WEBVTT - July 20, 1969 / “The Eagle Has Landed!” 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:02.800 Nine Days in July is a production of I Heart 0:00:02.880 --> 0:00:06.920 Radio and trade Craft Studios in association with High five Content. 0:00:09.760 --> 0:00:14.280 It's May sixth, nineteen sixty eight Ellington Air Force Base, Texas. 0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:18.240 Neil Armstrong is sitting behind the controls of the Lunar 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:21.840 Landing Research Vehicle. This isn't a simulator like the building 0:00:21.880 --> 0:00:25.880 bound trainers I described last episode. This one actually flies. 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:29.520 The l l r V employs a massive, downward facing 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:33.120 turbojet engine to counteract five six of the vehicle's weight 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:35.800 and better simulate how the lunar module will behave on 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:40.280 the mood. Two rockets and sixteen smaller thrusters provide vertical 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:44.400 and horizontal motion and allow for fine movements. The l 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:47.680 r V isn't pretty. It's basically a flat, square body, 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:50.960 four legs in each corner and an open cockpit. The 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:54.480 astronauts call it the flying bedstead. According to those who've 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:58.240 taken the stick, it is notoriously hard to fly, but 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:03.360 profoundly easy to correct. On this day, several hundred feet 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:06.080 in the air, Neil is struggling with the controls as 0:01:06.120 --> 0:01:09.360 he tries to bring the machine in for a landing. Suddenly, 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:11.920 the rockets give out, and the l l RV begins 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:15.319 to plummet. Neil increases power to the turbojet, but as 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:18.640 he does, the vehicle makes an uncommanded pitch forward two 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:21.760 feet above the ground. Neil hits the jet button, his 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:26.120 body is instantly accelerated to fourteen g's. He's so low 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:28.880 that his parachute is open for only four seconds before 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:31.880 he crashes back to the earth. Across the field from him, 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:34.560 the ll RV dives into the ground and erupts in 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:41.959 a giant fireball. If he'd waited even a second longer, 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:44.880 he'd still have been strapped into the seat when it exploded. 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:49.160 More than any other piece of equipment NASA had, the 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:51.520 l l RV was the best analog for what it 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:54.240 would be like when Neil took the LEMBS controls and 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:57.560 guided it to the lunar surface. As he rises shakily 0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:00.440 to his feet watching the l l RV burn, how 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:02.400 could he not be wondering if this is the fate 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:06.280 that awaits him and Buzz There are no ejection seats 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:14.200 in the lamb. It's July, day five of the Apollo 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:17.360 eleven mission. This is the day humans can make history 0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:20.880 by stepping foot on another world. This is a follow 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:24.520 control ninety three hours, nine minutes ground and laps time 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:34.160 the follow eleven. Good morning from the black day. I 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:40.280 look like you're really sawing away all right. After having breakfast, 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:44.480 I'm getting all squared away. After the night's rest period, 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:46.440 the crew will have a rather busy day to day, 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:53.000 including the first man landing on the Moon. A busy day. Indeed, yesterday, 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:56.040 four days after they left Earth, the conjoined Command Service 0:02:56.080 --> 0:03:00.640 Module and the Lunar Module arrived in orbit around the Moon. Today, 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:04.200 Mission commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:06.799 will attempt to make history by landing a spacecraft on 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:10.080 the Moon and setting bootprints in its ash. Like service 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:14.280 members of the White team of flight controllers ended up 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:17.919 by Eugene krantz Or drifting into the control room now 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:21.320 to relieve the night watch. One of those White team 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:24.519 members is guidance Officer Steve Bales, who you might remember 0:03:24.600 --> 0:03:27.360 from a previous episode. You could have cut the tension 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:29.920 in that room that day with a knife. Some of 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:32.920 