WEBVTT - July 21, 1969 / Lunatics 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 Draft Studios in association with High five Content. 0:00:07.880 --> 0:00:11.640 It's July eighteenth, just two days before Apollo eleven is 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:14.720 set to land on the moon. White House speech writer 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:17.520 Bill Sapphire sits down at his desk to write a 0:00:17.560 --> 0:00:21.280 speech he hopes the world will never hear. Sapphire has 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:25.000 the unenviable job of giving President Richard Nixon words of 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:28.400 comfort for the nation. Should Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldren 0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:31.240 not make it off the surface of the moon. Just 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:33.800 stop and think about that for a second. Pretend you 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:37.640 don't know how this mission ends. Put yourself in Sapphire's place. 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:41.840 On July eighteenth, Apollo eleven's triumphant history hadn't even been 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:46.560 written yet, and given this astronomical challenge, the president had 0:00:46.600 --> 0:00:49.199 to prepare for the worst. I will now read you 0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:52.120 the memo in its entirety, as President Nixon would have 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:57.640 had tragedy befallen Apollo eleven. Fate has ordained that the 0:00:57.680 --> 0:00:59.920 men who went to the Moon to explore in peace 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:03.560 will stay on the moon to rest in peace. These 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:07.360 brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldren know that there 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:10.319 is no hope for their recovery, but they also know 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:14.240 that there is hope for mankind. In their sacrifice. These 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:17.600 two men are laying down their lives in mankind's most 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:22.640 noble goal, the search for truth and understanding. They will 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:25.240 be mourned by their families and friends. They will be 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:27.960 mourned by their nation. They will be mourned by the 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:30.600 people of the world. They will be mourned by a 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:34.240 mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:38.240 the unknown. In their exploration, they stirred the people of 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:42.320 the world to feel as one. In their sacrifice, they 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:46.880 bind more tightly the brotherhood of man. In ancient days, 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:50.720 men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:54.200 In modern times we do much the same, but our 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:58.560 heroes are epic men of flesh and blood. Others will 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:02.640 follow and surely find their way home. Man's search will 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:06.760 not be denied. But these men were the first, and 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:10.160 they will remain the foremost in our hearts. For every 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:12.160 human being who looks up at the moon and the 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:15.160 nights to come will know that there is some corner 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:21.520 of another world that is forever mankind. That letter now 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:26.520 rests in the National Archives in Washington, d C. Other 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:29.400 than some manageable issues with the computer during lunar descent, 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:33.520 the Apollo elevin mission has gone off without a hitch. Then, 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:36.040 last night, as buzz Aldrin lay on the floor of 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:38.880 the lunar module trying to sleep, he noticed that the 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:41.919 switch that supplies electrical power to their ascend engine had 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:44.560 been snapped off, probably when he and Neil were taking 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:47.480 off their bulky gear from the moonwalk. Without that switch, 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:51.239 there is no way they're getting off the moon. Sapphire's 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:58.760 letter now seems hauntingly prophetic. It's July, day six of 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:02.320 the Apollo eleven mission. Since the dawn of time, the 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:05.800 Moon has captured the human imagination. It began as an 0:03:05.800 --> 0:03:11.240 object of spiritual influence and veneration. As science gradually replaced mysticism, 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:15.760 the moon became an object of profound intellectual curiosity. We 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:18.200 spent a lot of time discussing how we got to 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:20.119 the Moon and what we did once we got there, 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:22.560 but we spent hardly any time at all