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July 19

10:31 a.m.- Collins reports: "Houston, it's been a real change for us. Now we are able to see stars again and recognize constellations for the first time on the trip. The sky is full of stars, just like the nights on Earth. But all the way here we have just been able to see stars occasionally and perhaps through monoculars, but not recognize any star pattern."

10:42 a.m.- Armstrong announces: "The view of the Moon that we've been having recently is really spectacular. It about three-quarters of the hatch window and, of course, we can see the entire circumference, even though part of it is in complete shadow and part of it's in earth-shine. It's a view worth the price of the trip."

12:58 p.m.- The crew is informed by Mission Control: "We're 23 minutes away from the LOI (Lunar Orbit Insertion) burn. Flight Director Cliff Charlesworth is polling flight controllers for its status now." Then quickly, seconds later: "You are go for L0I." Aldrin replies: "Roger, go for LOI."

1:13 p.m.- Spacecraft passes completely behind the Moon and out of radio contact with the Earth for the first time.

1:28 p.m.- The spacecraft's main rocket, a 20,500-pound-thrust engine, is fired for about six minutes to slow the vehicle so that it can be captured by lunar gravity. It is still behind the Moon. The resulting orbit ranges from a low of 61.3 nautical miles to a high of 168.8 nautical miles.

1:55 p.m.- Armstrong tells Mission Control: "We're getting this first view of the landing approach. This time we are going over the Taruntius crater and the pictures and maps brought back by Apollos 8 and 10 give us a very good preview of what to look at here. It looks very much like the pictures, but like the difference between watching a real football game and watching it on TV-no substitute for actually being here."

About 15 minutes later he adds: "It gets to be a lighter gray, and as you get closer to the subsolar point, you can definitely see browns and tans on the ground."

And a few moments still later: "When a star sets up here, there's no doubt about it. One instant it's there and the next instant it's just completely gone."

3:56 p.m.- A 35-minute telecast of the Moon's surface begins. Passing westward along the eastern edge of the Moon's visible side, the camera is focused especially on the area chosen as a landing site.

5:44 p.m.- A second burn of the spacecraft's main engine, this one for 17 seconds, is employed while the spacecraft is on the back side of the Moon to stabilize the orbit at about 54 by 66 nautical miles.

6:57 p.m.- Armstrong and Aldrin crawl through the tunnel into the lunar module to give it another check. The spacecraft is orbiting the Moon every two hours.

July 20

9:27 a.m.- Aldrin crawls into the lunar module and starts to power-up the spacecraft. About an hour later, Armstrong enters the LM and together they continue to check the systems and deploy the landing legs.

1:46 p.m.- The landing craft is separated from the command module, in which Collins continues to orbit the Moon.

2:12 p.m.- Collins fires the command ship's rockets and moves about two miles away.

3:08 p.m.- Armstrong and Aldrin, flying feet first and face down, fire the landing craft's descent engine for the first time.

3:47 p.m.- Collins, flying the command ship from behind the Moon, reports to Earth that the landing craft is on its way down to the lunar surface. It is the first Mission Control has heard of the action. "Everything's going just swimmingly. Beautiful!" Collins reports.

4:05 p.m.- Armstrong throttles up the engine to slow the LM before dropping down on the lunar surface. The landing is not easy. The site they approach is four miles from the target point, on the southwestern edge of the Sea of Tranquility. Seeing that they are approaching a crater about the size of a football field and covered with large rocks, Armstrong takes over manual control and steers the craft to a smoother spot. His heartbeat has risen from a normal 77 to 156.

While Armstrong flies the landing craft, Aldrin gives him altitude readings: "Seven hundred and fifty feet, coming down at 23 degrees . . . 700 feet, 21 down . . . 400 feet, down at nine . . . Got the shadow out there . . . 75 feet, things looking good . . . Lights on . . . Picking up some dust. . . 30 feet, 2 1/2 down . . . Faint shadow . . . Four forward. Four forward, drifting to the right a little . . . Contact light. Okay, engine stop."

When the 68-inch probes beneath three of the spacecraft's four footpads touch down, flashing a light on the instrument panel, Armstrong shuts off the ship's engine.

4:18 p.m.- The craft settles down with a jolt almost like that of a jet landing on a runway. It is at an angle of no more than four or five degrees on the right side of the Moon as seen from Earth. Armstrong immediately radios Mission Control: "The Eagle has landed."

