Immediately within the historical past of astronomy, the race to the Moon is on.
Whereas the Apollo 11 astronauts had been nonetheless on the floor of the Moon, Luna 15 crashed right into a lunar mountain. Credit score: NASA
- Luna 15 was a Soviet spacecraft aiming to gather moon rocks and return to Earth.
- Its mission was a race in opposition to the American Apollo 11 mission.
- NASA and the Soviet Union cooperated to keep away from radio interference.
- “Each nations made changes.” stated Frank Borman.
On July 13, 1969, the Soviet Union launched Luna 15, an unmanned spacecraft seen as a rival to the American Apollo 11 mission, which launched simply three days later. Luna 15’s purpose was to land on the Moon, acquire rock samples, and return to Earth earlier than the Apollo astronauts. However the heightened second of competitors additionally led to extraordinary cooperation: Involved that Luna 15 would intrude with radio transmissions for Apollo 11, NASA reached out via Apollo 8 astronaut Frank Borman to Soviet area official Mstislav Keldysh. Keldysh offered orbital particulars to make sure the astronauts’ security – with out revealing any particulars of the mission targets – and each nations made changes. Luna 15 reached lunar orbit on July 17, however dropped right into a lunar mountain on July 21, 1969, and crashed – two hours earlier than the Apollo 11 crew departed the floor, making the Individuals the winners of the race to the Moon.
