Already the ancients wrote about trips to the moon. From the 17th century on, it was considered a feasible project. However, it was only the technology of the 20th century that made it possible to visit our natural satellite. How was humanity's path to the moon?
The largest object in the night sky has always been the subject of human fascination. Probably already in the Paleolithic, it allowed for orientation in time (probably the oldest preserved lunar calendar dates back to about 30,000 years). In many cultures, he was also worshiped as a deity or considered a place where the souls of the dead travel. However, it was only the ancient Greeks who approached our satellite a bit differently, with a common-sense flair of its own.
Anaxagoras, 5th century BC mathematician, and philosopher were the first to say that the sun is a piece of rock (red-hot) and that the moon only reflects sunlight. He is said to have been imprisoned because he claimed that the Sun was not a deity, but it was possible that his imprisonment was politically motivated. More than a hundred years later, the Greek astronomer Aristarchus of Samos was the first to calculate the distance between the Sun and the Moon, and he was also a supporter of the heliocentric model of the solar system hundreds of years before Copernicus. In 150 B.C.E. another Greek scientist, Seleucus of Seleucia associated the Syzygian tides with the effects of the Moon.
In the 2nd century CE Lukian, a Hellenized Syrian satirist wrote the first fictional piece about a trip to the moon. He was also the first to describe "aliens" - the inhabitants of the Moon and the Sun, waging war with each other. Although it was a satirical work, it is today one of the pioneers of science fiction literature.
The moon had multiple practical and ritual significance for the people of the Middle Ages. On its basis, the dates of important holidays were established. Tide observation has been important to shipping, fishing, agriculture, and medical practice. Hildegard of Bingen advises, for example, to bleed when the moon arrives.
From an astronomical point of view, the Moon was classified as a planet - that is, celestial bodies wandering in the night sky, in contrast to the stars, which had fixed places and moved with the entire firmament.
Many scholars have been interested in the Moon, its wanderings, predicting eclipses, and its effect on life on earth. However, the study of the celestial body itself, beyond what the ancients had already described, was impossible until the invention of the telescope.
In 1609, Galileo constructed a telescope. It was not the first device of this type and it was not the most perfect, but it allowed for the first time to see mountains and craters on the surface of a silver globe. Until now, its surface was considered to be smooth and therefore reflects the light of the sun. For the first time, the Moon seemed to be within reach. In the second half of the century, it was understood that a reflecting telescope was needed for more precise observations. After several attempts in 1668, a functional reflecting telescope was constructed by Isaac Newton.
These observations ignited the imagination of seventeenth-century scholars. Gdańsk astronomer Jan Heweliusz even made an atlas of the Moon. For the first time, serious thought was given to going to the moon. In times of colonial conquest, the development of the fleet, as well as science and technology, it seemed quite likely.
The idea of a trip to the moon was of particular interest to the company around Gresham College. He owned, inter alia, John Wilkins. Even before the mirror telescope was created, in 1640 he published the second edition of his theoretical considerations on the journey to the silver globe, entitled "Discovery of the world on the moon." In it, he depicted many different vehicles potentially capable of breaking away from (as he called it) the magnetic influence of the Earth and moving into the sphere of the Moon's attraction. Some of his ideas were completely unrealistic, e.g. the use of birds as a draft force. Others made quite a sense - like a reference to the gravitational force or the consideration of the presence of water on the moon.
As a curiosity, I would like to add that Cyrano de Bergerac - the historical prototype of the hero of the play by Edmond Rostand, also had his ideas about space travel and life on the moon. However, like many similar texts of that time, it was satire, not futuristic considerations.
In the nineteenth century, astronomy and technology advanced greatly. It was the first time that humans took off from the ground using huge balloons. Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was believed that this way of moving in the air would be the future of mankind. Jules Verne and Felix Nadar suggested something else. In 1862 they founded an association for air travel with machines heavier than air. Nadar also became an inspiration for the famous author of the first science fiction novels. Verne included him under a changed name in his book "From Earth to the Moon", published in 1865. Verne was the first to describe a more realistic mode of interplanetary transport. The heroes are launched towards the Moon in a huge missile, where they are provided with an oxygen supply and a discharge of carbon dioxide. Today we know that even if the force of the cannon was able to overcome gravity, the overload would prevent the passengers from surviving. Nevertheless, Verne and Nadar were the first to understand that leaving the earth's gravity requires more than a balloon or a ship pulled by a flock of swans.
