In the year when man first sets foot on the Moon, the first Internet network is also born, that'Arpanet, created from the American research agency heading the project (ARPA: Advanced Research Project Agency), which at that time still seemed far from becoming the global network we all know today. Just consider that the TCP/IP protocols, which still power the Internet today, were only introduced in 1983.
Read also: The inventors of the TCP/IP protocol, the story of the meeting between Vint Cerf and Robert Kahn
In addition to the year, the Moon landing and the Internet also share another aspect in common: it is indeed NASA that created the first "fast connection”, which will be used to coordinate the movements and communications with the Apollo 11 astronaut team.
Here is how that network is created and for what purpose.
NASA's STDN: the first "fast connection" in history
To reach the historic milestone, NASA had to create a system capable of tracking and organizing data from astronauts on their journey to the Moon and back. At the same time, the system had to provide a reliable communication tool to and from Apollo.
A system that was supposed to be infallible: imagine finding yourself with a problem while you are 350,000 kilometers away from all other human beings and unable to communicate with anyone.
The communication apparatus had to be infallible and had to operate 24 hours a day., in every time zone of the PlanetThe utmost attention was obviously focused on the moments immediately following the launch and in the so-called splashdown, the "splashdown" procedure, returning to land. But every second was precious and had to be managed perfectly.
Imagine then having to create a similar system with the type of information technology available in the 1960s. How did NASA succeed?
Creating and installing 14 antennas in various locations around the globe, from Bermuda to Madrid, and even to Guam. The brains at the American aerospace agency then created four ships, specifically built for this purpose, equipped with tracking antennas. To the monitoring and data collection systems, the scientists also added more than three million kilometers of connections: telephone cables, submarine cables, microwave towers, and so on.
The "on-ground" efforts were then complemented by two satellites in orbit, to coordinate the large amount of data. During the splashdownFinally, NASA has launched eight special airplanes to maintain communications across all points of the Pacific Ocean.
The system thus created was named STDN, the Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network, the network for tracking and processing space flight data. And it represented the first high-speed network in history, with peaks reaching up to 51,200 bits per second (an incredible speed for 1969).
The STDN cost NASA 370 million dollars, with 2700 operators available to manage and monitor the network, and 39 Univac computers located in various points around the globe.
July 20, 1969: the historic anniversary
That of the STDN is only a part of the enormous efforts Americans to bring humans to the Moon. Between the Sixties and Seventies, NASA launched nine missions to our satellite, six of which successfully landed humans on its surface without harm. The Moon remains the only extraterrestrial "object" on which we have set foot.
July 20, 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the first mission to have brought astronauts to the lunar surface, thanks to Apollo 11. A mission that has requested a journey of 102 hours, 45 minutes, and 40 seconds (only for the outbound journey).
It was Neil Armstrong, as we know, who first set foot on the Moon, followed by Buzz Aldrin.
"One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind», said Armstrong on that historic occasion.
That joint effort of the Western world, which led to the construction of a great fast network and all the tools necessary for the moon landing, could be repeated today for the many great challenges that await us.
