The Eagle Has Landed: The Story of Apollo 11 (11 page)

The Soviet Union endured its own tragic misfortunes during the Space Race. On April 23, 1967, a
Soyuz I
spacecraft was launched into orbit and circled the Earth 18 times. During reentry, the retrorockets were fired too early, causing the capsule to speed into Earth’s atmosphere at a much higher velocity than intended. When the spacecraft’s main and emergency parachutes became entangled, the capsule struck the ground at 400 miles per hour, killing cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov.

In March of 1968, Yuri Gagarin, the most recognizable hero of the Soviet space program, was killed while flying a
MIG-15
trainer jet. The famed cosmonaut was honored by having his ashes interred in the Kremlin Wall. On December 8, 1968, an unmanned
Zond 7
spacecraft, scheduled to fly around the Moon, exploded shortly after launch, at an altitude of 27 miles.

Apollo 8,
which launched on December 21, 1968, was originally scheduled as a mission to test both the CSM and LM in Earth’s orbit. However, construction delays on the lunar module forced a change in plans. Instead, astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders became the first humans to leave Earth’s orbit and travel to the Moon. On December 24, 1968,
Apollo 8
entered a 69-mile-high lunar orbit and provided the first television images of the Moon’s surface. The spacecraft spent slightly over 24 hours in orbit, circling the Moon numerous times.

On Christmas Eve, during its ninth orbit, as the spacecraft emerged from the
dark side of
the Moon and television cameras captured Earth in the horizon, astronaut Bill Anders addressed a live television audience: “We are now approaching lunar sunrise, and for all people back on Earth, the crew
of Apollo 8
has a message that we would like to send to you. In the beginning, God created Heaven and Earth. And, the Earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And, the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And, God said: ‘Let there be light…’”

Over the next few minutes, the
Apollo 8
crew took turns reading the first 10 verses of the
Book of Genesis.
The astronauts had ample reason to call on their faith; prior to launch, NASA experts calculated that the odds of the crew returning home alive were only 50 percent. The astronauts concluded their live broadcast with warm holiday wishes: “Merry Christmas and God bless all of you—all of you on the good Earth.”

A stunning photograph of Earth taken during lunar orbit was featured on the cover of
Life
magazine. President Johnson was so enamored with the picture that he sent copies to world leaders, including North Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh.

Lunar mania soon spread. The morning after
Apollo 8’s
historic orbit,
Pan Am
initiated its “First Moon Flights Club.” For $14,000.00, members could reserve a seat on the airline’s proposed commercial
Moon Shuttle,
which
Pan Am’s
founder, Juan Trippe, forecast would be operational by the year 2000. Some 93,000 people eventually joined the lunar exploration club, including California Governor and future President of the United States, Ronald Reagan.

Early on Christmas morning, the
Apollo 8
spacecraft blasted out of lunar orbit, a maneuver known as
trans-Earth injection
—the crucial first step in its return home. As the astronauts were leaving the Moon, Jim Lovell radioed Mission Control: “Please be informed, there is a Santa Claus.”

On December 27, 1968,
Apollo 8
splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, proving that human beings could travel a quarter of a million miles into space and return home safely. At this point, little doubt remained—the United States was clearly the front runner in the Space Race.

Apollo 9,
launched on March 3, 1969, was the first test run for all mechanical components involved in a lunar landing. James A. McDivitt, David R. Scott, and Russell L. Schweickart orbited 119 miles above the Earth in the command service module (CSM), nicknamed
Gumdrop.
While in lunar orbit, Schweickart separated the lunar module (LM), christened
Spider,
from the CSM, and piloted it independent from the mother ship. Schweickart and McDivitt flew in
Spider
for 6 hours, travelling more than 100 miles from the CSM. Schweickart and Scott also took spacewalks, testing the protective suits and life support backpacks that would be utilized during excursions on the lunar surface.