Aldrin, looking out of the LM window, reports: "We'll get to the details around here, but it looks like a collection of just about every variety of shapes, angularities and granularities, every variety of rock you could find. The colors vary pretty much depending on how you're looking.... There doesn't appear to be much of a general color at all; however, it looks as though some of the rocks and boulders, of which there are quite a few in the near area . . . are going to have some interesting colors to them."

A few moments later he tells of seeing numbers of craters, some of them 100 feet across, but the largest number...

....only one or two feet in diameter. He sees ridges 20 or 30 feet high, two-foot blocks with angular edges, and a hill half a mile to a mile away.

Finally, in describing the surface, Aldrin says: "It's pretty much without color. It's gray and it's a very white chalky gray, as you look into the zero phase line, and it's considerably darker gray, more like ashen gray as you look up 9O degrees to the Sun. Some of the surface rocks close in here that have been fractured or disturbed by the rocket engine are coated with this light gray on the outside but when they've been broken they display a dark, very dark gray interior, and it looks like it could be country basalt."

The first task after landing is that of preparing the ship for launching, of seeing that all is in readiness to make the ascent back to a rendezvous with the command spacecraft orbiting above.

6:00 p.m.- With everything in order, Armstrong radios a recommendation that they plan to start the EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity), earlier than originally scheduled, at about 9:OO p.m. EDT. Mission Control replies: "We will support you anytime."

10:39 p.m.- Later than proposed at 6:00 p.m., but more than five hours ahead of the original schedule, Armstrong opens the LM hatch and squeezes through the opening. It is a slow process. Strapped to his shoulders is a portable life support and communications system weighing 84 pounds on Earth, 14 on the Moon, with provision for pressurization; oxygen requirements and removal of carbon dioxide.

Armstrong moves slowly down the 10-foot, nine-step ladder. On reaching the second step, he pulls a "D-ring," within easy reach, deploying a television camera, so arranged on the LM that it will depict him to Earth as he proceeds from that point.

Down the ladder he moves and halts on the last step. "I'm at the foot of the ladder," he reports. "The LM footpads are only depressed in the surface about one or two inches. . . the surface appears to be very, very finegrained, as you get close to it, it's almost like a powder."

10:56 p.m.- Armstrong puts his left foot to the Moon. It is the first time in history that man has ever stepped on anything that has not existed on or originated from the Earth.

"That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind," Armstrong radios. Aldrin is taking photographs from inside the spacecraft.

The first print made by the weight of man on the Moon is that of a lunar boot which resembles an oversized galosh.

I was 16 years old and watching on my parents b&w tv. Seems like half that time..was fascinated.
Looking back...To me, the most dangerous part of the mission was the departure from the moon and rendezvous with Collins.
A portion of the trip that couldn't have been practiced before...the timing had to be perfect.

I'm watching a documentary I recorded a few days ago when they showed it on TCM. "For All Mankind", great footage from 16mm cameras they had given the astronauts.

They also have the audio from recent personal interviews that they use as the narrative, very well done.

And the soundtrack is by Brian Eno, so that's frosting on the cake.

For all mankind... pfft..

We need to go back.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1563659793.jpg

^^^ Ha!
I should point out the doc is not just about Apollo 11 but Apollo 8 through 17. Very good, a must see.

Yeah, Apollo 8. I saw that piece on PBS - great stuff. Especially Frank Borman.

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigster59 (Post 10531054)

I'm watching a documentary I recorded a few days ago when they showed it on TCM. "For All Mankind", great footage from 16mm cameras they had given the astronauts.

16mm cameras - really puts the magnitude of their accomplishment in perspective when think of the power of an '07 iPhone
Imagine if they'd had a rocket engine with fuel injection instead of those Carter AFBs. :D

Here's a picture I took a few hours ago of the Apollo 11 capsule.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1563691289.JPG

It's pretty damn amazing that this started atop well over 6 million pounds of rocket and this is pretty much what's left.

Great photo... Adam Savage is building a hatch for the capsule. Search #projectegress

Quote:

Originally Posted by island911 (Post 10531421)

Island, you recognized the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Walk in the coolest way, short of actually being with Colonel Aldrin or MajGen Collins.

Seeing that Command Module at the precise moment of the Golden Anniversary, must have been . . . Well Golden.

Thanks for Sharing

Why is it that color? Is it titanium?

EDIT: "The outer structure was made of stainless steel brazed honeycomb brazed between steel alloy face sheets."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_command_and_service_module#Construction

Take a look at these videos of Armstrong’s and Aldrin’s perspective of the moon landing. Pretty amazing . . .

https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/07/20/scientists-reconstruct-what-neil-armstrong-saw-as-he-landed-on-the-moon/