hst 183 -3

President Kennedy's commitment to putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade was a major contributor to the United States' success in the space race. NASA's funding increased over 500% and there were several successful missions, including John Glennon's orbital flight and the Mercury missions. President Kennedy's commitment was carried on by President Johnson after his passing. Apollo 8 became the first manned spacecraft to reach the moon and safely return, while Apollo 10 served as a dress rehearsal for the moon landing. So, as previously mentioned, it was critical that the United States make a change in direction in order to catch the Soviets in the space race and ensure that we could get a step ahead of them, as it seemed they were always a step ahead of us. So, the election of President John F. Kennedy in 1960 was a major contributor to the United States' success in the space race. President Kennedy will proclaim that the United States will put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. In September of 1962, during a speech at Rice University, the video is listed here to the right of the slide as well, Kennedy expressed this commitment, which he proposed to Congress the following year. The dedication of the administration of Kennedy to the NASA program led to rapid progress toward the moon landing goal. During this time, NASA's funding would increase over 500% as well, so this showed the dedication to the program as well. This would lead to numerous successes for America, such as John Glennon's orbital flight, Abroad Friendship 7 in 1962. Also during this time, the United States would have several other successful missions, such as some of the Mercury missions, Atlas 7, 8, and 9. These focused on orbiting the Earth. For example, Atlas 9 here, the astronaut was Gordon Cooper, this mission was the longest of the Mercury series, with Cooper in space for more than 34 hours. It was a critical endurance test and provided a wealth of data on prolonged human space flights. So during this time, all these flights here, putting it to the test here to see what steps to take next in order to ensure a safe mission to the moon. Now unfortunately, President Kennedy would pass away in 1963. His commitment to putting man on the moon would be carried on though by President Lyndon B. Johnson. While the United States would encounter failed Apollo missions along the way, these Apollo missions were focused on getting a man to the moon. A successful mission such as Apollo 8 and 10, 10 was the one right before 11, which would, as we'll mention soon, get our men on the moon, would help push Americans ahead of the space race. Now to expand more on Apollo 8 and Apollo 10. Apollo 8, the crew, the astronauts on here were Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders. Some of the highlights here from the mission are Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft to leave Earth's orbit, reach the moon, orbit it, and safely return. This mission is also famous for the iconic Earthrise photograph taken by William Anders, which shows Earth rising over the lunar surface. And then in May of 1969, Apollo 10 was dubbed the dress rehearsal for the moon landing. Apollo's 10 mission involved all aspects of actual lunar landing except the landing itself. The lunar module, nicknamed Snoopy, was suspended within 8 miles of the moon's surface. This mission successfully demonstrated the ability to perform lunar orbit intersection, undocking and docking maneuvers with the lunar module, and execution of a lunar landing trajectory. So this dress rehearsal here would eventually lead to the next big mission for the United States, which we will mention here in a couple of slides.