The English author, G. H. Wells, also did not miss the topic. His 1900 novel "The First People on the Moon", however, is not realistic. For the author, a journey into space is an opportunity to reflect on society.
The trip to the moon was possible thanks to the dynamic development of technology. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, interest in the possibility of space flights increased. Konstantin Ciołkowski, a Russian scientist of Polish origin, was the author of the first theoretical designs of rocket-powered vehicles. After 1918, he became one of the pioneers of cosmonautics in the USSR. He conducted numerous experiments in the field of aerodynamics, and the principles of rocket operation he proposed are still used today. He was also an optimist typical of his era, who associated technological development and the conquest of space with the perfection of the human species.
At the same time, the American physicist and engineer Robert H. Goddard was conducting his experiments with rockets. His contribution to astronautics is primarily the replacement of solid fuel with liquid.
The development of this field was influenced by research conducted by scientists of the Third Reich. V-2 missiles developed in the 1930s and constituting the so-called retaliatory weapons were the first functional ballistic missiles. As the first structure in history, they crossed the Karman Line, i.e. 100 km from the Earth's surface. Research on the V-2 was important not only for the military. Scientists of the Third Reich were actually supposed to work on the space program. After the end of the war, some of these people, despite cooperation with the Nazi government, were taken over by the American space program. It is one of the darkest and most controversial moves in the history of Western astronautics. Although, from a purely logical point of view, it was obvious.
The Cold War had its advantages. An effort likely to be devoted to mutual extermination was used to mutually "flex the muscles" between the USSR and the US. Each empire had a vision of human genius overcoming limits. By the way, presenting the opponent with his technological advantage.
There are many dark and controversial stories associated with research into sending people into space. At that time, it was a particularly dangerous and completely unknown field. Many animals were sacrificed, and many people died, incl. including fires in oxygen-filled rooms. However, at this point, it was obvious that at some point you would succeed.
In 1957, the Soviets launched the first Sputnik into space. The Americans were not prepared for this and responded late. They began developing the space program only in 1958. This so-called Project Mercury was to lead to the first manned flight in orbit. It seemed there was still a long way to go to the next stages. Nobody believed that the USSR could have the means and technology to overtake the US on manned flights. Meanwhile, on April 12, 1961, sensational news circulated around the world. Soviet pilot Yuri Gagarin was the first man to fly into outer space. In the Eastern Bloc, especially in the USSR, he became a hero. For the Americans, however, it was a signal that they were backward in the space race.
On May 25, 1961, President J.F. Kennedy asked Congress to raise an additional several billion dollars for the space program. Two weeks earlier, the first American - Alan Shepard - had flown beyond the Karman Line. The flight lasted 15 minutes, without orbiting.
Kennedy knew that after the success of the Soviet space program, it wasn't enough just to send people into space. In the fall of 1962, he appeared in public. In a solemn speech, he uttered the famous words "we are going to go to the moon in this decade ..". A year later, the first manned orbit flight took place. Gordon Cooper circled the earth 22 times in 34.5 hours. At that time, research leading to a trip to the moon was ongoing. As part of the Gemini project, more pilots were sent into orbit. It was investigated how long a man can survive in a state of weightlessness and cosmic rays. The first encounters in space and orbital docking provided a better understanding of maneuvering in new conditions. However, entering orbit is one thing and landing is another. This project was codenamed, Apollo. Besides, it was impossible to avoid the tragedy. Apollo 1 was supposed to take three astronauts to the moon in early 1967. However, a spark from a misplaced cable set off a fire that engulfed the pod within minutes and killed the pilots. Everything happened in preparation, a few days before the ship's launch. This event nearly brought the entire program to a halt. However, a meticulous examination of the case and the introduction of new security measures gave hope for the safe flight of other daredevils. The first humans to reach the moon's orbit where the Apollo 8 pilots. On Christmas Day (December 21-27) 1968, the crew circled the moon 10 times and returned to Earth in a capsule, landing in the Pacific. Now landing was only a matter of time. On July 16, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first people in history to set foot on the moon. They also stuck the American flag in Moondust. This gesture was supposed to end the space race with the USSR. In any case, it has started a new era in our relationship with the silver globe.
Bibliography:
- Jakub Filonik, Athenian Impiety Trials: A Reappraisal, 2014 (electronic publication under Creative Commons license: https://doi.org/10.13130/1128-8221/4290)
- History of Astronomy, ed. Michael Hoskin, Warsaw 2007
- Judy L. Hasday, The Apollo 13 mission, Philadelphia 2001
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