Apollo 11: A Man on the Moon

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Seven months earlier, Apollo 8 orbited the moon. On July 16th, Apollo 11 blasted off for the moon. This time, two of the three astronauts would step onto the surface of the moon. These men would become legends, and their names would be remembered forever in history. The only astronaut whose name may not be famaliar is that of the Command Module Pilot, Michael Collins. The Commander was, of course, Neil Armstrong, and the Lunar Module Pilot was Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin. The life story of both of these men is quite interesting, and it deserves some discussion.

Buzz attended West Point and graduated from there in 1951 with a degree in mechanical engineering. Then, he fought in the Korean War as a fighter pilot. After the war, Buzz earned his Doctor of Science in astronautics. Then, he was selected in the third class of astronauts. His Apollo 11 mission would be his second space mission.

Neil flew combat missions during the Korean War as well. After the war, he attended college at Purdue where he received a degree in aeronautical engineering. After this, he became a test pilot and had a few mishaps, but he always escaped without serious injury. In 1961, he became part of the New Nine, the second class of astronauts. His first space mission was Gemini 8 were the vehicle began to spin out of control. The astronauts were seconds away from blacking out when Armstrong saved the mission by switching to the Reentry Control System to gain control of the spacecraft. Then, he commanded Gemini 11 which was successfully completed. While training for Apollo 11, Armstrong flew a Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) to help simulate landing in a real setting. The vehicle began banking and Armstong lost control. He then ejected, and, again, narrowly avoided disaster.


Once Apollo 11 took off for the moon, it had few problems. As they were landing, the LEM was ahead of its intended position by two seconds. Because Armstrong was worried about landing on unsafe terrain, he took manual control of the LEM and landed in a safe area in the crater known as the Sea of Tranquility on July 20th, 1969. The astronauts went for an EVA (extravehicular activity aka a walk) soon after landing. They only spent 2.5 hours on the surface. Then, they blasted off of the moon's surface and rendevoused with the Command Module. They went back to Earth, and the rest is history.

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Apollo 10

Apollo 10 acted as the dry run for the Apollo 11 to land on the moon. The crew consisted of Thomas Stafford as the commander. John Young was the command module pilot, and Eugene Cernan was the lunar module pilot. Once in orbit around the moon, Cernan and Stafford took the lunar module to the moon and practiced the normal landing procedure that would be used by future Apollo missions. This LEM was never meant to actually land on the moon. If the astronauts had decided to land on the surface, the LEM didn't contain enough fuel in the ascent module, so they would have been stranded on the lunar surface. The LEM did come within 8.4 nautical miles of the lunar surface. After this run, the LEM docked with the command module again and headed back to Earth. Each crew member would return to space. Young and Cernan would both return to the moon while Stafford would command an Apollo-Soyuz mission.

With the path cleared, Apollo 11 could land on the moon.

From the Earth to the Moon

My first real exposure to man's exploration of space started with "From the Earth to the Moon", a documentary produced by Ron Howard and Tom Hanks made for HBO. In ten parts, it documents man's effort to reach the moon in a ten year time frame. Throughout the mini-series, NASA experiences joy, anxiety, tradegy, and, eventually, triumph.

The mini-series begins with Kennedy's proclaimation that this country (the United States) will land a man on the moon before this decade is out. This speech was made in April of 1961 because a man had even flown into space. Then, the mini-series catalogues the Apollo 1 disaster, creation of the lunar module, the first landing on the moon and the last. It is a great documentary that is worth checking out.

This documentary was based on the book "A Man on the Moon" by Andrew Chaikin.

Apollo 9

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Apollo 9 would play a pivotal role in the first manned moon landing because the crew would test many of the critical components to the Apollo 11 mission. The crew was headed by Gemini veteran Jim McDivitt. His Command Module Pilot was another Gemini veteran from the third group of astronauts, David Scott. Filling the final position of Lunar Module Pilot was young looking Rusty Schweickart whose first and only flight would occur on Apollo 9. The Lunar Module (LM or lem) would truly be tested in this mission, for the first time. However, there were many other mission parameters which will be discussed shortly.

