1. It Ends With Nine Steps
Essential Questions:
1. What was Sputnik?
2. Who was Yuri Gagarin?
3. What was Project Mercury?
4. What was Project Gemini?
5. What was the Apollo Program?
6. Why was Apollo 11 important?

2. Sputnik and the Russians
 Sputnik program was a series of
robotic spacecraft missions
launched by the Soviet Union
 Sputnik 1, was the first human-
made object to orbit the Earth
 Took place on October 4, 1957
 The surprise launch of Sputnik 1
shocked the United States
 April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin
became the first human to travel
into space
 Launched to orbit aboard Vostok 1

3. America’s Turn
 Project Mercury, initiated in
1958, started NASA down the path of
human space exploration
 Designed to discover simply if man could
survive in space
 Launched on May 5, 1961
 The Mercury capsule was named
Freedom 7
 Performed a suborbital flight piloted by
astronaut Alan Shepard
 First American in space
 Flight lasted less than 16 minutes
 Unlike the earlier Soviet Vostok 1
flight, Sheppard did not orbit the earth
 Simply went up and then down

4. Round and Round We Go
 Part of Project Mercury
 Spacecraft was named
Friendship 7
 Piloted by astronaut John
Glenn
 Made three earth orbits
 Glenn became the first
American to orbit the Earth

5. Project Gemini
 Project Gemini was initiated
to conduct experiments
 Also to work out issues
relating to a moon mission
 Gemini 3 was the first Gemini
flight with astronauts on
board
 Nine missions followed and
showed:
 Long-duration human space
flight was possible
 Rendezvous and docking in
space was possible

6. Apollo 11
 Apollo 11 mission was the first
manned mission to land on the
Moon
 Launched on July 16, 1969
 Commander Neil Alden Armstrong
 Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene
'Buzz' Aldrin
 Command Module Pilot Michael
Collins
 On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin
became the first humans to land on
the Moon
 The mission fulfilled President
John F. Kennedy's goal of reaching
the moon by the end of the 1960s

7. Launch and Lunar Landing
Apollo 11 Lands on Moon (5:00)
 Millions watched the event on
television
 President Richard Nixon
viewed the events from the
Oval Office
 Buzz Aldrin spoke the first
words from the LM on the
lunar surface
 Armstrong said the famous
words, quot;Houston, Tranquility
Base here. The Eagle has
landed.”

8. On the Lunar Surface
Nixon Talks to Apollo 11 (1:30)
 July 20, 1969, Armstrong made his
descent down the nine rungs of the
LM ladder
 quot;That's one small step for [a]
man, one giant leap for
mankind” (Armstrong On Moon)
 Astronauts planted a flag on the
lunar surface and then spoke with
Nixon
 Nixon originally had a long speech
prepared to read during the phone
call
 NASA liaison convinced Nixon to
keep his words brief
 He said to do this out of respect
 Lunar landing was Kennedy's
legacy