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F. Kennedy gave a speech which set a specific
goal for the American space
program. This goal was for men to land on the moon before the end of the
1960s. This goal became
firmly established when
John Glenn orbited the
Earth in 1962. At this time, the space race became a race to the moon.
In contrast to the United States, the Soviet moon program was secret.
Its
target date for reaching the Moon was 1967 or 68. However, the Soviet
program began to have problems. Early designs of the N-1,
a more powerful
rocket, failed frequently. Many exploded after launch. Then in 1966, Sergei P.
Korolev died during a medical operation. This was a great loss, since few people
could replace Korolev. Even so, the Soviets continued their efforts. In 1967, the
astronaut Vladimir Komarov, testing
a possible moon vehicle, died when his
capsule crashed. Two more rockets failed that year. The biggest shock of all
came in 1968, when Yuri Gagarin, the hero
of the Soviet space program, died in
a plane crash. The Soviets began
to
abandon the idea of going to
the moon. However, in 1968 a
robotic
probe circled the moon
and took pictures of it. This
would have been a bright
moment, except that the probe
crashed when it returned. In
1969, two more N-1 rockets
exploded.
It became clear that
the Soviet Union would not only
fail to beat the United States but fail to reach the moon
at all
that decade.
On July 20, 1969, the American mission Apollo 11
landed, and Neil
Armstrong walked on the moon. The space race was over.
Reading Time
_______ minutes _______ seconds
558 words
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firmly --- solidly;
strongly
29
establish --- to set
32
target date --- future date for completion
38
capsule --- part of the rocket where people work
41
abandon ---
to give up; to leave forever
52
land --- to arrive on the ground
