This flew in September 1968-just three months before Apollo 8 took astronauts around the Moon for the first time.Nasa and Russia battled it out to go to the moon 30 years ago but who says you cant battle it out to go to the moon with your friends.
The Soviets were indeed planning a mission around the Moon, but with a crew of plants and small animals, including a pair of tortoises, rather than cosmonauts. This would give the initiative back to the US and with it the necessary political momentum to try soon for an actual landing.
This mission would aim to send three astronauts around the Moon.Īfter feverish consultation across NASA, the outgoing Administrator James Webb decided to proceed with the Saturn V mission. The choice was between sticking with the Apollo mission schedule to test the lunar lander-which wasn’t ready-or to go ahead with the inaugural manned flight of NASA’s own rocket, the Saturn V. By summer 1968, with the Apollo programme near to returning to flight, the senior management of NASA was faced with a dilemma: intelligence suggested the Soviets were near to launching a massive rocket, probably to the Moon.
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