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The 1960's

Reaching for the Moon

Reaching for the Moon
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 6 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   6.75

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    uttered, analysis, commander, orbit, reading, spacecraft, boulders, tested, shortly, launch, decade, gravity, remain, goal, material, breed
     content words:    United States, President John F., Frank Borman, William Anders, James Lovell, Santa Claus, On July, Kennedy Space Center, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins

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Reaching for the Moon
By Jane Runyon 		  
1     Step by step the United States space program moved toward its goal. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy challenged scientists to place an American on the surface of the moon by the end of the decade. They made small steps forward. They made large steps forward. They even had setbacks which made the goal seem almost impossible. It was now the winter of 1968. Would the goal be met?
 
2     On Christmas of 1968, three American astronauts were circling the moon in the Apollo 8 spacecraft. Frank Borman, William Anders, and James Lovell were closer to the moon than any American had ever been. It was not their goal to land on the moon. They were there to make sure that it was possible to reach moon orbit. They had. James Lovell sent a message back to every eager child listening. "Please be informed there is a Santa Claus," he announced. William Anders inspired his fellow citizens by reading the story of the Creation from a Bible he had brought with him. The goal was close, but could it be reached in just one short year?
 
3     The answer to that question would be answered less than seven months later. On July 16, 1969, a Saturn V rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center complex in Florida. It carried the Apollo 11 crew. Neil Armstrong was the commander of this mission. Michael Collins was the Command Module pilot, and Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin was the Lunar Module pilot. All were experienced astronauts.

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