The Apollo Program can be considered as the turning point in the Cold War of the 1960s and 1970s. It was the Apollo missions that virtually solidified United State of America's hold as a political power during that period. More than a scientific breakthrough, it was a political chess move.

President John F. Kennedy could be credited for being the sparkplug of the Apollo Program, publicly declaring that there would be a moon landing before the decade ends. Although he was not alive to witness it firsthand, his prophecy came true on July 20, 1969 when the crew of Apollo 11 successfully landed on the surface of the moon.

This historic event is the topic of recent speculation with some doubting the veracity of the moon landing. Using photo and video documents and circumstantial events as evidence, conspiracy theorists try to disprove if Neil Armstrong and company actually set foot on the moon.

Either way, the Apollo Program needed a consistent large amount of funding and effort from a countless number of people to be able to pull it off. Apart from the Apollo moon missions, the development of the Saturn launch vehicles, the Skylab Program, and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project are also considered part of the overall program.

The program had a rocky start when Apollo 1 caught fire and burst into flames, killing all three astronauts inside the spacecraft. Nevertheless, NASA prodded on and Apollo 8 became the first manned spacecraft to orbit the natural satellite

The United States space program hit paydirt when Neil Armstrong stepped out of the lunar module and onto the surface of the moon with his oft-repeated "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind" quote describing the momentous event. Still, things were not always smooth sailing when Apollo 13 encountered problems and had to abort its mission.

There were four more successful missions from there before the program was abruptly halted due to budgetary issues. USA spent approximately $25.4 billion back then just to fund research, construction, and the actual space flights. From here, focus was transferred the Skylab Program.

Recent interest in space exploration materialized once more after President George W. Bush a new program that would send astronauts to the moon before 2020.

Image Source: Wikipedia