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Historic Context


The significance of a historic event and its associated cultural materials must be determined from an understanding of its historic context.  Not everything that is old is necessarily significant.  An event’s  significant can be determined only by considering its time and its relationship to other events and similar historic properties.  The Apollo program began at the height of the Cold War (1946-1989).  The Space Race was a competition between the Soviet Union and the United States.  The race to the moon was a component of an ongoing technological "war." Each country wanted to gain scientific and technological superiority over the other.  The battles were fought between engineers and scientists, between astronauts and politicians. After the early successful efforts by the Soviets to send men and a woman into space, the United States felt challenged to land an astronaut on the moon.

The Soviet Union won the first leg of this race by successfully launching Sputnik on October 4, 1957.  On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin was the first human put into space.  The United States was well behind the Soviet Union.  Both nations began separate scientific programs to gain information about the moon in order to try to send men there.  The United States began its Ranger Program in 1961 and its Surveyor Program in 1965.  Ranger was NASA's first attempt to get close of images of the moon’s surface.  Between 1961 and 1964, nine Ranger probes were launched, but the first six failed and only the last three were successful.  These spacecraft were not designed to make controlled, soft landings, but were built instead to crash on the surface of the moon, taking photos until the last possible moment before impact.  Between 1966 and 1968, NASA began the Surveyor Program. Surveyor probes were the first lunar vehicles designed by NASA to land softly on the moon’s surface.  The Soviet Union’s Luna Program began in 1959 and ended in 1976.  These Soviet probes evolved from a crash landing to a soft landing and finally to an earth-return vehicle.  The Soviets kept pressure on the United States with a series of successful Luna missions that outpaced U.S. efforts in space and on the moon.  It was not until the Apollo II lunar landing that the U.S. won the space race.

In an exclusive interview with Retired Colonel (Astronaut) Frank Borman, Gibson and O'Leary solicited Col. Borman's views on the historic context of the Apollo program.  He stated "...the Apollo program wasn't a voyage of exploration or expertise in advancing technology.  It was a battle in the Cold War.  ...and having won the battle...it ultimately resulted in the Apollo-Soyuz flight which was after the Apollo II program had been completed" (Borman, pers. comm. January 23, 2001).  This oral history adds a unique perspective to the existing historic record of the Apollo Program.  Documentation of this kind is a fragile resource because it is easily lost if it is not recorded while the astronauts are still alive.  For a complete transcript of this interview click here.

 All sites on the moon document the evolution of space technology from the early probes to the manned landings.

(To view the lunar map with location of the plotted lunar sites click on the image).


President Kennedy in a speech to Congress on  May 25, 1961 wanted the nation to take a clear leading role in space achievement.  President Kennedy wanted not only to land a man on the moon but return him safely to Earth. (For a complete text of Kennedy's speech in 1961 click here).
 
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President Kennedy wanted the American people to believe that it was not just one man going to the moon but the entire nation.  It was this effort and the work of Presidents, Congressmen, and people who put the first man there on July 20, 1969. This event was a major national achievement of science, technology, manpower, materials, and facilities, but even as the United States "won" the space race and left those sites, artifacts, objects and structures on the moon on July 30, 1969, it was an achievement  for all of humankind.  The first words of Neil Armstrong addressed the significance of the achievement.  He said "That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind."  The Apollo II lunar landing site is monumental in the history of the world. Its preservation is necessary for all future generations of mankind. Those first footsteps on the moon are as significant as the earliest footsteps preserved in Africa by our human ancestors 3.7 million years ago.