they planted those simple words the
eagle has landed
marked the culmination of a goal set in
1961 it also signaled the beginning of a
new era when for the first time man
walked on a planet beyond his own 1969
an eventful year in aeronautics and
space
the moon was not the only planet to
receive an earthly visitor in 1969 two
unmanned spacecraft Mariner six and
seven flew within 2,000 miles of Mars
one was launched so it would fly in a
north-south direction the other east to
west taking pictures and recording
scientific data as they traveled along
here in step printed form is what
Mariner 7 actually saw as it approached
Mars the photographs revealed Mars to be
different from both the earth and the
moon while craters were observed in some
areas one vast stretch of over 1,200
miles appeared to have none temperatures
at the polar cap indicated it is made up
of solid carbon dioxide dry ice the
Mariner scientific sensors provided
detailed information on the Martian
atmosphere and surface temperatures and
paved the way for future flights to
learn more about the mechanics of solar
radiation two orbiting solar
observatories Osos five and six were
launched
with their onboard solar experiments
pointing toward the Sun the Osos are
taking a close-up look at the solar
radiations that directly affect the
Earth's upper atmosphere appearing more
like an insect with its two 30-foot
antennas extended the last in a series
of orbiting geophysical observatories
ago six as twenty-three experiments
operating experiments designed to be
correlated with the solar observatories
giving scientists even more information
of the status of the Earth's atmosphere
adding to and enhancing the overall
scientific knowledge of the environment
surrounding the earth comes from
experiments aboard sounding rockets 350
of these small rockets were launched
from Wallops Island Virginia and probed
into the atmosphere below the region in
which satellites operate the sounding
rocket station at Wallops also serves as
a training ground for technicians from
foreign countries interested in space
exploration in meteorology another Tyros
operational satellite was placed into
orbit for the environmental science
service agency the new Tyros which sends
back pictures of the Earth's cloud cover
makes early storm warnings and everyday
weather predictions routine
Nimbus 3a 1360 pound experimental
weather satellite is being utilized as a
testbed to prove out new meteorological
instruments temperature measurements
made by the big weather satellite are
helping map the weather of the Northern
Hemisphere
another experimental satellite launched
was ATS five applications technology
satellite as a result of an agreement
signed this year between the United
States and India NASA will launch an ATS
in 1972 which were broadcast
instructional television directly into
thousands of Indian villages providing
among other things programs on modern
agricultural techniques
looking to the day when this country
will want to embark on deep-space
missions NASA has been developing a
nuclear rocket engine for spaceflight
applications last summer a landmark test
was conducted at the nuclear rocket
development station in Nevada when a
nuclear engine was brought to full power
for the first time this special railway
car transports the engine to and from
the test stand the control room is
located underground a thousand feet from
the stand here a nuclear reactor no
larger than an office desk produces as
much power as over dam this is an artist
concept of a lifting body at nasa's
flight research center in california
test pilots have made more than 150
lifting body flights the wingless craft
are considered to be forerunners of
ships that can fly a space mission and
then return to earth like an airplane
the rocket-powered HL 10 has already
flown 1 and 1/2 times the speed of sound
after being dropped in midair because a
lifting body can make ground landings
they become very attractive as low-cost
reusable space shuttles of the future
they're called visto vertical or steep
takeoff and landing planes aircraft that
may one day make short-haul intercity
transports a reality NASA's Langley and
Ames Research Center's have been
studying the problems that vertical
landing planes might encounter at
terminals where big jets are taking off
and landing what's the best way to bring
vertically landing planes into a
congested Airport without interfering
with an already busy traffic pattern
should there be separate runways or can
they land as the bigger Jets make their
final approaches what type of poor
weather instrumentation will they need
these are some of the questions the
current research will help to answer
problem how to make present jet engines
quieter without compromising safety
lowering performance or substantially
increasing costs NASA is continuing to
study this question one of the
