was the peak period of human exploration of space. During that period, almost a group of mankind's top scientists and technical engineers were recruited to create countless miracles. It was only 8 years since humans first set foot in space that they landed on the moon.
It was a crazy era, but it was also a creative era. Countless fantastic ideas eventually turned into enthusiasm, and with sincere cooperation, dreams became reality.
In those years, the two different camps of the United States and the Soviet Union spent all their manpower and material resources just to beat each other in the space race . Maybe this kind of large-scale space exploration project will never happen again in the future, that crazy era It also became a swan song.
That magnificent space race, if Gagarin ascended to space, was the starting point: then it would be with Apollo 17 astronaut Eugene Cernan , closing the lunar module hatch and returning to the earth. That moment is the end.
During the entire Apollo lunar landing program, a total of 7 lunar landing spacecraft were launched to the moon. Except for , Apollo 13 was forced to return to the outside of the earth due to the explosion of the oxygen tank on the way to the moon.
The remaining six spacecraft all landed safely on the moon. A total of 12 Apollo astronauts landed on the lunar surface. Among these 12 astronauts walking on the lunar surface, one astronaut was special because he strictly meant In other words, he is not a professional astronaut, he also has a special identity, a professional geologist.
The reason for this arrangement is that in the first five Apollo missions, they were all professional astronauts, and the main mission of the moon landing was scientific research, and astronauts were obviously not as good as professional scientists in this regard. Under heavy pressure, the original astronaut Joseph Engel of Apollo 17 had to be replaced by geologist Harrison Schmidt.
Schmidt walked on the moon three times during the entire Apollo 17 moon landing. However, during the Apollo 17 mission, Schmidt developed some abnormal symptoms, including red eyes and runny nose. , sneezing, watery eyes, sore throat, and sometimes nasal congestion.
Strictly speaking, the astronauts who landed on the moon were strictly selected, and their physical fitness was the best. Although Schmidt participated in the Apollo 17 mission as a scientist accompanying him.
But choosing him among thousands of scientists shows that his physical fitness is not much worse than that of astronauts. Moreover, on the eve of the moon landing, they will be carefully taken care of and their bodies will be strictly inspected. The spacecraft Disinfection will also be carried out.
Logically speaking, these cold-like symptoms should not appear in astronauts, but this abnormal symptom appears, so is there a virus on the moon? Schneider these abnormal symptoms are symptoms of poisoning Woolen cloth?
After Schmidt returned to Earth, he communicated with other astronauts and found that the 12 astronauts who landed on the moon all had the same symptoms, but the severity of the symptoms was different, and Schmidt was particularly serious.
There is another phenomenon. Those astronauts waiting in the command module did not show up. Only astronauts who landed on the moon will have abnormal symptoms, so the problem must be on the lunar surface. Fortunately, these abnormal symptoms do not last long. It disappears after appearing for a few days. So is the moon really poisonous?
Astronauts wear sealed space suits. Even if the moon is poisonous, it will be difficult to invade the body during this process. How are these abnormal symptoms caused?
Later, after research, it was found that all this was caused by lunar dust . Before humans set foot on the moon, the dust on the lunar surface was accumulated over hundreds of millions or billions of years.
Under a microscope, those lunar dust are jagged, unlike the earth's dust which is rounder. These lunar dust are like hard broken glass and have a certain abrasiveness to the human body. When the weak parts of the human body come into contact with these lunar dust, As long as it causes certain damage to the body organs, abnormal symptoms like Schmidt will appear, which feels like being poisoned.
How did these moon dust penetrate the sealed space suit and the lunar module, enter the human body and cause harm?
Since the gravity of the moon is much lower than that of the earth, when astronauts move around, it will take a long time for the lunar dust to fall off after being kicked up. And astronauts’ spacesuits are prone to static electricity in the dry environment of the moon. This lunar dust is adsorbed on the surface of the space suit.
When the astronauts returned to the lunar module, the moon dust floated in the internal space of the lunar module, entered the eyes, and was adsorbed into the body. Just like pollen allergies, it caused abnormal symptoms in the lunar module astronauts.
This can be seen from the memos of the lunar landing astronauts. The Apollo 11 lunar landing astronauts, after returning to the lunar module from the lunar surface, described that there was a thick smell inside the lunar module. The smell of gunpowder, and the smell of gunpowder is also the smell of moon dust.
