Editing Apollo 11 (section)

== Background ==

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the United States was engaged in the [[Cold War]], a geopolitical rivalry with the [[Soviet Union]].{{sfn|Logsdon|1976|p=134}} On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched [[Sputnik 1]], the first [[Satellite|artificial satellite]]. This surprise success fired fears and imaginations around the world. It demonstrated that the Soviet Union had the capability to deliver nuclear weapons over intercontinental distances, and challenged American claims of military, economic, and technological superiority.{{sfn|Logsdon|1976|pp=13–15}} This precipitated the [[Sputnik crisis]], and triggered the [[Space Race]] to prove which superpower would achieve superior spaceflight capability.{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|p=1}} President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] responded to the Sputnik challenge by creating the [[NASA|National Aeronautics and Space Administration]] (NASA), and initiating [[Project Mercury]],{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|pp=101–106}} which aimed to launch a man into [[Geocentric orbit|Earth orbit]].{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=134}} But on April 12, 1961, Soviet [[cosmonaut]] [[Yuri Gagarin]] became the first person in space, and the first to orbit the Earth.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|pp=332–333}} Nearly a month later, on May 5, 1961, [[Alan Shepard]] became the first American in space, completing a 15-minute suborbital journey.{{sfn|Logsdon|1976|p=121}}

Since the [[Soviet Union]] had higher lift capacity [[launch vehicle]]s, Eisenhower's successor, [[John F. Kennedy]] chose, from among options presented by NASA, a challenge beyond the capacity of the existing generation of rocketry, so that the US and Soviet Union would be starting from a position of equality. A crewed mission to the Moon would serve this purpose.{{sfn|Logsdon|1976|pp=112–117}}

On May 25, 1961, Kennedy addressed the [[United States Congress]] on "Urgent National Needs" and declared:

{{Blockquote|I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade [1960s] is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. We propose to accelerate the development of the appropriate lunar space craft. We propose to develop alternate liquid and solid fuel boosters, much larger than any now being developed, until certain which is superior. We propose additional funds for other engine development and for unmanned explorations—explorations which are particularly important for one purpose which this nation will never overlook: the survival of the man who first makes this daring flight. But in a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the Moon—if we make this judgment affirmatively, it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there. |source=Kennedy's speech to Congress<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/features/jfk_speech_text.html |title=Excerpt: 'Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs' |publisher=NASA |access-date=September 16, 2018 |date=May 25, 1961 |archive-date=March 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301081146/https://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/features/jfk_speech_text.html |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

On September 12, 1962, Kennedy [[We choose to go to the Moon|delivered another speech]] before a crowd of about 40,000 people in the [[Rice Stadium (Rice University)|Rice University football stadium]] in [[Houston]], Texas.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/49181/rt050i01.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|title='Visiting Professor' Kennedy Pushes Space Age Spending|last=Keilen|first=Eugene|date=September 19, 1962|newspaper=The Rice Thresher|access-date=March 11, 2018|page=1|archive-date=January 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122062150/https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/49181/rt050i01.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.rice.edu/2012/08/30/jfks-1962-moon-speech-still-appeals-50-years-later/|title=JFK's 1962 Moon Speech Still Appeals 50 Years Later|last=Boyd|first=Jade|date=August 30, 2012|publisher=Rice University|access-date=March 20, 2018|archive-date=February 2, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180202012645/http://news.rice.edu/2012/08/30/jfks-1962-moon-speech-still-appeals-50-years-later/|url-status=live}}</ref> A widely quoted refrain from the middle portion of the speech reads as follows:

