A look at the Apollo 11 mission to land on the moon led by commander Neil Armstrong and pilots Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins.
On its fiftieth anniversary, the events surrounding the actual Apollo 11 space mission are presented solely using archival footage and still photographs of or associated with the mission. The events span from the eleventh hour preparations for the launch to shortly after the safe touchdown of the capsule with its three astronauts back on Earth. The mission is historic as the first time humans had stepped on the surface of the Earth's moon. It arguably made household names of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin as the first and second to walk on the moon, and slightly less so for the third astronaut, Mike Collins, who remained inside the capsule at the time. It was arguably the most dangerous space mission at the time in part to the astronauts leaving the safety of the capsule.—Huggo
On its fiftieth anniversary, the events surrounding the actual Apollo 11 space mission are presented solely using archival footage and still photographs of or associated with the mission.
The events span from the eleventh hour preparations for the launch to shortly after the safe touchdown of the capsule with its three astronauts back on Earth. The mission is historic as the first time humans had stepped on the surface of the Earth's moon. It arguably made household names of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin as the first and second to walk on the moon, and slightly less so for the third astronaut, Michael Collins, who remained inside the capsule at the time. It was arguably the most dangerous space mission at the time in part to the astronauts leaving the safety of the capsule.
Apollo 11 along with the Saturn V rocket is being rolled out to the launchpad. Last minute checks are on at the control center. The astronauts are being suited up. all the millions of steps need to go perfectly for the mission to be a success. A brief montage on the history of mercury and Apollo missions (21 manned spaceflights before Apollo 11).Computer fills up entire buildings. Astronauts have to take 2 elevators to reach their capsule at the top of the launchpad. There is a leak in the hydrogen pumps of the Saturn V rocket and 3 technicians work on it 3 hrs before launch to tighten the bolts. The emergency evacuation system is also tested prior to flight, and this takes a good 30 mins. 5000 people turned up to see the launch.July 16th, 1969, the mission is a go and the rocket launches off the pad. Mission control is based in Houston, Texas. 7.6 MM pounds of thrust pushing the vehicle upwards. Bruce McCandless is the capsule communications officer.
Apollo 11 enters Earth orbit to get enough speed to launch itself to the moon, during the trans lunar injection maneuver. Velocity increases to 23000 MPH. Now Apollo 11 has to separate from the Saturn 3rd stage, reverse and extract the lunar module from the 3rd stage. Mike COllins performs the perfect maneuver to extract the LM. Gene Kranz is the flight controller.Radiations levels are regularly checked and recorded. Day 3, the crew enters LM. Landing is planned for day 4. Deke Slayton is the director of flight crew ops. Backup crew include Bill Anders and Jim Lovell.As the Apollo 11 approaches the moon, there is an incident with Michael Collins bio-receptors getting disconnected while he was shaving. The spacecraft enters moons orbit and initiates an insertion burn to reduce velocity to 3000 MPH. The spacecraft is in orbit, and the crew goes to sleep to attempt landing the following day, July 20th 1969.
The LM starts the powered descent.. it has roughly 3 mins of fuel. 2 alarms come up during descent as the computers overload with sensor data coming from the moon. The mission control continues the descent. Niel lands the LM with 16 seconds of fuel left in the tanks.. "the Eagle has landed"..Niel is the first step out.. "A small step for man, a giant leap for mankind".. Surface of the moon has a fine powder on it. Niel collects samples.. The moon surface is hard, underneath the surface powder. Niel then takes pics as Buzz Aldrin comes out of the LM.Buzz erects the solar wind experiment. They set up the US flag.The President calls Niel from White House "For one priceless moment, all the people on this Earth are truly one".. The scientific experiments are set up next. Buzz collects a core tube sample. 20 pounds of rocks were collected. The duo retire into the LM for rest and liftoff is scheduled for the following day.
Ascent engine uses 5000 pounds of fuel to take the LM back to the CM for docking. CM and LM reunite to become Apollo 11 again. The crew transfers over to the CM and the LM is then jettisoned over the moon. The CM than starts a burn for Trans Earth injection trajectory. Velocity increases to 5700 MPH.37 hrs to re-entry. USS Hornet is the recovery ship. Day 9, re-entry starts.Velocity is 24000 MPH. re-entry starts at 75 miles and signal loss at 62 miles. chutes deployed at 10,500 feet. The 3 astronauts are recovered and put into a mobile quarantine facility on the ship.
