A Bedtime Story of Apollo 11 and the First Steps on the Moon | SleepWise

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Good evening and welcome back to
sleep.

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Wise to night.
We drift towards something that

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has hung above human beings for
as long as we have looked up the

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moon.
Not the idea of it, not a

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picture of it, but the actual
Gray world that crossed the dark

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sky to night and will cross it
again to Morrow.

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Patient and unhurried, almost
239,000 miles away, it is such a

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familiar companion that we
rarely stop to think about it.

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It rises behind rooftops and
trees.

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It pulls quietly on the oceans.
It changes shape across the

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month.
Full one night and a thin

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Crescent another, as though
slowly turning its face.

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Children draw it, sailors once
steered by it, lovers walk

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beneath it, and every now and
then, on a clear evening, you

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may have looked up and felt,
without quite saying so, that

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the moon was looking back.
For nearly all of human history,

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that is where the relationship
ended.

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The moon could be seen, sung
about, mapped from afar, even

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studied through telescopes, but
it could not be reached.

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It belonged to the heavens, and
the heavens were not a place

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people went.
Then, within the span of a

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single human lifetime, that
ancient distance was crossed.

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Not in legend, not in dream, but
in fact.

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Three men climbed into a small
craft on the coast of Florida,

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rose on a tower of fire, sailed
for four days through the dark

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between worlds, and stepped onto
the surface of the moon.

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Their footprints are still
there.

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No wind has touched them, no
rain has fallen on them.

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They wait, undisturbed, in dust
older than the Earth itself.

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That journey is what we will
follow tonight.

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We will move slowly.
There is no need to hurry.

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We will begin long before the
rocket was built, long before

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the astronauts were born, in the
centuries when reaching the moon

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was only a quiet wish.
We will pass through the years

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of careful engineering, the
rivalry that pushed it forward,

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the patient practice in lower
orbits, and the morning when the

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largest machine ever flown
lifted 3 small lives toward

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another world.
We will travel with them through

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the long Coast, hear the strange
alarms that nearly stopped the

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landing, and stand with them in
the Gray stillness of the Sea of

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Tranquillity.
We will also remember the third

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astronaut, the one who did not
walk on the moon, who waited

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alone in lunar orbit while the
other two went down.

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His story is quieter and worth
telling.

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If these slow journeys help you
rest, you can follow Sleep Wise

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and share it with someone who
might enjoy falling asleep while

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learning something new.
For to night settled in, Let the

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room grow soft.
Let your shoulders ease into the

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pillow.
The moon is still above you,

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exactly where it has always
been, drifting slowly across the

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night, as it has for billions of
years.

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And the long story of how we
reached it begins, as so many

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great stories do, with a dream
that for a very long time seemed

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impossible.
The wish to reach the moon is

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older than anyone can quite say.
Long before there were rockets

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or engines, long before there
were even reliable telescopes,

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people gazed upward and tried to
imagine what it would mean to go

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there.
The moon was the brightest thing

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in the night sky, the closest of
all the heavenly bodies.

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And yet it remained completely
beyond reach.

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That tension of being so visible
and so unreachable gave it a

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particular hold on the human
imagination.

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In the 2nd century, a Greek
writer named Lucian of Samosata

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composed one of the earliest
known stories of a voyage to the

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moon.
In his tale, a ship is lifted by

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a great waterspout into the sky,
where its crew meets the

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inhabitants of the lunar world.
It was satire more than science,

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but the moon had become a place
in literature, a destination for

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stories, centuries before anyone
could reach it.

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In fact, the dream continued
through the centuries.

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In the early 17th century, the
astronomer Johannes Kepler, who

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had helped uncover the laws of
planetary motion, wrote a short

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work called Somnium, or the
Dream.

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It described a journey to the
moon and tried in its own way to

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imagine what the lunar surface
might actually be like.

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Kepler had no rocket and no
spacecraft to offer.

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He had only his calculations,
his telescope and his careful

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curiosity.
But he was beginning to treat

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the moon not as a symbol, but as
a world.

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By the 19th century, the idea
had passed from astronomers into

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popular story telling.
In 1865, the French writer Jules

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Verne published From the Earth
to the Moon, in which a great

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Canon launched A manned capsule
from Florida toward the lunar

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surface.
The science was imperfect.

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No human being could survive the
acceleration of such a Canon.

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But Verne understood something
the world had not yet quite

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grasped.
To reach the moon you would need

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an enormous launching device, an
enormous supply of energy and a

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small craft at the top carrying
the travellers.

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The basic shape of the answer
was already forming in fiction.

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HG Wells, the English writer,
took up the dream a few decades

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later.
In The First Men in the Moon.

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He imagined a strange substance
that could shield a spacecraft

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from gravity.
That was not how it would

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actually be done, but the
longing was the same.

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The moon was becoming a place
that could, in principle, be

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visited.
What none of these writers had

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was a workable engine.
The real bridge between dream

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and possibility would come not
from storytellers but from a

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small group of patient,
eccentric pioneers in the late

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19th and early 20th centuries.
They would discover, slowly and

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against great skepticism, that a
different kind of motion

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entirely might one day carry
human beings beyond the earth.

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Their work begins quietly in
three different countries, with

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three thoughtful men who had
each, in their own way, fallen

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in love with the sky.
The first of those pioneers was

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Konstantin Tchelkovsky, a deaf
Russian school teacher working

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in a small town South of Moscow
in the 1890s and into the early

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1900s.
He sat in modest rooms and

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worked out with nothing but
pencil and paper, the basic

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mathematics of Space Flight.
He understood that a rocket

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would have to carry both its
fuel and the means to burn it,

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that liquid propellants would
likely outperform solid ones,

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and that reaching orbit would
require staging in which used

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portions of the rocket fell away
as it climbed.

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He published these ideas largely
in obscurity.

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Few people read them, but the
foundation was being laid in the

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United States.
A physicist named Robert Goddard

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reached similar conclusions
through experiment.

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In 1926, on a quiet farm in
Massachusetts, he launched the

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world's first liquid fueled
rocket.

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It rose only 41 feet into the
air and flew for 2 1/2 seconds.

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By modern standards, it was
almost nothing.

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But it was the first time a
rocket of that kind had ever

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flown.
And Goddard understood what he

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had just begun.
In Germany, a young engineer

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named Herman Oberth was writing
books about the possibility of

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space travel that would inspire
an entire generation.

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Among the young people he
influenced was a teenager named

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Wernher von Braun, who would one
day play an enormous part in the

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journey to the moon.
Though by a long and complicated

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Rd. that passed through war, the
Second World War accelerated

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rocketry in ways no peaceful era
could have.

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In Germany, von Braun and his
team developed the V2, the first

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long range guided ballistic
missile used as a weapon against

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European cities.
It was a terrible chapter, and

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it cannot be separated from the
deaths it caused.

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When the war ended, both the
United States and the Soviet

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Union sought out German rocket
engineers and brought them home.

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Von Braun and many of his
colleagues came to America.

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Other scientists went E The same
expertise that had built weapons

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would soon be turned toward the
sky.

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Then came the rivalry.
By the mid 1950's, the United

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States and the Soviet Union had
emerged from the war as the two

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great powers of the world, and
their relationship had cooled

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into something tense and
watchful.

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It was called the Cold War.
There were no open battles

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between them, but there was a
quiet, continuous competition in

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science, in weapons, and
increasingly, in space.

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On the 4th of October 1957, the
Soviet Union launched a small

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metal sphere called Sputnik into
orbit around the Earth.

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It was about the size of a beach
ball, and it carried a simple

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radio transmitter that beeped
steadily as it passed overhead.

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To many Americans, that steady
beeping was a shock.

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A foreign power had reached
space first.

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What followed was not yet a race
to the moon, but it was the

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beginning of 1.
In the years that followed

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Sputnik, the pace of events
quickened.

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In 1958, the United States
established a new civilian

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agency to lead its space
efforts, the National

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Aeronautics and Space
Administration, soon known

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simply as NASA.
Its task was clear, even if the

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path was not.
America wanted to catch up and

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then to lead, but the Soviet
Union was still ahead.

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On the 12th of April 1961, a
young Soviet pilot named Yuri

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Gagarin became the first human
being to leave the Earth.

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His small spherical capsule,
called Vostok One, completed a

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single orbit around the planet
in less than two hours and

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brought him safely home.
He was 27 years old.

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To much of the world he became
an instant figure of wonder.

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To the Americans, his flight was
another stinging signal that

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they were not yet first.
Less than six weeks later, on

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the 25th of May, 1961, President
John F Kennedy stood before a

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joint session of Congress and
made one of the boldest

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commitments in the history of
any government.

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He declared that the United
States should commit itself to

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landing a man on the moon and
returning him safely to earth

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before the decade was out.
He did not say it would be easy.

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He said it would be hard, and
that the country should do it

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precisely because it was hard.
The clock had begun.

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The American crude program had
to be built from almost nothing.