The full dress rehearsal for the first Moon landing began on May 18, 1969, when
Apollo 10
blasted into space, left Earth’s orbit, and headed for the Moon. Once in lunar orbit, astronauts Thomas P. Stafford and Eugene Cernan boarded the LM,
Snoopy,
and flew to within 50,000 feet of the Moon’s surface. Stafford and Cernan were able to photograph the proposed lunar landing sight, providing NASA engineers and geologists with more detailed information about the regional topography. During the lunar descent, John Young remained alone in the CSM,
Charlie Brown,
and orbited high above his two crewmates.

The
Apollo missions 7, 8, 9,
and
10
had been unqualified successes, setting the stage for the grand prize—a lunar landing.

.

CHAPTER 6

Amiable strangers

B
y early 1969, the United States was clearly ahead of the Soviet Union in the quest to land a man on the Moon. The Soviets had been unable to achieve orbital docking capability with their
Soyuz
spacecraft until January of 1969; nearly three years after American astronauts had completed this maneuver during the
Gemini
program. While Wernher von Braun’s
Saturn V
had launched four
Apollo
spacecraft into space, the temperamental Soviet
N-1
rocket suffered through multiple test failures; yet another misfire would occur just prior to the July launch of
Apollo 11.

The Soviets had formulated the logistics for a manned lunar landing, provided they could remedy the problems with their launch rocket. Two cosmonauts would leave Earth’s orbit aboard an
L-2 Soyuz
spacecraft—the equivalent of the
Apollo
command service module. Once in lunar orbit, a lone cosmonaut would descend to the Moon’s surface in a
L-3
landing craft. In the end, because of repeated complications with the
N-1
rocket, the Soviets would never get an opportunity to actually employ either the
L-2
or the
L-3.

NASA’s third and final unmanned Moon exploration program, prior to the
Apollo
lunar landing, began in August of 1966, and lasted for an entire year. During that time, five
Lunar Orbiters,
all successfully launched into space, transmitted detailed photographs of the Moon’s surface, such that NASA experts could search for favorable landing sites. The lunar probes also measured radiation levels and mapped the Moon’s gravitational fields. Heading into 1969, John F. Kennedy’s vow to land a man on the Moon before the end of the decade no longer seemed impossible.

In December of 1968, Neil Armstrong learned that he would command
Apollo 11. If the Apollo 8, 9, and 10
missions were successful, Armstrong would become the first man to walk on the Moon.

Director of Flight Crew Operations, Deke Slayton, was responsible for selecting the
Apollo
spaceflight crews. After informing Armstrong of his selection, Slayton discussed potential crewmates with the newly-appointed
Apollo 11
commander.

On January 4, 1969, Michael Collins and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin were told they would be joining Armstrong aboard
Apollo 11.
Collins would serve as the command module pilot, while Aldrin would accompany Armstrong to the lunar surface. Five days later, NASA publicly announced the identity of the
Apollo 11
crewmembers.

The
Apollo 11
astronauts were all veterans of
Gemini
space flights. As part of their training, the trio had undergone rigorous studies in astronomy, aerodynamics, rocket propulsion, communications, medicine, meteorology, physics, guidance and navigation, flight mechanics, digital computer science, and geology. The geology training involved worldwide field trips to learn about different types of rocks and various soil compositions. Once they were selected to fly on
Apollo 11,
the three men intensified their training regimen, working 14-hour days, six days per week. On occasion, they worked an additional eight hours on Sundays. Between January 15 and July 15, 1969, the
Apollo 11
astronauts logged a mind-boggling 3,521 training hours.

Michael Collins labored in the
North American Aviation-built
command module simulator, mastering flight correction maneuvers, rendezvous/docking techniques, and preparing for multiple contingency scenarios. Armstrong and Aldrin not only had to familiarize themselves with the command module, but also spent countless hours in the
Grumman-built
lunar module simulator.

Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins shared certain commonalities; each had been born in the same year (1930), and had fathered three children. They were also skilled pilots and dedicated perfectionists. While working together effectively, the astronauts spent little social or recreational time together. A Cape Canaveral technician remembered their unusual relationship: “Although they were totally competent, they just didn’t seem to gel as a team. Usually, when a mission crew was named, they stuck together like glue. But, these three, they never did. When they drove up to the pad for tests, it was always in three separate cars. If we broke for lunch, they always drove away separately. There did not seem to be much camaraderie between the three men. I’ve always said that they were the first crew who weren’t really a crew.”