First the crew separated from the craft containing the lem and used the command module to dock with it and unload it. After this was performed, the crew was connected to the lem and actually transferred from one to the other without using spacesuits.

Schweickart was supposed to perform an EVA, but he became ill with space sickness during the first day and his tests were scrapped for his safety. However, Schweickart recovered and performed some of the tests. However, he was able to prove that the new Apollo spacesuit could perform without an umbilical lifeline to the ship. To do this, Schweickart carried a backpack which functioned as life support for this suit. It would be used again for every Apollo mission.

Following this, there was one craft that had to be tested before Apollo could move forward. The LM would have to function in space, and its engines would have to work. McDivitt and Schweickart would take out the LM for this maiden voyage. The craft worked as it was supposed to, and the mission was a complete success. After this mission, the only member of the crew who would fly again would be David Scott.

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The Lunar Module

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For man to land on the moon, they would need a vehicle capable of landing on the surface and taking off again. However, at first, there was some discussion on what to send to the moon. Some suggested taking a large craft to the moon weighing a significant amount more than the final product would. This was a direct ascent approach or an Earth rendezvous approach. However, both of these methods would require landing the entire spacecraft on the moon. By using a lunar orbit rendezvous, only a small craft would land on the moon while another stay in orbit. Once finished on the surface, the two would reconnect in lunar orbit. After this plan was accepted, the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) would be constructed mainly by the Grumann Aircraft Engineering with Tom Kelly as the chief designer. During this process, weight was a constant concern. To save weight, windows were made small, seats were even removed and replaced by velco so the astronauts could stand and see out the windows, and even shielding was removed and replaced by a thin sheet. However, the LEM would never fail and prove all the critics wrong. The final change before it would see space was from the Lunar Excursion Module to the Lunar Module, but it was still known as the LEM.

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Apollo 8

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The end of the decade was quickly approaching as the Apollo Program moved forward. The second manned Apollo was meant to test the Lunar Module, but its construction was behind schedule. A bold plan was instated. They would switch the Apollo 8 and 9 missions and add to the new Apollo 8 mission. Just before the end of 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 would journey to the moon and back, assuming all went well. The crew would include Commander Frank Borman, CMP Jim Lovell, and LMP Bill Anders. Borman and Lovell had flown together before on Gemini VII, but this was Anders first spaceflight. The Saturn V rocket would be used for this flight. However, with the quick change, the crew didn't have as much time to train and spent seven hours in training for every actual hour of the mission. However, in a year fraught with unrest, assassinations, and an escalation in Vietman, the nation looked to Apollo 8 as a sign of hope. They launched on December 21, 1968 and were the first men to escape low Earth orbit as they began their journey to the moon. The flight to the moon was fairly lackadaisical except that Borman became sick. He experienced vomiting and diarrhea; however, he soon recovered and the mission continued without incident. The crew journeyed around the moon and entered orbit, and, for the first time, man saw the far side of the moon with their naked eyes. While orbiting the moon, they surveyed the surface looking for future landing sites. As the fourth orbit approached, the crew witnessed an Earthrise leaving them speechless and providing one of the most common images from space. During their ninth orbit, they addressed Earth and, famously, read from Genesis. After wishing the Earth a merry Christmas, they signed off. Before they could leave the moon's orbit, they had to perform a burn to return them to Earth which was the most critical aspect of the mission. If it failed, they would be stuck in orbit and would eventually die. However, the burn worked, and they returned to Earth. Lovell would accidentally cause the craft to deviate off course, and they would have to manually re-align on their return journey. After this, the mission finished without a hitch and a normal splashdown. After landing, the crew was named Time's Man of the Year even though their feat had occurred just before the new year. They won because they were the first men to travel to leave Earth's orbit, travel to another celestial being, and return from that celestial being. However, their feat would be topped soon enough.