approaches was to install acoustically
treated engine covers
to date the results have been very
promising engines acoustically treated
for NASA by the McDonnell Douglas
company have reduced noise levels during
approach flyovers by 15 decibels this is
about the same as removing the airplane
three or four times farther away from
you these studies will go on in an
effort to make further noise reduction
improvements there were four manned
Apollo flights in 1969 the first of
these was Apollo nine with astronauts
McDivitt Scott and Schweikert
piloting theirs was an earth orbital
mission a mission to check out for the
first time all the various spacecraft
systems needed to fly round-trip to the
moon through a series of intricate
maneuvers they dressed rehearsed for the
lunar flights to follow during ten days
and 152 orbits of the earth they
rendezvous and docked with the lunar
landing craft checked out manual
guidance systems fired the Landers
rocket engines and practiced a space
rescue between the lunar module and
command ship Russell Schweickart spent
about 45 minutes outside in a spacesuit
during this exercise for the men of
Apollo 9 a job well done the big pieces
of lunar space gear had worked and
worked well all was in readiness for the
next test
Apollo 10 its mission fly to the moon
and simulate a lunar landing and so they
did while astronaut John Young orbited
alone in the command module code name
Charlie Brown
astronauts Stafford and Cernan flying in
Snoopy the lunar module began making
close passes at the moon the two space
pilots did everything but land they
fired the descent engines lowering them
to fifty thousand feet above the surface
and similarly tested out the ascent
rocket which would send the moon landing
Apollo 11 crew back into lunar orbit for
the return home as they passed over the
Sea of Tranquility at an altitude of 10
miles closer than any human had ever
traveled they reported back to Mission
Control Houston that the landing site
was smooth the stage was now set for the
lunar landing two months later
Columbia and Eagle were on their way at
stake nearly 10 years of research
development and fabrication some 20,000
companies throughout the United States
participated in the building of the
Saturn 5 rocket and Apollo spacecraft
which carried astronauts Armstrong
Aldrin and Collins on their historic
journey to the moon
there's was a journey like no other for
they were the first to set foot on the
lunar surface
this was the site viewed by over 300
million people around the world as the
two men tested their moon legs and began
setting their scientific experiments
after 22 hours they headed for a
rendezvous with Mike Collins and the
trip home to earth because of the
possibility of contamination from the
moon the three astronauts were
quarantined for nearly three weeks at
the same time scientists began looking
at their newly acquired lunar samples
the first opportunity anyone had had to
look at something from a different body
in the solar system samples were given
to 142 scientists both here and abroad
for intensive study results will be
released in January when the group
gathers in Houston to go over their
findings shortly after returning from
the moon the crew of Apollo 11 began
another journey that lasted 40 days at
the request of the president they
embarked on a goodwill mission covering
some 46,000 miles with visits to 22
countries from Mexico City to Brussels
Belgard to Kinshasa Bombay to Tokyo the
lunar trio was warmly and
enthusiastically received by millions of
people giving them a chance to share
their experiences firsthand for the
second time in one year American
astronauts headed for the moon while
astronaut dick Gordon orbited in the
command module Yankee Clipper awaiting
their return Pete Conrad and Alan bean
flew the lunar module intrepid toward a
touchdown in the ocean of storms a
pinpoint landing was critical to this
mission and all future flights with this
in mind the two space pilots set the
landing craft down within 600 feet of
the unmanned surveyor 3 which had landed
there three years before
in addition to inspecting and removing
pieces of the surveyor for return to
work the pair collected about 90 pounds
of lunar samples they also set up six
scientific experiments which among other
things will record moon quakes measure
the lunar atmosphere and analyze the
solar wind on route back from the moon
the three astronauts witnessed and
photographed for the first time an
eclipse of the Sun by the earth the
splashdown of Apollo 12 was almost as
precise as their moon landing the Yankee
Clipper landed three and 1/2 miles from
the carrier Hornet Space Science
Advanced Research Aeronautics and the
first manned landings and exploration of
the moon 1969 a year to remember
this has been an Aeronautics and Space
report presented by NASA the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration