Discovering the Moon: The Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Edition
The Earth and sun as seen from space 10
OUTER SPACE It’s hard to imagine what is beyond our planet but in reality the universe is much bigger than life on Earth Looking up at the sky can tell us a lot about the universe and ancient astronomers did just that as they started exploring space During the day the sun and clouds show just a hint of what’s beyond Earth but at night the moon and stars show us that there is far more out there than first meets the eye The invention of the telescope in the early 1600s gave us a new way to look at the sky Astronomers could see much farther into space far beyond what merely their eyes could see They mapped and calculated and spent years trying to learn more about space WHAT IS IN SPACE Once you leave planet Earth there is no breathable air That’s why astronauts have to wear large oxygen tanks when they are outside of their spaceship Outer space is black but that doesn’t mean it’s empty Gas dust and matter make up most of space but there are also objects like planets page 44 dwarf planets page 57 moons page 65 stars and galaxies There are also smaller objects like meteors asteroids and comets that move throughout space Two interesting elements of space are supernovas and black holes When a star runs out of fuel it explodes this explosion forms a supernova Black holes are areas where nothing not even light can escape from These mysteries of space are hard to understand because scientists have not been able to explore them Objects in space are not stationary most travel in an orbit around another object Sometimes these moving objects collide It’s impossible for us to measure the size and age of space Our explorations have led us to find objects that are billions of years old Distance in space is measured in light years or the distance that light travels in one year 11
TO BOLDLY GO On July 20th 1969 the world held its breath as mankind took its first steps on another world It has been 50 years since Neil Armstrong first said the now famous words That’s one small step for a man one giant leap for mankind and we know more about the universe than ever before We’ve since landed probes on the surface of Mars and sent Voyager 1 over 13 1 billion miles away from Earth into interstellar space yet something about the Apollo 11 mission still takes our breath away Three astronauts only two of whom got to set foot on the surface of the moon went into the great unknown for the good of scientific discovery and human curiosity and against all odds came back to Earth safe and sound The road of space exploration has not been easy but it has given humanity a new perspective on our marvelously unique planet and our incredible universe We salute those who participated in the Apollo missions and everyone who has ever looked up at the night sky and wondered about the universe Keep reaching for the stars 12