talking about 0:03:22.560 --> 0:03:25.760 the moon itself. Today, we're going to dive into how 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:28.240 the Moon has been viewed down through time, how it 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:31.920 was created, and what it is still teaching US high 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:35.160 in orbit around the Moon. Command Module pilot Michael Collins 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:37.760 is woken by Ronald Evans and the capcom seat back 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:49.960 in Mission Control. Morning Morning. In just a few hours, 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:53.400 the Eagle, currently resting on a lunar surface as Tranquility Base, 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:56.280 will leave the Moon and climb through space to reunite 0:03:56.360 --> 0:04:00.280 with the Columbia. But before that happens, Michael has a 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:02.880 lot of work to do. He has eight hundred and 0:04:02.880 --> 0:04:05.880 fifty individual key commands to work through in the coming hours, 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:08.960 eight hundred and fifty chances for me to screw it up. 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:13.120 Michael things. Now it's time to wake the occupants of 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:21.920 Tranquility Base. Except they're already awake. Tranquility Base, Houston, Corny Houston, 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:26.000 Transquility Base. Did you get a chance to curl up 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:30.120 on the engine camp? All right? Drew deals ate so 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:34.760 really good at Hammock with weights, and he's been lying 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:37.240 on the at an engine cover, and I curled up. 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:41.520 The truth is neither Neil Armstrong nor Buzz altern got 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:45.480 very much sleep last night, between the terrible accommodations, temperatures 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:48.520 that never exceeded sixty one degrees fahrenheit all the blinking 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:51.039 console lates in the darkness, and the knowledge that there 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:54.000 only means off this rock was compromised. The two men 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:57.839 spent a miserable night shivering inside their space suits. Finally, 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:00.599 Buzz gave up trying to sleep and turned attention to 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:03.839 the broken switch. Without the ability to trip that switch, 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:08.400 the Eagle isn't going anywhere. They go to Columbia. This 0:05:08.600 --> 0:05:13.040 is a backup crew or congratulations for yesterday's performance person 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:17.600 with as Neil and Buzz prepare their moonship for departure. 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:19.800 They take a couple of minutes to gaze out the 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:23.880 windows at the magnificent desolation outside and snap a few photos. 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:27.279 They even turn the cameras on each other, capturing several 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:32.600 iconic images. Both men looked positively exhausted, yet there's a 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:36.040 sparkle in their eyes, the sign of having experienced something 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:40.479 utterly transcendent. Okay, we're going for this top and we'll 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:47.640 stave with THETFC rogers. That's correct, batteries. They're going e 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:51.200 D stands for explosive devices. When they are ready to launch, 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:55.279 small targeted explosions will separate the ascent stage from the 0:05:55.320 --> 0:06:07.240 descent stage. That's like a board Okay, it's finally time 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:10.680 to address that busted circuit breaker. As you can hear, clearly, 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:13.159 both the crew and mission control think this launch is 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:16.280 going to happen. So how did they fix it? Given 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:18.440 the fact that the lunar module is perhaps the most 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:22.039 technologically advanced thing humans have ever created up to that point, 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:25.200 and that an army of America's brightest minds are on 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:29.160 the astronaut's proverbial speed dial, you might be expecting some complex, 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:33.440 high tech solution, but no. Buzz saved the day with 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:35.720 something he found in the pocket of his flight suit, 0:06:36.279 --> 0:06:39.640 a chrome body felt tip pen. He sized it against 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:41.839 the whole where the broken switch used to be and 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:44.960 discovered that it was almost the exact same size. Buzz 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:48.040 stabbed the pen into the cavity and discovered, to everyone's relief, 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:52.159 that it fits perfectly. The ascent engine had its power 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:55.800 going to and from the Moon was an unbroken daisy 0:06:55.880 --> 0:07:02.440 chain of dumbfounding successes, both sophisticated and simple, more than 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:05.560 sixty miles above them. Michael feels like a nervous bride. 