Apollo 7

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On October 11, 1968, Apollo 7 launched into space with the crew of Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, and Walter Cunningham. The Apollo crews would have the new positions of Commander, Command Module Pilot (CMP), and the Lunar Module Pilot (LMP). Schirra was the Commander while Eisele (CMP) and Cunningham (LMP) would have lesser positions. This would be Schirra's last spaceflight, and he would be the only man to fly Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions. However, no manned flight had occurred since the tragedy of Apollo 1 placing some pressure on this flight for success. Schirra was an excellent candidate for this mission because he was meticulous when it came to safety. Before the flight, he asked that an abort be instated in case of a significant wind on the launchpad. If they were to launch on a very windy day and had to abort, the wind could blow them back ashore causing the astronauts to be harmed or even killed. Schirra's demand was instated, but the launch went smoothly. However, in space, the crew became irritable after they developed motion sickness due to the larger space provided for the astronauts. Schirra soon developed a bad head cold, and he began to refuse requests. Likewise, the other crew became irritable. This "talking back" led to Eisele and Cunningham being omitted from later crews. Still, the mission was successful and was instrumental in the impromptu mission alteration for Apollo 8.

Saturn V

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The dream of sending a man to the moon and returning him safely to Earth was in reach after Project Gemini. But, man would need a rocket to travel to the moon carrying more mass than ever before. This rocket would prove to be the largest rocket ever built by far. The Saturn V booster would be this rocket. The initial work on a Saturn V relative would begin in 1960, and they would begin plans on the Saturn V in 1962. By 1963, it was confirmed as the rocket for the Apollo missions. Wernher von Braun was the architect of this rocket, fulfilling a long time dream for the man. The finished product would stand 363 feet tall and use 6,500,000 pounds of fuel. Like other rockets, this was a multi-stage rocket which had three stages. The first stage had five engines and used kerosene type fuel with liquid oxygen. The second stage also had five engines and used liquid hydrogen and oxygen. The third stage used a single engine for a final push into space with liquid hydrogen and oxygen. Before men would ride this rocket, there would be two unmanned launches of this rocket with the Apollo 4 and 6. Four was successful while six had some serious problems. However, the rocket has 2,000 moving parts, and anyone of these parts failing could cause serious problems. The work had to be literally flawless, and it was consistently. This rocket is the pinnacle of science and an amazing feat considering that rocketry was still young (40 years old) and space flight was very young (12 years old). While the rocket worked, other missions would have to be flown before man would walk on the moon.

Apollo I

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After several unmanned flights, the first manned Apollo spaceflight would have a Mercury and Gemini veteran at its helm, Virgil "Gus" Grissom. The second member had conducted the first American space walk, Edward White, and the third member was a smart astronaut from the newest group of astronauts named Roger Chaffee. The crew began to prepare for the launch in late 1966. There were a few issues including communication between the ship and the ground control as well as fire safety issues. On January 27, 1967, during a routine plugs out test was conducted. This is where the craft is sealed and run under its own power. However, an accident occurred. The cabin was filled pure oxygen when a faulty wire caused was a spark. This quickly exploded into a fire which engulfed the entire cabin. The men reacted as they should. They shouted "fire" and began the procedure to open the door. Within 30 seconds, the cabin door exploded outwards, and the crew was dead. The pressure from the expansion of air due to the heat made the door unable to open. The crew wasn't removed from the craft for hours due to various hazards to others. Asphyxiation killed Grissom, White, and Chaffee, but there were others who said it was poor design, rushed construction, and carelessness. Congressional hearings were held on the matter. There was fear that Apollo was done, but it was allowed to continue. Doors were made to open outward and had an explosive charge for emergencies. This accident actually facilitated safety and prevented many other deaths. Still, it's just terrible that it had to come at the cost of three lives. However, Grissom himself said, "If we die, we want people to accept it. We are in a risky business and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life". I, wholeheartedly, again.