WEBVTT - July 16, 1969 / “We Have Liftoff!” 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:02.440 Nine Days in July is a production of I Heart 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:12.840 Radio and Trade Traft Studios in association with High five Content. Okay, 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:17.480 off flight Controller's got I'll go for power decent retro FI. 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:23.919 Don't go guide and control Calcom, go Sergeant, go Capcom, 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:27.160 or go for power decent. We don't get any here 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:30.720 A year ago for a power decent over backer copy. 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:34.320 You think you knew this story, are right before good 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:39.320 A couple on day protoomum, but you don't proto auto 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:44.760 d R pop. But read that pop. But at the 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:51.680 border board day read that program alarm the trolbo toobo 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:55.160 to gether the reading on the twelve boat through program 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:59.920 alarm into the agg degree posy to pick that ray. 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:04.880 Feel it to be a little louder. Rock are hundred 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:08.360 ft down at nine things six hundred feet. They're four 0:01:08.440 --> 0:01:11.679 hundred feet down at nine pay forward four hundred feet 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:16.680 Thannard faid down for app pouring forward three hundred feet. 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:21.480 I don't want anna wanna down If the astronauts inside 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:24.280 the lunar module are unable to reach the Moon surface. 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:28.000 Years of training, billions of dollars, and the hopes and 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:31.120 dreams of an entire planet work for nothing today. They 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:33.640 are like callouts. From now on will be fueled six day, 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:36.600 six day seconds, but they paid don't have down drip 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:39.760 into the right level. There is zero margin for error. 0:01:40.200 --> 0:01:44.960 One miscalculation could cost them their lives third thurday seconds. 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:56.320 So much of the Apollo leven story you've heard is 0:01:56.360 --> 0:02:00.840 the exact same moments, recycled and repeated over end over again. 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:04.480 But not here. This time you are going to hear 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:07.960 the stories behind the stories, the ones you've never heard. 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:11.239 For the next nine hours, we are going to stow 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:14.320 away aboard a tin can, soaring through space at twenty 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:17.480 four thousand miles an hour. We're also going to go 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:21.000 behind the consoles of mission control to meet the unsung heroes, 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:24.320 the men and women who didn't make the headlines but 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:27.920 whose stories deserve to be told and will be returning 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:30.400 to Earth to look into what was happening while Apolo 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:33.600 eleven raced to the Moon and how everything stopped cold 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:38.240 when the eagle touched down. Using never before heard mission audio, 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:40.799 I'm going to tell you the story of Apollo eleven 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:44.600 as it unfolded, day by day, hour by hour, minute 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:50.400 by minute. This was one of the most tumultuous eras 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:54.800 in American history. The profoundly unpopular Vietnam War was raging 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:57.400 on without an end in sight. Saia that we are 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:03.200 fired and stalemate same thing all only realistic, if unsatisfactory conclusion. 0:03:04.040 --> 0:03:07.040 Back home, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. And 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:10.240 the presumptive Democratic nominee for President of the United States, 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:14.360 Robert F. Kennedy, were assessments. Very sad news for all 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:18.200 of you, and that is that Martin Luther King and 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:23.079 was shot and was killed tonight. Remember, at the Democratic 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:28.520 National Convention, thousands of demonstrators clashed violently with police, National 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:33.520 guardsman or push thee hippie and anti war demonstrators back 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:35.840 a half a block or so from the hotel area. 