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:08.960 Despite nearly two decades of flying and thousands of hours 0:07:08.960 --> 0:07:11.960 in the cockpit, he has never been more anxious than today. 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:15.000 If everything goes according to plan, he merely has to 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:17.040 sit tight and wait for Neil and Buzz to come 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:19.680 to him. But if there are any issues after they 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:23.040 blast off, he may have to swoop down and retrieve them. 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:26.800 He needs to be prepared for anything. Michael has been 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:30.000 harboring a secret dread for months now that something is 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:32.840 going to go wrong on the Moon, stranding his teammates 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:35.720 and forcing him to abandon them and return to Earth alone. 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:38.680 Michael knows that if Neil and Buzz die on the Moon, 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:42.080 the mission will forever be viewed as a tragedy rather 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:46.320 than a success. And you're plays for take off rather 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:58.760 understand one. On the one, he h the ascent engine 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:01.320 is their only way off the mood. There is no 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:05.040 plan B. If the ascent engine fails to work, Tranquility 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:08.680 Base will become a memorial. That's something eleven year old 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:11.680 Andy Aldrin, Buzz's youngest son, who was glued to the 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:15.480 TV beside his mother, understood all too well. That was 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:18.239 the one time that I was, you know, a little 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:22.119 bit freaked out because I had complete and total faith 0:08:22.880 --> 0:08:25.640 and Nassa's ability to execute the mission. A complete and 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:30.560 total faith in the technology, but I was very much 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:33.120 aware that in order to get off of the Moon, 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:37.800 one engine had to work. Lunar ascent engine, you know, 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:39.920 it wasn't like the regular launch where you can do 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:44.080 it do over. To minimize any potential complications, NASA designed 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:46.880 the engine to be as simple as possible. It doesn't 0:08:46.920 --> 0:08:50.000 even need an ignition source. Twin pumps combine the fuel 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:52.840 and the oxidizer, which combust on contact with each other, 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:56.719 and away they go. At least that's the plan. A 0:08:56.800 --> 0:08:59.480 split second before the engine is to fire, a horizontal 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:03.199 guillotine severs power cables between the two stages, and explosive 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:06.719 bolts disconnect them from each other. The engine fires, and 0:09:06.800 --> 0:09:09.719 in a cloud of moon dust and insulation, flings the 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:14.880 ascent stage from the lunar surface. And look at that 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:22.760 stuff all over the make up. Back on Earth. Glued 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:25.840 to their living room television sets, Janet Armstrong and Joan 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:29.760 Aldren begin weeping with relief. As the eagle rises, Buzz 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:32.560 allows himself a quick glance out the window. The bottom 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:35.120 half of the lamp shrinks beneath him, surrounded by all 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:37.400 the experiments and litter they left on the surface to 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:40.880 lighten the vehicle. The flag they planted yesterday, which was 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:43.679 so hard to drive into the compacted soil, is blown 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:47.439 over by their exhaust, and everywhere are their bootprints, evidence 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:51.040 that humans trod and another world. Given the Moon's lack 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:55.000 of atmosphere, wind, or water, those bootprints remain there still today, 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:58.160 just as they left them, a silent witness to history, 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:01.360 and they will remain that way for millions of years. 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:05.680 Shortly before Neil and Buzz left for the lunar surface, 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:08.439 mission control told them what they might expect to find 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:12.000 on the Moon. Watch for a lovely girl with a 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:16.200 big rabbit. An ancient legend says a beautiful Chinese girl 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:20.720 called Chango has been living there for four thousand years. 