HAVE THE MAN WALKED ON THE MOON?

PART I: SPACE MISSIONS

article published on 14 October 2020

     This is a widespread headline. Throughout media, the controversy regarding the answer to this question has amplified in the last decade, although it is not new.  In 2015, US Congress issued a law which authorizes US companies to exploit minerals on the Moon and also on the asteroids. In April 2020, US President signed an executive order encouraging the US companies to mine the moon for minerals.[1] These actions have caused more and more polemical debates about the manned missions on the Moon. One can find a lot of materials on the media which support or deny the presence of US astronauts in the missions on the Moon.

          17 years ago, I watched a TV show which approached this subject. The guest of the show, a Romanian scientist, tried to demonstrate that the man on the Moon was just a trick. He used specific formulas of Mathematics and Physics in order to demonstrate that, in cosmic vacuum, there is no image in the mirror. So, the well-known US astronaut’s picture on the Moon, whose helmet sight reflected images, was, in fact, a trick.  But I do not have the scientific knowledge to assess the demonstration.

          I propose to approach this subject neither from the point of view of science, nor from the point of view of the Conspiracy Theory, but from the point of view of the military analyzes, by taking into consideration that the missions on the Moon were among many other space missions. The Space Race between USA and USSR was an important part of the Cold War and each of the powers tried to demonstrate its superiority. In this respect, we need to begin with a short history of the space missions which took place up to 1989. In order to simplify it, we will not mention satellites, because both powers launched a huge number of them and had quite the same achievements, so it is not relevant for our subject.

 

