Living Through History: Apollo 11
What is is like to live through historic events? In 1969, the Apollo 11 Mission became a historic moment in world history. People watched the landing around the world- NASA estimated that at least half of the world's population was aware of the Apollo 11 events. In the words of President Richard M. Nixon, the return of the lunar landing crew marked the "greatest week in the history of the world since Creation".
Let's take a deeper dive into the Apollo 11 mission through the lens of world events in 2020. Explore questions like:
What was the role of quarantine?
What was important to the astronauts?
Historical events do not happen in isolation: What is the historical context for Apollo 11?
About the Apollo 11 Mission
Abe Silverstein, Director of Space Flight Development, proposed the name "Apollo" because it was the name of a god in ancient Greek mythology.
Project Apollo had several goals including:
Landing Americans on the Moon and returning them safely to Earth
Establishing the technology to meet other national interests in space.
Achieving preeminence in space for the United States.
Carrying out a program of scientific exploration of the Moon.
Developing human capability to work in the lunar environment.
