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NASA officials used only 12 words to list the primary objectives of Apollo 11:
1-Perform a manned lunar landing and return.
2-Perform selenological inspection and sampling.
Nasa Admin during Apollo 11 – Thomas O. Paine
Flight Directors John Hodge and Gene Kranz
Plaque on the Lunar Module descent stage of Apollo 11
Antipode illustration
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In February of 1969, the first launch of the Soviet Moon Rocket, the N-1, exploded. By April, the Soviets still did not have a clear program of subsequent piloted Soyuz fights. In May, the Soviets watched the successful US lunar orbital flight and practice landing of Apollo 10. In June, a Lunar Sample return mission failed when the Block D stage refused to ignite. On July 3rd the second N1 launch failed with a spectacular explosion…
Soviet Luna 15 was designed to take a sample of Lunar soil and return it to Earth
Ye-8 lunar sample return spacecraft – detail of re-entry vehicle
Credit: Mark Wade
Ye-8 Sample Return method
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On July 3, 1969, the same month as the the Apollo 11 Moon landing, The Soviet Union made another secret attempt to fly their giant Moon rocket.
N1-5L Rollout to pad. Credit Russia Space Web
Raising N1-5L
Escape system activated for N1-5L. Credit Russian Space Web.
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“Hey, Apollo – Houston, this is Apollo 10. Look, I know you ran some studies, but by golly, we can see Snoopy, and he isn’t too far away! He’s catching up with us. Can you talk to the FIDOS? He’s right down below us. We can occasionally see him tumbling end-over-end down below there, and he’s coming in closer each pass. That’s Snoopy’s descent stage. We can see him right down below us now, and he’s right – I thought he was a little out-of-plane, but now he’s looking more in-plane with us.” Tom Stafford Apollo 10
Relative Orbits of the Command Module and the Descent Stage
Cernan, Stafford & Young arrive on the Carrier USS Princeton
Apollo 10 Command Module at the Science Museum in London