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:25.280 It seems she was Spanish to the Moon because she's 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:30.079 told the tale of immortality from her husband. You might 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:34.079 also look for her companion, a large Chinese rabbit. And 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:38.040 you're seeing the live feet from Changa Probe. This is 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:42.000 the pictures taken on the camera of Changa three off 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:44.800 the lunar surface. It should come as no surprise, then, 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:47.319 that when the Chinese landed a rover on the Moon 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:53.240 in December, it was named Jade rabbit. It landed all 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:57.719 the moon. Tom Lofree is all the man Chung and 0:10:57.840 --> 0:11:00.839 her rabbit are just one of countless myths associated with 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:05.559 our celestial neighbor. The Moon has attracted our attention for 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:10.320 not just millennia, not just tens of thousands of years, 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:14.959 but presumably even longer. Humans probably even pre humans, have 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:17.360 been looking at the Moon since the beginning of time, 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:21.280 because it's this object that's always there, and it's much 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:23.240 larger than any of the other objects in the sky. 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:26.440 Those two voices you just heard are Dr Ed Krupp, 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:29.559 the director of the Griffith Observatory, my favorite spot in 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:33.200 Los Angeles, and Dr Eddie Dove, a planetary scientist at 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:35.760 the University of Central Florida. You know what, You could 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:40.400 look at almost any civilization in antiquity and you would 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:45.640 find immediately that the moon was deified. There are countless 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:48.679 legends about the moon spanning every culture on Earth, and 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:52.439 this would apply for example, chancient Egypt, the moon was 0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:56.200 known as con su Uh, and it was in fact 0:11:56.520 --> 0:12:00.679 a personification of the moon and was a very important 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:05.800 part of Egyptian religion and and Mesopotamia. Uh the god 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:09.280 was known as Sing You can go to ancient Greece, 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:14.760 where the moon was a woman who drove a chariot 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:18.920 across the sky. Selny was her name, and she followed 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:22.160 the highway of the Moon and the Sun through the stars, 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:26.480 just as the moon does. The Romans basically took that 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:31.079 same image, modified it slightly, but the goddess Luna was 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:34.559 the Roman goddess of the moon, and so it would go. 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:38.319 You can work your way around the world from one 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:41.600 culture to the next. To the Hindus, the moon is Soma. 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:45.600 To the Maya, she is so Chill, the goddess of fertility. 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:48.800 For the Inuit, it's the god and Incoan who spends 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:52.400 every day chasing the sun goddess. Mad with lust, his 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:54.959 body waxes and wanes as he expands all of his 0:12:55.120 --> 0:12:58.160 energy towards the chase, disappearing a dozen times a year 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:00.719 to hunt and gorge himself for the next leg of 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:04.640 the hunt. Two tribes in Western Africa the moon is 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:07.480 ma Wu, one half of an epic love affair with 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:10.839 the sun goddess Lisa Eclipse, as they claim, are the 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:14.400 deities in the throes of love making. Ancient culture is 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:16.960 quickly realized that the moon was more than a source 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:19.400 of light and beauty, It was also a means by 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:23.040 which they could chart time. Our word moon is actually 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:27.040 derived from an archaic word that means to measure, and 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:31.880 that alone tells you that from deepest antiquity, the moon 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:35.880 was in fact a vehicle for measurement. It would tick 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:41.920 out these convenient bundles of days one month or month 