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It came in stages, each one
carefully designed to teach the

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next.
The first was Project Mercury,

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which sent a single astronaut at
a time into space in a small one

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person capsule.
Alan Shepard became the first

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American in space in 1961 on a
brief sub orbital flight.

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John Glenn became the first
American to orbit the Earth in

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1962, circling the planet three
times.

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The Mercury flights showed that
people could survive launch

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weightlessness and reentry.
Then came Project Gemini, a more

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ambitious program with two
person capsules and longer

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missions.
Gemini was where the harder

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skills were learned.
Astronauts practiced rendezvous,

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the careful art of bringing 2
spacecraft together in orbit.

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They practiced docking, in which
one craft physically joined

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another.
They practiced space walks,

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learning how to leave the
capsule and move in the strange

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vacuum outside.
They learned to live in space

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for days at a time.
None of this was glamorous in

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the way the moon landing would
later seem.

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It was patient, technical,
sometimes nearly invisible to

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the public.
But every skill the Mercury and

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Gemini astronauts developed
would later be needed by the men

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who went to the Moon.
Without rendezvous, there could

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be no lunar mission.
Without long duration flight,

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there could be no four day
voyage.

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By 1966, Gemini had ended.
The patient apprenticeship was

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almost complete.
Apollo was waiting.

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Apollo was meant to be the final
step.

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Its purpose was clear from the
start.

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It would carry astronauts to the
moon and bring them safely home.

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The spacecraft would be larger
and more complex than anything

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that had come before.
It would consist of two main

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parts, the command module, where
the crew lived during most of

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the journey, and the lunar
module, a separate craft

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designed only to descend to the
lunar surface and return to

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lunar orbit.
The work was enormous.

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Hundreds of thousands of people
across the United States

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contributed to it in factories,
in laboratories, in tracking

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stations, in offices, in machine
shops.

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The astronauts themselves were
only the visible tip of an

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extraordinary effort.
Behind every flight stood

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engineers, mathematicians,
technicians, seamstresses sewing

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space suits by hand, and quiet
rooms full of people doing

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calculations that had never been
done before.

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By early 1967, the first crude
Apollo mission was nearly ready.

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Its three astronauts were Virgil
Grissom, known as Gus, an

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experienced pilot who had flown
in both Mercury and Gemini,

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00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:02,640
Edward White, who had become the
first American to walk in space,

230
00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:08,200
and Roger Chaffee, a younger
astronaut preparing for his

231
00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:11,960
first flight.
They were to test the new

232
00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:17,520
command module in Earth orbit,
the first step toward the moon.

233
00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:24,720
On the evening of the 27th of
January 1967, the three men were

234
00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:29,280
sealed inside the capsule for a
ground test on the launchpad.

235
00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:33,040
The rocket beneath them was
unfueled.

236
00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:37,680
The test was meant to be
routine, a rehearsal of the

237
00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:41,840
launch sequence with the
spacecraft on internal power.

238
00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:45,600
The crew had been in their suits
for hours.

239
00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:51,160
There were small frustrations, a
smell in the air, communication

240
00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:54,600
problems, a mood of tired
patience.

241
00:19:54,920 --> 00:20:00,840
Then, without warning, a fire
broke out inside the cabin, the

242
00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:06,040
pure oxygen atmosphere used in
the spacecraft at that time.

243
00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:11,760
Allowed the flames to spread
with terrible speed, the Hatch

244
00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:14,520
could not be opened quickly from
inside.

245
00:20:15,120 --> 00:20:19,160
Within moments, all three
astronauts were gone.

246
00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:23,160
The country mourned.
The agency mourned.

247
00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:28,200
The question hung in the air,
plain and painful.

248
00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:31,120
Could the program continue at
all?

249
00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:36,440
Some thought it could not, but
after a long and unflinching

250
00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:42,360
investigation, the engineers and
astronauts together chose to go

251
00:20:42,360 --> 00:20:45,560
on.
The command module was

252
00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:50,040
redesigned. the Hatch was
changed so that it could be

253
00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:54,040
opened outward quickly.
The cabin atmosphere was

254
00:20:54,040 --> 00:20:57,640
modified.
Materials were replaced.

255
00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:03,520
The astronauts themselves
insisted that the work continue,

256
00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:08,520
that the deaths of their friends
would only make sense if the

257
00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:13,920
mission was completed.
It was not triumphal failure,

258
00:21:14,120 --> 00:21:17,640
but endurance.
Apollo went forward more

259
00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:23,040
carefully than before, carrying
with it the memory of three men

260
00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:26,200
who had not lived to see what
came next.

261
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:32,560
The path to the moon had grown
quieter, but it had not closed.

262
00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:39,000
While the redesigned command
module took shape, another part

263
00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:42,760
of the program was rising in the
Alabama heat.

264
00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:49,080
To reach the moon, an enormous
rocket would be needed, far

265
00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:51,680
larger than anything the world
had ever built.

266
00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:59,160
That rocket was the Saturn 5,
and its construction was one of

267
00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:03,280
the great engineering efforts of
the 20th century.

268
00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:08,960
The team behind it was led by
Wernher von Braun, the German

269
00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:13,560
engineer who had come to the
United States after the war and

270
00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:18,000
now worked at NASA's Marshall
Space Flight Center in

271
00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:24,080
Huntsville, AL Around him
gathered hundreds of engineers,

272
00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:29,480
machinists and designers, many
of them young, many of them

273
00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:35,040
learning as they went.
They were building something for

274
00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:37,400
which there was no real
precedent.

275
00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:44,240
The Saturn 5 stood 363 feet tall
on the launchpad.

276
00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:49,480
That is taller than the Statue
of Liberty, taller than most

277
00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:54,040
cathedrals, taller than nearly
any structure that has ever

278
00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:58,840
lifted itself off the ground.
Fully fueled, it weighed more

279
00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:03,680
than £6,000,000.
Most of that weight was simply

280
00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:07,840
propellant, the kerosene and
liquid oxygen and liquid

281
00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:10,440
hydrogen that would burn in its
engines.

282
00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:16,640
At the base of the rocket sat
the first stage, called the SRC.

283
00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:22,760
Its five enormous F1 engines
were the heart of the machine.

284
00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:27,880
Each one produced about one and
a half 1,000,000 lbs of thrust.

285
00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:33,680
Together, the five generated
thrust equivalent to roughly 7

286
00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:38,320
and a half million pounds, the
most powerful rocket engines

287
00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:42,440
ever flown.
When they ignited, they would

288
00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:46,120
burn through 20 tons of fuel
each second.

289
00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:52,080
The first stage alone would lift
the rocket only about 40 miles

290
00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:59,200
into the sky in 2 1/2 minutes
before falling away into the

291
00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:02,920
Atlantic.
Above it stood the second stage,

292
00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:07,640
the S Out Two, with five smaller
engines burning liquid hydrogen

293
00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:12,720
and liquid oxygen.
Above that, the third stage, the

294
00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:18,240
SIVB, with a single engine that
could be restarted in space.

295
00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:24,160
Each stage was a rocket in its
own right, designed to fire,

296
00:24:24,360 --> 00:24:29,600
exhaust itself and separate
cleanly before the next took

297
00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:33,240
over.
Only the small spacecraft at the

298
00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:36,560
very top would actually reach
the Moon.

299
00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:41,280
The Saturn 5 was tested in
stages, slowly and with great

300
00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:44,000
care.
After the Apollo 1 fire.

301
00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:49,320
The first complete flight, an
uncrewed mission called Apollo

302
00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:55,160
Four, took place in November of
1967.

303
00:24:56,080 --> 00:25:00,520
When the engines ignited, the
ground shook for miles.

304
00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:04,280
Reporters watching from the
press site found that the sound

305
00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:09,160
was almost physical, pressing
against their chests, rattling

306
00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:13,000
their cameras.
Walter Cronkite's broadcast

307
00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:15,600
booth trembled on its
foundations.

308
00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:20,240
It worked.
The Saturn 5 rose stage by stage

309
00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:26,560
and performed exactly as it had
been designed to do. 2 Further

310
00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:32,920
uncrewed tests followed, and
then in December of 1968, Apollo

311
00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:37,280
8 carried 3 astronauts all the
way to the moon and back,

312
00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:41,920
orbiting it 10 times before
returning home.

313
00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:45,720
The path through the sky was
open.

314
00:25:46,120 --> 00:25:49,720
Now the question was who would
ride it.

315
00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:56,440
By early 1969, after several
successful Apollo flights had

316
00:25:56,440 --> 00:26:00,400
tested the spacecraft in Earth
orbit and around the Moon

317
00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:06,240
itself, NASA was ready to choose
the crew that would attempt the

318
00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:09,920
landing.
The mission would be called

319
00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:15,680
Apollo 11, and its three
astronauts had been selected

320
00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:20,600
from a small group of
experienced test pilots, each

321
00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:26,600
carrying his own quiet history.
The commander was Neil

322
00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:32,120
Armstrong.
Born on a farm in Ohio in 1930.

