2,724 people in Britain alone. Estimated 20,000 slave workers lost their lives in harsh working conditions at the facilities at Peenemünde and Mittelwerk manufacturing the deadly weapon.
The spacecraft carried three American astronauts - Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin. It consisted of three parts: a Command Module with the cabin for the three astronauts; a Service Module designed to support the Command Module with propulsion, electrical power, oxygen, and water; and a Lunar Module "Eagle" that had two stages - the descent stage for the landing on the Moon's surface, and the ascent stage for the transport of the astronauts back into the lunar orbit.
Almost a million people descended on Cape Kennedy to watch the lift off of Apollo 11. Millions of people all over the world watched the lift off and followed the progress of the mission on television. It would take another four days for the spacecraft to reach its destination.
The mission to the Moon was initiated on May 25, 1961, when President John F. Kennedy issued his famous challenge to Congress and the American people: “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 Earth.”
Incredible 410,000 people were involved in the mission's success, many nameless, but many well known and remembered to this day. The Saturn V rocket itself was a pet project of a German aerospace engineer, former SS Wernher von Braun, who was involved in the construction of the V2 rocket in Peenemünde during the WWII. The American space program included a few more Germans with a Nazi past, some of them war criminals like Arthur Rudolph who also worked on the V2; and Hubertus Strughold who conducted various medical experiments on inmates from the concentration camp in Dachau.
These "details" cast a very dark shadow over the American space program. They were not revealed to the American public at that time. In the middle of Cold War, NASA simply wanted to succeed in the space race against the Soviets and this would not have been possible without the knowledge and expertise of the German scientists. History was made. The mission was a success. This was all that mattered.
By Dominique Teng
*Hitler's secret V2 project at Peenemünde was an incredible advancement in war technology with grim statistics. In 1944 more than 1,300 rockets were fired at England, Belgium and France killing 2,724 people in Britain alone. Estimated 20,000 slave workers lost their lives in harsh working conditions at the facilities at Peenemünde and Mittelwerk manufacturing the deadly weapon.