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:45.480 after another as it went through those changes of phases 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:49.520 and those months. Those cycles of the moon seemed at 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:53.280 least to a degree, coordinated with the seasons, and the 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:58.360 seasons are what it's really all about. Changing seasons affected 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:02.480 anyone's ability to serve vibe. Many Chinese festivals are rooted 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:05.520 in the lunar calendar, and both Judaism and Islam are 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:08.959 guided by its celestial ebb and flow. The moon has 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:11.880 long been fought to have the power over people's bodies 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:17.280 and minds. The association of the moon with fertility is 0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:21.920 part of this idea of the birth and growth and 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:25.280 death and rebirth of the moon. You have the parable 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:31.320 of fertility built into this idea of cyclical renewal. Fertility 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:33.640 in the moon have long been linked since the female 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:36.440 menstrual cycle and the lunar cycle are of similar length. 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:41.680 People say that there are more babies born, for example, 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:44.280 at the time of the full moon, but when you 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:47.680 actually do the statistics, this just doesn't pan out. While 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:50.560 such police don't hold water in our scientific era, Dr 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:53.320 Crupp thinks they made perfect sense to our ancestors. And 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:56.160 you can easily imagine people looking at the world and 0:14:56.320 --> 0:15:00.240 trying to understand how it works, and the most iCal 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:03.720 thing they see is that things essentially come and go, 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:09.960 whether it's the plants seasonally, uh animals, other living things, 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:16.680 and including ourselves. And this idea of birth, growth, death, 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:22.680 and then rebirth is absolutely underscored in the changing phases 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:26.440 of the moon over the monthly cycle. Historically, the moon 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:29.200 has been blamed for the darker elements of the human personality, 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:33.800 from sleepwalking and suicide to criminal activity and violence. The moon, 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:37.240 it has been claimed, can drive people mad. In fact, 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:40.440 the words lunacy and lunatic are derived from the Latin 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:44.080 name for the moon, Luna. The strange case of Dr 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:47.040 Jekyl and Mr Hyde was inspired by the strange but 0:15:47.120 --> 0:15:49.960 true tale of a Lendoner who committed crimes during the 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:55.200 full moon, and of course, the most obvious application of 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:58.720 lunar madness that most people UH know about comes to 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:03.200 us via holl He would from a European tradition, and 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:06.760 this is the idea of the werewolf, where a human 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:23.800 being is transformed at the time of full moon. There 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:28.080 you go here one minute, here, look very good. Back 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:31.120 on the eagle. The moon is falling away. A very 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:34.400 quiet ride, just a little bit of a slow walloway 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:41.400 back and forth, Grand fine I d. Soon the Eagle 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:44.520 reaches a vertical speed of eight ft per second. The 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:47.680 lamb is now soaring over the same landmarks it descended 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:52.480 over yesterday. Seven minutes later, the engine cuts offine engine 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:56.640 or down. Now that the engine is shut down, and 0:16:56.760 --> 0:16:59.600 Neil and buzzer once again in micro gravity, the men 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:02.240 noticed a slight haze in the cabin. It's all that 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:05.400 lunar dust now hovering in the air all around them. 