lpetrich
Contributor
Fifty years ago, on July 20, 1969, 20:17:40 UTC (4:17:40 pm EDT), the first human space travelers landed on another celestial body.
They were Neil Alden Armstrong and Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin, landing in "Eagle", the lunar module of their spacecraft. The third member of the Apollo 11 crew, Michael Collins, stayed aboard "Columbia", the command-service module of their spacecraft, orbiting the Moon.
The Apollo 11 astronauts started on their way on 13:32:00 UTC (9:32:00 EDT), with them and their spacecraft being launched atop a Saturn V rocket, the most powerful rocket ever successfully flown. The rocket stood some 363 ft / 110 m tall and weighed some 3000 metric tons when fully loaded. Most of that was fuel and oxidizer; its empty mass was about 180 mt.
The first stage of the Saturn V fired for about 3 minutes, then the second stage for 6 minutes, and then the third stage for a few minutes. The Apollo spacecraft stayed attached to the third stage, and the combination made 1 1/2 orbits at an altitude of 100 nautical miles (185 kilometers, 605,000 feet). The third stage then fired again, sending the combination off toward the Moon. Thirty minutes later, the Columbia separated itself from the third stage, turned around, docked with the lunar module, and backed away from the third stage. That stage then went around the Moon and ended up in a heliocentric orbit.
The command module was conical, and it was attached at its base to the cylindrical service model. At the other end of the service module was a rocket nozzle. The lunar module was boxy-looking with four landing-gear legs attached, each leg with a pad on its end. In the Apollo 9 mission, the command module got the call sign Gumdrop and the lunar module Spider, from their appearances.
On July 19 at 17:21:50 UTC, the Columbia-Eagle combination went behind the Moon and the service module fired its engine, getting the combination into lunar orbit. Nearly a day later, on July 20 at 12:52:00 UTC, Armstrong and Aldrin entered Eagle, and at 17:44:00 UTC, Eagle separated from Columbia. After some inspection maneuvers, Armstrong exclaimed "The Eagle has wings!"
The Eagle was soon on its way, and as it approached the Moon's surface, the two astronauts found a flat area to land in, avoiding some boulders and some craters. At 20:17:40 UTC, they landed. "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." radioed back Armstrong. A Mission Control guy responded "Roger, Twan– Tranquility, we copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot."
Two and a half hours later, the two astronauts prepared for exiting Eagle and walking on the Moon. The preparations took three and a half hours, longer than expected, and on July 21, 02:39:33 UT, after depressurizing the Eagle, they opened its side hatch. At 02:51, Armstrong exited the Eagle's interior, and he climbed down the nearby landing-gear leg. At 02:56:15, Armstrong stepped onto the Moon's surface, and after noting that its dust was "very fine-grained" and "almost like a powder", he announced "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind."
A video camera caught this event and the lunar module broadcast it back to NASA's Deep Space Network. From there, the broadcast was forwarded to TV stations all over the world, and an estimated 600 million people watched that event. I didn't, sad to say, and I don't recall paying much attention to the Apollo missions in my childhood.
Seven minutes later, Armstrong collected a sample and put it into a thigh pocket in his spacesuit. That was in case they had to abort their EVA, in this case, visiting the Moon's surface. When Aldrin joined Armstrong, he described the Moon's surface as "Magnificent desolation."
The two astronauts placed the video camera on a tripod on the Moon's surface, they placed a seismometer, a retroreflector, and a flag there, they took still pictures with a Hasselblad film camera, and they collected several rocks and soil samples. President Richard Nixon called in to congratulate them.
Aldrin returned to Eagle first, then they got their film and samples into Eagle, and then Armstrong returned to Eagle. They left their Hasselblad camera behind, along with spacesuit overshoes and backpacks and some other stuff, to save weight. They closed the Eagle's side hatch at 05:11:13, pressurized it, and got some sleep.
During this time, Collins was all alone, but he didn't feel lonely.
