50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.

Itssoeasy · 15-07-2019 08:12PM #1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGNryrsT7OI

Fifty years ago tomorrow at 2:32pm irish time(9:32am US ET) the Saturn V rocket carrying Commander Neil Armstrong, Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin, and Command Module pilot Michael Collins lifted off launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on the first attempt to land men on the moon and return them safely to Earth, which if successful would fulfill President Kennedy's challenge. This lift off took place 29 months and 20 days after the Apollo 1 fire after which the program was grounded for nearly 21 months.

After the crew completed a near perfect LOI(lunar orbit insertion) burn to get into orbit around the moon, Neil Armstrong is quoted as saying on the mission transcript "Okay, now we've got some things to do." I include this quote from the hours upon hours of transcripts and recordings because of how Armstrong calls the the historic moon landing as "things to do." It shows to me that NASA picked the right person to command the first landing.

The lunar module Eagle landed on the moon on July 20th 1969 at which time Neil Armstrong said "Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E96EPhqT-ds

Armstrong became the first human being to set foot on the moon at 3:56am Irish time on the morning of July 21st. As he set foot on the moon he said the famous phrase of "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." Even though I wouldn't be born for years after just watching back the footage and listening to the audio recordings and reading transcripts trying to find quotes to make this tribute good enough(maybe an impossible task) I can only imagine what people at the time felt around the world. Armstrong and Aldrin did one EVA and returned to dock with the CM and Collins. The American flag which was planted(one of six planted) was knocked over when the LM ascent stage fired.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZgTel-Tf5M

The Command module Columbia returned to earth on July 24th with splashdown at 4:50pm Irish time.

I hope this thread in some way does this historical moment in human history justice.

RIP Neil Armstrong.

Also, if people want to follow the mission in real time fifty years on then they can do so by going to the following link. https://apolloinrealtime.org/11/

OldRio · 16-07-2019 08:23AM

I remember it well. This 11 year old child's imagination was running riot about what they might find if they actually succeeded in their mission.

I followed all the news about the mission intently. (In all honesty it wasn't much. Brief mentions on the TV news was about it)

It started a life long obsession with space. Happy days indeed.

TheIrishGrover · 16-07-2019 08:25AM

Never happened. Stanley Kuberick faked it. Can't believe how many sheep believe it was real. Where are the stars? Look at the shadows..... yadda yadda yadda.

Just messin'. The brilliant documentary Apollo 11 is showing in Blanchardstown IMAX screen tonight if anyone is interested.

Was born in 72 so don't remember it but went to the air and Space museum a few years ago. Simply stunning. Was planning on going again in or around this time with family but we each decided against it given the current administration. I would recommend the museum to anyone. So much to see there. Right in the door there was an Apollo, Gemini and Mercury re-entry module... First thing you see.

Cork Boy 53 · 16-07-2019 10:15AM

OldRio wrote: »

I remember it well. This 11 year old child's imagination was running riot about what they might find if they actually succeeded in their mission.

I followed all the news about the mission intently. (In all honesty it wasn't much. Brief mentions on the TV news was about it)

It started a life long obsession with space. Happy days indeed.

I assume you are referring to RTE coverage of Apollo 11. Is it true that the landing and Armstrong`s first steps on the Moon were not broadcast live on RTE?

Hotblack Desiato · 16-07-2019 10:26AM

TheIrishGrover wrote: »

The brilliant documentary Apollo 11 is showing in Blanchardstown IMAX screen tonight if anyone is interested.

It's on in the IFI for another week at least, too.

Anyone who hasn't, just go see it on a big screen while you can. Absolutely riveting.

TheIrishGrover · 16-07-2019 11:39AM

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Also, if people want to follow the mission in real time fifty years on then they can do so by going to the following link. https://apolloinrealtime.org/11/

That... is... FANTASTIC! Everybody thank this on behalf of Itssoeasy's post as it deserves all the thanks in the world

*All thanks will be donated to itssoeasy

kerry4sam · 16-07-2019 11:47AM

A Live link right -->

<--> A CBS special coverage.

Enjoy,
kerry4sam

IAMAMORON · 16-07-2019 12:33PM

You should all watch the Room 237 documentary on the Shining, if nothing else it has some stomach aching conspiracies.

This years' Apollo 11 documentary is well worth a look, some brilliant footage from the time and really well structured.

If they faked the landing they must have been faking the rehearsals also, see below for a near miss for Armstrong, a little closer to home.

