Read The Eagle Has Landed: The Story of Apollo 11 Online
Authors: Jeffrey Smith
The Eagle Has Landed: The Story of Apollo 11 (13 page)
The first stage of the
Saturn V
rocket burned for 2 minutes and 40 seconds, launching the spacecraft to an altitude of 200,000 feet. At 9:34:40 a.m., the first stage was discarded and fell 45 miles into the Atlantic Ocean. At the same time, the escape tower and boost protection cover were jettisoned, allowing the astronauts to see outside the cockpit window.
“Yeah, they finally gave me a window to look out,” Armstrong announced to Mission Control.
The second stage booster burned for six minutes, lifting
Apollo 11
to an altitude of 606,000 feet, before it was discarded at 9:41:12 a.m. Three minutes later, the third stage rocket fired for the first time, and launched the spacecraft into orbit. Just 11 minutes and 42 seconds after lift-off,
Apollo 11
was in an elliptical, 103.6 by 101.4-nautical mile-orbit, zipping around Earth at 17,400 miles per hour.
“We’re showing an orbital weight of the combined vehicles of 297,914 pounds. Based on orbital figures, the orbital period is 1 hour, 28 minutes, 16 seconds,” Mission Control notified the astronauts.
Cap Com reported further details: “We have a report on the launch heart rates, now, from the flight surgeon; Commander Neil Armstrong’s heart rate 110, command module pilot, Mike Collins’ 99, lunar module pilot, Buzz Aldrin’s 88. These compare with their first
Gemini
flights—their first lift-off back in the
Gemini
Program—Armstrong’s heart rate was 146 at that time, Collins’ was 125, and Aldrin’s was 110.”
The
Apollo 11
spacecraft spent 2.5 hours in a
parking orbit,
as the astronauts went through a series of checklists in preparation for the next leg of the trip. At this point, they were able to remove their helmets and gloves while working and acclimating to zero gravity. Each man moved his head slowly, in an effort to prevent vertigo.
According to NASA medical records, 75.95 % of astronauts vomited upon entering weightlessness, as their vestibular systems adjusted to zero gravity. In a weightless environment, astronauts experienced significant redistribution of blood and other bodily fluids, leading to an increase in heart size, decrease in thirst, electrolyte changes, and increased urine output. The unfortunate ones developed acute urinary retention, necessitating self-catheterization.
Two
IBM
computers, one in the CSM and the other in the lunar module, were primed to assist the crew, as they prepared to head to the Moon. Each computer was state of the art for the time, with 74 kilobytes of memory and a 2.048 MHz clock processer. With 19 keyboard buttons, the 70-pound
Apollo
guidance computer, housed in a 3 x 5 feet box, allowed the crew to measure velocity to 1/1000
th
of a foot per second, enabling them to make precise course corrections. The guidance system was necessary to make exact calculations concerning three moving bodies (Earth, Moon, and spacecraft), all of which influenced the CSM’s flight pattern. Instructions for computer programing were printed on plastic-coated, erasure-proof sheets, clipped to metal rings inside the capsule.
After orbiting Earth 1.5 times, the
Apollo 11
crew had completed their assigned duties—it was time head to the Moon.
.
W
hile orbiting Earth, command module pilot, Michael Collins, was responsible for charting
Apollo 11’s
path to the Moon. Using a telescope, sextant, and star chart, Collins entered data into the spacecraft’s guidance, navigation, and control systems computer. He successfully plotted a flight path by first aligning with
Menkent
(star number 30), and then
Nunki
(star number 37). In order to reach the Moon, navigational readings had to be precise. If
Columbia
exited the Earth’s orbit with an incorrect trajectory, the
Apollo 11
crew would be launched into space forever.
At 12:16 p.m., three hours after launch, the third stage of the
Saturn V
rocket fired for a second time. The 5.2-minute engine burn increased the spacecraft’s velocity to 24,300 miles per hour, propelling the
Apollo 11
spacecraft out of its Earth orbit—an exacting maneuver, known as
translunar injection.
“Hey, Houston,
Apollo 11.
That
Saturn
gave us a magnificent ride,” Collins radioed Mission Control.
“Roger,
11.