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:39.360 On top of all of this, the United States was 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:42.760 embroiled in a cold war with its ideological nemesis, the 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:47.080 Soviet Union. Nuclear tipped violence seemed to be just one 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:57.280 thoughtless mistake away. Freedom as many difficulties, and democracy is 0:03:57.360 --> 0:04:00.240 not perfect, but we have never had to put a 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:03.000 wall up to keep off people in smack in the 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:05.560 middle of This is the proxy war of a lifetime, 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:12.800 the race for space. I'll be up Apollo eleven is 0:04:12.800 --> 0:04:15.400 about more than putting a man on the moon. Hanging 0:04:15.440 --> 0:04:18.800 in the balance is the national pride and global grandstanding 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:23.520 of two superpowers on the brink of war. For many 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:26.080 who lived through this era, the United States seemed to 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:29.040 be coming apart at the seams. Not since the Civil 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:31.960 War had the country felt more divided or more angry. 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:37.040 Never had our democracy felt more brittle or imperiled. Sound familiar. 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:42.040 America needed a miracle. We needed a reason to reach 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:46.880 for a greatness beyond our misfortunes. We needed Apollo eleven. 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:53.280 No pressure right. I'm Brandon Phibbs. I'm a science documentary 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:56.760 producer and journalist. Before that, my office was the cockpit 0:04:56.880 --> 0:05:02.320 of an S three Viking jet aircraft, and my job 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:05.560 was to hunt submarines for the United States Navy. I 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:07.840 invite you to join me as we embark on one 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:11.280 of the most thrilling adventures any human has ever undertaken. 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:21.200 This is nine Days in July. At exactly four fifteen 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:25.400 on the morning of July nineteen sixty nine, Neil Armstrong, 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:28.719 Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins waken their living quarters at 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:33.919 NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Launch Control all elements 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:38.080 at the countdown Apollo eleven for setting satisfactorily. At this time, 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:41.960 the crew was described as appearing to be rested, that is, 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:45.360 a fiddle and ready to go. More than one thousand 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:49.240 miles away Admission control in Houston, Texas, two dozen flight 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:52.720 controllers are powering up their equipment. Apollo eleven lifts off 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:55.720 the pad in a little over four hours. This is 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:59.560 the calm before the storm. The rest of America is 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:02.880 still to sleep, including the astronauts families, though I suspect 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:05.799 the night has not been especially considerate to the astronauts wives. 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:09.760 It's time to make history. Today is the day Apollo 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:14.600 eleven leaves for the Moon. Neil, Buzz and Michael have 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:17.080 a quick breakfast before reporting to the sud up room, 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:19.960 where a small army of technicians is waiting to help 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:23.680 them into their space suits, basically a spaceship shaped like 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:26.800 a human being. Once the astronauts are sealed in, they 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:30.240 are attached to horrible cases delivering pure oxygen, and just 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:33.600 like that, Neil buzzin Michael will not breathe outside air 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:36.200 or hear another human voice that is not coming through 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:46.159 a speaker for the next nine days back in Houston, 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:50.960 Gene Crantz is already awake. I have this incredibly spectacular 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:54.320 I mean just absolutely deep sleep, no dreams, no worries, 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:56.760 no nothing. But now he's pacing the house like a 0:06:56.839 --> 0:06:59.920 caged animal. You got all this energy and you don't 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:02.400 have anything to do with it. You got no focus, 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:05.480 and you can't sleep. Heck, we had six kids and 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:08.560 and uh, MARTA's trying to figure out some way. Oh Jean, 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:10.000 what are you going to settle down? When are you 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:12.400 going to sleep? Jean's wife pushes him out the door. 