323
00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:37,040
He had flown combat missions in
the Korean War as a young naval

324
00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:42,920
aviator, then become a civilian
test pilot, flying the X15

325
00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:49,000
rocket plane to the edge of
space at speeds above 4000 mph.

326
00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:53,320
He was known among his
colleagues as exceptionally

327
00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:57,240
calm, even by the standards of
test pilots.

328
00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:02,960
He spoke little.
He did not seek attention when

329
00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:07,040
the engines of an experimental
aircraft failed beneath him.

330
00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:10,960
He had a way of working the
problem all the way to the

331
00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:16,920
ground without his voice rising.
That steadiness was one of the

332
00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:23,080
reasons he had been chosen.
The lunar module pilot was Edwin

333
00:27:23,120 --> 00:27:27,000
Aldrin, known to everyone as
Buzz.

334
00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:33,320
He had been born in New Jersey
in 1930, the same year as

335
00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:36,680
Armstrong.
He had also flown combat in

336
00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:41,120
Korea, then earned A doctorate
from the Massachusetts Institute

337
00:27:41,120 --> 00:27:46,320
of Technology, where his thesis
had been on orbital rendezvous,

338
00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:51,680
the very skill that would be
needed to bring the lunar module

339
00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:55,160
back to the command module after
the landing.

340
00:27:56,080 --> 00:28:02,360
He was bright, intense and
direct, with a deep technical

341
00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:05,680
understanding of the spacecraft
he would help fly.

342
00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:11,760
The command moduled pilot was
Michael Collins, born in 1930 in

343
00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:16,200
Rome, where his father, an
American general, had been

344
00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:20,520
stationed.
He had become an Air Force test

345
00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:25,560
pilot, then an astronaut, and
had already flown once in space,

346
00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:30,400
on Gemini 10.
He was thoughtful, observant,

347
00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:33,960
given to writing carefully about
what he saw.

348
00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:39,040
On Apollo 11, he would not walk
on the moon.

349
00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:43,680
He would remain in orbit aboard
the command module while

350
00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:48,680
Armstrong and Aldrin descended.
It was a role that asked for

351
00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:52,160
discipline and a particular kind
of patience.

352
00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:57,440
The three men trained together
for months, though they did not

353
00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:02,040
become close friends in the way
some crews did.

354
00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:06,040
Armstrong was reserved by
nature.

355
00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:09,440
Aldrin was driven and somewhat
private.

356
00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:14,880
Collins was the most outwardly
companionable of the three.

357
00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:19,840
They respected one another,
worked together with great care,

358
00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:24,360
and accepted that the mission
asked of them what it asked.

359
00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:28,800
They practiced endlessly in
simulators, running through

360
00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:34,000
every imaginable failure.
They studied the lunar surface

361
00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:38,800
in photographs taken by the
earlier Apollo missions.

362
00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:44,200
They walked through the
spacecraft in factories, knowing

363
00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:49,000
every switch and dial.
They prepared for the chance

364
00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:54,320
that things would go wrong.
By the early summer of 1969,

365
00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:58,600
they were as ready as careful
preparation could make them.

366
00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:03,080
The launch date was set for the
16th of July.

367
00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:08,240
The countdown was beginning.
In the final weeks before the

368
00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:12,840
flight, the three astronauts
entered a quiet period of

369
00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:18,160
preparation that was both
meticulous and strange.

370
00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:23,280
They were placed in a limited
form of quarantine, meant to

371
00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:27,680
keep them from catching any
illness that might delay or

372
00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:32,320
endanger the mission.
They saw their families only

373
00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:35,840
carefully and from a small
distance.

374
00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:41,680
They moved through their days
surrounded by doctors, engineers

375
00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:47,200
and the gentle rhythm of final
checks on the coast of Florida

376
00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:51,600
at what was then called the
Kennedy Space Center, the

377
00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:54,800
Saturn.
The five had already been moved

378
00:30:54,800 --> 00:31:01,360
from its enormous assembly
building to launch Complex 39 A,

379
00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:06,680
a journey of 3 1/2 miles carried
out by a massive crawler

380
00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:11,000
transporter moving at less than
one mile per hour.

381
00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:17,240
The rocket now stood at the pad,
white and slender against the

382
00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:21,480
sky, waiting.
In the days before launch,

383
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:26,280
hundreds of thousands of people
began to gather along the nearby

384
00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:31,320
beaches and roadsides.
They came in cars and campers

385
00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:34,640
with picnic blankets and small
radios.

386
00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:39,160
Some had travelled across the
country, some had come from

387
00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:42,200
other continents around the
world.

388
00:31:42,480 --> 00:31:46,640
The launch would be carried on
television and radio in dozens

389
00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:51,200
of languages.
It was estimated that more than

390
00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:56,760
half a billion people would
eventually watch some part of

391
00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:00,800
the mission.
For a brief time, much of

392
00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:06,360
humanity was turning its
attention to a single piece of

393
00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:09,320
sky.
On the morning of the 16th of

394
00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:15,280
July, the astronauts woke early.
They ate a breakfast that had

395
00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:20,400
become traditional for launch
days, steak and eggs.

396
00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:25,560
They were helped into their
bulky white space suits, layer

397
00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:30,720
by layer by the technicians who
knew each seal and connector.

398
00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:36,080
They walked, helmets in hand, to
the transfer van that would

399
00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:39,400
carry them to the pad at the
launch tower.

400
00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:44,320
They rode an elevator up the
side of the rocket, more than 30

401
00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:48,800
stories above the ground, and
stepped, one at a time, across a

402
00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:51,800
small walkway into the command
module.

403
00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:57,840
They settled into their couches,
Armstrong on the left, Collins

404
00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:00,680
in the middle, Aldrin on the
right.

405
00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:05,040
The Hatch was closed and sealed
behind them.

406
00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:10,920
Below them, in the great body of
the Saturn five more than five

407
00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:15,600
and a half million pounds of
fuel weighted in carefully

408
00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:20,880
chilled tanks.
Around them, 10,000 checks were

409
00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:25,520
being run by engineers in the
control rooms in Houston.

410
00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:29,720
A separate team at Mission
Control had taken over

411
00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:32,680
operational responsibility from
Florida.

412
00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:36,880
The countdown was now measured
in minutes.

413
00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:40,600
A strange calm settles into a
crew.

414
00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:44,560
At this point, there is nothing
more to learn.

415
00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:49,720
Every system has been checked.
The decision is made.

416
00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:54,800
They lie on their backs, looking
up at the Gray panels of the

417
00:33:54,800 --> 00:34:00,480
spacecraft and listen to the
small voices in their headsets

418
00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:05,960
counting down towards something
the world has never quite done

419
00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:09,480
before.
Outside the rocket, the morning

420
00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:17,600
grew bright over the Atlantic.
The clock approached 0 at 9:32

421
00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:22,280
in the morning, Eastern Time on
the 16th of July 1969.

422
00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:28,560
The 5F1 engines at the base of
the Saturn 5 ignited.

423
00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:32,760
They did not fire all at once,
but came up to power in a

424
00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:37,159
careful sequence, building
thrust over several seconds

425
00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:42,679
while the rocket was still held
to the pad by enormous metal

426
00:34:42,679 --> 00:34:47,000
arms.
The flames spread sideways

427
00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:52,400
across the deflector beneath the
pad, and a great white cloud of

428
00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:57,200
steam billowed outward as
cooling water poured over the

429
00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:00,640
structure.
Inside the spacecraft, the

430
00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:06,560
astronauts felt the noise first,
a low Rolling Thunder that rose

431
00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:09,880
into their bodies before they
began to move.

432
00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:15,040
Then, at the moment of full
thrust, the hold down arms

433
00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:19,520
released and the Saturn Fife
lifted from the pad.

434
00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:25,120
It rose slowly at first,
gathering speed as it climbed

435
00:35:25,120 --> 00:35:28,520
clear of the tower from the
ground.

436
00:35:28,520 --> 00:35:32,560
It seemed almost majestic in its
patience.

437
00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:39,000
Spectators miles away saw the
bright flame and the slender

438
00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:44,280
white shape rising before the
sound of it reached them several

439
00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:50,440
long seconds later as a deep,
continuous roar that they felt

440
00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:54,480
in their chests.
The rocket cleared the tower and

441
00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:58,920
began to roll gently onto its
programmed flight path, heading

442
00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:03,600
eastover the Atlantic.
The acceleration grew.

443
00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:07,040
The crew was pressed back into
their couches.

444
00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:11,360
Mission Control's calm voice
marked each milestone.

445
00:36:11,720 --> 00:36:15,520
Tower clear, roll program, pitch
program.

446
00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:20,080
Everything was nominal.
It was about 2 1/2 minutes into

447
00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:24,320
the flight, having lifted the
rocket some 40 miles into the

448
00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:29,960
sky, the 5F1 engines of the
first stage cut off.

