Apollo 11
by Krysta CardinaleThe flight of the Apollo 11 mission was the culmination of many years of planning, working, building and testing. On Sunday July 20, 1969, billions of people around the work watched on television as the first man from Earth prepared to set foot upon the Moon, and the crew would be forever know as Apollo 11 heroes. They heard astronaut Neil Armstrong's voice, “I’m going to step off the ramp now. It’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
President Richard Nixon spoke about the event to the world as well, saying, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before this decade it out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. All that we have accomplished in space, all that we may accomplish in days and years to come, we stand ready to share, for the benefit of all mankind. As we explore the reaches space, let us go to the new worlds together, not as new worlds to be conquered, but as a new adventure to be shared.”
Since the earliest time man has imagined this moment, the moment when his fellowman would make the first journey to the Moon. Now the time had come. In the sixth decade of the 20th century, Apollo 11 mission and the ancient dream was to become a reality. Thousands of people had contributed toward this day of accomplishment. The great Saturn 5 Rocket and the complex Apollo spacecraft had been assembled together and moved to the launch pad. The equipment and techniques and personnel had been proved in earlier missions and now they were ready.
The astronauts chosen for the Apollo 11 crew had flown it many times in ground-based simulators. They had all been in space before. They had trained carefully and well and now, they too were ready. Astronaut Michael Collins would pilot the Apollo 11 crew and the Command Module. Astronaut Edwin Aldrin Jr. would pilot the Lunar Module. And Astronaut Neil Armstrong would serve as Mission Commander. Armstrong would be the first man to step upon the Moon. On July 16th, the day had come for who would become the Apollo 11 heroes. The Moon waited. The men rose early, ate breakfast and dressed in airspace suits. Other astronauts had made this journey to the launch pad, but never with such anticipation.
Apollo 11: Moon Landing
On July 16th, 1969 at 9:32 in the morning the Apollo 11 crew began their mission into space as the spacecraft had a successful take off. Three hours later the Apollo Command Module moved forward to extract the Lunar Module from the third stage of the launch vehicle. Both were moving at more than 17,000 miles an hour. Docked together, they sailed a quarter million miles across the sea of space and into orbit around the Earth’s nearest neighbor.
During the three-day journey to the Moon, the Apollo 11 crew kept busy, checklists, navigation and observation, and housekeeping. They had to work in a weightless environment, keeping their spacecraft and themselves in a good condition. Data had to be collected and reported. Experiments had to be performed, including photography both inside and outside the spacecraft. Because of the film speed, these actions appeared faster than they actually were.
On July 19th, Apollo 11 slowed down and went into orbit around the Moon. The bright blue planet of Earth now lies 238,000 miles beyond the Lunar Horizon. Astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin were now in the Lunar Module, separate from the Command Module. Astronaut Collins remained behind. Preparation for the Apollo 11 moon landing began. The Command Module assumed a new name, “Columbia”. The Lunar Module became the “Eagle”. From Columbia, Michael Collins’ camera saw bright rays of the sun reflecting patterns of color from the surface of the Eagle. In this strange metallic bird rode the ancient and endless dream of all mankind. The Command Pilot saw detail which his camera could not record. The four landing pads of the Lunar Module were fully extended and locked in place. The Eagle was poised and prepared for its descent to the lunar surface. The Moon landing-craft rocket engine fired to slow it down, and to place it on the pathway to the landing site in the Sea of Tranquility. There was tension and caution as the Eagle flew lower. Warning lights blinked on as the computer tried to keep up with the demand for control data. But the status remained “go”.
Message from Lunar Module, “The Eagle has landed.”
Through the window of the Eagle, the Apollo 11 crew of Armstrong and Aldrin saw what no human eyes had ever seen before. The spacecraft cast a long shadow across the undisturbed dust of centuries. Seven hours after the Apollo 11 moon landing, after careful preparations for later ascent was completed, Armstrong opened the Eagle hatch. He then began his climb down to the surface. The first footsteps on this strange, new world had to be taken cautiously. The Moon has only one-sixth the gravity of Earth. The nature of its surface was still unknown.
