 Listen, the Eagle has landed. Rock it, Twink. Those simple words, the eagle has landed, marked the culmination of a goal set in 1961. It also signaled the beginning of a new era, when for the first time man walked on a planet beyond his own. 1969, an eventful year in aeronautics and space. The moon was not the only planet to receive an earthly visitor in 1969. Two unmanned spacecraft, Mariner 6 and 7, flew within 2,000 miles of Mars. One was launched so it would fly in a north-south direction, the other east to west, taking pictures and recording scientific data as they traveled along. Here, in step-printed form, is what Mariner 7 actually saw as it approached Mars. The photographs revealed Mars to be different from both the Earth and the moon. While craters were observed in some areas, one vast stretch of over 1,200 miles appeared to have none. Temperatures at the polar cap indicated it is made up of solid carbon dioxide, dry ice. The Mariner scientific sensors provided detailed information on the Martian atmosphere and surface temperatures, and paved the way for future flights. To learn more about the mechanics of solar radiation, two orbiting solar observatories, OSOS 5 and 6 were launched. With their onboard solar experiments pointing toward the sun, the OSOS are taking a close-up look at the solar radiations that directly affect the Earth's upper atmosphere. Appearing more like an insect with its two 30-foot antennas extended, the last in a series of orbiting geophysical observatories, OGO 6, has 23 experiments operating. Experiments designed to be correlated with the solar observatories, giving scientists even more information on the status of the Earth's atmosphere. Adding to and enhancing the overall scientific knowledge of the environment surrounding the Earth comes from experiments aboard sounding rockets. 350 of these small rockets were launched from Wallops Island, Virginia and probed into the atmosphere below the region in which satellites operate. The sounding rocket station at Wallops also serves as a training ground for technicians from foreign countries interested in space exploration. In meteorology, another TIROS operational satellite was placed into orbit for the Environmental Science Service Agency. The new TIROS, which sends back pictures of the Earth's cloud cover, makes early storm warnings and everyday weather predictions routine. Nimbus III, a 1,360-pound experimental weather satellite, is being utilized as a test bed to prove out new meteorological instruments. Temperature measurements made by the big weather satellite are helping map the weather of the Northern Hemisphere. Another experimental satellite launched was ATS-5, Applications Technology Satellite. As a result of an agreement signed this year between the United States and India, NASA will launch an ATS in 1972, which will broadcast instructional television directly into thousands of Indian villages, providing, among other things, programs on modern agricultural techniques. Looking to the day when this country will want to embark on deep space missions, NASA has been developing a nuclear rocket engine for space flight applications. Last summer, a landmark test was conducted at the Nuclear Rocket Development Station in Nevada when a nuclear engine was brought to full power for the first time. This special railway car transports the engine to and from the test stand. The control room is located underground, a thousand feet from the stand. Here, a nuclear reactor no larger than an office desk produces as much power as Hoover Dam. This is an artist's concept of a lifting body. At NASA's Flight Research Center in California, test pilots have made more than 150 lifting body flights. The wingless craft are considered to be forerunners of ships that can fly a space mission and then return to Earth like an airplane. The rocket-powered HL-10 has already flown one and one-half times the speed of sound after being dropped in mid-air. Because a lifting body can make ground landings, they become very attractive as low-cost, reusable space shuttles of the future. Called V-STOL, vertical or steep takeoff and landing planes, aircraft that may one day make short-haul intercity transports a reality. NASA's Langley and Ames Research Centers have been studying the problems that vertical landing planes might encounter at terminals where big jets are taking off and landing. What's the best way to bring vertically landing planes into a congested airport without interfering with an already busy traffic pattern? Should there be separate runways, or can they land as the bigger jets make their final approaches? What type of poor weather instrumentation will they need? These are some of the questions the current research will help to answer. Problem, how to make present jet engines quieter without compromising safety, lowering performance, or substantially increasing costs? NASA is continuing to study this question. One of