449
00:36:30,760 --> 00:36:35,240
There was a sudden change of
feeling, almost a lurch, as the

450
00:36:35,240 --> 00:36:40,000
great empty stage was released
and fell away toward the ocean

451
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:44,120
below.
The second stage's 5 engines

452
00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:51,400
ignited and continued the climb.
6 minutes later, the second

453
00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:56,840
stage 2 dropped away and the
single engine of the third stage

454
00:36:57,000 --> 00:37:03,280
took over. 12 minutes after
liftoff, Apollo 11 was in orbit

455
00:37:03,280 --> 00:37:10,200
around the Earth, traveling at
more than 17,000 mph.

456
00:37:10,960 --> 00:37:16,000
About 120 miles above the
planet, the astronauts

457
00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:21,240
unstrapped themselves from their
couches and floated for the

458
00:37:21,240 --> 00:37:26,320
first time in the gentle
weightlessness that would now be

459
00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:30,200
their world.
For more than a week, they had a

460
00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:35,760
little less than two orbits in
which to check every system

461
00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:40,000
before committing to the moon.
When everything had been

462
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:44,920
confirmed, the third stage was
reignited for a burn lasting

463
00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:49,320
nearly 6 minutes.
This was the translunar

464
00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:54,080
injection, the maneuver that
lifted Apollo 11 out of Earth

465
00:37:54,080 --> 00:37:57,840
orbit and onto a path that would
meet the Moon.

466
00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:04,600
As the engine fired, the
spacecraft's speed rose past

467
00:38:04,720 --> 00:38:11,760
24,000 mph, fast enough to
escape the Earth's gravitational

468
00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:15,240
hold.
When the engine shut down, the

469
00:38:15,240 --> 00:38:21,040
crew looked out the windows and
saw the Earth slowly receding

470
00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:25,320
behind them.
The moon was still nearly four

471
00:38:25,320 --> 00:38:28,200
days away.
They were on their way.

472
00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:33,080
For the next three days, Apollo
11 coasted through the dark

473
00:38:33,080 --> 00:38:36,320
between worlds.
After the violence of the

474
00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:41,600
launch, the spacecraft now moved
in almost complete silence,

475
00:38:42,200 --> 00:38:46,240
carried only by the burn it had
already made.

476
00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:50,480
There were no further engines
firing for most of the journey,

477
00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:55,520
the craft simply fell forward,
through space, along the curve

478
00:38:55,720 --> 00:38:59,520
that would meet the moon.
Soon after the translunar

479
00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:03,520
injection, the crew performed
one of the most delicate

480
00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:08,040
maneuvers of the early flight.
The lunar module was still

481
00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:13,520
housed inside an adapter at the
top of the spent third stage.

482
00:39:14,280 --> 00:39:19,880
Collins, as command module
pilot, separated the command and

483
00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:25,360
service modules from the rest of
the stack, turned them carefully

484
00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:31,200
around, and gently redocked nose
to nose with the lunar module.

485
00:39:32,080 --> 00:39:36,440
Then the combined spacecraft
pulled away, leaving the empty

486
00:39:36,440 --> 00:39:40,840
third stage to drift on its own
path through space.

487
00:39:41,480 --> 00:39:46,480
From this point on, Eagle, the
Lunar module, and Columbia, the

488
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:51,040
Command module, would travel
together as one craft.

489
00:39:51,480 --> 00:39:56,560
The cabin of Columbia was small.
Three men, 3 couches,

490
00:39:56,680 --> 00:40:00,480
instruments along the walls,
food packages stored in

491
00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:04,720
compartments.
Without gravity, items did not

492
00:40:04,720 --> 00:40:08,200
stay where they were placed
unless held or fastened.

493
00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:12,520
A pen would float.
A drop of water would drift

494
00:40:12,520 --> 00:40:18,720
slowly and then break into
smaller drops, The astronauts

495
00:40:18,720 --> 00:40:24,000
learned, as previous space
travelers had the strange, small

496
00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:29,480
choreography of weightless life.
To keep the spacecraft from

497
00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:34,480
being heeded unevenly by the
sun, mission controllers placed

498
00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:39,360
it in what was called the
passive thermal control mode,

499
00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:47,000
sometime nicknamed the BBQ roll.
The craft turned slowly on its

500
00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:52,240
long axis, about three times an
hour, so that no single side

501
00:40:52,240 --> 00:40:57,840
faced the sun for too long.
From inside, the rotation was

502
00:40:57,840 --> 00:41:02,480
barely noticeable.
From outside, the spacecraft

503
00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:08,840
turned like a small silver thing
on a slow spit, glinting faintly

504
00:41:08,840 --> 00:41:12,680
against the stars.
The astronauts ate, slept,

505
00:41:13,040 --> 00:41:18,160
monitored systems and made small
television broadcasts back to

506
00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:21,280
Earth.
They showed viewers the inside

507
00:41:21,280 --> 00:41:26,840
of the cabin, the floating spoon
of food, the slow rotation of

508
00:41:26,840 --> 00:41:31,640
the planet behind them.
Earth grew smaller in the window

509
00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:37,360
with each passing hour.
By the second day, it was a

510
00:41:37,360 --> 00:41:41,960
vivid blue and white sphere,
small enough to be covered by an

511
00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:47,560
outstretched thumb.
By the third day it had become a

512
00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:52,080
little marble, beautiful and
somehow tender.

513
00:41:52,640 --> 00:41:58,120
Hanging alone in the dark, it is
hard to convey how strange it

514
00:41:58,120 --> 00:42:02,560
must have been to look back at
the entire planet from so far

515
00:42:02,560 --> 00:42:05,840
away.
Everyone any of them had ever

516
00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:09,320
known was somewhere on that
small marble.

517
00:42:09,960 --> 00:42:16,400
Every war, every birth, every
breath of every life, all of it

518
00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:19,560
contained on a single fragile
sphere.

519
00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:25,080
Several astronauts of those
years would later say that this

520
00:42:25,080 --> 00:42:31,040
view, more than the moon itself,
was what stayed with them most

521
00:42:31,360 --> 00:42:36,320
deeply.
Apollo 11 coasted on, quiet and

522
00:42:36,320 --> 00:42:40,920
steady, drawing closer to a
world none of them had yet seen

523
00:42:41,280 --> 00:42:45,440
with their own eyes.
By the 4th day of the journey,

524
00:42:45,720 --> 00:42:49,000
the moon was no longer a distant
idea.

525
00:42:49,880 --> 00:42:54,360
It had grown larger in the
windows with each passing hour,

526
00:42:55,080 --> 00:43:01,600
until at last it filled most of
the view, a great Gray world

527
00:43:01,600 --> 00:43:06,920
close enough to show its craters
and shadows in fine detail.

528
00:43:07,240 --> 00:43:11,400
The astronauts could see the
rugged Highlands, the dark,

529
00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:17,440
smooth plains called Maria, and
the long ridges and ancient

530
00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:22,240
impacts that had shaped its
surface across billions of

531
00:43:22,240 --> 00:43:25,880
years.
After three days of looking at

532
00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:30,400
Earth shrinking behind them, it
was a strange shift of

533
00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:34,680
attention.
The destination had finally

534
00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:39,640
become real.
Apollo 11 was now approaching

535
00:43:39,640 --> 00:43:44,520
the moon on a path that would
carry it around the far side.

536
00:43:45,360 --> 00:43:50,640
The far side, often loosely
called the Dark side, is not

537
00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:53,360
actually darker than the near
side.

538
00:43:54,040 --> 00:43:58,040
It receives sunlight just as the
near side does.

539
00:43:58,360 --> 00:44:03,160
But because the moon turns on
its axis at the same rate it

540
00:44:03,160 --> 00:44:08,040
orbits the Earth, the same
hemisphere always faces us.

541
00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:14,320
The far side had been completely
hidden from human eyes until

542
00:44:14,320 --> 00:44:19,080
Soviet probes photographed it
for the first time in 1959.

543
00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:25,720
To pass behind the moon was to
pass into a region beyond all

544
00:44:25,720 --> 00:44:29,960
radio contact with Earth.
The most critical manoeuvre of

545
00:44:29,960 --> 00:44:34,480
the inbound journey took place
there, out of sight and out of

546
00:44:34,480 --> 00:44:38,960
communication.
It was called lunar orbit

547
00:44:38,960 --> 00:44:42,560
insertion.
The spacecraft was travelling

548
00:44:42,560 --> 00:44:45,760
too quickly to be captured by
the moon's gravity.

549
00:44:46,360 --> 00:44:51,000
If nothing slowed it, it would
swing once around the far side

550
00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:56,840
and continue back toward Earth.
To enter orbit, the service

551
00:44:56,840 --> 00:45:02,280
module engine had to fire for a
precise duration, slowing the

552
00:45:02,280 --> 00:45:06,200
craft just enough to be caught
by the moon's pull.

