Colonization of the Moon the Soviet leadership made some of its first public pronouncements about landing a man on the Moon and establishing a lunar base. Crewed exploration of the lunar surface began in 1968 when the Apollo 8 spacecraft orbited the Moon with three astronauts on board. This was mankind's first direct view of the far side. The following year, the Apollo 11 Apollo Lunar Module landed two astronauts on the Moon, proving the ability of humans to travel to the Moon, perform scientific research work there, and bring back sample materials. Additional missions to the Moon continued this exploration phase. In 1969,
First Men to the Moon First Men to the Moon First Men to the Moon is a novel by rocketry expert Wernher von Braun, published in 1960. It tells the story of John Mason and Larry Carter, fictional astronauts traveling to the moon. Von Braun's book is dedicated to his daughters Iris and Margrit, who he believed would live in a world in which flights to the moon were commonplace. Along with detailed illustrations by Fred Freeman, von Braun's story is based on his own scientific knowledge and includes technical explanations of a journey into space. The novel describes the use of a method of