{{blockquote|There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again. But why, some say, the Moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask, why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, [[Spirit of St. Louis|fly the Atlantic]]? Why does [[Rice–Texas football rivalry|Rice play Texas]]?
We choose to go to the Moon! We choose to go to the Moon&nbsp;... We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too.<ref>{{cite web |title=John F. Kennedy Moon Speech—Rice Stadium |publisher=NASA |access-date=March 19, 2018 |url=https://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/ricetalk.htm |archive-date=July 6, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706061817/http://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/ricetalk.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
[[File:John F. Kennedy speaks at Rice University.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=Kennedy, in a blue suit and tie, speaks at a wooden podium bearing the seal of the President of the United States. Vice President Lyndon Johnson and other dignitaries stand behind him.|President [[John F. Kennedy]] [[We choose to go to the Moon|speaking at Rice University]] on September 12, 1962]]
In spite of that, the proposed program faced the opposition of many Americans and was dubbed a "[[Boondoggle|moondoggle]]" by [[Norbert Wiener]], a mathematician at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-you-didnt-know-about-apollo-11-mission-fifty-years-ago-180972165/|title=What You Didn't Know About the Apollo 11 Mission|last=Fishman|first=Charles|website=Smithsonian|language=en|access-date=June 17, 2019|archive-date=February 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210209133957/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-you-didnt-know-about-apollo-11-mission-fifty-years-ago-180972165/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/09/moondoggle-the-forgotten-opposition-to-the-apollo-program/262254/|title=Moondoggle: The Forgotten Opposition to the Apollo Program|last=Madrigal|first=Alexis C.|date=September 12, 2012|website=The Atlantic|language=en-US|access-date=June 17, 2019|archive-date=February 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227163332/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/09/moondoggle-the-forgotten-opposition-to-the-apollo-program/262254/|url-status=live}}</ref> The effort to land a man on the Moon already had a name: [[Project Apollo]].{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|p=15}} When Kennedy met with [[Nikita Khrushchev]], the [[Premier of the Soviet Union]] in June 1961, he proposed making the Moon landing a joint project, but Khrushchev did not take up the offer.{{sfn|Logsdon|2011|p=32}} Kennedy again proposed a joint expedition to the Moon in a speech to the [[United Nations General Assembly]] on September 20, 1963.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKPOF-046-041.aspx |access-date=March 11, 2018 |title=Address at 18th U.N. General Assembly |date=September 20, 1963 |publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |archive-date=March 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180311081510/https://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKPOF-046-041.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> The idea of a joint Moon mission was abandoned after Kennedy's death.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Politico |title=JFK Proposes Joint Lunar Expedition with Soviets, September 20, 1963 |first=Andrew |last=Glass |date=September 20, 2017 |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/20/jfk-proposes-joint-lunar-expedition-with-soviets-sept-20-1963-242843 |access-date=March 19, 2018 |archive-date=September 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923005825/https://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/20/jfk-proposes-joint-lunar-expedition-with-soviets-sept-20-1963-242843 |url-status=live }}</ref>

An early and crucial decision was choosing [[lunar orbit rendezvous]] over both [[direct ascent]] and [[Earth orbit rendezvous]]. A [[space rendezvous]] is an [[orbital maneuver]] in which two spacecraft navigate through space and meet up. In July 1962 NASA head [[James E. Webb|James Webb]] announced that lunar orbit rendezvous would be used<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/factsheets/Rendezvous.html|title=The Rendezvous That Was Almost Missed: Lunar Orbit Rendezvous and the Apollo Program|date=December 1992|access-date=December 26, 2018|publisher=NASA|work=NASA Langley Research Center Office of Public Affairs|archive-date=December 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223201720/https://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/factsheets/Rendezvous.html|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|pp=85–86}} and that the [[Apollo (spacecraft)|Apollo spacecraft]] would have three major parts: a command module (CM) with a cabin for the three astronauts, and the only part that returned to Earth; a service module (SM), which supported the command module with propulsion, electrical power, oxygen, and water; and a lunar module (LM) that had two stages—a descent stage for landing on the Moon, and an ascent stage to place the astronauts back into lunar orbit.{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|pp=72–77}} This design meant the spacecraft could be launched by a single [[Saturn V]] rocket that was then under development.{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|pp=48–49}}