Beeker · 16-07-2019 08:35PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKtVpvzUF1Y

Beeker · 16-07-2019 08:37PM

Cork Boy 53 wrote: »

I assume you are referring to RTE coverage of Apollo 11. Is it true that the landing and Armstrong`s first steps on the Moon were not broadcast live on RTE?

Not true, RTE showed live coverage of the landing and first steps.

Itssoeasy · 16-07-2019 09:17PM

Beeker wrote: »

Cork Boy 53 wrote: »

I assume you are referring to RTE coverage of Apollo 11. Is it true that the landing and Armstrong`s first steps on the Moon were not broadcast live on RTE?

Not true, RTE showed live coverage of the landing and first steps.

Did they ? Who’s coverage did they use ? I know ITV and the bbc had coverage on this side of the world but very little remains of the bbcs footage.

Darc19 · 16-07-2019 09:18PM

Saw a link to this on Facebook earlier

https://www.stamps.kg/products/2019-apollo-11-50th-anniversary.html

Kyrgyzstan special edition stamps.

So what you say - designed by Irish guy (Dublin but living in South America) Niall Murphy.

fryup · 16-07-2019 09:43PM

if they nearly ran out of fuel whilst landing...how did they have enough for taking off?

Wibbs · 16-07-2019 10:11PM

fryup wrote: »

if they nearly ran out of fuel whilst landing...how did they have enough for taking off?

Well kinda true F. Much has been made of running out of fuel, they still had some reserve before abort would have been called. There was some margin for error.

IAMAMORON · 16-07-2019 10:16PM

fryup wrote: »

if they nearly ran out of fuel whilst landing...how did they have enough for taking off?

A minor intrigue in fairness. The mission would have been constantly dictated by its' ability to get home. So when it says they have to land within 60 seconds or abort, it is that straightforward. After 60 seconds they would have been using the fuel they needed to get back off the moon. Michael Collins had the fuel to get back to earth on the orbiting craft.

If you are a non believer I really get why you would be sceptical. For me I don't understand how they managed to reconnect with the orbiting capsule, I am sure it is just timing and science but it seems really really difficult. The precision required is mesmerising.

For what it is worth I think that Climate change is codswallop, so any moon landing sceptics are fine with me. You are entitled to not believe.

vargoo · 16-07-2019 11:23PM

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2KSahAoOLdU&list=PL-_93BVApb59FWrLZfdlisi_x7-Ut_-w7

Hotblack Desiato · 17-07-2019 12:06AM

fryup wrote: »

if they nearly ran out of fuel whilst landing...how did they have enough for taking off?

Separate fuel tanks and engines on the lunar module for ascent and descent.

The whole mission from start to finish was "as soon as something is used up, throw it away to save mass and fuel". So this meant leaving the LM descent stage on the moon, to save fuel on ascent. It meant jettisoning the LM ascent stage before the burn to take the command module back towards Earth (except Apollo 13, obviously) because it was now empty, dead mass.

The result of all this was to get the overall mission mass down to something the Saturn V could handle. With other approaches originally considered, a far bigger booster would have been needed and/or multiple launches and on-orbit assembly of the mission vehicle.

IAMAMORON wrote: »

For me I don't understand how they managed to reconnect with the orbiting capsule, I am sure it is just timing and science but it seems really really difficult. The precision required is mesmerising.

Mike Collins explains it pretty well in his book, there were all sorts of different possibilities worked out and trained for intensively. E.g. the LM could use its fuel to pursue the CM, but if the LM ascent didn't quite go right then the CM could burn fuel to bring itself closer to the LM, or various combinations of these. (Long time since I read that, and very much paraphrasing)

More impressive IMHO though was re-entry, they could correct course on the way back but would still be pretty far out when doing that, and aiming for an angle of less than a degree or two off either way IIRC, too steep a re-entry and you burn up, too shallow and you skip like a stone off the surface of a pond and could run out of oxygen before Earth's gravity pulls you back again. BTW this happens at 25,000MPH.

vargoo · 17-07-2019 10:20AM

Playboy on the moon

https://www.fastcompany.com/90372409/playboy-playmates-went-to-the-moon-but-almost-no-one-knew-it-for-25-years

Itssoeasy · 17-07-2019 12:08PM

Micheal Collins I think had to learn 17 or 18 procedures in the event he had to react to some issue with the LM during its flight to the lunar surface. The only situation that he couldn't help them was if they had landed. I can see why he's sometimes the forgotten member of the crew, as are most of the CM pilots on the moon landings. People remember the people who walked on the moon not so much the person orbiting the moon as part of the mission.