We’ll pass that on. And, it certainly looks like you are well on your way now,” Cap Com replied.
Thirty-three minutes after translunar injection, the CSM detached from the third stage
Saturn
booster, in preparation for docking with the lunar module. The LM was housed in the lunar adapter, atop the
Saturn V
booster, which Michael Collins likened to “a mechanical tarantula crouched in its hole.”
Once the CSM separated from the remainder of the rocket, the four panels on the lunar adapter automatically detached and drifted away into space. Once the CSM was 75 feet distant from the
Saturn
booster, Collins turned the CSM completely around and maneuvered into docking position. Utilizing the CSM reaction control system, Collins carefully approached the lunar module. He inserted the probe located on the nose of the CSM into the drogue atop the LM, which automatically engaged three capture latches. The release of pressurized nitrogen gas caused the probe to retract and pull the lunar module into alignment with the CSM, engaging 12 mechanical latches, which held the two vehicles together in a vise grip.
“That wasn’t the smoothest docking I’ve ever done,” Collins reported to Mission Control.
“Well, it felt good from here,” a delighted Cap Com replied.
After the docking maneuver was completed, the third stage
Saturn
booster was jettisoned into space, preventing it from the trailing the astronauts to the Moon. The CSM
(Columbia)
and LM
(Eagle),
with a combined weight of 98,000 pounds, were positioned for the three-day trip to the Moon.
Outward bound,
Apollo 11
raced through
cislunar
space at 35,579 feet per second. The gravitational forces of the Earth, Sun, and Moon guided the spacecraft toward its lunar destination. The CSM engines would be fired, as needed, to provide course corrections.
The CSM slowly rotated on its axis at 3/10
th
of one degree per second during the trip to the Moon, making one complete turn every 20 minutes. The continuous rotation was necessary to keep the Sun’s rays from melting equipment on one side of the vehicle, while the shaded side froze. In the words of Michael Collins, the spacecraft was “like a chicken on a spit.”
The astronauts were able to remove their pressurized suits during the translunar leg of the mission. The bulky suits were stored in bags underneath the cockpit couches, allowing Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins to move comfortably about in their nylon jumpsuits.
The crew had a number of tasks to occupy their time during the journey to the Moon, including systems monitoring, charging batteries, chlorinating drinking water, and dumping wastewater. There was no bathroom in the cramped spacecraft—urine was collected through a condom catheter and vented outside the capsule, while feces were collected and stored in plastic bags. The astronauts could shave, but there were no showers, and marginal body hygiene was maintained by using disposable wipes.
NASA flight surgeons closely monitored the crew’s heart rates, and if necessary, could run electrocardiogram tracings. Aboard the spacecraft, there was a special medical kit containing motion sickness and pain suppression injectors, urinary catheters, first aid ointment, bandages, eye drops, antibiotics, anti-nausea pills, stimulants, oral painkillers, decongestants, anti-diarrheal agents, aspirin, and sleeping pills. A survival kit, which would be utilized in the event of an emergency during lift-off or splash down, contained a life raft, utility knife, drinking water, dye markers, a desalinization kit, and a beacon transceiver.
Columbia’s
kitchen pantry was stocked with nearly 70 different kinds of freeze dried foods, including beef stew, shrimp cocktail, cream of chicken soup, tuna salad, spaghetti with meat sauce, sausage patties, and pineapple fruitcake. Using a special hot water gun, the astronauts hydrated the plastic food packages before each meal. The menu was varied, but not particularly appetizing— one astronaut described it as “add water, ignore taste.” Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins also had packets of dehydrated coffee, specially prepared to suit their individual tastes.
In the spacecraft’s tight quarters, the astronauts were forced to set embarrassment aside. The fuel cells that generated the spacecraft’s drinking water failed to permanently bond the hydrogen and oxygen molecules, filling the reservoir with gaseous bubbles. The end result of drinking water was flatulence; an odor Michael Collins likened to “a mixture of wet dog and marsh grass.”
At night, the astronauts varied their sleeping arrangements, with one of them strapped in his couch wearing a radio headphone, while the other two slept in hammock-like sleeping bags below the cockpit seats. In zero gravity, the crew had to be restrained while sleeping to prevent floating about and inadvertently activating a cockpit switch or lever.
