NASA « Aaron Hollman's Blog

Apollo 11

Jul 23
2009

Launch

Apollo 11 was launched on July 16, 1969 at 1:32 PM local time atop a Saturn V rocket from launch pad LC 39A, a launch pad that is still active today having launched Space Shuttle Endevour last week. The Saturn V carried the Command Module, called Columbia, the Lunar Module, called Eagle and the three astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. (called Buzz) and Michael Collins.

Apollo 11 took twelve minutes to reach orbit at which time it orbited Earth one and a half times before firing the final stage that would propel it towards the moon. Thirty minutes after the final stage fired, the command module seperated from the rocket to dock with the lunar module which was then extracted from the rocket. For the remaining three days of the trip, the modules would stay docked in this fasion until it entered lunar orbit.

Descent

On July 20, 1969, the lunar module seperated from the command module and began its descent to the surface of the moon. Their descent was faster than they had anticipated and as a result, they landed several miles from their original landing site.

The descent was not the only issue they had during landing. As Armstrong piloted Eagle, a couple of warnings flashed as well as a low fuel warning alert. The low fuel warning turned out to be caused by the difference in gravity and was corrected for future lunar missions.

Once landed, Buzz Aldrin spoke the first words from the surface of the moon which were, “Contact light! Okay, engine stop. ACA – out of detent” but it was Neil Armstrong who said the famous quote, ”Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”

On the Surface

Six hours or preparation after landing, the two Astronauts began their moonwalk. Armstrong descended first, barely able to make it through the hatch with his EV equipment on. He stood on the landing pad of the lunar module and described the moon dust as a fine powder. He then took the first human step on a stellar body outside of Earth saying, “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind”

The activities on the surface focused more on engineering tasks for future missions and less on research. Armstrong snapped photos of the landing module for the engineers back on Earth to examine how the landing affected it. Aldrin tested different ways to move on the surface to ascertain the easiest way to get around. He eventually found that the loping method of movement was the best.

What little research was done was basic geological research. They collected samples of moon dust and rocks to bring back to Earth. Armstrong took some photos of a crater while Aldrin took a geological core sample to bring back with them. In 2.5 hours, it was all over.

Ascent and return

In just a few hours, it was time for the astronauts to return to the lunar module to prepare their ascent. They returned to the module and lightened the load by jettisoning unnescessary equipment such as parts of their EV suits and old equipment. They would then sleep for seven hours before returning to the command module for the trip home.

Right before settling in to sleep, Aldrin accidentally broke the circuit that fired the ascent engines. At first there was a concern that this would strand them on the surface of the moon, but they were later able to use a pen to fire the engines.

After waking up seven hours later, they fired the ascent engine to return to the Columbia command module where astronaut Michael Collins was waiting. They left behind seismic monitoring equipment and a laser range finder.

After the rendezvous with Columbia, the Eagle lunar module was ejected where it would eventually crash back into the moon. Columbia returned to Earth where the capsule splashed into the Pacific Ocean. The USS Hornet picked up the astronauts and immediately placed them in quarantine, which would last for three weeks, for fear that unknown pathogens could have been picked up from the lunar surface.

After their quarantine, they were declared healthy and released to the general public once again. They were cheered and given parades for their historic mission.

The Future

NASA is using the experience learned from the lunar landings of the Apollo missions to prepare return missions to the moon. It has recently launched the Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter to study the terrain of the moon to look for future landing sites, a task that was previously assigned to the Ranger program in preperation for the Apollo landings. See my previous post: NASA Is Returning to the Moon

Thoughts

I am proud of the accomplishments of NASA and the three astronauts who were part of the first manned mission to the moon as well as the rest of the the people who were responsible for the mission. I am deeply offended by the ignorant who have nothing better to do than to perpetuate conspiracy theories that we have never been to the moon. Shame on them.