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:15.520 Jean is one of four flight directors for Apollo eleven, 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:20.120 meaning the weight of the entire mission rests on his shoulders. Well, 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:22.200 he's not on duty this morning. He still wants to 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:25.320 be in mission control when Apollo eleven lifts off. Traditionally, 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:27.320 all flight directors show up in there and you find 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:29.640 a place to sit near three or four deep. Every 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:31.800 console is three or four deep. Nobody's gonna miss the 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:36.040 launch for the first lunar landing mission. Nobody. You know 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:38.680 Jean Crantz, even if you don't realize it. If you 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:40.840 saw the film with Pollo thirteen, he was the one 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:43.560 played by Ed Harris, you know the failure is not 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:46.040 an option. Guy, the guy whose wife made him a 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:48.480 new vest for every mission. Now why I pumped myself 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:50.720 up each time I get ready to do something. Stars 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:56.560 and traps. John Phillips sus I got probably thirty four 0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:59.640 year records tapes and at this time also we had 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:01.880 eight act recorders, so I had him in the car. 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:04.800 It was every place i'd go, I'd have John Philip Sousa. 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:08.480 And this is why I get up to speed, get 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:14.000 the energy, get the adrenaline flowing. At around six three am, 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:17.520 Florida time, Neil, Buzz and Michael waved to the gathered guests, 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:20.760 press and other NASA employees and climb aboard a van 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:23.360 for a short trip to the launchpad eight miles away. 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:27.320 As they draw closer, they can see their Saturn five 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:31.520 bathed in giant Xenon lights, the tallest, heaviest, and most 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:36.160 powerful rocket ever created. Normally, Launchpad thirty nine A is 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:39.520 a beehive of activity and equipment, but today it is 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:43.200 eerily deserted. The weather is perfect, with only a light 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:46.400 breeze from the southeast, and temperatures are already climbing into 0:08:46.440 --> 0:08:49.360 the mid eighties. Jim Lovell was the backup commander for 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:52.160 Apollo eleven. He flew to space on the Saturn five 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:55.959 twice aboard Apollo eight and apollow their team. What we 0:08:56.080 --> 0:08:58.360 got off the vehicle, I started to walk up to 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:02.040 the elevator to go up to uh where we would 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:05.520 get inside the spacecraft. It was what have apprehensive to 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:09.520 the fact that this vehicle is sitting here with five 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:13.480 and a half billion pounds of high explosives, liquid oxygen, 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:19.160 liquid hydrogen. You know it happened, you know history. The 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:22.040 astronauts board the elevator and begin ascending to the top 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:24.360 of the rocket. Though they have yet to blast off. 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:28.600 The astronauts have already left the Earth. The Saturn five 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:32.640 rushing past them is an engineering marble. At three hundred 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:35.280 and sixty three ft, it is sixty ft taller than 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:38.240 the Statue of Liberty. It carries more than six million 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:41.320 pounds of rocket fuel and weighs as much as four 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:45.719 hundred elephants. Apollo said Launch Control at this time and 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:48.320 their time proof for Apollo eleven has quoted the high 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:51.760 speed elevator from inside the A level and the mobile launcher. 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:55.680 That's Jack King. He's an assid Public Affairs Officer. You're 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:57.439 going to be hearing a lot from nassa's p a 0:09:57.559 --> 0:09:59.959 os this series. It was their job during the mission 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:02.800 to explain what was going on to the public. There's 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:06.560 a high speed elevator six minutes which will carry them 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:11.960 to the three level, the spacecraft level. Dick Gordon went 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:14.680 to space on Apollo twelve. As he looked down at 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:17.360 the Saturn five on launch day, it's suddenly hit him 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:19.760 and say, hey, this is real. That beach below is 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:24.120 that Saturn five is a living, breathing object. It's vetting 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:27.840 vapors and ice is falling off of it, and it's 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:30.960 a creature. There's just about to come alive. The Saturn 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:34.760 five consists of three stages, basically just gas tanks with engines. 