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:17.480 Here you go, the whole world in product. Now that 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:19.640 the Eagle is in lunar orbit, it's safe to turn 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:23.679 on their rendezvous radar again. In our minds, miseducated by 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:26.320 too many sci fi movies, we think of a spacecraft 0:17:26.440 --> 0:17:29.399 merely lifting off and zooming straight to its rendezvous. But 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:32.440 that's not how orbital mechanics work. From the moment the 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:35.320 ascent engine fired to the docking of the two craft, 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:38.879 three and a half hours and two orbits pass before 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:42.520 they can dock. Eagle has to match Columbia's orbital shape, height, 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:45.120 and speed, and they don't have a lot of fuel 0:17:45.160 --> 0:17:48.440 to do it with. As Michael monitors their progress, he's 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:51.520 relieved his greatest fear has not come to pass, But 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:53.680 now he wonders if they have enough fuel to catch 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:56.760 each other. Luckily, as you may remember from episode two, 0:17:57.359 --> 0:18:00.800 Buzz literally wrote the book on rendezvous in outer space. 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:06.000 Here in mission control, flight operations Director Chris Kraft commented 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:08.800 that he felt, like some five hundred million people around 0:18:08.800 --> 0:18:11.440 the world. We're helping push Eagle off the Moon and 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:14.000 back into orbit. Now it's time for a series of 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:16.840 short burns to get the two craft back to each other. 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:26.600 The Eagles about one nautical miles away from Columbia and 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:35.000 closing at roughly per second. Since the Eagles set down 0:18:35.080 --> 0:18:38.639 far outside its predicted landing zone yesterday, NASA had Michael 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:41.520 training his instruments on the Sea of Tranquility with every pass, 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:44.280 trying to locate the ship. He was never able to 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:49.040 find his crewmates. This is Apollo Control range between Eagle 0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:53.680 and Columbiana, showing sixty seven point five nautical miles closure 0:18:53.800 --> 0:18:59.560 ratecond black team of flight controllers here in mission control 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:02.560 or or less and an advisory capacity and hearing this 0:19:03.000 --> 0:19:06.520 round the boos sequence. They're actively computing when over times, 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:10.480 but in the final analysis, it's onboard confrontations by the 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:14.880 crew of Columbia and the Eagle which really bring about 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:17.520 the round the boom. Up to this point, Michael has 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:20.240 just been waiting. Now he begins to prepare the Command 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:27.240 and Service module to meet the limb. Okay, two burns down, 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:30.840 only one to go. The fancy orbital mechanics are more 0:19:30.920 --> 0:19:33.400 or less done. The two spacecraft are less than forty 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:36.159 miles apart, now close enough for a line of sight thrust. 0:19:39.600 --> 0:19:41.960 The Eagle is making a bee line straight for Columbia. 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:44.920 It is now about fifteen miles below the Command Service 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:49.159 Module and closing aboard Columbia. Michael feels like a hotel 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:52.600 manager preparing to welcome guests in from the cold. He's 0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:55.240 looking for the Eagle through the sextant. The Limb starts 0:19:55.280 --> 0:19:58.720 off as a tiny, indecipherable blinking light framed by the 0:19:58.840 --> 0:20:02.159 enormity of the Moon, but soon it's recognizable bug like 0:20:02.280 --> 0:20:07.480 shape comes into view. For millennia, humans look to the 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:10.399 heavens and try to tease out their fate, messages from 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:14.680 their gods and portends for their lives. Then Galileo Galilei 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:18.760 changed everything. In sixteen o nine, he used a telescope 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:21.960 to examine the sky, not for signs and wonders, but 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:27.200 to understand it scientifically doctor ed Krupp. When Galileo first 0:20:27.320 --> 0:20:30.760 points a telescope up to the sky a little over 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:34.880 four hundred years ago and looks add among other things, 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:38.359 the Moon, he winds up not just finding out something 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:42.399 about the Moon, but transforming our perspective on the Earth, 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:47.040 on the universe, and on ourselves. Since Aristotle, it was 0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:50.639 believed that space was part of nested heavenly orbs, and 0:20:50.760 --> 0:20:54.320 that all the celestial bodies, including the Moon, were perfect spheres. 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:59.160 But Galileo challenged accepted orthodoxy largely unchanged since the third 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:04.879 century Dr Eddie Dove. When Galileo built his telescope, he 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:08.399 was able to start doing even finer details of what 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:10.720 he could see on the lunar surface. It was this 0:21:10.960 --> 0:21:14.760 completely different way of looking at the universe. Galileo saw 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:17.959 shadows on the Moon's surface, indicating that it was not smooth. 