553
00:45:06,600 --> 00:45:11,400
The burn had to happen on the
far side in radio silence.

554
00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:16,120
There was no way for Mission
Control in Houston to confirm

555
00:45:16,120 --> 00:45:19,840
the firing as it occurred, no
way to help.

556
00:45:20,280 --> 00:45:24,280
If something went wrong, the
astronauts would simply

557
00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:29,360
disappear behind the moon,
perform the burn alone, and

558
00:45:29,360 --> 00:45:33,880
reappear on the near side,
either in orbit or, if the burn

559
00:45:33,880 --> 00:45:37,240
had failed, on a path back
toward Earth.

560
00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:43,160
The mission controllers
calculated the exact moment when

561
00:45:43,160 --> 00:45:47,480
the spacecraft should emerge
from behind the moon if

562
00:45:47,480 --> 00:45:51,520
everything had gone correctly.
The crew approached the far

563
00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:57,160
side, performed their final
checks, and prepared themselves.

564
00:45:58,240 --> 00:46:02,880
They lost radio contact with
Earth exactly on schedule.

565
00:46:03,320 --> 00:46:07,120
For about 30 minutes.
No one on the ground could hear

566
00:46:07,120 --> 00:46:11,200
them or speak to them.
The engine fired.

567
00:46:11,200 --> 00:46:15,400
For nearly 6 minutes.
The astronauts watched their

568
00:46:15,400 --> 00:46:21,040
instruments, felt the gentle
deceleration and trusted that

569
00:46:21,040 --> 00:46:24,160
the long preparation had been
enough.

570
00:46:24,560 --> 00:46:29,440
When Apollo 11 came back into
view of the Earth slightly later

571
00:46:29,440 --> 00:46:34,040
than it would have without the
burn, the controllers in Houston

572
00:46:34,440 --> 00:46:40,680
received the signal and exhaled.
The spacecraft was in lunar

573
00:46:40,680 --> 00:46:45,000
orbit, circling about 60 miles
above the surface.

574
00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:48,840
For the first time in the
mission, the astronauts looked

575
00:46:48,840 --> 00:46:54,200
down on the moon as travellers.
Not as visitors yet, but no

576
00:46:54,200 --> 00:47:01,160
longer as observers from afar,
Apollo 11 spent its first hours

577
00:47:01,160 --> 00:47:05,480
in lunar orbit in observation
and preparation.

578
00:47:06,480 --> 00:47:10,840
The three men took turns at the
windows, watching the Gray

579
00:47:10,840 --> 00:47:14,720
surface slide past.
Below them, they photographed

580
00:47:14,720 --> 00:47:18,920
the planned landing site in the
southern part of the Sea of

581
00:47:18,920 --> 00:47:25,120
Tranquillity, a relatively flat
region chosen for its smoothness

582
00:47:25,560 --> 00:47:30,000
and the angle of sunlight that
would fall on it during the

583
00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:33,720
descent.
They checked and rechecked the

584
00:47:33,720 --> 00:47:39,160
systems of both spacecraft.
They slept, or tried to, in the

585
00:47:39,160 --> 00:47:45,520
strange quiet of lunar orbit.
On the morning of the 20th of

586
00:47:45,520 --> 00:47:50,240
July, the day of the landing,
Armstrong and Aldrin began the

587
00:47:50,240 --> 00:47:55,320
slow process of moving from
Columbia, the command module,

588
00:47:55,800 --> 00:48:01,160
into Eagle, the Lunar module.
They suited up, gathered their

589
00:48:01,160 --> 00:48:05,160
checklists and floated through
the small connecting tunnel

590
00:48:05,560 --> 00:48:10,320
between the two craft.
Eagle was a strange looking

591
00:48:10,320 --> 00:48:16,760
machine, 4 legged and angular,
designed for one purpose only.

592
00:48:17,480 --> 00:48:21,520
It would never need to fly
through an atmosphere, never

593
00:48:21,520 --> 00:48:26,240
need to be aerodynamic.
It could be all engineering and

594
00:48:26,440 --> 00:48:30,920
no elegance.
Once inside, the two astronauts

595
00:48:30,920 --> 00:48:33,280
began their own series of
checks.

596
00:48:33,920 --> 00:48:39,440
Eagle had its own systems, its
own engine, its own small

597
00:48:39,440 --> 00:48:43,400
computer.
Aldrin and Armstrong stood at

598
00:48:43,400 --> 00:48:47,320
their stations, harnessed by
straps in the weightlessness,

599
00:48:47,720 --> 00:48:53,040
their helmets visible in the
small triangular windows below

600
00:48:53,040 --> 00:48:55,400
them.
The surface of the moon

601
00:48:55,920 --> 00:48:59,800
continued to pass.
Then came the moment of

602
00:48:59,800 --> 00:49:04,080
separation.
With a soft mechanical sound,

603
00:49:04,480 --> 00:49:07,880
the latches between Eagle and
Columbia released.

604
00:49:08,720 --> 00:49:13,960
The two spacecraft drifted apart
very slowly, only a few inches

605
00:49:13,960 --> 00:49:19,400
per second at first.
Collins, alone now in Columbia,

606
00:49:19,800 --> 00:49:23,040
slowly pulled away to give Eagle
room.

607
00:49:23,480 --> 00:49:27,320
He looked at the lunar module
through his window as it

608
00:49:27,320 --> 00:49:33,280
receded, and he later described
seeing the strange spider like

609
00:49:33,280 --> 00:49:38,480
craft with the two astronauts
inside it, framed against the

610
00:49:38,480 --> 00:49:43,800
Gray surface below.
He spoke to them on the radio.

611
00:49:44,400 --> 00:49:47,800
He told them that Eagle looked
beautiful.

612
00:49:48,040 --> 00:49:52,040
Armstrong, in his characteristic
way, answered briefly.

613
00:49:52,800 --> 00:49:55,600
There were no speeches at this
moment.

614
00:49:56,280 --> 00:50:01,280
The two craft were now flying
independently in slightly

615
00:50:01,280 --> 00:50:05,520
different orbits.
Eagle was preparing for the

616
00:50:05,520 --> 00:50:09,560
descent.
Columbia would continue in lunar

617
00:50:09,560 --> 00:50:13,880
orbit, waiting.
A short maneuver lowered Eagle's

618
00:50:13,880 --> 00:50:20,280
orbit so that its lowest point
came within about 50,000 feet of

619
00:50:20,280 --> 00:50:24,240
the lunar surface, roughly 9 1/2
miles.

620
00:50:25,000 --> 00:50:28,600
From there, the descent would
begin in earnest.

621
00:50:29,000 --> 00:50:33,680
The two crews could still speak
with each other and with

622
00:50:33,680 --> 00:50:37,720
Houston.
They exchanged final checks,

623
00:50:38,360 --> 00:50:43,040
called out the readings on their
instruments, and confirmed that

624
00:50:43,200 --> 00:50:49,080
all systems remained ready.
Inside, Eagle, Armstrong and

625
00:50:49,080 --> 00:50:52,280
Aldrin watched the surface grow
nearer.

626
00:50:53,160 --> 00:50:57,080
They had practiced this moment
thousands of times in

627
00:50:57,080 --> 00:51:01,560
simulators.
Now the moon itself, not a

628
00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:06,800
screen, not a photograph, was
rising slowly into their

629
00:51:06,800 --> 00:51:10,160
windows.
Eagle was about to begin the

630
00:51:10,160 --> 00:51:14,560
most carefully planned descent
ever attempted by human beings.

631
00:51:15,000 --> 00:51:21,320
The powered descent began with a
small, precise firing of Eagle's

632
00:51:21,320 --> 00:51:26,400
descent engine.
At that moment, the lunar module

633
00:51:26,480 --> 00:51:32,680
was about 50,000 feet above the
surface and traveling at more

634
00:51:32,680 --> 00:51:37,080
than 3000 mph relative to the
ground below.

635
00:51:37,440 --> 00:51:42,520
The engine throttled up gently,
then more strongly slowing the

636
00:51:42,520 --> 00:51:48,360
craft and lowering its path.
Armstrong stood at the left

637
00:51:48,360 --> 00:51:53,440
window, Aldrin at the right,
both watching the Gray surface

638
00:51:53,440 --> 00:51:57,360
roll past beneath them.
For the first few minutes, the

639
00:51:57,360 --> 00:52:00,280
descent went almost exactly as
planned.

640
00:52:00,880 --> 00:52:05,280
The astronauts called out
altitudes and velocities.

641
00:52:06,080 --> 00:52:10,960
Mission Control in Houston
monitored the data flowing back

642
00:52:10,960 --> 00:52:14,880
from Eagle.
Charlie Duke, an astronaut

643
00:52:14,880 --> 00:52:19,000
serving as the capsule
communicator that day, relayed

644
00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:24,280
the most important information
between the controllers and the

645
00:52:24,280 --> 00:52:27,840
crew.
His Carolina voice was steady

646
00:52:28,040 --> 00:52:33,040
and friendly.
The room behind him was full of

647
00:52:33,040 --> 00:52:37,920
young engineers in their 20s and
30s, most of them at their

648
00:52:37,920 --> 00:52:42,360
consoles for the most important
moments of their lives.