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:37.920 On the tippy top is a needle like structure. That's 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:40.760 the launch escape tower. It's there to yank the astronauts 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:43.840 free in the event of an emergency during launch. Directly 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:47.079 beneath the tower is a metallic gum drop. That's the 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:50.160 Command module. That's what our astronauts will spend the next 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:53.839 nine days. In the cylindrical section just beneath it is 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:57.080 the service module. So where's the lunar module, the spidery 0:10:57.120 --> 0:10:59.400 looking moonship that will actually make the voyage to the 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:02.280 surface of the Moon that's hidden away inside of a 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:06.480 compartment on top of the third stage. Remember this configuration 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:10.360 because it will become very important in a couple of minutes. Shortly, 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:14.240 we'll expect us and it's Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:17.080 to come across Swing arm nine. The follow as time 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:20.920 empathy to the White Home and a standby to board 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:24.480 the spacecraft. The p AO only mentions Neil and Michael 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:28.160 because two flights below their final destination, the elevator pauses 0:11:28.280 --> 0:11:31.280 for Buzz to step off. The loading area above is 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:34.599 simply too small to accommodate everyone at once. As the 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:37.559 elevator pulls away, Buzz welcomes the chance to steal a 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:41.280 couple contemplative moments. In the distance, he can see numerous 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:44.360 camp fires flickering on the beaches spectators who have been 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:47.520 camping out for days. He can see the vehicle assembly 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:51.400 building where the Saturn five's pieces were mated together by area. 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:53.679 It is one of the largest buildings in the world. 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:57.480 It's four walls enclose eight full acres and on human 0:11:57.559 --> 0:12:00.920 Florida days, rain clouds have been known to form inside 0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:05.000 the one story building. Once it was complete, the Saturn 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:08.079 five was perched on top of the crawler transporter, a 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:11.480 vehicle the size of a baseball infield, which began the 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:15.480 slow process of moving to launch pad at one mile 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:19.760 a gym level. Recalls pausing on the gantry as the 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:22.520 enormity of what he was about to do sunk in. 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:25.679 I had a few moments to look down, and there 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:29.920 I saw the lights of the press people going into 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:33.800 their press sites to get set up to watch the launch, 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:37.880 and I thought, we're going to the boom. I mean, 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:41.520 all this training and all this navigation training and everything else, 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:44.439 you know, I just took it as part of everyday 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:48.520 type of working. But that sort of forgetting where I 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:53.360 was going, and uh, it was suddenly the realization said, hey, 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:57.240 they're serious about this. The space pat command of Neil 0:12:57.360 --> 0:13:02.480 Armstrong and they command Module Violet. Michael Collins, now proceeding 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:04.880 a class to swing arm into the small white homb 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:09.240 that attaches at the spacecraft level. At just shy of 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:12.439 seven am, Neil climbs off the elevator and enters the 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:15.480 white room, the space connecting the Saturn five to the 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:19.079 support structure. The unchallenged lord of the White Room is 0:13:19.200 --> 0:13:23.000 Pad Leader Gunther, vent bespectacled and bow tied. The rail 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:25.760 thin Gunter is responsible for the Saturn five from the 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:28.040 moment it arrives at the pad till the moment he 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:32.320 seals the astronauts inside their capsule. The astronauts consider him 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:34.400 to be a good luck charm. They never want to 0:13:34.440 --> 0:13:37.520 fly without. Der Pad Furer a nickname given to Gunter 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:41.880 by Mercury astronaut John Glenn. You heard that right, der 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:45.640 Pad Furer. During World War Two, Gunter was a flight 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:49.199 engineer for the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force. He immigrated 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:51.679 to America after the war, where he found work in 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:55.120 the burgeoning space program. If it seems peculiar that a 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:57.439 former Nazi is enmeshed at such a high level in 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:00.800 the U S Space program, gerg your loins. Gunter is 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:04.120 one of nearly two thousand x Nazis on Nassa's payroll. 