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......"T minus 15 seconds, guidance is internal, 12,11,10,9, ignition sequence starts, 6,5,4,3,2,1,0, all engines running, lift off, we have a lift off 32 minutes past the hour, lift off on Apollo 11!"
50 years ago on July 16, 1969 at 9:32a.m. we sent Apollo 11 to the moon carrying 3 astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. Armstrong was the mission commander. It was estimated that one million spectators watched the launch from the highways and beaches in the vicinity of the launch site at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It was televised live in 33 countries, with an estimated 25 million viewers in the United States alone! Add to that millions more who listened to radio broadcasts.
Collins piloted the command module, Columbia, through maneuvers that would detach it from the third stage of the Saturn V rocket that had carried them into space. That process uncovered the lunar landing module, Eagle, which had been tucked safely behind Columbia inside the third stage. Collins had to turn Columbia around and position its nose to dock with the top of Eagle, It was a critical maneuver. If the separation and docking did not work, they would return to earth. There was also the possibility of an in-space collision. But all went well and they continued on their 953,054 mile journey at 24,000 mph to our moon. It took them three days to get there. Those 3 days were spent living and working in an area about the size of the interior of a large automobile.
While the landing of the Eagle was computer controlled, problems occurred during the approach to the moon. Armstrong realized they would overshoot the chosen landing site by 4 miles. He took over control from the computer, and manually slowed their decent to only 9 feet per second. With only 20 seconds of fuel left, he settled the Eagle onto the Sea of Tranquility, so softly that neither he nor Aldrin felt the landing. On July 20th., at 4:17pm Armstrong announced to Houston, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed". At Mission control Charles Duke mispronounced his reply as he expressed his relief with , "Roger, Twan-Tranquility, we copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot". The first two hours they remained in the module checking all the systems, configuring the craft for its stay on the moon and had a bite to eat. It was then when Aldrin, a Presbyterian elder, took communion.
Then, Armstrong and Aldrin walked on our moon. Armstrong was the first to step onto the moon, saying "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". Aldrin's words were "Beautiful view. Magnificent desolation". Aldrin re-entered the Eagle after walking on the lunar surface for 1 hours and 33 minutes. Armstrong followed 41 minutes later. They spent a total of 21 hours and 36 minutes on the moon. While on the moon they carried a radio transceiver and antenna and spoke with President Richard Nixon who said, "This certainly has to be the most historic phone call ever made from the White House". It certainly was the longest long-distance call made! One-fifth of the world's population watched the moonwalk on TV or followed along on the radio. Armstrong and Aldrin brought back 40 pounds of moon rock and took 339 photographs of the lunar surface. As Aldrin and Armstrong were on the lunar surface, Collins orbited the moon alone for 21.5 hours. He experienced the most profound solitude any human being has ever known: 48 minutes at a time alone on the far side of the moon with no radio contact with Earth or his crewmates and a 2100 mile-wide ball of rock between him and every other human who lived.
After 30 lunar orbits, they landed in the Pacific Ocean, a successful mission of 8 days, 3 hours 18 minutes, and 35 seconds. They spent the next 3 weeks in quarantine.
In 1970, when Spiro Agnew presented the crew the Hubbard Medal of the National Geographic Society, he told them "You've won a place alongside Christopher Columbus in American History". They have a lunar crater named after them. All three were born in 1930 and were on their second and last trip into space. Collins and Aldrin still attend Apollo related events. Armstrong died on August 25, 2012 at the age of 82. Per his request, he was buried at sea.
In keeping with their love of flying we would like to share with you our airy images.
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