At 17:54:00 UTC, Armstrong and Aldrin departed from the Moon's surface in the Eagle's ascent stage, the upper half of the lunar module. The lower half, the descent stage, was left behind on the Moon. Eagle met Columbia at 21:24:05 UTC and the two spacecraft docked at 21:35:00. Armstrong and Aldrin returned to Columbia with their film and samples, and at 23:41:31, they and Collins jettisoned Eagle.
On July 22 at 04:55:42 UTC, the Columbia left lunar orbit and started its trip back to the Earth. The next day, each of the three astronauts did a broadcast. The day after, on July 24 at 16:21:12 UTC, the astronauts jettisoned the Columbia's service module and got into position for hitting the Earth's atmosphere at around 11 km/s / 40,000 km/h / 25,000 mph. When they did so, at 16:35:05, they lost radio contact from the glowing ionized air around them, and they felt an acceleration of some 6 Earth gravities (g's). At 16:44:06, Columbia deployed its two drogue parachutes, two initial ones. A few minutes later, it deployed its three main ones, and at 16:50:35, it hit the ocean.
The Columbia command module landed close to the center of the Pacific Ocean, and its landing local time was 5:50:35. It soon turned upside down, but the astronauts turned on some inflatable balloons, and those got it back to its correct orientation. The aircraft carrier Hornet was nearby as a floating operations base, and a recovery crew departed from there in helicopters to pick up the astronauts and the Columbia. The astronauts were brought back in plastic isolation overgarments, and then to an isolation trailer aboard the Hornet. The recovery crew also picked up the Columbia and the samples and film that were aboard it. The three astronauts spent about 3 weeks in quarantine before they were released.
The only part of the Saturn-Apollo rocket that returned was the Columbia command module. It weighed in at about 5.6 mt, only 1/500 the departure mass.
The Apollo-spacecraft parts:
Apollo 11, Apollo 11 Timeline
They were Neil Alden Armstrong and Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin, landing in "Eagle", the lunar module of their spacecraft. The third member of the Apollo 11 crew, Michael Collins, stayed aboard "Columbia", the command-service module of their spacecraft, orbiting the Moon.
The Apollo 11 astronauts started on their way on 13:32:00 UTC (9:32:00 EDT), with them and their spacecraft being launched atop a Saturn V rocket, the most powerful rocket ever successfully flown. The rocket stood some 363 ft / 110 m tall and weighed some 3000 metric tons when fully loaded. Most of that was fuel and oxidizer; its empty mass was about 180 mt.
The first stage of the Saturn V fired for about 3 minutes, then the second stage for 6 minutes, and then the third stage for a few minutes. The Apollo spacecraft stayed attached to the third stage, and the combination made 1 1/2 orbits at an altitude of 100 nautical miles (185 kilometers, 605,000 feet). The third stage then fired again, sending the combination off toward the Moon. Thirty minutes later, the Columbia separated itself from the third stage, turned around, docked with the lunar module, and backed away from the third stage. That stage then went around the Moon and ended up in a heliocentric orbit.
The command module was conical, and it was attached at its base to the cylindrical service model. At the other end of the service module was a rocket nozzle. The lunar module was boxy-looking with four landing-gear legs attached, each leg with a pad on its end. In the Apollo 9 mission, the command module got the call sign Gumdrop and the lunar module Spider, from their appearances.
On July 19 at 17:21:50 UTC, the Columbia-Eagle combination went behind the Moon and the service module fired its engine, getting the combination into lunar orbit. Nearly a day later, on July 20 at 12:52:00 UTC, Armstrong and Aldrin entered Eagle, and at 17:44:00 UTC, Eagle separated from Columbia. After some inspection maneuvers, Armstrong exclaimed "The Eagle has wings!"
The Eagle was soon on its way, and as it approached the Moon's surface, the two astronauts found a flat area to land in, avoiding some boulders and some craters. At 20:17:40 UTC, they landed. "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." radioed back Armstrong. A Mission Control guy responded "Roger, Twan– Tranquility, we copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot."