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:08.199 How the hell did that happen? We'll get back to that. 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:13.280 Neil grabs the handrail and swings himself inside the command module. 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:17.000 It's roughly the size of a SUBU outback. He takes 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:19.160 this position at the left of the capsule, the place 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:22.760 reserved for the mission commander. The spacecraft commander Neil Armstrong 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:27.000 now aboard the Apollo eleven space class at the level 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:34.120 at the pad. Morning, Nail, good, welcome aboard. I feel 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:38.200 like a good mone Michael, the command module pilot, takes 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:41.440 his seat on the right. Eventually, Buzz is called up 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:44.480 and drops into the center seat for the lunar module pilot. 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:48.880 The gang's all here, though he once served in the Navy. 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:52.240 Kneels the civilian now and a former test pilot. The 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:54.640 other two are officers of the U. S. Air Force. 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:57.960 Each of the men was born in ninety Each way 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:00.400 is a hundred and sixty five pounds, and each are 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:03.600 within an inch of the same height five ft eleven inches. 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:08.120 Neil is the quintessential calm, cool and collected personality. He 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:12.600 is unruffled, unassuming, and always laser focused. He never opens 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:15.200 his mouth unless he has something important to say. The 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:20.440 primary objective is is the ability to demonstrate that man 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:23.680 mankind in fact can do this kind of a job. 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:28.480 Buzz couldn't be more different. He is blunt and opinionated. Luckily, 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:30.920 his abrasive opinions are backed up by one of the 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:34.960 greatest brains at NASA. We certainly have the utmost confidence 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:39.360 of total six that Michael is the peacemaker he once 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:43.400 called Neil and Buzz amiable strangers. No one remembers Michael. 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:46.000 He didn't walk on the Moon, and so history has 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:49.360 declared him Apollo eleven's official third wheel. But he was 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:53.000 the glue, the fun one, witty, lighthearted, and quick with 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:56.640 a joke. We're going nine seven percent of the way there, 0:15:56.680 --> 0:15:59.960 and that suits me just fine. These guys weren't friends. 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:03.200 They definitely weren't getting beers after work, but they were 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:06.440 pros with a job to do. Together, they are about 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:11.400 to crack history wide open. At all. Three astronauts now 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:15.120 avoids the spacecraft. Gunter and his technicians strapped the astronauts 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:18.600 in disengage their portable oxygen and begin hooking them up 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:22.320 to the ship's internal life support system and communications. Neil 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:24.960 gives the thumbs up, and the White Room team seals 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:27.480 the hatch. At this time or this in the process 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:30.560 of closing the hatch on the Apollo eleven spacecraft, the 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:33.840 astronauts are now cut off from all human contact they 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:37.840 won't see another person for the next nine days. For 0:16:37.920 --> 0:16:40.360 the next two and a half hours, the astronauts run 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:43.920 through checklists. At this point in the countdown, spacecraft command 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:47.240 and Neil Armstrong once again appears to be the basic 0:16:47.400 --> 0:16:50.560 worker in the spacecraft as he's performing a series of 0:16:50.640 --> 0:16:54.480 alignment checks associated with a guidance system in the spacecraft. 