649
00:52:42,760 --> 00:52:46,080
Then a small alarm sounded
inside Eagle.

650
00:52:46,840 --> 00:52:51,200
A code appeared on the computer
display 12O2.

651
00:52:51,920 --> 00:52:55,000
Armstrong asked Houston what it
meant.

652
00:52:55,560 --> 00:53:01,240
The crew did not recognize it.
The descent was continuing, but

653
00:53:01,240 --> 00:53:03,720
the computer was telling them
something.

654
00:53:04,080 --> 00:53:08,920
In the backroom at Mission
Control, a young engineer named

655
00:53:08,920 --> 00:53:15,200
Steve Bales had to decide within
seconds whether to continue or

656
00:53:15,200 --> 00:53:19,560
to abort the landing.
He understood, as the crew did

657
00:53:19,560 --> 00:53:24,040
not yet, that the alarm meant
the computer was overloaded with

658
00:53:24,040 --> 00:53:28,520
tasks, but was handling its most
important duties.

659
00:53:28,520 --> 00:53:31,320
First.
He gave the call.

660
00:53:32,240 --> 00:53:33,680
Go.
On that alarm.

661
00:53:34,720 --> 00:53:37,600
Charlie Duke passed the word up
to Eagle.

662
00:53:38,360 --> 00:53:41,840
You are go for landing.
The descent continued.

663
00:53:42,040 --> 00:53:46,880
Then another alarm, 12 O1 Bailes
again said go.

664
00:53:47,840 --> 00:53:52,600
Then the alarms stopped, and the
surface kept rising.

665
00:53:53,600 --> 00:53:57,440
The astronauts could now see
craters in detail.

666
00:53:57,840 --> 00:54:03,320
Ridges, scattered boulders.
They were perhaps a few 1000

667
00:54:03,320 --> 00:54:06,920
feet above the Moon.
As Eagle approached the planned

668
00:54:06,920 --> 00:54:12,080
landing zone, Armstrong realized
that the computer was guiding

669
00:54:12,080 --> 00:54:16,440
them toward a field strewn with
large rocks around the rim of a

670
00:54:16,440 --> 00:54:20,280
sizable crater.
Landing there would be

671
00:54:20,280 --> 00:54:23,680
dangerous.
Without saying much, he took

672
00:54:23,680 --> 00:54:28,680
semi manual control of the
descent, using a hand controller

673
00:54:28,960 --> 00:54:33,320
to steer the craft past the
boulder field and on to a

674
00:54:33,320 --> 00:54:37,840
smoother area beyond.
The fuel gauge began to drop

675
00:54:37,840 --> 00:54:41,680
into territory the crew had
rarely seen in simulations.

676
00:54:42,280 --> 00:54:45,960
Houston's flight controllers
watched their displays with

677
00:54:45,960 --> 00:54:51,400
growing concern.
A young engineer called out fuel

678
00:54:51,400 --> 00:54:58,440
warnings. 60 seconds of fuel
remaining, then 30.

679
00:54:59,400 --> 00:55:04,360
There was a hard limit.
If Eagle ran low enough that an

680
00:55:04,480 --> 00:55:08,080
abort could no longer be
performed safely, the landing

681
00:55:08,080 --> 00:55:12,400
would have to be called off and
the ascent stage would have to

682
00:55:12,400 --> 00:55:16,400
fire immediately to lift the
crew back toward Collins.

683
00:55:16,840 --> 00:55:20,920
But Armstrong was still flying,
calm as he had ever been,

684
00:55:21,240 --> 00:55:23,600
looking for ground he could
trust.

685
00:55:24,040 --> 00:55:30,080
Eagle was now descending slowly,
almost hovering, while Armstrong

686
00:55:30,080 --> 00:55:33,520
steered it toward a flat area
beyond the boulder field.

687
00:55:34,400 --> 00:55:40,560
The lunar module's engine kicked
up a soft layer of dust as it

688
00:55:40,560 --> 00:55:45,200
approached the surface, dust
that had not been disturbed for

689
00:55:45,200 --> 00:55:48,720
billions of years.
The view from the windows

690
00:55:48,720 --> 00:55:51,960
changed.
Where moments before there had

691
00:55:51,960 --> 00:55:56,880
been distant ground, there was
now a textured surface close

692
00:55:56,880 --> 00:56:02,240
enough to study, Gray and
powdery, scarred with tiny

693
00:56:02,240 --> 00:56:06,280
craters and small rocks.
Aldrin called out the descent

694
00:56:06,280 --> 00:56:11,440
data in a steady voice.
Forward, drifting forward, down

695
00:56:11,440 --> 00:56:16,960
2 1/2.
Forty feet down, 2 1/2, picking

696
00:56:16,960 --> 00:56:22,000
up some dust, 30 feet.
The numbers fell quietly between

697
00:56:22,000 --> 00:56:26,600
the two men, each one a
measurement of altitude or rate.

698
00:56:27,200 --> 00:56:31,360
Inside Mission Control, almost
no one moved.

699
00:56:31,720 --> 00:56:34,040
Charlie Duke held his
microphone.

700
00:56:34,600 --> 00:56:37,640
Steve Bailes watched his
display.

701
00:56:38,400 --> 00:56:41,920
Many of the controllers held
their breath.

702
00:56:42,240 --> 00:56:47,440
Then, beneath one of Eagle's
legs, a small probe extending

703
00:56:47,440 --> 00:56:50,880
below the spacecraft touched the
surface.

704
00:56:51,760 --> 00:56:55,520
A blue light flashed on the
instrument panel inside the

705
00:56:55,520 --> 00:56:58,320
cabin.
The contact light.

706
00:56:59,080 --> 00:57:02,040
Aldrin saw it first and called
it out.

707
00:57:02,800 --> 00:57:07,760
Armstrong cut the engine.
Eagle settled the last few feet

708
00:57:07,760 --> 00:57:12,240
onto the surface of the moon
slowly, with the gentleness of a

709
00:57:12,240 --> 00:57:16,320
small craft setting down on a
beach.

710
00:57:16,680 --> 00:57:22,480
It was 418 in the afternoon,
Houston time, on the 20th of

711
00:57:22,480 --> 00:57:28,000
July 1969.
The two astronauts looked at

712
00:57:28,000 --> 00:57:31,800
each other for a brief moment.
Aldrin smiled.

713
00:57:32,440 --> 00:57:35,080
Armstrong reached up to flip a
switch.

714
00:57:35,720 --> 00:57:39,880
Then Armstrong made the call
that would be remembered for the

715
00:57:39,880 --> 00:57:44,960
rest of human history.
Houston Tranquillity Base here.

716
00:57:45,240 --> 00:57:49,040
The Eagle has landed in Mission
Control.

717
00:57:49,280 --> 00:57:54,040
There was a brief moment of
stillness, as if no one quite

718
00:57:54,040 --> 00:57:59,560
trusted their own ears.
Then quiet applause broke out.

719
00:58:00,120 --> 00:58:04,680
Then louder applause.
Charlie Duke, his voice almost

720
00:58:04,680 --> 00:58:07,800
catching with emotion, replied
to Eagle.

721
00:58:08,400 --> 00:58:12,680
Roger Tranquillity, we copy you
on the ground.

722
00:58:13,160 --> 00:58:15,960
You got a bunch of guys about to
turn blue.

723
00:58:16,120 --> 00:58:18,880
We're breathing again.
Thanks a lot.

724
00:58:19,240 --> 00:58:23,440
For the first time, human beings
were on another world.

725
00:58:23,920 --> 00:58:30,560
Not above it, not orbiting it.
On it, the lunar module rested

726
00:58:30,800 --> 00:58:36,320
in the Sea of Tranquility, a
vast, smooth plain whose name

727
00:58:36,320 --> 00:58:42,160
came from astronomers of earlier
centuries who had imagined seas

728
00:58:42,320 --> 00:58:45,200
where there were only ancient
lava flows.

729
00:58:45,520 --> 00:58:49,080
Now those astronomers had been
answered.

730
00:58:49,400 --> 00:58:55,280
There were no seas of water.
There was only dust and rock and

731
00:58:55,280 --> 00:58:59,520
silence inside.
Eagle, Armstrong and Aldrin were

732
00:58:59,520 --> 00:59:03,000
already running through their
post landing checklist.

733
00:59:03,840 --> 00:59:07,880
They had work to do before they
could open the Hatch and would

734
00:59:07,880 --> 00:59:11,720
not step outside for several
more hours.

735
00:59:12,120 --> 00:59:16,000
Mission planners had scheduled a
short sleep period before the

736
00:59:16,000 --> 00:59:19,800
moonwalk, but the astronauts
asked to skip it.