0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:22.359 It had lofty mountains and deep chasms. Once Galileo, U 0:21:22.520 --> 0:21:25.359 and then other astronomers were able to start looking and 0:21:25.440 --> 0:21:27.760 finder detail, we could see that there was this other 0:21:27.880 --> 0:21:31.800 planetary body that's actually shaped by the similar processes to 0:21:31.840 --> 0:21:34.240 what we have here on Earth. Telescopes didn't mean we 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:39.440 got everything right. Prominent astronomers began predicting entire civilizations lived 0:21:39.440 --> 0:21:43.000 on the Moon. Even William Herschel, the British astronomer who 0:21:43.040 --> 0:21:46.480 discovered Urnus, asserted that evidence of aliens could be clearly 0:21:46.560 --> 0:21:49.920 seen through his telescope. Still, later observers thought that the 0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:53.399 dark patches might be oceans of liquid water, while others 0:21:53.480 --> 0:21:56.600 swore they could make out vegetation, and where there is 0:21:56.640 --> 0:22:00.920 water and flora, they said there must be life. In fact, 0:22:01.200 --> 0:22:03.320 it wasn't until Neil and Buzz set down on the 0:22:03.400 --> 0:22:07.040 Moon that it finally began giving up its secrets. Sure, 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:09.879 we built ever better telescopes over the centuries, and then 0:22:09.920 --> 0:22:12.840 built spacecraft to photograph the Moon from orbit, but it 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:16.520 wasn't until the twentieth century that astronomers applied the principles 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:19.440 of geology to the study of the Moon and began 0:22:19.560 --> 0:22:23.840 forming hypotheses around how it came to be. Apollo eleven's 0:22:23.920 --> 0:22:27.280 up close inspection and the keepsakes they brought back transformed 0:22:27.320 --> 0:22:30.639 our understanding about what the Moon is. More on that. 0:22:30.880 --> 0:22:34.600 In a moment right now in Columbia, Michael is preparing 0:22:34.680 --> 0:22:47.159 to welcome his shipmates home. Doctor it won't belong now. 0:22:47.560 --> 0:22:50.280 Buzz can see Michael orienting the capsule for their docking. 0:22:50.720 --> 0:22:53.240 Michael turns on the video camera to film the Eagle's 0:22:53.280 --> 0:23:01.200 approachak O. Michael is about to take one of the 0:23:01.240 --> 0:23:05.080 most famous pictures of the entire Apollo program. In one image, 0:23:05.440 --> 0:23:08.800 he gets the Earth, the Moon, and the Eagle. Every 0:23:08.880 --> 0:23:12.919 single human being alive is in that one picture, except 0:23:13.000 --> 0:23:19.160 for one himself. Okay, by got it. Neil and Buzz 0:23:19.240 --> 0:23:21.720 bring the Eagle to a stop, and Mike swoops down 0:23:21.800 --> 0:23:25.480 to complete the docking. Jesus, he thinks to himself, we're 0:23:25.520 --> 0:23:28.320 really going to pull this off. There's a slight nudge 0:23:28.400 --> 0:23:36.480 as the spacecraft meet. I'll tell you right there. Both 0:23:36.520 --> 0:23:38.199 spacecraft have been on the far side of the Moon 0:23:38.320 --> 0:23:40.680 for this final maneuver. They now re emerge on the 0:23:40.760 --> 0:23:46.040 Earth facing side as a single spacecraft control Columbia Eagle 0:23:46.160 --> 0:23:58.840 now reunited to become Apollo eleven again. I can. When 0:23:58.880 --> 0:24:01.639 Michael opens the hatch upgrading the two ships, he finds 0:24:01.720 --> 0:24:04.480 himself face to face with Buzz covered in moon dust. 0:24:05.119 --> 0:24:07.960 Michael is overwhelmed with a sudden urge to grab Buzz's 0:24:08.000 --> 0:24:10.800 balding head and give it a kiss, but imagines that 0:24:10.880 --> 0:24:13.040 act making it into the history books and decides to 0:24:13.080 --> 0:24:16.120 shake his hand instead. Buzz and Neil start passing Michael 0:24:16.160 --> 0:24:25.119 their moon samples of the lot. Michael quickly realizes he 0:24:25.160 --> 0:24:26.840 has to ensure he has a firm hold on the 0:24:26.920 --> 0:24:29.560 rock boxes. As heavy as they are, they feel as 0:24:29.600 --> 0:24:31.639 if they could easily get away from him and sail 0:24:31.800 --> 0:24:34.080 right through the side of the ship. Hello, you go 0:24:34.280 --> 0:24:37.320 give it a beerad over. That's Charlie Duke in the 0:24:37.359 --> 0:24:40.160 capcom seat he took over from Evans while Apollo eleven 0:24:40.240 --> 0:24:42.159 was on the far side of the Moon. Since the 0:24:42.200 --> 0:24:44.480 Eagle is now docked tight, Michael lets him know it's 0:24:44.520 --> 0:24:49.280 the Columbia. He's reached. Clambi Radiol. We're all right back 0:24:49.359 --> 0:24:52.399 and back and now we're running a brand, your degerd 0:24:52.480 --> 0:24:57.040 Decker and going well. Roger Egal correct and rode to Clambia. 0:24:57.080 --> 0:24:59.960 Weake copy you go, you lead it to the fine 0:25:00.040 --> 0:25:03.880 Now get friendly white tame on Beyon do we get 0:25:03.960 --> 0:25:07.400 be on the way home. And we'd like to congratulate 0:25:08.520 --> 0:25:11.560 everybody on a Corrindau and a beautiful b d A. 0:25:12.040 --> 0:25:16.560 It was a great deal for everybody. Or I don't. 0:25:17.880 --> 0:25:20.280 Now that everyone is united and the lunar samples have 0:25:20.359 --> 0:25:23.399 been stowed aboard Columbia, it's time to say goodbye to 0:25:23.520 --> 0:25:26.760 the eagle. Hello Columbia, and we'd like you to start down. 0:25:26.840 --> 0:25:29.800 You get up and pickle or they can't take the 0:25:29.840 --> 0:25:33.720 eagle home with him. It's done its jobs spectacularly, but 0:25:33.800 --> 0:25:38.240 it's no longer needed. You can get a pendicure convenience. Okay, 0:25:38.440 --> 0:25:41.480 under gone. Have you ever tiered up getting rid of 0:25:41.520 --> 0:25:44.320