The Moon Landing: Celebrating 55 Years

To celebrate International Moon Day, MAPS Digital Student Ambassador Nishta writes about the first human landing on the Moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission.

"One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
 
Neil Armstrong spoke these words fifty-five years ago on 21 July, 1969, when one of the most significant events in human history unfolded: the Apollo 11 Moon landing. An estimated 650 million viewers tuned in, witnessing a moment that united a world divided by conflicts, reminding us of our shared humanity and how alone we appeared to be on this floating rock in space. 

The Apollo 11 mission didn't just allow us to get up close and personal with the Moon; it also transformed our understanding of the Earth, influenced and introduced so much of the technology we see today, and broke through a lot of societal norms. 

We discovered that the Earth and Moon are composed of similar rocks, suggesting they originated from the same celestial body. This led to the giant impact hypothesis, where a Mars-sized object collided with the early Earth, ejecting material that eventually formed the Moon.

For an up-close look at the Moon’s surface and its rocks, I’d recommend visiting the UCL Observatory at Mill Hill. UCL also has a digital archive of the Moon’s images (see here and here) taken on clear nights from the observatory. And if you head into the archives of UCL’s planetary science department, you can find a 70-inch, incredibly detailed map of the Moon produced by Walter Goodacre in 1910. This page has images of the same.

One contributor to the success of Apollo 11 that I must mention was Katherine Johnson. She was an expert with calculations, and as one of the first African American women working at NASA, she paved the way for many others. 

According to NASA, Johnson stated: "You tell me when you want it and where you want it to land, and I'll do it backwards and tell you when to take off," a testament to her extraordinary talent and confidence. Her story gained widespread recognition with the 2016 book and movie "Hidden Figures."

The Apollo 11 mission helped scientists on Earth realise that the Moon is moving away from us, at a rate of about 3.8 centimetres each year. This drift was measured by an instrument called the Laser Ranging Retroreflector, left on the moon by the Apollo 11 crew. 

I gained a lot of knowledge about Keplerian systems and angular momentum through studying the UCL module Galaxy Dynamics, Formation and Evolution taught wonderfully by Professor Ralph Schoenrich. Thanks to this module, I can understand that the reason for this drift is tides. 

Moon’s gravity causes tides on Earth and these tides decrease Earth’s rotational velocity, resulting in a loss of angular momentum. However, angular momentum in a Keplerian system is always conserved, so Earth’s loss is the Moon’s gain, and the Moon speeds up, moving further away. 

The Moon landing didn't just revolutionise space science; it also brought about innovations that we use daily. For instance, memory foam, initially developed by NASA in the 1970s to absorb crash impacts and improve astronaut survival rates, is now widely used in helmet  s and hospital beds. Wireless technology, including the headphones, toothbrushes, and vacuums we take for granted today, was also born out of NASA's efforts to improve astronauts' lives in space.

The Apollo 11 mission showed us how innovation thrives when we try to achieve things outside of existing capabilities and societal norms, standing as a testament to human ingenuity and the boundless possibilities of exploration and innovation.

Author: Nishta Varma