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Article: Apollo
- Article from:
- Space Sciences
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Apollo
Project Apollo followed Projects
Mercury
and
Gemini
as the final phase in meeting President John F. Kennedy's ambitious aim, which was stated in a speech on May 25, 1961: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth." This was at the height of the Cold War, and the United States was behind in the space race with the Soviet Union. Forty-three days before the speech, the Soviet Union had put the first person in space, Yuri Gagarin, who made one
orbit
of Earth in a 108-minute trip.
Flight Mode
One of the key technological decisions of the early Apollo ...