the managers have been into business thirty years said they 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:36.280 had never seen attention that they had felt in that 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:39.320 room that day. But you also get this failing that 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:41.520 this is a place something's going to happen at. I mean, 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:44.520 this is a place started like the box where Columbus 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:46.960 last thing you know, and he sailed offer to America 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:50.080 for Gene Krantz. It's only just now beginning to sink 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:52.800 in that today is the day they've been working towards 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:55.680 for the better part of a decade. He's wearing his 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:58.360 wife's good luck charm, a silver and white vest. She 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:00.800 makes a new one for each of her husband's, but 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:06.080 today's is especially beautiful. Elsewhere in Houston, the astronauts families 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:08.520 are just arriving home after a morning spent at church. 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:12.800 Each of their homes are surrounded by ravenous press. It 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:15.240 isn't long before a small army of friends and family, 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:18.440 most bearing pot like dishes begin showing up to offer 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:23.000 moral support. Inside TVs and coffee pots are already hard 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:26.479 at work. It's going to be a long day. In 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:28.800 the corner of each living room is a squawk box, 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:32.400 which NASA installed shortly before Apollo eleven launched into space. 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:35.120 The devices allow the families to listen in on the 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:38.880 communications between mission control and the spacecraft. Basically what you've 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:42.520 been hearing throughout this podcast. Joan Aldrin finds a spot 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:45.839 on the couch and lights a cigarette. The nearby ashtray 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:49.320 is already in desperate need of being emptied. Chain smoking 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:52.359 is an unfortunate side effect of being an astronaut's wife. 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:57.480 Back aboard Apollo eleven, the crew has donned their bulky 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:00.080 pressure garments, and Neil and Buzz have powered up the 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:03.760 lunar module. The time has come to separate the two spacecraft. 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:08.159 Michael seals the hatches and begins depressurizing the airlock. He 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:11.799 is now alone in the command module. Neil and Buzz 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:15.000 prepared to deploy the lunar modules for landing legs, which 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:19.960 until now have been tucked tight against the spacecraft's ungainly body. Okay, 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:24.200 we're gonna put our gear down the landing here, and 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:32.119 by damn about ain't no doubt about that. Inside the limb, 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:35.080 Neil and Buzz conduct a series of checks confirming their 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:39.280 guidance system, thrusters, descent propulsion system, and rendezvous radar are 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:43.480 all working properly. That last bit sounds innocuous, but it's not. 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:48.240 Remember the rendezvous radar follow eleven. Then we'll go for 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:54.120 undocking over Roger understand. As Apollo eleven curls around the 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:56.760 far side of the Moon, it once again loses radio 0:05:56.839 --> 0:05:59.760 contact with Houston, as will happen so often on this 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:03.960 massive and critical maneuvers are conducted without the comforting tether 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:15.880 of mission controls. Where are you at? Okay on a maneuver? 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:19.840 Nap to unlocking at you when you know? An't even 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:22.600 radarselves that is complete? Let me know and I'll check 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:27.000 out my fand finding there it is again. Rendezvous radar 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:30.440 on Buzzes checklist is the command to make sure the 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:33.840 radar is picking up a transponder on board the command module. 0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:36.840 This tells the LAMB where and how far away it is. 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:40.279 Without the transponder, it will be almost impossible to find 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:42.560 Michael in the command module once they leave the Moon. 