Borman, Lovell and Anders, became the first humans to leave low-Earth-orbit and fly into deep space. The result was one of the most daring and thrilling spaceflights in history. It was also to be the first human mission on the gigantic Saturn V Moon rocket, which had had a troubled second test on Apollo 6. The next mission after Apollo 7 was scheduled to be a combined flight of the CSM and the Lunar Module (LM-the lunar lander) in low Earth orbit. Apollo 8 was the second mission in the program to carry a crew, coming just over two months after Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, and Walter Cunningham tested the Command and Service Modules (CSM) in Earth orbit-the first astronaut flight since a January 1967 launch-pad fire killed the original prime crew. In fact, the Soviets were planning to send two cosmonauts to loop around the Moon, but that statement of the agency’s intent is, at best, half true.įirst, some background is in order. How much did the information about the Soviets influence NASA’s final decision to proceed with the risky Apollo 8 mission?Īs we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the pioneering Apollo 8 mission, many commentators and news stories will assert that NASA sent Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders to the Moon to beat the Soviet Union.Failures of the Soviet Union’s Zond program were kept secret. In public, it appeared that the Soviet Union had a chance to beat Apollo 8 to the Moon.Apollo 8 was the second flight in the Apollo program, and the first mission to take humans to the Moon and back."I am not cynical, but I am cautiously optimistic that they can pull this off," he said, "with Russia it is wait and see. Regarding Russia's space expertise, David said, "their science side is never lacking, they have great researchers, they can analyze the data, there is no doubt about that. Part of it could be that they feel like they are going to be left at the launch pad as everybody is going to the Moon," David said, referring to private sector plans as well NASA projects like the Lunar Gateway, which is expected to play a major role in the Artemis program.
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"They are going to have to show their stuff. If it succeeds, it will bolster their engineering and science community. "They want that to be successful to show that they can do it and get back to the moon.
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"The Luna 25 is an indicator that things are not smooth sailing and this is their first lunar robotic mission for decades," he told Newsweek. The automatic lunar station whose launch had been scheduled for October, has been delayed to May 2022. "The big thing is not so much Russia wanting to go to the moon, but Russia wanting to go to the moon with China," said Leonard David, author of Moon Rush: The New Space Race, "Russia needs China more than China needs Russia."ĭavid said Russia's progress towards a manned mission to the Moon will be shaped by its Luna 25 program. The proposed joint International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) is intended to be ready for crewed visits by 2036 and is not linked to the U.S.-led Artemis program. The contract up for grabs marks a statement of intent for Roscosmos, which had announced in March it had signed a memorandum with China to build an international scientific lunar station.
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The first results need to be presented by the end of 2022 and the whole study by mid-November 2025. The feasibility study under the contract worth 1.7 billion rubles ($23 million) is divided into two parts. The heavier Yenisei rocket had been previously considered for such a mission, Kommersant reported. The Russian space agency also indicated in the tender it would use the Angara rocket and a small transport ship for its first manned flights to the Moon.Īngara had been touted as the means for Russia's moon ambitions in December 2020 by the director general of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin.
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It also required plans to construct a lunar rover, and how to construct a ship for delivering cargo. The study would look into how to develop a lunar take-off and landing vehicle for crew and creating a spacesuit that can be worn on the surface. The study needed to look at how cosmonauts would work in orbit and on the Moon's surface, "taking into account the need to solve medical and biological problems," said the tender, which was reported by Russian media, including RIA. How Mars Lost Its Water, the Key Ingredient of Life.Autonomous Robots to Battle Underground Could One Day Explore Alien Worlds.
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