737
00:59:20,720 --> 00:59:25,040
After the alarms and the manual
flying and the final seconds of

738
00:59:25,040 --> 00:59:31,800
fuel, neither man could imagine
resting now they had arrived

739
00:59:32,160 --> 00:59:36,680
outside the small triangular
windows, the Gray surface

740
00:59:36,720 --> 00:59:39,560
stretched away under a black
sky.

741
00:59:39,960 --> 00:59:43,040
Before stepping out, there was
much to do.

742
00:59:43,600 --> 00:59:47,840
The two astronauts had to
depressurize the cabin, prepare

743
00:59:47,840 --> 00:59:52,440
their portable life support
systems, checked the suits that

744
00:59:52,440 --> 00:59:55,440
would keep them alive in the
vacuum outside.

745
00:59:55,720 --> 01:00:00,600
Aldrin took a quiet moment for
himself, a small private

746
01:00:00,600 --> 01:00:04,080
communion that he had brought
with him in a kit.

747
01:00:04,960 --> 01:00:10,280
He spoke a brief blessing into
his microphone, asking listeners

748
01:00:10,280 --> 01:00:15,640
on Earth to pause and give
thanks in their own way for what

749
01:00:15,640 --> 01:00:19,280
had been accomplished.
Then the cabin pressure was

750
01:00:19,280 --> 01:00:23,520
vented to the lunar vacuum.
The small hatch was opened.

751
01:00:24,120 --> 01:00:28,680
Armstrong and his bulky white
suit and life support backpack

752
01:00:29,160 --> 01:00:34,360
moved slowly through the opening
and on to the ladder mounted on

753
01:00:34,360 --> 01:00:38,800
one of Eagle's legs.
A small television camera on the

754
01:00:38,800 --> 01:00:43,160
side of the lunar module had
been positioned to capture his

755
01:00:43,160 --> 01:00:45,920
descent.
Around the world.

756
01:00:46,320 --> 01:00:50,800
Several 100 million people
watched the ghostly black and

757
01:00:50,800 --> 01:00:56,000
white image of a man in a space
suit moving carefully down a

758
01:00:56,000 --> 01:01:00,920
ladder on to another world.
At the bottom of the ladder,

759
01:01:01,160 --> 01:01:04,920
Armstrong paused on the lunar
module's footpad.

760
01:01:05,480 --> 01:01:10,480
He described what he saw.
The surface appeared to be a

761
01:01:10,480 --> 01:01:14,360
fine powder.
He could see his boot print

762
01:01:14,360 --> 01:01:17,600
clearly in the test area beside
the ladder.

763
01:01:18,200 --> 01:01:22,680
Then he stepped off the foot pad
onto the surface of the moon

764
01:01:22,680 --> 01:01:26,200
itself.
That's one small step for man,

765
01:01:26,360 --> 01:01:29,720
he said.
One giant leap for mankind.

766
01:01:30,120 --> 01:01:35,560
For about 20 minutes, Armstrong
was alone on the lunar surface.

767
01:01:36,040 --> 01:01:41,000
He moved around carefully,
learning how the suit responded,

768
01:01:41,360 --> 01:01:47,200
how his own body adjusted to a
gravity 1/6 that of Earth's.

769
01:01:47,560 --> 01:01:52,800
He collected a small contingency
sample of lunar soil and rock

770
01:01:53,240 --> 01:01:57,760
and put it in a pocket of his
suit in case the mission had to

771
01:01:57,760 --> 01:02:01,200
be cut short and they had to
leave quickly.

772
01:02:01,520 --> 01:02:04,760
He looked around at the strange
landscape.

773
01:02:05,360 --> 01:02:09,440
The horizon was much closer than
it would have been on Earth

774
01:02:10,240 --> 01:02:13,800
because the moon is a smaller
world.

775
01:02:14,720 --> 01:02:18,320
The sky was black even though
the sun was high.

776
01:02:19,120 --> 01:02:24,600
There were no stars visible to
the eye in that brightness, only

777
01:02:24,600 --> 01:02:31,680
black above and grey below.
Then Aldrin joined him, climbing

778
01:02:31,680 --> 01:02:34,960
down the ladder.
He paused at the foot pad and

779
01:02:34,960 --> 01:02:37,840
described his first view of the
surface.

780
01:02:38,600 --> 01:02:44,480
Magnificent desolation.
He called it. 2 words that would

781
01:02:44,480 --> 01:02:49,720
later become almost as famous as
Armstrong's first ones.

782
01:02:50,080 --> 01:02:53,520
The two of them worked together
for about 2 1/2 hours.

783
01:02:54,080 --> 01:02:58,800
They set up the American flag,
stiffened with a rod so that it

784
01:02:58,800 --> 01:03:01,840
would appear to fly in the
airless stillness.

785
01:03:02,160 --> 01:03:06,080
They received a brief call from
President Nixon at the White

786
01:03:06,080 --> 01:03:10,160
House.
They unveiled a plaque on one of

787
01:03:10,200 --> 01:03:16,200
Eagle's legs that read here.
Men from planet Earth first set

788
01:03:16,200 --> 01:03:22,320
foot upon the moon, July 1969
AD.

789
01:03:22,320 --> 01:03:26,560
We came in peace for all
mankind.

790
01:03:27,000 --> 01:03:32,720
They gathered samples of lunar
rock and soil, more than £40 in

791
01:03:32,720 --> 01:03:37,400
total, sealing them in
containers, they deployed

792
01:03:37,400 --> 01:03:42,000
instruments designed to remain
on the surface after they left.

793
01:03:43,000 --> 01:03:49,120
The work was steady and brief,
limited by their backpacks.

794
01:03:49,440 --> 01:03:52,000
They had landed, they had
walked.

795
01:03:52,360 --> 01:03:57,520
The footprints had been made.
The Sea of Tranquillity, where

796
01:03:57,520 --> 01:04:02,320
Eagle had settled, was not a sea
in any familiar sense.

797
01:04:03,160 --> 01:04:07,760
The name had been given
centuries earlier by astronomers

798
01:04:08,200 --> 01:04:13,040
who had looked at the moon
through early telescopes and

799
01:04:13,040 --> 01:04:19,520
seen great dark patches that
resembled bodies of water.

800
01:04:19,920 --> 01:04:26,000
They had called these regions
Maria, the Latin word for seas.

801
01:04:26,800 --> 01:04:31,440
The name had stuck even after
later observation showed that

802
01:04:31,440 --> 01:04:34,480
there were no oceans on the moon
at all.

803
01:04:35,320 --> 01:04:39,920
The dark plains were ancient
lava flows, places where the

804
01:04:39,920 --> 01:04:44,200
lunar surface had once been
molten and had then cooled into

805
01:04:44,200 --> 01:04:48,680
smooth level ground.
Armstrong and Aldrin moved

806
01:04:48,680 --> 01:04:54,240
across that ground carefully.
The lunar gravity was about 1/6

807
01:04:54,240 --> 01:04:58,680
of Earth's, so each step felt
unusually light.

808
01:04:59,560 --> 01:05:03,840
They quickly learned that
walking in the ordinary way did

809
01:05:03,840 --> 01:05:07,280
not work well.
A gentle push against the

810
01:05:07,280 --> 01:05:12,440
surface would send them gliding
forward, almost floating between

811
01:05:12,440 --> 01:05:15,320
steps.
They developed a kind of low

812
01:05:15,320 --> 01:05:19,880
bouncing gait, partly a walk and
partly a hop.

813
01:05:20,400 --> 01:05:23,320
That proved easier in the thin
gravity.

814
01:05:24,480 --> 01:05:29,320
Their suits were stiff and
pressurized, and bending was

815
01:05:29,320 --> 01:05:32,960
difficult, but they grew
accustomed to the small

816
01:05:32,960 --> 01:05:36,600
adjustments needed.
The lunar dust itself was

817
01:05:36,600 --> 01:05:40,880
strange.
It was fine, almost like flour,

818
01:05:41,240 --> 01:05:44,280
and it clung to everything it
touched.

819
01:05:44,640 --> 01:05:48,600
It darkened their boots in the
lower parts of their suits.

820
01:05:49,360 --> 01:05:53,960
It carried A faint scent that
they could only smell after

821
01:05:53,960 --> 01:05:57,560
returning to the cabin and
removing their helmets.

822
01:05:57,840 --> 01:06:03,320
Several Apollo astronauts later
described it as resembling spent

823
01:06:03,320 --> 01:06:08,840
gunpowder or wet ashes.
No one was quite sure why.

824
01:06:09,880 --> 01:06:14,880
The dust had never been exposed
to oxygen or water in any

825
01:06:14,880 --> 01:06:20,000
meaningful way, and it had been
sitting in the vacuum of space

826
01:06:20,200 --> 01:06:24,720
for billions of years.
Above them, the sky was

827
01:06:24,720 --> 01:06:29,040
completely black.
The sun shone brightly enough to

828
01:06:29,040 --> 01:06:33,880
cast hard shadows, but with no
atmosphere to scatter the light,

829
01:06:34,320 --> 01:06:40,560
the sky itself remained dark.
There were no clouds, no horizon

830
01:06:40,560 --> 01:06:45,760
glow, no soft blue.
The contrast between sunlit

831
01:06:45,760 --> 01:06:49,120
ground and shadowed rock was
extreme.