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:52.360 Thanks man, it checked out. Exagur Ago you guys. The 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:55.960 two spacecraft separate, Michael has to ensure that he undocks 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:59.359 without damaging the seals on either module. If the docking 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:01.919 ports are damnitched, Neil and buzz will have to perform 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:05.120 a spacewalk tomorrow to get back in. But this is 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:07.640 Michael we're talking about, and he makes it look easy. 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:14.600 There is no more Apollo eleven. The Eagle and the 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:19.080 Columbia are now two separate spacecraft orbiting the Moon. Michael 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:21.680 allows Columbia to drift a short distance away from the 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:24.800 lunar module and takes the opportunity to inspect the eagles 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:28.320 exterior and to ensure the landing gear is properly deployed. 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:35.400 The MESA is a compartment on the belly of the 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:38.840 Eagle's descent stage that holds the various equipment and tools 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:42.160 the crew will need once they land. A moment later, 0:07:42.440 --> 0:07:44.920 the two spacecraft round the Moon and come back into 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:49.920 contact with mission control. Brock your hen and said, look, 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:57.200 I can find like a blant upside down. Somebody's upside 0:07:57.240 --> 0:08:01.120 down in space. There is no upside to out. Michael 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:05.119 fires Columbia's thrusters and moves himself away, ensuring the Eagle 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:08.600 is free and clear to navigate. The lamb initiates its 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:12.240 descent orbit insertion burn. This is not the big burn 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:13.680 that's going to get the Eagle down to the Moon, 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:16.080 but rather a short one to lower them down to 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:20.240 about fifty feet in preparation for their final descent. Every 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:23.080 second of the burn removes nearly two miles from their 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:26.560 health team from more of it. Michael watches the eagle 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:30.840 getting smaller and smaller until it disappears from view altogether. 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:37.080 Once again, the maneuver occurs out of radio contact with Houston. 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:41.040 Back in mission control, Jean kranslights a new cigarette. He 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:43.160 can't even count how many he's already had this morning. 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:46.240 He's been writing furiously in his log book and notices 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:49.160 that the pages are wet and beginning to curl. He's 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:53.520 sweating a lot. But at his console, Steve Baale suddenly 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:56.800 has nothing to do, and we've had about fifteen minutes 0:08:56.840 --> 0:09:01.440 to acquisition, and Jeane says, I want you flight controllers 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:04.360 to go to this special loop that was private. I 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:07.480 had to tell these kids how proud I was of 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:11.240 the work that they had done, and from this stay, 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:13.840 from the time that they were born, they were destined 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:16.719 to be here, and they're destined to do this job. 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:19.080 And it's the best team that has ever been assembled. 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:22.960 And today, without a doubt, we are going to write 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:24.640 in the history books and we're going to be the 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:28.360 team that takes an American to the moon. And do 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:31.800 you do not know how much that meant? For somebody 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:36.920 like myself sitting there at with do knowing what we 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:38.839 were going to have to do in the next few minutes. 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:42.160 His pep talk concluded, Jean has the doors to mission 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:46.480 control locked. No one can go in or out. It's 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:51.480 go time. We should have cut off by this time, 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:55.320 that should have completed the decent orbit insertion maneuver. Spacecraft 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:59.360 is now behind the Moon and the control team the 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:02.920 adrenal one, I mean just really was, no matter how 0:10:02.960 --> 0:10:05.319 you tried to hide it. The fact is is that 0:10:05.440 --> 0:10:12.520 you are really starting to pump. Might demand complaint. This 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:15.960 is a follow control of one hours fifty four minutes. 