Year	Country	Mission/ship	Destination	Details
1957	USSR	Sputnik 2	Earth's orbit	First being in space – Laika.
1958	USSR	Luna 1	Moon	First human-made object to escape the Earth's gravitational field.
1959	USSR	Luna 2	Moon	First man-made object to impact the Moon.
1959	USSR	Luna 3	Moon’s orbit	First close image of Moon.
1959	USA	Pioneer 4	Moon’s orbit	Unmanned spacecraft.
1960	USSR	Sputnik 5	Earth's orbit	,,Crew”: two dogs and plants; landed safe.
1960	USSR	Vostok	Space transportation	Prototype.
1960	USA	Pioneer 5	Earth's orbit	-
1961	USSR	Venera 1	Venus	Unmanned spacecraft.
1961	USSR	Vostok 1	First man in outer space	The astronaut Iuri Gagarin.
1961	USSR	Vostok 2	Earth's orbit	Manned.
1962	USA	Project Mercury	First US space ship	Chimpanzees used.
1962	USA		First US astronaut in outer space	He did not reach the orbit.
1962	USA		Earth's orbit	First US astronaut on orbit.
1962	USSR	Vostok 3	Earth's orbit	Manned.
1962	USSR	Vostok 4	Earth's orbit	Manned.
1961	USA	Mariner 2	Venus	Unmanned spacecraft.
1963	USA	Mercury Faith 7	Earth's orbit	Mission accomplished; 34 hrs on orbit.
1963	USSR	Vostok 5	Earth's orbit	Manned.
1963	USSR	Vostok 6	Earth's orbit	First woman in space - Valentina Tereshkova/3 days.
1964	USA	Saturn 5	Earth's orbit	Test.
1964	USA	Gemini	Earth's orbit	Test.
1964	USA	Ranger 7	Moon	Unmanned spacecraft; sent 4,300 photos; impacted Moon.
1964	USSR	Voskhod	Earth's orbit	Manned.
1964	USA	Mariner 4	Mars	Unmanned spacecraft; after 8 months, first photos from Mars.
1965	USSR	Voskhod 2	Earth's orbit	First man to leave the ship.
1965	USA	Gemini 3	Earth's orbit	Manned.
1965	USA	Gemini 4	Earth's orbit	First US astronaut to leave the ship.
1965	USA	Gemini 5	Earth's orbit	Manned.
1965	USA	Ranger 9	Moon	Unmanned spacecraft.
1965	USA	Gemini 6	Earth's orbit	Manned.
1966	USSR	Gemini 8	Earth's orbit	First dock of two space ships.
1966	USSR	Luna 9	Moon	First Moon landing.
1966	USSR	Luna 10	Moon’s orbit	Unmanned spacecraft.
1966	USA	Surveyor 1	Lunar landing	Unmanned spacecraft.
1966	USA	Gemini 9	Earth's orbit	Manned.
1966	USA	Gemini 10	Earth's orbit	Manned.
1966	USA	Gemini 12	Earth's orbit	Manned.
1966	USSR	Luna 13	Moon	-
1967	USSR	Soyuz 1	Earth's orbit	Ended with accident and crew death, due to technical reasons.
1967	USSR	Kosmos-146	Moon’s orbit	Unmanned spacecraft.
1967	USSR	Venera 4	Venus	Unmanned spacecraft.
1967	USSR	Kosmos-186	Earth's orbit	-
1967	USSR	Kosmos-188	Earth's orbit	-
1967	USA	Apollo 4	Lunar landing	Unmanned spacecraft.
1968	USSR	Zond 4	Moon’s orbit	Unmanned spacecraft.
1968	USSR	Soyuz 2	Earth's orbit	Unmanned spacecraft.
1968	USSR	Soyuz 3	Earth's orbit	Manned.
1968	USA	Pioneer 9	Solar System	Unmanned spacecraft.
1968	USA	Apollo 5	Moon	Unmanned spacecraft.
1968	USSR	Zond 5	Moon’s orbit	Unmanned spacecraft.
1968	USA	Apollo 7	Earth's orbit	Manned.
1968	USA	Apollo 8	Moon’s orbit	Manned.
1968	USSR	Zond 6	Moon’s orbit	Unmanned spacecraft.
1969	USSR	Soyuz 4	Earth's orbit	Manned.
1969	USA	Mariner 6	Mars	Unmanned spacecraft.
1969	USA	Mariner 7	Mars	Unmanned spacecraft.
1969	USA	Apollo 9	Earth's orbit	Manned.
1969	USA	Apollo 10	Moon’s orbit	Manned. Moon landing preparation.
1969	USA	Apollo 11	Lunar landing	First man on the Moon.
1969	USSR	Zond 7	Moon’s orbit	Unmanned spacecraft.
1969	USA	Apollo 12	Lunar landing	Mission accomplished, but many malfunctions.
1970	USA	Apollo 13	Lunar landing	Mission aborted due to technical reasons.
1970	USSR	Lunohod 1	Lunar landing	First vehicle (robot)  on the Moon.
1970	USSR	Luna 16	Lunar landing	Unmanned spacecraft.
1970	USSR	Venera	Venus	Unmanned spacecraft.
1971	USSR	Salyut 1	Earth's orbit	First orbital station.
1971	USSR	Soyuz 11	Dock on the orbit	Dock at Salyut 1.
1971	USA	Apollo 14	Lunar landing	Manned.
1971	USA	Apollo 15	Lunar landing	First manned vehicle on the Moon.
1971	USA	Mariner 9	Mars’ orbit	Unmanned spacecraft.
