The crew consisted of three members, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins who were trained by the NASA program. Michael Collins was a lieutenant colonel in the Unite States Air Force (USAF) and Buzz Adrian was a colonel in the USAF as well. Neil Armstrong, a naval aviator from NACA (now NASA), was the first to step on the moon. The whole expedition took about 4 days. But the crucial point is why did NASA spend billions of dollars on a program that might not have even worked?
The answer is the Space Race part of the Cold war.
The Cold war was between Russia and America.
The space race was part of this battle between America and Russia. They were trying to see who could get into outer space first.
Russia won this section of the space battle. They launched the first rocket into space, Sputnik in 1957.
Later, the Russians launched another rocket into space. This time with a passenger, Yuri Gagarin. Russia also sent the first animal, woman, and 3-manned flight into space. America appeared to be lagging behind and so they hastened to send rockets into space. This is when the Apollo project began, and of course there were failures. You can't just send a rocket into space without testing the theory multiple times! Eventually, Apollo 8 achieved fortune. They were able to orbit the world with a passenger, without fail. It took a couple more tries but, finally America achieved their goal of sending the first man to the moon. The image of Neil Armstrong stepping on to the moon was beamed around the world and seemed to cement the US victory as the most technologically advanced nation.
Although many people saw this experement as a success, others saw it as an unnecessary program. A TV news reporter said “The cash they wasted, as far as I’m concerned, in getting to the moon, could have been used to feed poor people in Harlem, and all over this country. So, you know, never mind the moon; let’s get some of that cash in Harlem.” But their minds changed as they saw the moon landing. Not all Americans changed their minds but we can safely say that a majority of the population felt happy, and accomplished with the Apollo mission. Librarian Ms. Sellars said that, "It was an incredible thing to see our men land on the moon. It showed how strong we are as a nation."
After the Americans sent their men to the moon, the Russians tried to catch up with us by sending a lunar probe, Luna 15, into space. They tried to change their coordinates at last minute to make their probe closer to the American landing site. Unfortunately, the probe crashed and Russia never tried to achieve moon landing success again.
Yuri Gagarin