[Points: What the Moon is—man's interest in it—the early stages of this interest—successive steps to reach the Moon—final Landing.]
The Moon is the child of the Earth. Ever since her birth, she has been the darling pride of her mother. Her lovely beauty has always cast a spell on men on earth, inspiring them with sweet poetical effusions. Even a child in arms stretches out its longing hands towards her when she make her appearance in the sky, flooding the world with her loveliness. balesete
Naturally, therefore, man has been trying through ages to get into touch with the Moon. He wanted to know what the Moon really was, whether there was life there, and if present, how it differed from life on the Earth. But the distance-252170 miles and the limitations imposed by earthly existence were insuperable obstacles to the ful filment of his desire.
The chance, however, came after the Second World War. A large number of German rocket experts and vital materials fell into the hands of the U.S. Army and the Soviets at the end of the war. They were taken to America and Russia to experiment on rocketry. This set on keen rivalry between these two powers to win the world's lime light by landing man in the Moon first. The first artificial Earth satellite, the Sputnik X, was sent up by Russia in October 1957. Then followed in April 1961 the 'manned spacecraft Vostok I led by Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin to orbit the Earth. In January 1968, the world's first 'unmanned' soft landing was made by the Soviet Lunar 9. But after that the U.S.A. came into the limelight by sending up several 'manned' spacecrafts to the Moon one after another. Apollo 7, manned by three astronauts circled the Earth in October 1968. Apollo 8, also manned by three astronauts, reached the Moon and returned from there without landing in 6 days in December 1968. Apollo 9 soft-landed the 4-legged "lunar module' in March 1969.. Apollo 10 circled the lunar orbit and then returned to the earth in May 1969. Then followed Apollo 11 led by Neil Armstrong, Col. Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins, to win the glory of first man-landing on the Moon on 20th July 1969. "That's one step forward for man, but great leap forward for mankind," said Armstrong as he set foot on the sandy surface of the Moon. In November 1969, Apollo 12, led by Conrad, Gordon, Bien, made the second man-landing on the Moon. The heroes stayed there for four hours and walked 14 miles. More man-landings on the Moon for longer periods have been continuing since then. Apollo 17 has just returned from the Moon with many startling experiences in the Moon.
Scientists hope to discover the mysteries of the Moon by studying the samples of soil and rocks and photographs brought by the astronauts.