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:18.280 I believe. Back in the viewing room, we probably have 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:21.280 one of the largest assemblages of space officials that we've 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:24.680 ever seen in one place. Mission Control is bursting at 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:27.600 the seams with dignitaries and v I p s. Basically 0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:31.360 anyone who's anyone in NASA is here. It's growing quite 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:34.480 quiet here in mission control. A few moments ago, Flight 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:38.520 Director Jane Kranz requested that everyone sit down, get prepared 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:41.679 for events that are coming, and he closed with very 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:44.600 remark good luck to all of you. We are now 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:48.840 coming up on thirty seconds to acquisition of the command module. Well, 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:51.120 we do get our acquisition, but it is a most 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:55.960 horrible sounding noise that you've ever heard. Here we're getting 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:57.559 ready to go to the moon and we can't even 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:00.760 talk to the crew directly. We have to call Mike 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:04.439 Collins and the command module to relay data down in 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:07.480 the lunar model. Don't get any hear right here ago 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:18.720 for a five datement over com fun no and as 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:22.240 you can hear, the calms are terrible, But that isn't 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:27.160 stopping buzz from grinning ear to ear. Five seconds after 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:30.280 the engine ignites, Steve Bales once again loses all data 0:11:30.320 --> 0:11:32.480 from the moonship. When it comes back a minute or 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:35.760 so later, he sees something's not right. We were going 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:40.280 toward the moon per second fashion than we should have been. 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:42.640 If we get to thirty five ft per second, I've 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:45.960 got to stop the desa. I've got to call the board. Well, boy, 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:48.360 when you haven't even started down to the moon and 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:50.320 some guy comes to you and says, hey, we're halfway 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:52.760 to our aboard women to share, gets your attention. So 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:55.880 why was the lamb flying so much faster than anyone anticipated? 0:11:56.600 --> 0:12:00.880 Gene explains the crew had not fully pressed the tunnel 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:05.320 between the two space crafts, so when they blew the bolt, 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:08.400 there was a little residual air in there at let 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:10.640 start of like pop on a cark on a bottle. 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:13.160 But of course no one knows this at the time. 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:16.120 All they know is that for some reason, the spacecraft 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:19.120 is traveling faster than it should be. Either that or 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:22.760 something's wrong with the navigational computer. Either way, the tension 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:27.000 in mission control has now reached suffocating levels. Luckily, the 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:29.679 calms seem to be back, but then to take down 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:33.480 to dealt long. Neil has just recognized what Steve Bales 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:37.199 and everyone in mission control already knows. The lamb is 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:40.040 not where it's supposed to be. Neil is watching the 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:43.120 terrain go by outside his window, and he realizes they 0:12:43.160 --> 0:12:46.800 are going to overshoot their landing zone. Neil rotates the 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:50.439 lamb into a face up, feet forward position. This must 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:52.680 be done so that when the Eagle is put upright, 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:56.040 they will be facing forward during the landing. Now he 0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:58.000 and Buzz are looking at nothing but the void of 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:05.440 outer space, well not quite nothing. Back in mission control, 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:09.800 Steve Bales continues to monitor the lemb's progress Thankfully the 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:13.160 mooncraft has not gained any additional speed. That a word 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:16.040 danger that everyone feared no longer seems to be an issue, 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:18.640 and I think my big problem for the day is over. 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:23.319 Twenty seconds later, we'd get a program alarm, program alarm 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:30.840 about two about and I was frantically scrambling, Oh my guys, 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:33.640 it's one of those alarms who worked on. I have 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:36.880 the cheat sheet over in my left side, but before 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:40.240 I can even see it, Jack Garmin is yelling in 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:46.400 my air Steve, Steve, Remember it's executive overflowed the program alarm. 