What was the purpose of the mission of landing on the moon first?

Answer 1

The United States wanted to beat the Soviet Union to the Moon, to symbolically show that Capitalism would beat Communism in the long run. The Soviets started out ahead in the Space Race, and stayed ahead, with the first satellite in orbit, the first animal in orbit, the first probe to pass by the Moon, the first probe to impact the Moon, the first spacecraft to return pictures of the Moon's far side, and the first man (Yuri Gagarin) and woman (Valentina Tereshkova) in space. They continued with the first "soft" landing of a lunar probe, and the first man-made object to orbit the Moon. Their long-range goal to land the first human on the moon was frustrated though, and the United States gradually matched their earlier achievements, and pulled ahead with the Apollo program. Another major difference between Soviet cosmonauts and American astronauts was that the astronauts were real pilots, who could steer and maneuver their spacecraft, while cosmonauts were mostly average workers, trained just enough to operate some of the onboard instruments, and were largely "just along for the ride" on missions. While the Soviet Union would have likely claimed the Moon for themselves, the Apollo astronauts made it clear "We came in peace for all mankind", and left a small plaque with those words, bolted to the bottom of the first lunar lander.