August 3rd, 2011

August 3rd: Apollo 11 Mission: On the Moon

Date: August 3, 2011 Title: Apollo 11 Mission: On the Moon Podcasters: Thomas Hofstätter and Leon Dombroski Organization: :: The Hidden Space Project :: Link: http://hidden-space.at.tf Description: This is the 4th of audio of five about the mission of Apollo 11. In this audio, Thomas and Leon discuss the landing events of Apollo 11 on the Moon and reenact some of the important moments. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions to the podcast, feel free to write me an email to hidden-space (at) gmx (dot) at or visit me at my website at www.hidden-space.at.tf! Bio: Born in 1993 near Vienna, Austria, Europe. Upper High School with focus on Computer Science.Interested in extreme small and extreme big, devious and uninvestigated things. My main aim is to bring astronomy to public and to establish secular interest in astronomy, physics and mathematics. Host of :: The Hidden Space Project :: at http://hidden-space.at.tf. Sponsor: This episode of 365 Days of Astronomy is sponsored by -- NO ONE. We still need sponsors for many days in 2011, so please consider sponsoring a day or two. Just click on the "Donate" button on the lower left side of this webpage, or contact us at signup@365daysofastronomy.org. Transcript: Hello and welcome to this episode of 365 Days of Astronomy. My name is Thomas Hofstätter and I am the hoster of :: The Hidden Space Project :: at www.hidden-space.at.tf. [Leon:] And I'm Leon Dombroski from the state of Connecticut in the United States. Eugene F. Kranz who was responsible for the lunar landing, described the moment of descent with these words: [Leon:] This is the day we’re either going to land, abort or crash – the only three alternatives. [...] I had to tell these kids [the flight controllers] how proud I was of the work that they’d done [...] they were the best team ever assembled and [...] they were going to write the history books by the team that took an American to the moon. [...] In the next hour we will do something that has never been done before – we will land an American on the moon! The risks are high, but that is the nature of our work. [...] Good luck, and God bless us today! Moreover there were several prominent NASA space officials including:

• Tomas O. Paine, NASA Administrator,
• Kurt H. Debus, Director of the Kennedy Space Center,
• Wernher von Braun, Director of the Marshall Space Center and builder of the Saturn V rocket,
• Edgar M. Cortright, Director of Langley Research Center,
• and more including several astronauts

[Leon:] During descent, there were several problems with the communication to the LM. The mission control in Houston often had to communicate with the astronauts via the CSM where also the contact broke down for some times. But during descent, the LM had contact to mission control in Houston. The next problem came when the crew got several 12-02 and 12-01 alarms which meant that the computer was not able to cope with the data. Shortly before landing, Armstrong observed, that the landing area was quite rocky and it would not have been a good decision to land there. He later described the area with these words: [Leon:] I was surprised by the size of the boulders, some of which were the size of small automobiles.[...] Houston, that may have seemed like a very long final phase. The Auto targeting was taking us right into a football–field–sized crater with a large number of big boulders and rocks for about one or two crater diameters around it, and it required us going in P66 and flying manuall over the rock field to find a reasonably good area. After a manual flight by Armstrong, they were able to land the “Eagle” on firm ground and on 102h45min41sec, Armstrong announced his second prominent words: [Leon:] Shutdown! [...] Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed. [Leon:] During some hours on the Lunar surface, Armstrong and Aldrin prepared for Extravehicular Activity (EVA). Armstrong had the right to go first because he was the commander. There were rumors that Aldrin had vainly tried to get the job as commander and even had intrigued against Armstrong. Some people even say that there are no high quality photographs of Armstrong because of this fact. It took Armstrong 17 minutes from opening the hatch to his first step on the moon because of the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) which was quite unhandy. Nevertheless on 9.59pm on Sunday, July 20, 1969, Armstrong did his first step on the moon saying the most prominent words ever: [Leon:] That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. [Leon:] Armstrong observed the powdery regolith on the Lunar surface and shot some photos. 19 minutes after Armstrong, Aldrin was to become the second man on the moon. The astronauts each had their own checklist of things to do such as observing the surface, taking samples and installing science instruments which they followed closely. One prominent activity was to fix a plaque on the stage of the LM which later was left on the surface to save fuel for ascent. Armstrong described the plaque with the words: [Leon:] First, there’s two hemispheres, one showing each of the two hemispheres of the earth. Underneath it says ‘Here men from the planet earth first set foot upon the moon, July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind’. It has the crew members’ signatures and the signature of the President of the United States. Another operation to do was the flag ceremony. It had been decided that the US would not make territorial claims. But Congress rejected the idea of hoisting the flag of the United Nations, but decided to raise the “Stars and Stripes”. It was quite complicated for the astronauts to get the flagstaff into the ground. During liftoff the Lunar surface, the flag fell down because of the boost. [Leon:] Later there were conspiracies that the flag could not have been standing on the moon because it waved. That’s not true because there is nearly no atmosphere on the moon. That means that the flag began to wave during raising and was not retarded by any atmospheric resistant. Moreover there was a horizontal bar to hold the banner. Shortly later, they completed a phone call from the US President Nixon in which he said: [Leon:] Neil and Buzz. I’m talking to you by phone from the Oval Room at the White House, and this certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made. I just can’t tell you how proud we all are of what you have done. For every American, this has to be the proudest day in our lives. And for people all over the world. [...] Because of what you have done, the heavens have become a part of man’s world. [...] For one priceless moment in the whole history of man, all the people on this world are truly one; one in their pride in what you have done and in our prayers that you will return safely to earth. During the rest of the outside activity, the crew was able to collect rock samples and perform the above mentioned exercises. It should not be forgotten that the whole time, Armstrong and Aldrin observed the surface, Collins had to stay in orbit and wait for them to return. That's it for today. I hope, you enjoyed it. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, visit me at my website at www.hidden-space.at.tf. Thanks for listening and clear-skies! [Leon:] Good bye for now! New stories are to come soon! End of podcast: 365 Days of Astronomy ===================== The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Astrosphere New Media Association. Audio post-production by Preston Gibson. Bandwidth donated by libsyn.com and wizzard media. Web design by Clockwork Active Media Systems. You may reproduce and distribute this audio for non-commercial purposes. Please consider supporting the podcast with a few dollars (or Euros!). Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org. Until tomorrow...goodbye.

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