1971	USA	Mars 3	Mars	Unmanned spacecraft.
1972	SUA	Apollo 16	Lunar landing	Manned.
1972	USA	Apollo 17	Lunar landing	Manned.
1972	USA	Pioneer 10	Solar System	Unmanned spacecraft.
1972	USSR	Venera 8	Venus	Unmanned spacecraft.
1973	USA	Skylab 1	Earth's orbit	Space laboratory. Manned.
1973	USA	Skylab 2	Earth's orbit	-
1973	USA	Pioneer 11	Solar System	Unmanned spacecraft.
1973	USSR	Salyut 2	Earth's orbit	Orbital station.
1973	USSR	Soyuz 13	Earth's orbit	Manned.
1973	USA	Mariner 10	Mercury	Unmanned spacecraft.
1974	USSR	Salyut 3	Earth's orbit	First cannon in space; as a test, it destroyed a Soviet satellite.
1974	USSR	Luna 23	Lunar landing	Unmanned spacecraft.
1974	USSR	Salyut 4	Earth's orbit	Orbital station.
1975	USSR	Venera 9	Venus	First images from Venus.
1975	USA USSR	Apollo-Soyuz	Earth's orbit	First common mission USA – USSR. Space ships docking.
1975	USA	Viking 1	Mars	Unmanned spacecraft.
1976	USSR	Luna 24	Lunar landing	Unmanned spacecraft.
1976	USA	Viking 2	Mars	Unmanned spacecraft.
1977	USSR	Salyut 6	Earth's orbit	Orbital station..
1978	USSR	Progress1	Earth's orbit	Cargo ship.
1978	USSR	Soyuz 28	Earth's orbit	Manned.
1978	USA	Voyager 1	Jupiter	Unmanned spacecraft.
1978	USA	Pioneer Venus Orbiter	Venus’ orbit	Unmanned spacecraft.
1979	USA	Voyager 2	Jupiter	Unmanned spacecraft.
1980	USSR	Soyuz 36	Earth's orbit	Manned.
1980	USSR	Soyuz 37	Earth's orbit	Manned.
1979	USA	Pioneer Venus 2	Venus	Unmanned spacecraft.
1980	USA	Solar Maximum	Sun	Unmanned spacecraft.
1980	USSR	TKS	Earth's orbit	Heavy transport ship (total mass -20 tons).
1981	USA	Columbia	Space transportation	Astronauts and satellites.
1981	USSR	Venera 13	Venus	Unmanned spacecraft.
1981	USSR	Venera 14	Venus	Unmanned spacecraft.
1982	USA	Columbia	Space transportation	Astronauts and satellites.
1982	USSR	Salyut 7	Earth's orbit	Orbital station.
1982	USSR	Soyuz T-6	Earth's orbit	Manned.
1983	USA	Challenger	Earth's orbit	3 missions. Astronauts and satellites.
1983	USA	Columbia	Space transportation	Astronauts and satellites.
1983	USSR	Venera 15	Venus	Unmanned spacecraft.
1983	USSR	Venera 16	Venus	Unmanned spacecraft.
1984	USA	Challenger	Equipment test	-
1984	USA	Discovery	Space transportation	-
1984	USSR	Vega 1	Halley Comet and Venus	Unmanned spacecraft.
1984	USSR	Vega 2		Unmanned spacecraft.
1985	USA	Atlantis	Space transportation	Astronauts and satellites.
1985	USA	Discovery	Space transportation	-
1986	USSR	Mir	Earth's orbit	Orbital station.
1987	USSR	Kvant-1	Space transportation	-
1988	USSR	Phobos	Mars	Two spacecrafts; one failed in-route.
1988	USSR	Buran	Space transportation	-
1989	USA	Magellan	Venus	Unmanned spacecraft.
1989	USA	Discovery	Space transportation	-
1989	USA	Galileo	Jupiter	Unmanned spacecraft.
1989	USA	Atlantis	Space transportation	-
1989	USSR	Kvant-2	Space transportation	-

 *Sources:

- article The Space Race, on-line publication History, 21 February 2020, on Internet at https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/space-race;

- article Space Race Timeline, on-line publication Royal Museums Greenwich, on Internet at https://www.rmg.co.uk/discover/explore/space-race-timeline;

- article Space Race Timeline, on-line publication Nova, on Internet at https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/astrospies/time-nf.html;

- article A Chronology of Defining Events In NASA History, 1958-1998, Internet site National Aeronautics and Space Administration/NASA History Division, at  https://history.nasa.gov/40thann/define.htm;

- Internet site RussianSpaceWeb.com, la adresa http://www.russianspaceweb.com/index.html.

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[1] Article Trump Order Encourages US To Mine The Moon, on-line publication The Guardian, 8 April 2020, on Internet at  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/07/trump-mining-moon-executive-order, accessed on 06 October 2020.