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:49.360 Neil and Buzz don't recognize the alarm, and they are 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:51.880 too busy to go rummaging through their manuals looking for 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:57.360 an explanation. Communication dropouts were a nuisance more than a danger, 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:03.240 but computer problem was a show stopper. I didn't really 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:08.040 know the consequences of those alarm, but fortunately Stephen oas 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:12.240 guys on g n N console new I say to 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:15.319 the flight director, we're going that alarm right here. We 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:19.360 got you. We're going at alarm. Do you recall the 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:21.440 story from our last episode that I told you to 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:25.040 remember the final simulation that mission control went through the 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:27.120 one that would never happen in real life, the one 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:30.400 that made geene Krants so angry. Well, this is real 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:33.880 life and the exact same thing is happening right now, 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:37.840 except this time mission control knows exactly what's going on, 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:40.880 and they all remember what they were told after the simulation. 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:45.240 You should not have aboorded some person, and we've never 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:48.280 been able to identify with The voice loop comes up 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:51.840 and says, this is just like a simulation. The Eagles 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:55.440 computer is overloaded with tasks. It cannot process them all. 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:58.440 The alarm is its way of saying, hey, everybody, I've 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:00.280 got a lot more on my plate than I can handle, 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:02.480 so I'm going to concentrate on the most critical items 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:06.800 and leave the rest for later. For nine, the Lembs 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:10.040 computer is as cutting edge as it gets. It has 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:13.040 two K of RAM and thirty six K of raw memory. 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:16.000 If you're not a computer person like me, those numbers 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:18.440 likely don't mean anything to you, so let me break 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:21.280 it down for you. The last email you sent was 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:24.440 likely twice as large as that. The lemb computer had 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:27.920 less memory than a high school graphing calculator, and yet 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:30.760 it got us to the mood. NASA was the first 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:33.800 in the world to use microchips, allowing them to power 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:36.480 a computer the size of a briefcase rather than a 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:39.600 machine the size of a room. The moon landing didn't 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:42.720 usher in the space age. It ushered in the digital age. 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:45.800 And just what is if it's causing the data overflow? 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:49.480 You probably figured it out by now. The rendezvous radar 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:52.440 buzz left it on just in case they needed to 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:54.720 abort and make a quick ascent back to Michael in 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:57.760 the command module. It proved one item too many for 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:04.800 the computer to handle. Okay, i'll flight controllers and should 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:16.400 be throttling down. You're looking great. Neil pitches the Eagle 0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:18.400 up so that the vehicle is now traveling with its 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:22.080 legs pointed down towards the Moon. They are over unfamiliar 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:25.360 territory on the southwestern edge of the Sea of Tranquility, 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:29.640 more than four miles beyond their target. Below them is 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:32.280 a deep crater the size of a football field, and 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:36.560 it is strew with massive boulders. Realizing that the autopilot 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:38.320 is going to try to land the spacecraft in the 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:41.960 middle of that crater, Neil disengages the computer and takes 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:45.440 control himself. He needs to find a new landing site. 