I added the ABC version of the moon landing itself because while Cronkite and Shirra are excellent on the launch and everything else, they talk too much to the point where they nearly miss the first words said on the moon. Cronkite actually has to ask someone behind the camera what exactly was said. Frank Reynolds and Jules Bergman on ABC do a better job on this moment.

Iscreamkone · 17-07-2019 12:26PM

I love all this moon landing stuff. I'm glued to BBC this week.

I'm not old enough to remember the first landing.
However, I came in one day and found a neighbour (in his 80s) watching a subsequent moon landing on our tv.
My mam said that he asked could he watch it as he had no tv himself. Our black and white tv wasn't up to much but I sat watching the grainy footage for a while - as much for the old man's reaction as the events unfolding.
I knew then that this was important stuff.

Probably my earliest tv memory.
The last landing was December 1972 - I was 5.

Cork Boy 53 · 17-07-2019 01:37PM

Iscreamkone wrote: »

I love all this moon landing stuff. I'm glued to BBC this week.

I'm not old enough to remember the first landing.
However, I came in one day and found a neighbour (in his 80s) watching a subsequent moon landing on our tv.
My mam said that he asked could he watch it as he had no tv himself. Our black and white tv wasn't up to much but I sat watching the grainy footage for a while - as much for the old man's reaction as the events unfolding.
I knew then that this was important stuff.

Probably my earliest tv memory.
The last landing was December 1972 - I was 5.

Yeah similar to myself. I don`t really remember the Apollo 11 mission. I have clearer memories of the Apollo 13 explosion and aftermath and particularly the Apollo 15 to 17 missions that included the lunar rovers.

mossie · 19-07-2019 06:54AM

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Did they ? Who’s coverage did they use ? I know ITV and the bbc had coverage on this side of the world but very little remains of the bbcs footage.

They did. I was 4 at the time and remember my parents getting up to watch the first steps. We were in one channel land so had to be RTE. I don't now whose coverage the used though.

Hector Savage · 19-07-2019 01:34PM

https://www.nasa.gov/specials/apollo50th/rocks.html

Isn't there a moon rock in the natural history museum Dublin ?

vargoo · 19-07-2019 01:39PM

Behind the scenes of the Apollo mission at MIT

http://news.mit.edu/2019/behind-scenes-apollo-mission-0718

Hotblack Desiato · 19-07-2019 02:41PM

Hector Savage wrote: »

https://www.nasa.gov/specials/apollo50th/rocks.html

Isn't there a moon rock in the natural history museum Dublin ?

Nope that's the Dead Zoo. The National Museum of Ireland is the other one, it has a piece of Apollo 17 rock

There was a tiny fragment of rock from Apollo 11 in Dunsink, but it was lost in a fire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland_lunar_sample_displays

JupiterKid · 19-07-2019 10:49PM

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Nope that's the Dead Zoo. The National Museum of Ireland is the other one, it has a piece of Apollo 17 rock

There was a tiny fragment of rock from Apollo 11 in Dunsink, but it was lost in a fire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland_lunar_sample_displays

As I was born in March 1975, all the Apollo lunar landing missions happened a good bit before I was born. I do remember the first Space Shuttle launch in 1981 though...

When my late father was Managing Director of Clerys in the late 1970s, he organised a special exhibition of moon rocks collected during the Apollo missions on display to the public.

Cork Boy 53 · 20-07-2019 08:34AM

So 50 years today since the Apollo 11 landing and the "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". Sad that Armstrong is no longer with us to mark the anniversary.

Itssoeasy · 20-07-2019 08:05PM

13 minutes away for the exact moment 50 years ago the lunar module Eagle touched down on the moon.

Itssoeasy · 20-07-2019 08:23PM

Armstrong: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

And there we have it. 50 years ago a few minutes ago the lunar module Eagle touched down on the moon. Humans are on the moon.

Cork Boy 53 · 20-07-2019 09:06PM

Itssoeasy wrote: »

And there we have it. 50 years ago a few minutes ago the lunar module Eagle touched down on the moon. Humans are on the moon.

Yep. I wonder will anyone get up or stay up to mark the exact time when Armstrong stepped on the moon`s surface at 3.56am 50 years ago. Cloud cover permitting, the Sea of Tranquility will be clearly visible then.

vargoo · 20-07-2019 09:17PM

We'd struggle to do it now

50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.

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