Two and a half hours later, the two astronauts prepared for exiting Eagle and walking on the Moon. The preparations took three and a half hours, longer than expected, and on July 21, 02:39:33 UT, after depressurizing the Eagle, they opened its side hatch. At 02:51, Armstrong exited the Eagle's interior, and he climbed down the nearby landing-gear leg. At 02:56:15, Armstrong stepped onto the Moon's surface, and after noting that its dust was "very fine-grained" and "almost like a powder", he announced "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind."
A video camera caught this event and the lunar module broadcast it back to NASA's Deep Space Network. From there, the broadcast was forwarded to TV stations all over the world, and an estimated 600 million people watched that event. I didn't, sad to say, and I don't recall paying much attention to the Apollo missions in my childhood.
Seven minutes later, Armstrong collected a sample and put it into a thigh pocket in his spacesuit. That was in case they had to abort their EVA, in this case, visiting the Moon's surface. When Aldrin joined Armstrong, he described the Moon's surface as "Magnificent desolation."
The two astronauts placed the video camera on a tripod on the Moon's surface, they placed a seismometer, a retroreflector, and a flag there, they took still pictures with a Hasselblad film camera, and they collected several rocks and soil samples. President Richard Nixon called in to congratulate them.
Aldrin returned to Eagle first, then they got their film and samples into Eagle, and then Armstrong returned to Eagle. They left their Hasselblad camera behind, along with spacesuit overshoes and backpacks and some other stuff, to save weight. They closed the Eagle's side hatch at 05:11:13, pressurized it, and got some sleep.
During this time, Collins was all alone, but he didn't feel lonely.
At 17:54:00 UTC, Armstrong and Aldrin departed from the Moon's surface in the Eagle's ascent stage, the upper half of the lunar module. The lower half, the descent stage, was left behind on the Moon. Eagle met Columbia at 21:24:05 UTC and the two spacecraft docked at 21:35:00. Armstrong and Aldrin returned to Columbia with their film and samples, and at 23:41:31, they and Collins jettisoned Eagle.
On July 22 at 04:55:42 UTC, the Columbia left lunar orbit and started its trip back to the Earth. The next day, each of the three astronauts did a broadcast. The day after, on July 24 at 16:21:12 UTC, the astronauts jettisoned the Columbia's service module and got into position for hitting the Earth's atmosphere at around 11 km/s / 40,000 km/h / 25,000 mph. When they did so, at 16:35:05, they lost radio contact from the glowing ionized air around them, and they felt an acceleration of some 6 Earth gravities (g's). At 16:44:06, Columbia deployed its two drogue parachutes, two initial ones. A few minutes later, it deployed its three main ones, and at 16:50:35, it hit the ocean.
The Columbia command module landed close to the center of the Pacific Ocean, and its landing local time was 5:50:35. It soon turned upside down, but the astronauts turned on some inflatable balloons, and those got it back to its correct orientation. The aircraft carrier Hornet was nearby as a floating operations base, and a recovery crew departed from there in helicopters to pick up the astronauts and the Columbia. The astronauts were brought back in plastic isolation overgarments, and then to an isolation trailer aboard the Hornet. The recovery crew also picked up the Columbia and the samples and film that were aboard it. The three astronauts spent about 3 weeks in quarantine before they were released.
The only part of the Saturn-Apollo rocket that returned was the Columbia command module. It weighed in at about 5.6 mt, only 1/500 the departure mass.
The Apollo-spacecraft parts:
- Command Module: 5.56 mt
- Service Module: 6.11 mt / 24.52 mt
- Command-Service Module: 11.67 mt / 30.08 mt
- Ascent Stage: 2.15 mt / 4.70 mt
- Descent Stage: 2.13 mt / 10.33 mt
- Lunar Module: 4.28 mt / 15.03 mt
- Apollo Spacecraft: 15.95 mt / 45.08 mt
- Command module: living space 218 cu ft / 6.2 m^3, pressurized 366 cu ft / 10.4 m^3
- Ascent stage: living space 160 cu ft / 4.5 m^3, pressurized 235 cu ft / 6.7 m^3
Apollo 11, Apollo 11 Timeline
