Lunar Science Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Lunar Science - Research Proposal Example Cameron concluded that the "angular momentum" or the rotation or orbital movement of the Moon was caused by the size of Mars, which is about 10% of the Earth and sometimes referred to as the Theia. The giant impact created a ring of very hot molten debris in orbit around the very young Earth in 10 years or less. Taylor illustrated that the young Earth was spinning faster, throwing out a huge blob forming the Moon ("Moon Beams and Elements" 6). The moon is now surrounded by an ocean of magma as it formed in orbit around the Earth. Hartmann concluded that the Earth must have been hit strong enough to send off sufficient materials into orbit and form the Moon because of the large impact craters, ten or more times bigger than 150 km projectiles. The Apollo Moon Landing Program was an American lunar spaceflight program carried out by the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) during the years 1961 to 1975 (MSN Encarta, par. 1-3). It aims to conduct manned moon landing missions and overtake Soviet Union in space exploration as well. President John F. Kennedy initiated the first astronauts to send to the moon in 1961, inspired by the first American astronaut in space, Alan Sheperd (NASA, par. 2). Portraying the years of effort and expense, NASA employed 36, 000 civil servants and 376, 700 contractor employees on the peak of the program in 1965 and spent $25.4 billion between 1961 and 1973 for the Apollo missions. The first Apollo mission was delayed due to a tragedy caused by a destructive fire inside the capsule ("Apollo Mission Landing," par. 3-17). The astronauts Roger Chaffee, Edward H. White II and Virgil I. (Gus) Grissom all died in the tragic accident on the launch pad. In April 4, 1968, Apollo 6 was lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to accomplish a revolution around the Earth's orbit, followed by Apollo 7 and 9. The first ones to orbit the Moon were the Apollo 8 and 10 missions. In 1969, Neil Armstrong, commander of Apollo 11 and the first human to walk on the Moon along with Michael Collins, commander module pilot and Edwin "Buzz" E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot. Apollo 12 and 14 successfully landed on the Moon also except for Apollo 13 which left the astronauts in a deadly situation when they were about to return to Earth without a scheduled landing though they used the lunar module as a lifeboat in order to survive. Apollo 15, 16, and 17 conducted lunar explorat ions missions that are much longer and involved more in-depth scientific exploration. Apollo's Analysis on their Discoveries There was a broad range of over 60 experiments done on the lunar surface and 30 experiments of the lunar orbit of the Moon (MSN Encarta 5). Six unique and scientifically significant lunar locations collected a total of 381.7 kg (841 lb) of lunar material. In the Apollo 11 mission, Neil Armstrong and his companions brought to Earth samples from another planetary body-basalts and dark-colored igneous rocks that were about 3.7 billion years old. After every mission, they brought back more lunar rocks and soil