THE BLOXIDGE TALLYGRAPH

Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin:  they had the right stuff!

Dateline:  20 July 1969

Forty years ago today, humanity made its first giant leap to the Moon.  I was aged 9 at the time, and it was an adventure I will never forget, albeit my family and I were a quarter million miles away, viewing the action on a fuzzy black and white television in a council house in Blakenall! 

All the big cheeses in the media are marking the anniversary, and so is The Bloxidge Tallygraph.  How could we forget?  The following summary of the mission is supplied courtesy of the Lunar & Planetary Institute.  The picture above is courtesy of NASA.


Apollo 11 Mission  Summary

The purpose of the Apollo 11 mission was to land men on the lunar surface and to return them safely to Earth. The crew were Neil A. Armstrong, Commander; Michael Collins, Command Module Pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., Lunar Module Pilot.

The space vehicle was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 8:32 a.m. EST, July 16, 1969. The spacecraft was inserted into lunar orbit at about 76 hours into the mission, and an orbit circularization maneuver was performed two revolutions later. Initial checkout of lunar module systems was satisfactory, and after a rest period, Commander Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Aldrin entered the lunar module to prepare for descent.

The two spacecraft were undocked at about 100 hours, when the command and service modules separated from the lunar module. Descent orbit insertion was performed at approximately 101½ hours, and powered descent to the lunar surface began about 1 hour later. Operation of the guidance and descent propulsion systems was nominal. The lunar module was maneuvered manually approximately 1100 feet downrange from the nominal landing point during the final 2½ minutes of descent. The spacecraft landed in the Sea of Tranquillity at 102:45:40. The landing coordinates were 0°41'15"E latitude and 23°26'E longitude. During the first two hours on the surface, the two crewmen performed a checkout of all lunar module systems. Afterward, they ate their first meal on the Moon and decided to begin the surface operations earlier than planned.

Considerable time was devoted to checking out and putting on the back-mounted portable life support and oxygen purge systems. The commander went out through the forward hatch and deployed an equipment module in the descent stage. A camera in this module provided live television coverage of Armstrong descending the ladder to the surface, with first contact made at 109:24:15 (9:56:15 p.m. EST, July 20, 1969). The Lunar Module Pilot emerged soon after, and both crewmen used the initial period on the surface to get used to the reduced gravity and unfamiliar surface conditions. A contingency sample was collected from the surface, and the television camera was deployed so that most of the lunar module was included in its field of view. The crew activated the scientific experiments, which included a solar wind detector, a passive seismometer, and a laser retroreflector. Aldrin evaluated his ability to operate and move about, and was able to move about rapidly and with confidence. Forty-seven pounds of lunar surface material were collected to be returned for analysis. The surface exploration was concluded in the allotted time of 2½ hours, and the crew reentered the lunar module at 111½ hours.

Ascent preparation was efficient, and the ascent stage lifted off the surface at 124¼ hours, mission elapsed time. A nominal firing of the ascent engine placed the vehicle into a 45 × 9-mile orbit. After a rendezvous sequence the lunar module docked with the command and service module at 128 hours. Following transfer of the crew, the ascent stage was jettisoned, and the command and service modules were prepared for trans-Earth injection.

The return flight started with a 150-second firing of the service propulsion engine during the thirty-first lunar orbit at 135½ hours. As in translunar flight, only one midcourse correction was required, and passive thermal control was used for most of trans-Earth coast. Bad weather made it necessary to move the splashdown point 215 miles downrange. Atmospheric entry phase was normal, and the command module landed in the Pacific Ocean at 195¼ hours. The landing coordinates, as determined from the onboard computer, were 13'19"N latitude and 1'09"W longitude.

After landing, the crew put on biological isolation suits. They were retrieved by helicopter and taken to the recovery ship, USS Hornet. The crew and lunar samples were placed in the Mobile Quarantine Facility for transport to the Lunar Receiving Laboratory in Houston. The command module was taken aboard the Hornet about 3 hours after landing.

With the success of Apollo 11, the USA's objective to land men on the Moon and return them safely to Earth had been accomplished.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Apollo 11!

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