The crew averaged only five hours of sleep per night. With the sun continually shining, masking external cues that differentiated day from night, their circadian rhythms were disrupted.
The astronauts tolerated weightlessness without any ill-effects, but Collins noted a distinct transformation in his crewmates’ appearances: “With no gravity pulling down on loose fatty tissue beneath their eyes, they look squinty and decidedly Oriental. It makes Buzz look like a swollen eyed allergic, and Neil like a very wily, sly one.”
Over the course of their eight-day mission, the astronauts absorbed a cut in pay. Neil Armstrong’s salary was reduced from $16.00 to $4.00 per day, because he was being “housed and fed at government expense.”
At the end of their first day in space, 14 hours after lift-off, the
Apollo 11
crew was already 60,000 miles from Earth.
.
The most awesome sphere that
I’ve ever seen
O
n the evening of their second day in space, the
Apollo 11
crew passed the
equigravisphere point,
where the Moon’s gravitational pull took complete control of the spacecraft.
Columbia
was now 214,402 miles from Earth and had slowed to a velocity of 2,000 miles per hour. Once under the full influence of lunar gravity, the spacecraft would begin to regain speed.
The highlight of day number two had been the firing of the CSM propulsion engines to make a flight course correction. While four such corrections had been planned, only one was actually required. Michael Collins explained the need to slightly alter the spacecraft’s flight trajectory to overcome the forces of nature: “The Sun is pulling us, the Earth is pulling us, the Moon is pulling us—just as Newton predicted they would.” As the command module pilot, Collins savored the opportunity to make a course correction: “For three brief seconds of service module engine firing, Mike Collins will be driving, instead of Sir Isaac Newton!”
Mission Control informed the astronauts that an unmanned Soviet spacecraft,
Luna 15,
had been launched on July 13
th
, and was making a desperate attempt to beat
Apollo 11
to the Moon. NASA reassured the crew that the Russian probe would not interfere with their lunar orbit and landing. Unbeknownst to NASA, the latest Soviet
N-1
rocket had exploded on the launch pad four days earlier, effectively ending the Soviets’ manned lunar landing program.
In early evening of the second day, the
Apollo 11
astronauts hosted a 36-minute television broadcast. For the first time, the American public was able to see the astronauts in action, far from home. During the lighthearted broadcast, Buzz Aldrin performed zero gravity pushups and Neil Armstrong stood on his head, while Michael Collins demonstrated how to prepare chicken stew in a weightless environment.
As the astronauts grew closer to the Moon, the changing environment was a source of wonderment. Over 200,000 miles from home, Earth’s reflected light, also known as
Earthshine,
was intense enough to illuminate
Columbia’s
cockpit.
“It was so bright, you could read a book by it,” Collins recalled.
The
Apollo 11
crew shared an unprecedented view of the
Milky Way.
Collins marveled at the celestial panorama: “The sky’s full of stars.”
At the beginning of day three, the Moon was no longer a distant object in the horizon, and the astronauts searched for the right words to describe what they were seeing. Michael Collins shared his observations with Mission Control: “The Moon I have known all my life—that two dimensional, small yellow disc in the sky, has gone away somewhere, to be replaced by the most awesome sphere that I’ve ever seen…”
Nearly a quarter of a million miles from home, at least one of the astronauts encountered a sobering reminder of the magnitude of the journey. As he gazed out of
Columbia’s
cockpit window, Buzz Aldrin held up his thumb, completely blocking out the image of distant Earth.
On day number four, Cap Com awakened the crew with news from home: “First off, it looks like it’s going to be impossible to get away from the fact that you guys are dominating all the news back here on Earth. Even
Pravda,
in Russia, is headlining the mission and calls Neil ‘the Czar of the ship…’”
Later that same day, the newly commissioned
Czar
shared his bird’s eye observations: “The view of the Moon that we’ve been having recently is really spectacular. It fills about three-quarters of the hatch window, and of course, we can see the entire circumference, even though part of it is in the complete shadow and part of it is in Earthshine. It’s a view worth the price of the trip.”
.