Technologies and techniques required for Apollo were developed by [[Project Gemini]].{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|pp=181–182, 205–208}} The Apollo project was enabled by NASA's adoption of new advances in [[semiconductor device]], including [[metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor]]s (MOSFETs) in the [[Interplanetary Monitoring Platform]] (IMP)<ref>{{cite book |title=Interplanetary Monitoring Platform |date=August 29, 1989 |publisher=[[NASA]] |pages=1, 11, 134 |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19800012928.pdf |access-date=August 12, 2019 |last1=Butler |first1=P. M. |archive-date=August 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190812022459/https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19800012928.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=White |first1=H. D. |last2=Lokerson |first2=D. C. |title=The Evolution of IMP Spacecraft Mosfet Data Systems |journal=[[IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science]] |date=1971 |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=233–236 |doi=10.1109/TNS.1971.4325871 |bibcode=1971ITNS...18..233W |issn=0018-9499}}</ref> and [[silicon]] [[integrated circuit]] (IC) chips in the [[Apollo Guidance Computer]] (AGC).<ref>{{cite web |title=Apollo Guidance Computer and the First Silicon Chips |url=https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/apollo-guidance-computer-and-first-silicon-chips |website=[[National Air and Space Museum]] |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]] |access-date=September 1, 2019 |date=October 14, 2015 |archive-date=May 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210522064136/https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/apollo-guidance-computer-and-first-silicon-chips |url-status=live }}</ref>

Project Apollo was abruptly halted by the [[Apollo 1]] fire on January 27, 1967, in which astronauts [[Gus Grissom]], [[Ed White (astronaut)|Ed White]], and [[Roger B. Chaffee]] died, and the subsequent investigation.{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|pp=214–218}} In October 1968, [[Apollo 7]] evaluated the command module in Earth orbit,{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|pp=265–272}} and in December [[Apollo 8]] tested it in lunar orbit.{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|pp=274–284}} In March 1969, [[Apollo 9]] put the lunar module through its paces in Earth orbit,{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|pp=292–300}} and in May [[Apollo 10]] conducted a "dress rehearsal" in lunar orbit. By July 1969, all was in readiness for Apollo 11 to take the final step onto the Moon.{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|pp=303–312}}

The Soviet Union appeared  to be winning the Space Race by beating the US to firsts, but its early lead was overtaken by the US [[Project Gemini|Gemini program]] and Soviet failure to develop the [[N1 (rocket)|N1 launcher]], which would have been comparable to the Saturn V.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/science-technology-and-society/sts-471j-engineering-apollo-the-moon-project-as-a-complex-system-spring-2007/readings/soviet_mand_lunr.pdf |title=The Soviet Manned Lunar Program |last=Lindroos |first=Marcus |work=[[MIT OpenCourseWare]] |publisher=[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] |access-date=October 4, 2011 |archive-date=June 11, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611095346/http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/science-technology-and-society/sts-471j-engineering-apollo-the-moon-project-as-a-complex-system-spring-2007/readings/soviet_mand_lunr.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The Soviets tried to beat the US to return lunar material to the Earth by means of [[Uncrewed spacecraft|uncrewed probes]]. On July 13, three days before Apollo 11's launch, the Soviet Union launched [[Luna 15]], which reached lunar orbit before Apollo 11. During descent, a malfunction caused Luna 15 to crash in [[Mare Crisium]] about two hours before Armstrong and Aldrin took off from the Moon's surface to begin their voyage home. The [[Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories]] radio telescope in England recorded transmissions from Luna 15 during its descent, and these were released in July 2009 for the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11.<ref>{{cite news |title=Recording tracks Russia's Moon gatecrash attempt |first=Jonathan |last=Brown |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/recording-tracks-russias-moon-gatecrash-attempt-1730851.html |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |location=London |date=July 3, 2009 |access-date=January 10, 2011 |archive-date=September 10, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110910011624/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/recording-tracks-russias-moon-gatecrash-attempt-1730851.html |url-status=live }}</ref>