Water was found on mars, but not not before scientists could prove it wasn’t just water ice that they were seeing. Water ice would have made up the icy object in Mars. Another mystery that scientists sought to explain was the apparent fact that the Sun was larger and dimmer over longer periods of time than expected. The Sun, however, was not actually dimmer, but the scientists believed it was. The explanation was that, over a longer period of time, the Sun would evolve into a giant red star. Scientists called this the red dwarf star theory. The apparent change in the Sun’s size and brightness is called the Yarkovsky-O’Keefe-Radzievsky effect. All this information could be used to find more planets out there. The data is vital to finding out what we have here on Earth. All the information is now up on the website universe.nasa.gov and also to the Virtual Field Trips section. And with that all that’s missing is you, reading the information, and having a ball at the same time. It was a big year for space exploration, as two countries started to go about making their own private spacecraft and rockets. Russia sent its first cosmonaut, Gennadiy Titov, into space to live for three weeks in orbit. He became the first man to travel into space twice. Meanwhile, a team of astronauts, headed by Michael Collins, became the first people to travel in space as part of the Apollo 11 mission. Another big development was the launch of the Mariner 4 mission. It explored the solar system, as well as Pluto. It orbited the Sun to get information on the planet. In 1967, a few months after the launch of the Mariner 4, astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders became the first men to make a trip to the moon. The Apollo 8 mission began, in 1968, and on the 8th of December, 1968, astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders entered space on a mission to the moon. On the 14th of December, the three men went into orbit around the moon, a first in human history. Borman, Lovell, and Anders then went into orbit around the moon on the next two missions. After Borman’s flight in Apollo 8, the entire crew has now gone into orbit around the moon. The Apollo 11 mission, which was also called ‘moon shot 2’, had three parts: the mission, Apollo 11, Apollo 9, and Apollo 10. Apollo 11 was to be manned by the same group of astronauts, including Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins, who previously flew to the moon. The crew of Apollo 11 launched in July, and got to the moon on the 20th of July. The landing on the moon occurred on the 20th of July, 1969. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon, and spent 21 hours and 16 minutes on the moon. On the 27th of July, the Apollo 11 module was detached and set down on the moon. They planted the American flag on the moon, thus completing the mission. There were many other missions that took place in the year, including Apollo 12, Apollo 13, and Gemini 10. The Gemini program included a couple of missions, and it was designed to see if human beings could live in space for any period of time. It was a success, and later, a new spacecraft called Gemini would be launched. Also, during this time, the X-15 rocket plane was launched. It was designed for the US air force to use as a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. The rocket plane was later used for research, as well as to test how people would work in outer space. Finally, the year was capped with the launch of two orbiters into space: Skylab, which had Americans Alan Shepard and James McDivitt; and Zond 6, which had Soviet cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Valeri Kubasov. The space race had begun, and man was in outer space. This is a fact about space exploration that was left behind to be discovered. The Moon landing was something that was unthinkable, just like being in orbit around the Earth. While people may think that the first space rocket was Sputnik, it was not. In fact, it was the V-2 that launched man’s space travel. And that’s the history of the space race and man’s journey in space. To this day, NASA remains one of the most important organizations to the United States. In fact, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, is one of the greatest American institutions, and with its history, there is a lot to look back at. A lot of people know that Neil Armstrong was the first man to step on the moon, but have you heard the story about the person who was in space right behind him? That man was Charles Conrad Jr. He and Armstrong were not only in the race for America to be the first country to put a man on the moon, but also for the title of the first man in space. Well, what is it like to be in the history books that read “first, first, first,” anyway? Conrad was on Apollo 7, which had three manned missions. Armstrong was in the command module that was called the Odyssey, and Conrad was in the second command module, which was called the Columbia. They were scheduled to land in the Ocean of Storms, which was the name for the area where the three spacecraft were going to land. This is where they would prepare for the journey to the Moon. The landing took place on the 28th of October, 1968. Their flight was cut short after Conrad reported engine trouble, which was what the astronauts were expecting. What is it like to be in the history books that read “first, first, first,” anyway? So what did happen to Conrad? He and his command module, the Apollo 7, were on their way to the Moon. They were in orbit around the moon on the 25th of October, 1968. The Apollo command module, the Collins II, and the Saturn C-3 vehicle all landed. Armstrong and his crew landed on the 17th of November, 1968. But Conrad was ready to go to the Moon as well. But he went to the moon, but in an alternate version. What happened was that the Apollo 7 command module had three engines that were to land on the Moon. Conrad reported that the engines were giving off smoke and flames, which were not good for the mission. What was to happen was that NASA had a backup plan for manned missions. In fact, they had backup plans for all of the spacecraft on the Apollo flights. If any part of the spacecraft developed a problem, they had backup plans for it. So what happened to him? Well, the other Apollo spacecraft, which was three, were ready to go. In fact, they were on their way to the moon, but they had already landed before Conrad had even landed. So all that was left were the three spaceships, two of which were still there. One of the spaceships, which was the one Conrad was supposed to be on, was in trouble. The trouble, though, was only with two of the engines. Those engines were supposed to help Conrad land. But the other one was still fine. So what was going to happen? What was NASA to do? Well, NASA had to find a way for Conrad to have the opportunity to land. How would they do it? Well, they could have turned the spacecraft in the direction of the moon, so Conrad would be able to land on the moon. But that didn’t happen. Instead, they put Conrad into the position of being the backup commander for the Apollo 11 mission. They did this because Neil Armstrong, Conrad’s fellow astronaut, was leading the first crew to land on the Moon. Conrad was still a backup commander, but Conrad would have still went into outer space. He wouldn’t have been able to help Neil Armstrong land, but Neil would have found a way. He had the skills to handle whatever happened to him. He got the point in mission after all. It was only a matter of months later that Conrad