Neil Armstrong: “I’m going to step off the ramp now. It’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Once on the surface, Armstrong scooped up a small sample of Lunar dust and rock, a precaution against the possibility of an emergency take off. According to plan, Astronaut Aldrin now descended from the Eagle. He and his equipment weighed 383 pounds on Earth. Here, they only weighed about 66 pounds. For a brief moment, the first men on the Moon stood and looked at the stark, lonely landscape around them. This was an experience which no one before them could share. But there is much to be done in the limited time which they could stay on this airless, cloudless satellite of Earth. A sheet of metal foil trapped and held particles from the Sun, the so-called Solar Wind or barrage of solar energy which constantly strikes the Moon’s surface. Results of this experiment were taken back to Earth to reveal new secrets to anxious scientists.
Apollo 11: Return to Earth
An American Flag was left behind on the Moon, together with medals honoring American and Soviet spacemen who lost their lives in earlier space tests, and a small disk carrying messages of goodwill from seventy-three nations on Earth. A plaque on the Lunar Module reads: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.” Through a specially made television camera, viewers in many nations on Earth were able to watch the astronauts as they walked and worked on the Moon. Despite the bulky spacesuits and the backpacks containing oxygen, temperature control and communications equipment, the Apollo 11 crew found they could move easily above the surface. Because there is no wind or rain on the Moon, these footprints will remain for centuries.
In addition to collecting rock and soil samples, the Apollo 11 heroes left behind a seismometer. This highly sensitive device would send back valuable information on external meteorite impacts as well as internal Lunar movements. A 100-Prism Laser Reflector would help man to measure the exact distance from Earth to Moon to an accuracy of six inches. These were the first of many experiments, which were taken to the Moon to provide man continuing and increasing knowledge about the Moon and the vastness of space beyond. After two hours and thirty-one minutes, the first Lunar explorers had completed their research on the Moon, and the Apollo 11 mission. A night of rest in the Lunar Module, countdown preparations, and then the Apollo 11 return to Earth would begin.
On July 21st, the Apollo 11 return to Earth began. The Eagle and its two-man crew lifted off the Moon perfectly and climbed slowly to a rendezvous and dock with the mother ship, Columbia. While Armstrong and Aldrin explored the Moon, Astronaut Collins had kept a long and lonely vigil in the Columbia. The approaching Eagle was a welcome sight. Later the three men would share their reflections on this adventure with the world.
Astronaut 1: “I believe that from the early space flights we demonstrated a potential to carry out this type of a mission. And again it was a question until this would be accomplished.”
Astronaut 2: “I think it is a technical triumph for this country to have said what it was going to do a number of years ago and then by golly, do it.”
Astronaut 1[again]: “The relative ease with which we were able to carry out our mission, which of course came after a very efficient and logical sequence of flights, I think that this demonstrated that we were certainly on the right track when we took this commitment to go to the Moon.”
Astronaut 2: “I just see it as a beginning, a beginning of a new age.”
Once again the bright blue planet of Earth rose over the Lunar Horizon. For those who had witnessed man’s landing in the Sea of Tranquility, the Moon would never again appear quite the same. On July 24th, it was dawn in the Pacific. Apollo blazed across the heavens, coming back to Earth at 25,000 miles an hour. President Richard Nixon, who had talked with the astronauts by telephone while they were on the Moon, was waiting aboard the Recovery Carrier to welcome the returning voyagers. The President later expressed the nation’s response to this historic mission.
Apollo 11: Mission Complete
President Richard Nixon: “In some way when those two Americans stepped on the Moon, the people of this world were brought closer together. That it is that spirit, the spirit of Apollo, which America can now help to bring to our relations with other nations. The spirit of Apollo transcends geographical barriers and political differences. It can bring the people of the world together in peace.”
To protect against any possible Lunar contamination, the Apollo 11 crew were put on airtight special garments before coming aboard the rescue ship. They transferred directly from the helicopter to a mobile quarantine van, in which they were flown back to the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas. On July 27th, the journey was ended. They were home again.
Ahead of the Apollo 11 heroes was three weeks of isolation, medical tests and mission debriefings. Then they visited to major cities of America and aboard. The details of their unique Apollo 11 mission would be relived and remembered so that others might learn what they had learned and that future travelers in space might build upon their experience. The rock and soil samples brought back were examined and analyzed by scientist in many lands. They were to reveal new insights into the origin and the age and the composition of the Moon, and perhaps new knowledge of the Earth as well. Already experiments left on the Moon were sending back revealing new information. The mission was successfully completed. The Eagle had landed the first men on the Moon and Columbia had returned them safely to Earth. Wherever man journeys tomorrow across the ocean of our Universe, history will remind him that Apollo 11 was mankind’s first encounter with a new world.