Buzz Aldrin later recalled the distant relationship with his crewmates: “There wasn’t anything that particularly drew me to Mike, and Neil and I hardly knew one another.” Michael Collins candidly described the trio as “amiable strangers.”

Apollo 11
commander, Neil Alden Armstrong, was born on August 5, 1930 in Wapakoneta, Ohio. The eldest of three children, Armstrong was a solid student and an Eagle Scout. He became interested in aviation at an early age, and received his pilot’s license at the tender age of 16.

Armstrong temporarily abandoned his studies during his sophomore year at Purdue University to become a fighter pilot in the United States Navy. During the Korean War, Armstrong flew 78 combat missions (120 hours), where he was no stranger to adversity. While making a bombing run in a
F9F Panther,
Armstrong’s aircraft was struck by ground fire and also hit a cable the North Koreans had strung across a valley. The cable sheared six feet off of his wing, forcing him to eject from the plane. At the conclusion of his military career in 1952, Armstrong had been awarded the
Air Medal, Gold Star, Korean Service Medal,
and
Engagement Star.

After the Korean War, Armstrong returned to civilian life and resumed college. In 1955, he graduated from Purdue with an undergraduate degree in aeronautical engineering. Armstrong later earned a Master’s of Science in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California.

After completing his formal education, Armstrong joined the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics—the forerunner of NASA. As a civilian test pilot, Armstrong flew nearly 900 missions, piloting a wide variety of different aircraft. A fellow test pilot remembered that Armstrong “had a mind that absorbed things like a sponge.”

In 1962, Armstrong applied to become an astronaut and was accepted in the second group of nine men who would fly into space. While he was the first civilian to join the astronaut corps, Armstrong found the transition from test pilot to astronaut seamless: “There were some similarities between the two, in the sense that both were always planning and trying to solve problems and devise approaches.”

In March of 1966, Armstrong made his maiden spaceflight aboard
Gemini VIII.
During that mission, Armstrong performed the first orbital docking of two spacecraft, and was able to reverse the unexpected, potentially catastrophic loss of control of the capsule and
Agena
docking craft. He was the back-up command pilot for
Gemini XI,
but did not actually return to space until the launch
of Apollo 11.

During his
Apollo 11
training, Armstrong encountered another potential life or death situation while piloting the lunar landing research vehicle, nicknamed the “flying bedstead.” The test vehicle, designed to simulate flight in l/6
^th
G Moon gravity, spiraled out of control at Ellington Air Force Base, when its thrusters malfunctioned. Armstrong ejected just 50 feet from the ground and was safely parachuted a short distance away—his only injury was the result of biting his tongue. The test vehicle had nearly tipped completely over during the crash, which would have ejected Armstrong, head first, into the runway. NASA Flight Director Chris Craft estimated that Armstrong avoided certain death by only 2/5
^th
of a second.

Such risks were a way of life for astronauts, and Neil Armstrong’s innate stoicism and ability to remain calm during crisis situations served him well. Introverted by nature, Armstrong was confident, but never overbearing. Flight Director, Gene Kranz, who described Armstrong as a “quiet observer” during strategy sessions, nonetheless realized that “when you looked at his eyes, you knew that
he
was the commander, and has all the pieces assembled in his mind.”

Command module pilot, Michael Collins, a candid observer of human behavior, had the highest regard for his crewmate: “Neil makes decisions slowly and well. As Borman (another astronaut) gulps decisions, Armstrong savors them—rolling them around on his tongue like a fine wine, and swallowing at the very last moment. Neil is a classy guy, and I can’t, offhand, think of a better choice to be the first man on the Moon.”

Edwin Eugene “Buzz” Aldrin was born on January 20, 1930 in Montclair, New Jersey. Aldrin’s father, a Colonel in the Army Air Corps, was also a record-setting cross-country flyer, who later founded the Air Force Institute of Technology. Ironically, Aldrin’s mother’s maiden name was Moon. The astronaut’s unique nick-name was the result of his older sister’s inability to pronounce the word brother—instead, she called him
Buzzer.