July 20, 2019 marks 50 years since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon. The moon landing is one of the great moments in the history of technology and science.

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The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology marks the anniversary with the exhibition Moon Landing 50 Years, which will be open until October 27, 2019. In the exhibition, you can take a seat in a full-scale model of Apollo 11, pilot the lunar landing vehicle, and follow the space race through the iconic images, films, and stories.

The Space Race
In the climate of the Cold War between the superpowers the Soviet Union and the United States, the conquest of space became the most prestigious race. The Russians took the lead from the start. First with the satellite Sputnik in 1957, then the first living being with the dog Laika, and then the greatest triumph with the first man in space: Yuri Gagarin's journey in April 1961.

Mercury gets the Americans into space
The Americans were behind, but they were on their way. The first seven American astronauts had been selected. The Mercury spacecraft, with room for one, was ready. With Alan Shepard in ballistic orbit on May 5, 1961, the Americans regained their self-confidence. With John Glenn's journey into Earth orbit in April 1962, they finally showed that they could do the same as the Russians. Now they set themselves very bold goals to restore their honor and get ahead in the race.

Kennedy promises lunar triumph
While Mercury made its first single-man missions, NASA was making plans for a three-man space capsule called Apollo and a very powerful launch vehicle called Saturn V. This gave President Kennedy the courage to go hard when he was going to set new goals in the space race: A month after Gagarin's triumph, Kennedy promised the world that the Americans would conquer the moon before the end of the decade.

Apollo to the Moon
The lunar mission was simple in principle: Get the Apollo spacecraft into orbit around the Earth with the Saturn V, and then slingshot it towards the Moon until it was captured by the Moon's gravity and entered orbit around it. From this orbit, two astronauts would travel down to the Moon and back up again with their own small lunar landing craft, before all three were reunited for the three-day return using the Moon's slingshot, a little rocket help, and Earth's gravity.

Gemini for testing and training
The plan to connect the various modules of the Apollo spacecraft in space required testing and training. Gemini was a two-man spacecraft that, in orbit around the Earth, was to teach astronauts how to maneuver, disconnect and connect to other spacecraft, test spacesuits for staying outside the spacecraft, test long-duration spaceflights, etc. A number of technical solutions required for the lunar mission were also tested in the Gemini program. Ten Gemini missions were carried out in two years – from 1964 to 1966.

Apollo from crisis to success
At the same time as the Gemini test program was being carried out, Apollo was being developed to be able to take the step all the way to the moon. The first test for Apollo in Earth orbit was to take place in January 1967. It ended in a tragic accident when an explosive fire during a practice session in the command section killed astronauts Grissom White and Chaffee. No one had thought of making an emergency opening.

This and hundreds of other problems with the Apollo spacecraft were discovered and corrected. It was not until October 1968 that the next manned Apollo launch was completed, with Apollo 7. In quick succession came Apollo 8, which brought the first humans to the Moon, Apollo 9, which tested the entire Apollo spacecraft with the lunar lander in Earth orbit, and in May 1969 Apollo 10, which conducted a full dress rehearsal for the actual Moon landing.

Apollo 11 – The Eagle has landed
The Apollo 11 spacecraft was lifted off the ground in Florida on July 16, 1969, by the world's largest rocket: the Saturn V. In the capsule atop the 111-meter-high rocket sat the three astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, and Michael Collins. Armstrong was the commander, Aldrin was the pilot of the lunar landing module Eagle, and Collins was the pilot of the Apollo 11 service and command module, which had been named Columbia.

A few hours after they lifted off from the ground, the final Saturn stage sent Apollo 11 out of Earth orbit and on its way to the moon. Michael Collins performed the crucial maneuver of docking the Apollo command and service module with the lunar lander Eagle. Three days later, Apollo 11 entered lunar orbit. Armstrong and Aldrin transferred to the Eagle, undocked, and began their descent to the lunar surface. After a journey of just over two and a half hours, Neil Armstrong was able to report to NASA's command center in Houston, Texas: "The Eagle has landed." The time was 3:17 p.m. in Houston – 9:17 p.m. in Norway – July 20, 1969.

A giant leap for mankind
A few hours later, the actual landing on the moon came. At 03:56:15 Norwegian time, Neil Armstrong set his feet in the moon dust while uttering the sentence that went down in world history: "That's one small step for (a) man – one giant leap for mankind." (That's one small step for a man – one giant leap for mankind.)

Buzz Aldrin followed about nine minutes later. The two then carried out their scheduled program of experiments, observations, instrument deployments, and photography, while talking to each other and Houston about what they were seeing. After 2 hours and 31 minutes, both were back in the lunar lander.

Now they were given a few hours of rest before the return journey began. The three astronauts were first reunited in lunar orbit, before using some rocket power to make their three-day orbit back to Earth. They landed in the Pacific Ocean pretty much exactly where they were supposed to be in relation to the aircraft carrier Hornet, which picked up both the astronauts and the capsule.