0:16:54.760 --> 0:16:58.160 The astronauts are subdued working inside the tunnel vision of 0:16:58.200 --> 0:17:01.200 their training, but Michael Steele a moment of self reflection 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:04.040 as the only one not descending to the moon surface, 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:06.440 he realizes that the odds of him getting back in 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:09.080 one piece are far better than the two men flanking 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:15.439 ten minutes away from our plan lifts up the access 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:18.240 arm retracts. The men in the capsule feel a jolt. 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:24.760 In Houston, mission Control is a beehive of activity. Seconds 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:27.280 after Apollo eleven takes flight. The men and women in 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:30.199 this building will take over responsibility of the rocket from 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:33.359 the launch center in Florida. Gene Crantz is sitting in 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:36.200 the back. He catches sight of Cliff charles Worth, the 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:39.240 flight director for the launch. Charles Worth is the conductor 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:44.080 choreographing a room of finally two instruments. Charles Worth calls 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:46.359 for the room's attention. It's time to get a go 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:55.080 no go for launch sequence. He found fun go Fight, Go, 0:17:55.240 --> 0:18:00.159 Busch Control Networks, you get it in everything has run 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:11.440 his life operations speed. When the countdown clock reaches t 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:14.800 minus nine minutes, Charles Worth orders the doors to mission 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:19.440 control locked. Jean bows his head in silent prayer. Three 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:22.520 and a half miles away minimum safe distance from the launchpad, 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:26.880 the grandstands are packed with invited guests and dignitaries. Three 0:18:26.920 --> 0:18:29.920 thousand newsmen from fifty six countries stand by to file 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:32.640 to day's story. I think it's really a great event 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:35.680 for a man from just our planet, not just the 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:38.240 United States, to get on a do you actually be 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:41.840 on another world? Along miles of grid luck roads, bridges, 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:45.160 sand flats and beaches, more than a million spectators hold 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:49.600 their breath. Janet Armstrong, Neil's wife, and their sons Mark 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:52.480 and Ricky, have escaped the crush of onlookers and snooping 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:55.280 press by sleeping aboard a small yacht floating in the 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:58.880 Banana River. Unsurprisingly, Janet didn't get a wink of sleep 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:02.120 last night. Collins and Joe Aldron watched from the privacy 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:04.800 of their homes, glued to their television sets, like an 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:08.359 estimated five hundred and thirty million people across the globe. 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:12.720 Neil Armstrong, Buzz Mike Collins where make the flight of 0:19:12.840 --> 0:19:16.359 Apollo eleven. Let's take a look at their activities, beginning 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:21.920 last night at dinner. Andy Aldrin, buzz is youngest, remembers 0:19:21.960 --> 0:19:25.359 the morning, well, I was home with mom, which kind 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:27.320 of annoyed me. I wanted to be at the launch, 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:30.440 and Mom told me that we couldn't go to the 0:19:30.520 --> 0:19:35.280 launch because NASA didn't want us there because if something happened, 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:38.320 they think it would just be really horrible for the 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:43.440 family to be on camera with, you know, a national tragedy. 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:46.080 It would be decades before Andy would discover the truth. 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:49.200 NASA had no problem with them being there. Pat Collins 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:51.920 and his mother were merely trying to guard their privacy 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:55.760 and brittle emotions in case something went catastrophically wrong. I've 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:59.639 seen pictures of my mom during that time, and she's 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:03.280 literally very, very anxious, but I didn't notice it at 0:20:03.320 --> 0:20:05.520 the time. The only place on Earth where people are 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:07.760 not sitting in front of their television sets is the 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:10.560 Soviet block there on the other side of the planet. 