Apollo 11 Moon Landing

NASA the National Aeronautics and Space Administration presents Aeronautics and Space report we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things not because they are easy but because they are hard because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills because that challenge is one that we're willing to accept it was the early 1960s and President Kennedy had set the stage Apollo moon landing it's called Landing site 2 a section of moon landscape covering roughly 3x 6 and 1/2 miles if all goes as planned the first Americans will land and explore a portion of this area astronauts Neil a Armstrong Edwin e Aldren and Michael Collins the three men who will make the next and most historic round trip to the moon it is Collins who will be in charge of the cone-shaped Command Module circumnavigating the moon as his two compatriots descend and land on the lunar surface born in Rome Italy October 31st 1930 Collin served as pilot during the 3-day gmany 10 mission in 1966 here he describes the events leading up to his joining NASA well I was a fighter pilot for a number of years various bases in California and overseas in France and in Germany and then I went to the test pilot school at Edwards and I was a test pilot there for couple of years and went back again to the uh what was then called the Aerospace research Pilot Course and then following that came to work for NASA astronaut Buzz Aldren the lunar module pilot will fly with Armstrong to touchdown on the moon it was Aldren who established a new record for time outside a craft in space more than 5 and 1 half hours during gmany 12 the 39-year-old astronaut has an impressive background including a doctorate I attended uh public uh schools in my hometown of Montclair New Jersey uh received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point uh I was commissioned in the Air Force flew in the Korean War for about 6 months sent over to Germany flying F100 aircraft in 1959 applied for admission into Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study uh astronautics in Greater depth leading toward a doctor of Science degree command pilot for this first landing astronaut Neil Armstrong it will be Armstrong who steps cautiously out onto the moon for the first time Armstrong had this to say about space and going to the Moon I suppose every uh every age of History has had its challenges of the time seems to me we're particularly fortunate in our age of History to be faced with perhaps one of the the greatest challenges to go out into space to to break the the shackles of gravity and find the answers to questions that have been uh asked by scientists and philosophers alike for for years is certainly one of the most exciting challenges of all time but I think even more more important than the answers that will be able to find the answers about the origin of our solar system and the answers about how we can most practically exploit this new knowledge will be the fact that we'll get a whole bunch of new questions that we've never before even thought to ask and this will be the the challenge to the Next Generation once on the moon Armstrong and Aldren will take photographs dig for lunar soil samples collect Rock specimens and set up scientific experiments to remain after they have left to gain data about the moon's interior and meteoroid impacts they will deploy a device for recording seismic activity another experiment will precisely measure Earth Moon distances the crew of Apollo 11 have been preceded by 15 unmanned lunar explorers these first close-up photographs were recorded by a ranger spacecraft just before it slammed into the moon surface following Ranger surveyor craft with soft landed and verified that a man could walk there charting and mapping of mountains craters and other surface features was the job of lunar orbiter this highflying picture taker helped determine the best landing sites for the Apollo Astronauts it's called spacecraft 107 housing for the three men as they fly to the moon and back the onboard oxygen water food and electricity provide a self-contained Bit of Earth environment for the astronauts The Command Module is approximately 12 ft by 12 ft in size and weighs 13,000 with the crew at liftoff through the years the Apollo Command Module has been put through many rigorous tests some like this one to prove its seaworthiness connected to the Command Module is the 22t long service module weighing 51,000 lb in addition to the rocket engine for returning the men to Earth it holds oxygen supplies and fuel cells there was no room for error in the development of the spider-like lunar module which will actually land on the Moon it must do its job it must be able to descend to the lunar surface land and take off at mission's end this is the craft left assigned to that first moon landing the lunar module is in two parts the bottom stage with its descent engine will lower astronauts Armstrong and Aldren gently to the lunar surface on a pillar of Rocket exhaust this stage then acts as a launching platform for the upper section with its Ascent engine lifting the two men back up to join Michael Collins orbiting in the command ship the combined spacecraft is shown here during final check out the Saturn 5 rocket which will boost Apollo 11 off the Launchpad and toward the Moon is put together inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center when the three stages and guidance unit are locked in place for roll out to pad 39a the giant space vehicle stands 363 ft High powerful enough to thrust a 50ton payload into lunar orbit reflecting on this first moon landing one of the men most instrumental in the development of the Saturn 5 Dr Werner Von Brown well Apollo 11 our first attempt to land on the lunar surface is of course the climax of many years of determin efforts uh we uh decided pretty early in the Apollo program to uh tackle the final Apollo Luna Landing Mission peace meal we tackled it about like a mountainer would tackle never climbed Mountain rather than going up there in one sweep all the way from the valley to the peak he would set up base camps at various elevations and make the final assault to the summit from the highest base camp Apollo 10 our recent flight with the LM into lunar orbit was the highest base camp that we could ever hope to establish short of lunar Landing so we feel we are in every respect ready to go and I'm very confident that Apollo 11 will be a success this animation shows the Apollo 11 Mission highlights after computers plot the trajectory necessary to intercept the moon the third stage engine is restarted and the astronauts begin their 3-day Journey the command and service module separate and meet and attach themselves to the lunar module continuing on the spacecraft speed increases as a result of the pulling influence of the moon's gravity if all is going well the service module engine will be fired slowing them enough to go into lunar orbit it is at this point that Armstrong and Aldren Crawl Through the connecting tunnel into the lunar module after aligning their guidance and navigation systems the lunar module's engine is fired as a braking maneuver and to regulate their descent the command pilot will look for the smoothest area to land on and finally touchdown before doing anything else the two men will prepare to launch themselves back into lunar orbit then astronaut Neil Armstrong will descend the last few feet by ladder to the Moon surface approximately 30 minutes later he will be joined by Aldren and the two will explore sample and set their experiments about 22 hours after Landing they will launch themselves off the moon rejoin Collins In The Command Module and prepare for the journey back to Earth and a Pacific recovery following recovery the astronauts and their cargo of lunar samples will be sealed in this trailer called the mobile quarantine facility for their trip back to Houston a precaution taken to make sure they did not bring anything back from the lunar surface that might contaminate the Earth at the man spacecraft Center they will live in this special building the lunar receiving laboratory the astronauts and their samples will stay here in isolation for 21 days it is in an area of Ultra Clean chambers that the samples will be checked first to see if they're biologically safe laboratory animals like these mice which have lived all their lives in a germfree environment will be exposed to the samples and their reactions checked plant tissues fish and eggs will also be used in the biological tests at the same time tests on the 50 lb of lunar sample will begin after they are sorted and classified trained eyes will try to discover some of the moon's many hidden secrets later samples will be sent to waiting scientists all over the world for exhaustive analysis in this decade President Kennedy said and so it is about to be a decade of research and development a decade of hard work and there have been times of Sorrow too now the goal is in sight the men and the men behind the men the rockets and spacecraft are nearly ready for Apollo 11 the first moon landing this has been an Aeronautics and Space report presented by NASA the National Aeronautics and Space Administration