It was July 24th at 5:51 p.m. Norwegian time, and the truly great jubilation could finally be unleashed in the control room in Houston: Every second of the journey was a moment of risk, and only now did they know that everything had gone well. Kennedy's goal had been achieved: To the moon, and back safely.

Superstars on a world tour
For Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins, the most dangerous part of the trip was over, but the longest and certainly most boring part remained: To protect themselves from potentially dangerous microbes, they were placed in an isolation container the size of a camper for three weeks. It was not until August 13 that they could finally enjoy their freedom - to the extent that this was possible, when they were paraded through New York, Chicago and Washington on the same day. Hundreds of thousands stood along the route and cheered.

Later in the autumn, they embarked on a 45-day world tour to 25 countries. On Saturday, October 11, 1969, there were cheering crowds along Karl Johan when the three astronauts were driven in an open car from the Storting to lunch at the palace with King Olav and the Crown Prince Couple. They met the press at the Grand and Erik Tandberg interviewed them for Norwegian, Danish and Swedish television in front of a large audience. The three astronauts and their wives crowned their trip to Norway with a real Norwegian cabin trip in Hemsedal in peaceful surroundings, sheltered from the otherwise omnipresent press. The three astronauts had become superstars.

Six more lunar missions with drama and declining interest
It was not possible to top Apollo 11. But many more lunar expeditions were planned. The first one came in November with Apollo 12. Gemini veteran Pete Conrad was the commander and took Alan Bean out to the moon on November 19, while third man Dick Gordon looked after in orbit around the moon. During the seven hours out on the moon, they collected many more samples than their predecessors, deployed more instruments and made measurements and observations. The feat was therefore just as great for this crew, but the mission naturally did not receive the same historical buzz and media hype.

When Apollo 13 took off in April 1970, interest was even lower. This changed, however, two days into the journey to the moon when the message “Houston, we have a problem” came in a calm voice from Commander Jim Lovell. A damaged oxygen tank put the astronauts in immediate danger of death, and the entire mission had to be changed from a moon landing to getting the three back to Earth as quickly as possible. Using the lunar landing craft as a “lifeboat,” they managed to rescue Apollo 13 and the three on board. The entire world followed the drama and could breathe a sigh of relief.

The cause of the Apollo 13 accident and every detail of the Apollo program had to be reviewed. The next planned missions were postponed, but never canceled. It became more important than ever to carry out the next missions flawlessly.

The Americans' first man in space, Alan Shepard, would fly the moon as commander of Apollo 14 in January 1971. Then came Apollo 15 in August 1971, Apollo 16 in April 1972, and the last, Apollo 17 in December 1972. Fortunately, all four of the last missions were uneventful. It was an equally great achievement each time, and the programs became more and more advanced and useful for the scientific research the missions could form the basis for.

The price for each expedition was sky-high, and now the Americans had lost interest and the will to spend money on what was now "only" interesting for science. When Apollo 17 landed near Christmas in 1972, it had already been decided that the fully built and planned Apollo 18 would remain on the ground. It would still be another final trip for Apollo, signaling new times in space travel.

A handshake in space for a new era
The next step in the space race was space stations. The Russians were again first with their Salyut in 1971, while the Americans were the greatest with Skylab in 1973. At the same time, the competitive climate between the United States and the Soviet Union was changing. The space race was to turn into space cooperation.

A new initiative came when US President Nixon met with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in Moscow in 1972. The two decided that the next major event in space should be something both countries could be equally proud of, and that could point forward to a new era: a cosmonaut and an astronaut would meet in orbit around the Earth and physically connect the two countries' flagships in the space race, Soyuz and Apollo.

The docking and historic handshake between three Apollo astronauts and two Soyuz cosmonauts took place on July 17, 1975, through the hatch between the Soyuz and Apollo. It was a heartwarming reunion after several training sessions beforehand during which the five space veterans had become good friends. In total, the astronauts from the two countries spent 44 hours together in orbit around the Earth.

The reverberations of the Apollo-Soyuz handshake and meeting were long-lasting. The entire expedition was a foretaste of the collaboration to come. It thus became historic as the journey that ended the space race that had begun with Sputnik in 1957.

Cooperation in space
Today, the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan and the European ESA collaborate on the International Space Station ISS, which has been orbiting the Earth with crew on board since November 2000.

Norway has also provided technology to the collaboration, including experiments that have been carried out on the space station. But we haven't received any Norwegian astronauts – yet…

Back to the Moon?
Now the US, Russia, Europe and China are preparing a return to the Moon. China even made a mark at the beginning of the anniversary year 2019 by landing a vehicle on the far side of the Moon, loaded with various cameras, instruments and experiments, including potato plants. Information about this expedition had been sparse in advance, even to the countries with which China collaborates in the space programs. Whether this indicates a return to competition and a space race, or whether further exploration and the possible establishment of a manned base on the Moon will be a collaborative project, remains to be seen.