@holvek: The path of humanity to the Moon began with the theoretical foundations of cosmonautics laid by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Hermann Oberth, and Robert Goddard in the first half of the 20th century. Technologies received a decisive push during World War II with the creation of the German V-2 ballistic missile developed by Wernher von Braun's team. After the war, these developments and leading scientists were split between the USSR and the USA, laying the foundation for the future space superpowers. The Space Race officially started in 1957 with the launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1. The Soviet Union held the leadership for a long time: in 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, and Soviet automatic "Luna" probes were the first to reach the Moon's surface and photograph its far side. In response to these triumphs, US President John F. Kennedy announced an ambitious national goal: to land a man on the Moon and return him safely to Earth before the decade was out. The American Apollo program achieved this goal through a strict sequence of technological steps within the Mercury (single-pilot flights) and Gemini (mastering docking and spacewalks) programs. The culmination was the creation of the giant three-stage Saturn V rocket, capable of launching a heavy spacecraft toward the Moon. After overcoming the tragic Apollo 1 fire and executing the risky first crewed lunar orbit with Apollo 8 in December 1968, NASA fully paved the way for Neil Armstrong’s historic step in July 1969. #moon #nasa #fact #humanity

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Friday 18 September 2026 17:20:11 GMT