When I was 8 , a very long time ago something very exciting happened. In America, a rocket was launched with three very brave astronauts inside it. It took them to the moon. Two of the astronauts got into a little space craft and actually went down to the moon’s surface. The other one stayed in the rocket and flew round and round the moon, looking after the rocket which would take them back down to earth again. When something goes round and round a planet or a moon, it is called orbiting. Here is a real film of the rocket, which was called Apollo 11 being launched.
The two astronauts who went to the moon and were the very first to walk on its surface were called Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Michael Collins had the job of looking after the rocket. Can you think of another astronaut, in a film about toys, who was called Buzz?
Here is a photo of these brave men. Millions of people round the world thought that they were real heroes, because they did something no one had ever done before, and because it was incredibly dangerous and they risked their lives to do it.
Neil and Buzz took bits of moon rock and moon dust home with them so scientists could see what the moon was made of. It certainly wasn’t made of cheese! The astronauts had to wear big pressurised suits and carry a tank of oxygen to breathe, because the moon has no air. On the moon, because the force of gravity, which keeps us on the ground, is much less – the astronauts could jump really, really high and bounce about. I think that could be good fun! You could try a bit of moon walking and bouncing yourself. You need to move really slowly and take big giant steps!
When the astronauts came back to the earth, their space rocket had no brakes or landing gear – they had to pull a lever and big parachutes came out to slow it down. It then crashed down into the sea. Boats came out and the astronauts were lifted out of the space capsule to safety.
The space capsule looks so tiny, compared to the huge rocket they flew off in. This is because a lot of the rocket was actually for keeping the fuel to fly in, a bit like the petrol tank in your car. When the fuel was all used up the fuel tanks just fell off the rocket. The little capsule that came back to earth was part of the big rocket’s nose cone.
People have not been back to the moon for a very long time. There are astronauts who go to space though. High up above the earth, in space, a space station is orbiting. Astronauts go up to stay there and do experiments to find out more about the earth and also about space. I think that some of you might become astronauts and travel into space to explore other planets – maybe by the time you grow up, you might be able to live on Mars. It is lovely to think you might go off and have your very own space adventure. You could practice for this by making a big rocket out of a box and setting off for the moon, like the bear in this story:
Whatever Next by Jill Murphy