the approaches was to install acoustically treated engine covers. To date, the results have been very promising. Engines acoustically treated for NASA by the McDonnell Douglas Company have reduced noise levels during approach flyovers by 15 decibels. This is about the same as removing the airplane three or four times farther away from you. These studies will go on in an effort to make further noise reduction improvements. There were four manned Apollo flights in 1969. The first of these was Apollo 9 with astronauts McDivitt, Scott, and Schweikart piloting. Theirs was an Earth orbital mission, a mission to check out for the first time all the various spacecraft systems needed to fly round-trip to the moon. Through a series of intricate maneuvers, they dressed rehearsed for the lunar flights to follow. During 10 days and 152 orbits of the Earth, they rendezvoused and docked with the lunar landing craft, checked out manual guidance systems, fired the lander's rocket engines, and practiced the space rescue between the lunar module and command ship. Russell Schweikart spent about 45 minutes outside in a space suit during this exercise. For the men of Apollo 9, a job well done. The big pieces of lunar space gear had worked and worked well. All was in readiness for the next test. Apollo 10, its mission, fly to the moon and simulate a lunar landing. And so they did. While astronaut John Young orbited alone in the command module codenamed Charlie Brown, astronaut Stafford and Cernan flying in Snoopy, the lunar module, began making close passes at the moon. The two space pilots did everything but land. They fired the descent engines, lowering them to 50,000 feet above the surface. And similarly, tested out the ascent rocket, which would send the moon landing upon a 11 crew back into lunar orbit for the return home. As they passed over the Sea of Tranquility at an altitude of 10 miles, closer than any human had ever traveled, they reported back to Mission Control Houston that the landing site was smooth. The stage was now set for the lunar landing two months later. Columbia and Eagle were on their way. At stake, nearly 10 years of research, development and fabrication. Some 20,000 companies throughout the United States participated in the building of the Saturn V rocket and Apollo spacecraft, which carried astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins on their historic journey to the moon. Theirs was a journey like no other, for they were the first to set foot on the lunar surface. This was the site viewed by over 300 million people around the world as the two men tested their moon legs and began setting their scientific experiments. After 22 hours, they headed for a rendezvous with Mike Collins and the trip home to Earth. Because of the possibility of contamination from the moon, the three astronauts were quarantined for nearly three weeks. At the same time, scientists began looking at their newly acquired lunar samples, the first opportunity anyone had had to look at something from a different body in the solar system. Samples were given to 142 scientists, both here and abroad, for intensive study. Results will be released in January when the group gathers in Houston to go over their findings. Shortly after returning from the moon, the crew of Apollo 11 began another journey that lasted 40 days. At the request of the president, they embarked on a Goodwill mission, covering some 46,000 miles with visits to 22 countries. From Mexico City to Brussels, Belgrade to Kinshasa, Bombay to Tokyo. The Lunar Trio was warmly and enthusiastically received by millions of people, giving them a chance to share their experiences firsthand. For the second time in one year, American astronauts headed for the moon. While astronaut Dick Gordon orbited in the command module Yankee Clipper, awaiting their return, Pete Conrad and Alan Bean flew the lunar module in trepid toward a touchdown in the ocean of storms. A pinpoint landing was critical to this mission and all future flights. With this in mind, the two space pilots set the landing craft down within 600 feet of the unmanned Surveyor 3, which had landed there three years before. In addition to inspecting and removing pieces of the Surveyor for return to Earth, the pair collected about 90 pounds of lunar samples. They also set up six scientific experiments, which, among other things, will record moonquakes, measure the lunar atmosphere, and analyze the solar wind. On route back from the moon, the three astronauts witnessed and photographed for the first time an eclipse of the sun by the Earth. This flashdown of Apollo 12 was almost as precise as their moon landing. The Yankee Clipper landed three and one-half miles from the carrier Hornet. Space science, advanced research, aeronautics, and the first manned landings and exploration of the moon. 1969, a year to remember. Space report presented by NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.