Moon Race
Luna 15 was a Soviet probe designed to collect lunar soil and return it to Earth and study circumlunar space and the lunar gravitational field, which could have given the Soviets more Moon glory. The mission along with Apollo 11 played an important role in the culmination of the Space Race. Luna 15 was launched 3 days before Apollo 11 and reached lunar orbit before Apollo 11. During descent, a malfunction caused Luna 15 to crash on the Mare Crisium of the Moon, just after Armstrong and Aldrin completed their moon walk.
The parallel missions of Luna 15 and Apollo 11 were the climax of the Space Race that underlay the space programs of both the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s. The simultaneous missions became one of the first instances of Soviet/American space cooperation as the USSR released Luna 15's flight plan to ensure it would not collide with Apollo 11, though its exact mission was unknown. The Jodrell Bank radio telescope was later discovered to have recorded transmissions from Luna 15 during its descent and this was published in July 2009 as to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11.
Read more about this topic: Apollo 11
Famous quotes containing the words moon and/or race:
“I see the moon,
And the moon sees me;
God bless the moon,
And God bless me.”
—Unknown. I See the Moon (l. 1–6)
“If this bureau had a prayer for use around horse parks, it would go something like this: Lead us not among bleeding-hearts to whom horses are cute or sweet or adorable, and deliver us from horse-lovers. Amen.... With that established, let’s talk about the death of Seabiscuit the other night. It isn’t mawkish to say, there was a racehorse, a horse that gave race fans as much pleasure as any that ever lived and one that will be remembered as long and as warmly.”
—Walter Wellesley (Red)