0:20:10.880 --> 0:20:13.320 The workday is coming to a close, just like any 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:28.720 other day. Apollo eleven will not be televised. Everything, all 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:31.919 the years of research, testing, training, and even the deaths 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:35.760 of beloved colleagues has led to this moment. It's one 0:20:35.800 --> 0:20:40.120 minute seconds on the Apollo missions, the flights to land 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:43.439 of the first men on the Moon. All indications are 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:46.160 coming in to the control center at this time indicate 0:20:46.240 --> 0:20:50.840 we are of gold. Neil Armstrong. Just we put it back. 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:53.200 It's been a real smooth countdown. We passed the fifty 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:57.600 second month. Power transfer is complete while on internal power 0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:00.520 with the launch vehicle at this time, and a good 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:07.600 an report. It feels good. Ten nine ignition sequenced. Jim 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:11.840 Leble paints the scene inside the command module before the liftoff. 0:21:11.960 --> 0:21:15.120 We can start to hear things happen, you know, maybe 0:21:15.200 --> 0:21:18.040 with a five or six seconds to go, we hear 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:21.720 the rumbling of the fuel started to float down into 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:26.400 the engine at a m the Saturn five engines ignite. 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:30.360 The vehicle pours out flame, building thrust, but it doesn't move. 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:33.720 Hold down lamps keep it in place where the edge 0:21:33.800 --> 0:21:36.880 is the knife Before the liftoff, there's a tremendous war 0:21:37.080 --> 0:21:40.480 roar of the spacecraft is shaking back and forth. Uh, 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:44.200 and you're just sitting there hoping that everything works. So 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:52.080 okay five or three two one, they're all all engine 0:21:52.200 --> 0:21:56.280 running at zero. Explosive bolts released the vehicle. You might 0:21:56.400 --> 0:21:59.200 think it erupts off the pan, but it doesn't. This 0:21:59.359 --> 0:22:01.680 is the point at which gravity is the strongest and 0:22:01.760 --> 0:22:04.760 the ship is the heaviest. Walter cunning Gown who flew 0:22:04.800 --> 0:22:07.800 aboard Apollo seven. It's not a sudden acceleration. It's not 0:22:07.960 --> 0:22:10.719 like a cat shot on an aircraft carrier. I mean 0:22:10.800 --> 0:22:13.960 that is like that, and you see spots in front 0:22:13.960 --> 0:22:16.600 of your eyes. With this, you're starting out with zero 0:22:16.680 --> 0:22:19.440 velocity and it's just a slow building. It's like a 0:22:19.560 --> 0:22:23.719 train behind you that's just building up. Ripped off let 0:22:23.800 --> 0:22:27.119 the thirty two minute they are ripped off on a 0:22:27.160 --> 0:22:31.040 follow eleven, not on her boat. Janet Armstrong tightly clutches 0:22:31.080 --> 0:22:34.000 her son Ricky as her husband's rocket emerges from the 0:22:34.119 --> 0:22:41.360 Royaling Smoke and Flames power program. On reporting their role 0:22:41.400 --> 0:22:43.320 in pitture program, which you put topolo and living on 0:22:43.359 --> 0:22:46.240 a proper heading. That's Neil letting everyone know that the 0:22:46.280 --> 0:22:49.000 Saturn five is clear of the tower and angling itself 0:22:49.080 --> 0:22:51.480 to its proper heading. The other voice you hear is 0:22:51.520 --> 0:22:55.840 astronaut Bruce McCandless at the capcom or capsule communicator position 0:22:56.040 --> 0:22:59.560 in Michig Control. Bill Anders flew on Apollo eight and 0:22:59.640 --> 0:23:02.239 remember is his launch like it was yesterday. We had 0:23:02.320 --> 0:23:06.280 simulated essentially everything we could think of, and yet the 0:23:06.520 --> 0:23:09.960 very first seconds of the flight were a total surprise 0:23:10.040 --> 0:23:15.600 to everybody. On the violent sideways movement and massive noise, 0:23:15.920 --> 0:23:20.880 Thomas Mattingly Abolo sixteen launch man Apollo was really dramatic. 0:23:21.000 --> 0:23:26.320 It feels just like a challenge. It's shaking and banging 0:23:26.480 --> 0:23:31.399 and pushing hard, and there is no doubt there's something 0:23:31.640 --> 0:23:35.600 really gigantic is going on. Neil's left hand is wrapped 0:23:35.600 --> 0:23:38.960 around the aboard handle. One quick twist would activate the 0:23:39.040 --> 0:23:41.959 launch escape tower and lift the command module free from 0:23:42.000 --> 0:23:44.959 the Saturn five, assuming he even knows there's a problem. 0:23:45.359 --> 0:23:47.639 Bill Anders recalls that the first phase of the ascent 0:23:47.840 --> 0:23:50.560 was so noisy it was impossible to communicate with the 0:23:50.640 --> 0:23:52.560 men sitting right next to it. Had there been a 0:23:52.640 --> 0:23:56.200 need to abort, detected on my instruments, I could not 0:23:56.320 --> 0:23:59.000 have relayed that. Michael wonders how the headlines will read 0:23:59.000 --> 0:24:02.400 tomorrow if Neil A. Sidentally rotates that aboard handle moonshot 0:24:02.480 --> 0:24:07.520 falls into ocean. Last transmission from Armstrong was oops altitudes 0:24:07.600 --> 0:24:12.680 two miles and you're good at one a minute, down 0:24:12.840 --> 0:24:18.000 range one mile, altitude three four miles. Now velocity two 0:24:18.080 --> 0:24:23.879 thousand per second. We're through the region of maximum dynamic pressure. Now. 0:24:24.359 --> 0:24:27.240 Maximum dynamic pressure is the point at which the Saturn 0:24:27.320 --> 0:24:30.119 five is under the greatest amount of physical stress. Is 0:24:30.200 --> 0:24:32.880 it attempts to smash its way through the densest part 0:24:32.960 --> 0:24:36.119 of the atmosphere. Bill anders. As we burned out on 0:24:36.200 --> 0:24:38.840 the first stage, we were hitting about out of the 0:24:38.920 --> 0:24:41.600 six or eight g s. You're back in your seat, 0:24:42.040 --> 0:24:46.440 hardly lift your arms. You have trouble breathing to try 0:24:46.520 --> 0:24:48.680 to reach out. It's like you had a light in 0:24:48.760 --> 0:24:51.440