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:50.040 His heartbeat has skyrocketed from seventy seven beats a minute 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:54.000 to fifty six. Okay, I'll flight comtrollers go, I'll go 0:16:54.080 --> 0:17:00.880 for landing retro. I don't know, sorry, good Go Capcom 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:04.120 or Gopher landing, Go get the year, go for landing over. 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:08.200 I heard a thank go for landing three thousands three alarm. 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:13.840 Another alarm, this time twelve o one. It's in the 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:16.720 same series as the one before, and Steve Bales doesn't 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:20.120 even hesitate this time. Okay, we're going to go. Thank 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:23.320 I We're go on board the LAMB. Neil is intent 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:27.040 on landing alarms or no alarms. You're always concerned when 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:31.080 any kind of alarm comes on. But uh my own 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:34.040 heeling was that as long as everything was going well 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:36.960 and looked right, I would be in favor of continuing, 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:44.800 no matter what the computers was complaining about it. There 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:47.719 doesn't seem to be anywhere to set down and aboard. 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:51.080 Suddenly seems very likely to have come this far only 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:54.800 to abandon their prize. Now, Neil Armstrong. It was far 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:57.880 and away the most complex part of them, the flight. 0:17:58.000 --> 0:18:01.040 The systems were very heavily loaded at that time. The 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:07.040 unknowns were rampant. The systems in this mode had only 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:10.200 been tested on Earth and never in the real environment. 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:13.639 There were just a thousand things to worry about in 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:17.560 the final descent. Nine and ninety nine of those things 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:21.280 are boulders the size of cars. It was a fairly 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:23.560 steep slope and it was covered with very big rocks. 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:28.280 There were some attractive areas half mile ahead or so, 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:32.880 so that's where I went. But now there's another even 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:36.159 more serious problem. They didn't plan for the descent to 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:38.520 take this long, and they are running out of fuel 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:43.919 fast level. While normally by the time he calls out 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:47.200 low level we have landed in training. Then we're not 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:50.359 even close to landing here. Back at her home in Houston, 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:54.080 Joan Aldrin rises to her feet, sways unsteadily for a moment, 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:57.000 and collapses onto the floor. She lays there for a 0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:01.919 few moments, absolutely overwhelmed. When she rises, she braces herself 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:11.119 against the wall for support. Break that a far feel okay, 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:15.520 look area. You may not have been able to make 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:18.120 that last bit out right before. Neil said he found 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:20.639 an area he likes. Buzz informed him that they are 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:23.880 down to eight percent of their fuel it's now or never. 0:19:24.920 --> 0:19:31.680 A lot before it got about break, I got a 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:36.000 good Neil just said he's got a good spot. I 0:19:36.280 --> 0:19:43.760 part five quantity light. That's how much fuel they have left. Hey, 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:49.959 that's looking good. Down a half look forward sex day 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:55.760 saconds sixty seconds. Mission control is telling Neil that if 0:19:55.800 --> 0:19:58.080 he's not on the ground in one minute, he has 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:03.800 to abort the landing or fade down at above the 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:07.000 lunar surface, and buzzes noticing that their descent engine is 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:11.600 starting to disturb the lunar dust. Far forward, Far Forward 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:17.360 dripped into the right level half. Neil must put down 0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:20.840 within thirty seconds or abort the mission. There's a lot 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:23.600 of concern about coming close to running out a fuel, 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:28.560 But I didn't know that if I could have my 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:33.840 speed stabilized and attitude stabilized, I could fall from fairly 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:38.240 good height Propps, maybe forty feet or more, and in 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:41.639 the low lunar gravity, the gear would distorb that much fall. 0:20:42.080 --> 0:20:45.159 That was Neil armstrong. Given that the Moon's gravity is 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:48.000 one six of that on Earth. Neil is planning on 0:20:48.119 --> 0:20:51.480 letting the landers simply dropped to the surface. Here's the 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:54.360 thing about the lemb's legs. They were designed to get crushed. 