After a very long decade filled with many pioneer accomplishments the likes of which were never seen in the history of the world, the landing craft Eagle separated from its command module, Columbia, and began its long descent towards the lunar surface.
On July 20th, 20:17 GMT, the Eagle's descent engine was cut off for the final time, with only a couple seconds worth of fuel left due to a last-minute correction to the landing site. Neil Armstrong, mission commander, reported to Houston:
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EAGLE: Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed!
HOUSTON: Roger, Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You've got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot. Neil Armstrong was the first to exit the lunar module. He pulled a handle which extended the Modular Equipment Storage Assembly pallet attached to the side of the LEM, placing a video camera in position to record Man's first historic steps on the Moon.
The live transmission was blurry and of poor quality, as it was recorded off a TV screen back in Houston by another camera, which converted the image into commercial TV standard - this resulted in staggering loss of quality...but most people didn't care, and with good reason.
With a small delay of only a couple of seconds, Earth heard these words, which might've sounded pompous and self-important if included in fiction. But again, nobody cared.
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That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.One other task was also performed on Apollo 11, and probably the most important one: the astronauts evaluated their lunar excursion suits, verified they could move and work on the surface without problems, paving the way for future missions, and of course collected 22 kilograms of lunar surface samples of various sizes and types.* The Soil Mechanics Investigation studied the properties of the lunar soil
* The Solar Wind Composition Experiment collected samples of the solar wind for analysis on Earth.
Other experiments were deployed by the crew and then monitored from Earth by radio telemetry after the crew departed. This group of experiments was termed the Early Apollo Scientific Experiment Package. It was less extensive than the experiments performed on later missions, both because of time restrictions on the EVA and because of limitations on the payload mass carried on the first landing attempt.
* The Passive Seismic Experiment detected lunar "moonquakes" and provided information about the internal structure of the Moon.
* The Laser Ranging Retroreflector measured very precisely the distance between the Earth and Moon.
* The Lunar Dust Detector studied the effects of lunar dust on the operation of the experiment package.
On July 21st 1969, 17:54 GMT, after a rest period and minor repairs to an ignition switch, both astronauts lifted off from the surface. Splashdown was accomplished safely on July 24th 1969, 16:50 GMT, with the command module actually flipping upon landing, taking eight minutes before returning to its nose-up position.
Spaceflight has changed from those pioneer moments 42 years ago, and many things that could've been done back then are no longer possible due to loss of technology and expertise, but then again, we can again perform a great many tasks using unmanned probes, which reach out and let us experience the wonders of our solar system.
Still, the scientific legacy of the Apollo program lives on. The data collected during all the manned landings is still being analyzed to this day. We have learned a great deal about the Moon, its environment, history and composition. And, in a more down-to-earth measure, humanity can now look upon the moon and realize that anything is possible.
And in closing, NASA has a gigantic (12 meg download! Not for the faint-hearted!) map of the Moon which includes all major features and all landing sites (manned and unmanned).
You can find it here.
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- PeZook
