Space Crafts: Take a Walk on the Moon
President John F. Kennedy’s Promise to the World
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin walks on the surface of the moon near the leg of the lunar module Eagle during the Apollo 11 mission. Image Credit: NASA
On April 12th, 1961, Russia became the first country to send a man into space. Convinced that demonstrating superiority in the US space program would be a smart political move for the United States, President John F. Kennedy stood before Congress and proposed that the US “should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth.” On September 12, 1962, President Kennedy delivered this speech to 40,000 people at Rice University and the world stating, “We choose to go to the Moon… we choose to go to the Moon this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard'; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because the challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intent to win, and the others, too.”
Although JKF did not live to see the day, The US was the first country to put a man on the Moon. On July 20th, 1969, NASA astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, traveling on Apollo 11, were the first people to set foot on the dusty surface of the Moon. Ten other American astronauts followed.
So what did we know about the Moon before Apollo 11 got there?
The far side of the Moon. Notice how few dark areas the far side has compared to the near side. Image Credit: NASA
Going back thousands of years ago, humans drew pictures to track the changes of the Moon, even using their observations of the Moon to create calendars. Today, we study the Moon using telescopes and spacecrafts. For example, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been circling the Moon and sending back measurements since 2009!
Scientists believe that the Moon formed early in the solar system’s history after Earth and an object about the size of Mars smashed into each other. The impact sent chunks of Earth and the impactor into space that were pulled together by gravity, creating the Moon.
The first footprints on the Moon will be there for a million years. There is no wind to blow them away. Image Credit: NASA
Before Neil Armstrong said the famous line “the Eagle has landed”, NASA could only make an educated guess of what the surface of the Moon was made of. There was even a concern that the lunar lander would sink into the surface upon landing! From Earth, the Moon’s surface looks fluffy. What we didn’t know was that this fluffy layer was not very deep. One of Apollo 11’s objective was to recover samples of the Moon’s crust to bring back to Earth to be studied.
The craters of the Moon were discovered to be impacts from collisions with other space objects. We are still able to see these craters today because the Moon has little atmosphere, 1/6 of Earth’s gravity, and no wind to blow, or rivers to wash, the craters away. Today, we know that there is even frozen water tucked away in craters near the Moon’s poles.
Make your own Moon Sand
Now that you know a little bit more about the moon, have fun making your own moon sand by trying out this easy activity below.
Supplies:
Flour
Vegetable Oil
Large Bowl
Cookie Tray
1. I used a small cookie sheet for my example. Depending on how much Moon sand you want to make, you may want to use a larger cookie sheet and use more of each ingredient. For 8 cups of flour, use 1 cup of vegetable oil. For a smaller project, use 4 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of vegetable oil, and so on.
2. Mix the ingredients together until a play dough like mixture forms. If you need more vegetable oil, add it slowly until you get the consistency you like.
3. Once you have made your Moon sand, add any toy astronauts or rockets to create your own mission to the Moon!
