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Four decades after mankind's giant leap, a look at the harrowing first lunar landing, the Apollo missions that never flew, and how the historic event looked from the Soviet Union
July 17, 2009 |
Boulders, a crater, moon dust and an overworked computer all stood in the way of humankind's first lunar touchdown
Features
As the U.S.'s lunar landing program wound down, plans for its last three Apollo missions were canceled, leaving unused hardware and questions of what might have been
Features
A son of the Cold War tells what it was like from the losing side of the Space Race--and how the U.S.S.R.'s space program fizzled after Sputnik and Gagarin
60-Second Science
Buzz Aldrin recalls the simple strangeness of being on another world, such as how the dust rose and fell differently on the moon with each footfall. Steve Mirsky reports
On the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, NASA produces a new book of photographs curated by Apollo veterans
The only scientist and field geologist ever to visit the moon offers some pointers to those who will one day visit Mars
Stargazers will have the opportunity to get their hands on photos, charts, models and other space race relics from NASA missions thanks to an auction to commemorate the Apollo 11 moon mission
As private enterprises set their sights on space, once the sole domain of the superpowers, questions are arising about who will protect historical sites and artifacts on the moon
A review of the documentary In the Shadow of the Moon
Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt called it the biggest environmental problem on the moon. His crewmate Eugene Cernan said it was "probably one of our greatest inhibitors" to lunar operations. What could pose such a dire threat? The pervasive, abrasive culprit: lunar dust
The second man on the moon talks about what he thinks of NASA's current direction
It was a first not only for NASA, but for humanity. As the world bore witness, a redesigned Apollo spacecraft, tested in space with a crew only once before, carried three astronauts to orbit the moon
We look at the contents of the July issue of Scientific American magazine, the last under outgoing Editor in Chief John Rennie, including an article by moon explorer Harrison Schmitt, a piece on the fight against superbugs, a report on the potential of biofuels such as grassoline, and a recollection of the pernicious effects of chess! Plus, we'll test your knowledge of some recent science in the news
Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, talks about solar energy, buses between the planets, the Constellation program, his time on the moon and his animated movie, Fly Me to the Moon
A number of entities around the Web are reenacting the mission as it happened in 1969
[From the October 1969 issue of Scientific American] The successful mission of Apollo 11 opens an epoch of planned lunar exploration. What questions should this exploration seek to answer, and what areas of the moon should be visited to best confront them?
40 years after the first moon walk, designers and engineers discuss the continuing evolution of astronaut apparel
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