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:58.280 Inside the struts is a honeycomb structure that will compress 0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:00.879 on landing. Neil is that if they run out of 0:21:00.920 --> 0:21:03.359 fuel and aren't too high when it happens, they can 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:06.639 simply fall in the moon significantly lower gravity, and the 0:21:06.800 --> 0:21:10.280 legs will absorb the impact. There are only three options 0:21:10.320 --> 0:21:12.480 that day. Either going to land, You're going to a board. 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:14.879 You're gonna crash. There's no more what happens. I'm not 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:16.720 gonna call a boar. The crew is close enough to 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:19.400 the surface. I'm gonna let them give it their best shot. 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:25.480 Carlton was just ready to say fifteen seconds and anyway 0:21:25.560 --> 0:21:29.360 here the crow say contact right. Three of the four 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:32.960 lamb footpads are equipped with nearly six ft long probes 0:21:33.240 --> 0:21:35.680 to alert the crew in contact with the surfaces made. 0:21:36.240 --> 0:21:42.000 At least one of those probes has made contact with 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:44.399 a jolt, not unlike a passenger jet touching down on 0:21:44.440 --> 0:21:48.120 a runaway, the lamb comes to a stop. The silence 0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:52.119 is deafening. The two men glance at each other in relief. 0:21:52.800 --> 0:21:55.359 The eagle has only forty five seconds worth of fuel 0:21:55.440 --> 0:21:59.760 remaining because of avoiding hostile terrain, their descent has taken 0:21:59.800 --> 0:22:03.400 your thirteen minutes longer than planned and burned roughly five 0:22:03.520 --> 0:22:07.080 hundred and thirty unplanned pounds of fuel. Neil's heart rate 0:22:07.200 --> 0:22:10.080 is a thunderous one and fifty beats per minute, and 0:22:10.160 --> 0:22:13.160 they are approximately four miles from where they planned on landing, 0:22:13.720 --> 0:22:18.120 but they are on the Moon. Outside Neil sees something 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:22.520 that takes his breath away. Was absolutely dumbfounded when I 0:22:22.600 --> 0:22:27.080 shut the rocket engine off and the particles were going 0:22:27.160 --> 0:22:30.120 out radially from the bottom of the engine belt all 0:22:30.200 --> 0:22:34.800 the way all over the horizon and instantaneously disappeared. There 0:22:34.920 --> 0:22:37.600 is so little atmospheric resistance on the Moon that the 0:22:37.720 --> 0:22:40.840 lunar dust scattered by the lembs exhaust raced away from 0:22:40.840 --> 0:22:43.720 the spacecraft at the speed of a bullet and traveled 0:22:43.840 --> 0:22:48.800 halfway around the Moon before it finally settled. Buzz grabs 0:22:48.880 --> 0:22:53.280 Neil's hand and whispers, we made it, and here the 0:22:53.400 --> 0:22:57.320 ankle has landed. Rocket crank quiality. We caty on the ground. 0:22:57.520 --> 0:22:59.600 You gotta fight the guys about the turn blue. We're 0:22:59.640 --> 0:23:03.840 breathing again. So long as the spacecraft is resting on 0:23:03.920 --> 0:23:06.359 the Moon, it will no longer be referred to as 0:23:06.400 --> 0:23:10.920 the Eagle. Now it is Tranquility Base. I was so 0:23:11.080 --> 0:23:15.600 excited I couldn't get out Tranquility Base. It came out. 0:23:15.640 --> 0:23:19.160 So I'm like Roger Houston, Tranquility Base, and I believe 0:23:19.200 --> 0:23:21.440 that's true. It was a true statement, was spontaneous, but 0:23:21.560 --> 0:23:23.720 it was true. I mean we were I was holding 0:23:23.760 --> 0:23:26.200 my breath, you know, because we were close. I don't 0:23:26.240 --> 0:23:29.720 think any of us breathed for that last sixty seconds. 0:23:30.119 --> 0:23:34.080 All across the Earth, time has stopped. Six d and 0:23:34.200 --> 0:23:37.800 fifty million people are glued to their televisions, making the 0:23:37.880 --> 0:23:42.919 moon landing the most watched television event in history. It's 0:23:42.960 --> 0:23:46.480 to seventeen PM in Houston, Texas. As her friends and 0:23:46.520 --> 0:23:50.320 family erupt into cheers, Joan Altering excuses herself and sneaks 0:23:50.320 --> 0:23:53.280 away into her husband's study, closing the door behind her. 0:23:54.000 --> 0:23:57.359 She wakes up several moments later, having passed out a 0:23:57.440 --> 0:23:59.400 few feet away from her As a fall and matchbook, 0:23:59.800 --> 0:24:01.640 the her limbs feel as if they are no longer 0:24:01.720 --> 0:24:04.960 in her control. She claus for the matchbook and curls 0:24:04.960 --> 0:24:07.960 her fingers around it, desperate for the feel of something 0:24:08.080 --> 0:24:12.240 real and tangible. She remains in this position for several minutes, 0:24:12.480 --> 0:24:16.200 regaining her composure before rising, smoothing out her dress and 0:24:16.320 --> 0:24:19.760 rejoining the others in the living room. See all smiles. 0:24:20.000 --> 0:24:24.400 She tells them, no more tears. But on CBS News, 0:24:24.760 --> 0:24:28.560 Walter Krunkite is in tears. U S soldiers in Vietnam 0:24:28.720 --> 0:24:32.600 crowd around handheld radios even as mortars fall all around them. 0:24:33.119 --> 0:24:36.280 In New York City, the Yankees are playing the Washington Senators. 0:24:36.720 --> 0:24:39.359 The gathered fans erupt in cheers as they're on The 0:24:39.440 --> 0:24:42.600 Moon flashes on the scoreboard, and the game is paused 0:24:42.840 --> 0:24:46.520 while the crowd spontaneously begins to seeing America the beautiful. 0:24:47.880 --> 0:24:50.680 Ten thousand people gathered in Central Park to watch the 0:24:50.800 --> 0:24:55.640 landing on giant screens erupt in ear splitting applause. Thousands 0:24:55.680 --> 0:24:58.720