832
01:06:49,760 --> 01:06:55,000
Where Armstrong stood, half of
him was brilliantly lit, and the

833
01:06:55,000 --> 01:07:00,960
rest fell into deep shadow.
Earth hung in the sky, a small

834
01:07:00,960 --> 01:07:05,480
blue and white sphere far away.
It did not move quickly.

835
01:07:05,480 --> 01:07:11,320
In their view, the moon turned
slowly, and over the course of

836
01:07:11,320 --> 01:07:16,400
their brief stay, Earth shifted
only a little in the black sky

837
01:07:16,400 --> 01:07:20,400
above them.
Aldrin later wrote that he had

838
01:07:20,400 --> 01:07:26,200
felt No Fear, only a strange
awareness of being a long way

839
01:07:26,200 --> 01:07:30,640
from anything alive.
They set up several scientific

840
01:07:30,640 --> 01:07:35,400
instruments.
One was a seismometer, designed

841
01:07:35,400 --> 01:07:39,520
to measure any small tremors in
the lunar surface, like a

842
01:07:40,000 --> 01:07:44,960
stethoscope listening for a
heartbeat in a body long thought

843
01:07:44,960 --> 01:07:48,040
silent.
Another was a special reflector,

844
01:07:48,200 --> 01:07:51,160
a small panel of mirrors aimed
back at Earth.

845
01:07:51,920 --> 01:07:56,400
Astronomers there could fire
laser beams at it and measure

846
01:07:56,400 --> 01:07:58,960
how long the light took to
return.

847
01:07:59,400 --> 01:08:04,560
Even now, decades later, that
reflector still answers when

848
01:08:04,560 --> 01:08:08,040
called.
While Armstrong and Aldrin moved

849
01:08:08,040 --> 01:08:12,760
across the surface, the third
astronaut waited alone in lunar

850
01:08:12,760 --> 01:08:16,080
orbit.
Michael Collins in the command

851
01:08:16,080 --> 01:08:19,720
module.
Columbia circled the moon every

852
01:08:19,720 --> 01:08:25,120
two hours, sometimes in radio
contact with both his crew mates

853
01:08:25,120 --> 01:08:31,760
and Houston, sometimes in radio
contact with no one at all.

854
01:08:32,000 --> 01:08:36,840
Each time his orbit carried him
behind the moon for about 48

855
01:08:36,840 --> 01:08:40,240
minutes.
He was cut off from all human

856
01:08:40,240 --> 01:08:43,279
voices.
Some accounts have described him

857
01:08:43,279 --> 01:08:47,760
in those minutes as the
loneliest human being in

858
01:08:47,760 --> 01:08:51,600
history.
Collins himself gently

859
01:08:51,600 --> 01:08:54,840
disagreed.
He later wrote that he had not

860
01:08:54,840 --> 01:08:59,319
felt lonely, only aware he had a
job to do.

861
01:08:59,920 --> 01:09:04,640
He had instruments to monitor
and systems to manage.

862
01:09:04,960 --> 01:09:09,640
He knew that the success of the
entire mission depended on his

863
01:09:09,640 --> 01:09:14,160
command module remaining in
working order so that Eagle

864
01:09:14,319 --> 01:09:19,000
would have a craft to return to.
If anything happened to

865
01:09:19,000 --> 01:09:24,120
Colombia, his crew mates would
be stranded on the surface with

866
01:09:24,120 --> 01:09:28,359
no way home.
He took the responsibility

867
01:09:28,359 --> 01:09:34,279
seriously, and he found a
strange kind of peace in it.

868
01:09:34,680 --> 01:09:38,840
When his orbit took him over the
near side, he could speak to

869
01:09:38,840 --> 01:09:42,200
Houston.
He passed over the Sea of

870
01:09:42,200 --> 01:09:47,720
Tranquillity and tried to spot
Eagle far below, though the

871
01:09:47,720 --> 01:09:52,080
lunar module was too small to be
seen from his altitude.

872
01:09:52,399 --> 01:09:57,120
Mission Control sent him
updates, and he sent his own

873
01:09:57,120 --> 01:10:01,240
observations back.
He noted weather patterns on the

874
01:10:01,240 --> 01:10:05,600
receding Earth, watched the
changing light on the lunar

875
01:10:05,600 --> 01:10:08,960
surface, made navigational
checks.

876
01:10:09,560 --> 01:10:13,280
He drank coffee.
He ate small meals from

877
01:10:13,280 --> 01:10:16,920
packages.
He listened to music on a small

878
01:10:16,920 --> 01:10:19,160
cassette player he had brought
along.

879
01:10:19,560 --> 01:10:24,040
When his orbit carried him
behind the moon, silence fell.

880
01:10:24,840 --> 01:10:29,320
The moon blocked all radio
signals from Earth and from

881
01:10:29,360 --> 01:10:34,400
Eagle alike.
For those 48 minutes, Collins

882
01:10:34,400 --> 01:10:39,560
was completely on his own, with
no one to speak to, no one to

883
01:10:39,600 --> 01:10:43,400
ask for help.
He has been described as

884
01:10:43,760 --> 01:10:48,920
separated from the rest of
humanity by a distance no one

885
01:10:48,920 --> 01:10:51,560
had ever been separated by
before.

886
01:10:51,920 --> 01:10:55,880
There were 3 billion people on
the earth, and two more on the

887
01:10:55,880 --> 01:11:00,760
lunar surface, and for a little
while on each orbit.

888
01:11:01,400 --> 01:11:06,480
Collins was farther from any of
them than any human being in

889
01:11:06,480 --> 01:11:11,920
history had ever been.
He passed the time by working,

890
01:11:12,080 --> 01:11:16,320
observing, and occasionally
writing brief notes in his

891
01:11:16,320 --> 01:11:20,480
flight log.
He looked out the small windows

892
01:11:20,720 --> 01:11:26,000
at the lunar surface drifting
beneath him, Gray and silent.

893
01:11:26,400 --> 01:11:30,720
He looked at the black sky
filled with stars he could not

894
01:11:30,720 --> 01:11:34,400
photograph well.
He thought about what his crew

895
01:11:34,400 --> 01:11:39,200
mates were doing far below,
somewhere on the dust of

896
01:11:39,360 --> 01:11:44,960
tranquillity, he waited.
Each time he came back into

897
01:11:44,960 --> 01:11:50,560
communication, he heard the
voices of Houston and Eagle and

898
01:11:50,560 --> 01:11:54,520
felt the quiet companionship of
the human world resume.

899
01:11:55,600 --> 01:12:01,200
Each time he passed behind the
moon again, that companionship

900
01:12:01,200 --> 01:12:04,560
paused.
His role would not be remembered

901
01:12:04,840 --> 01:12:10,160
the way Armstrong's first step
would be, but without him, there

902
01:12:10,160 --> 01:12:14,280
would have been no return.
After about 2 1/2 hours on the

903
01:12:14,280 --> 01:12:19,080
surface, Armstrong and Aldrin
gathered their samples, their

904
01:12:19,080 --> 01:12:23,400
instruments, final readings, and
climbed back into Eagle.

905
01:12:24,120 --> 01:12:28,200
They sealed the Hatch and
repressurized the cabin.

906
01:12:28,760 --> 01:12:31,160
They removed their helmets and
gloves.

907
01:12:31,400 --> 01:12:35,640
For the first time, they could
smell the lunar dust clinging to

908
01:12:35,640 --> 01:12:38,480
their suits.
That faint scent of something

909
01:12:38,480 --> 01:12:43,880
burned, something ancient.
They had a few hours of rest

910
01:12:43,880 --> 01:12:48,600
scheduled before the ascent.
Aldrin tried to sleep on the

911
01:12:48,600 --> 01:12:51,600
cabin floor, curled up between
the instruments.

912
01:12:52,280 --> 01:12:56,560
Armstrong rested in a sling
stretched above him.

913
01:12:57,440 --> 01:13:01,560
Neither slept well.
It was cold inside the lunar

914
01:13:01,560 --> 01:13:06,520
module, and the cabin was small,
and the knowledge of where they

915
01:13:06,520 --> 01:13:10,120
were would not let either of
them fully relax.

916
01:13:10,440 --> 01:13:15,360
Then it was time.
The ascent stage of Eagle was a

917
01:13:15,360 --> 01:13:20,080
separate craft mounted on top of
the descent stage with its own

918
01:13:20,080 --> 01:13:24,600
small engine.
The descent stage, with its four

919
01:13:24,600 --> 01:13:29,960
legs, would remain on the lunar
surface forever becoming part of

920
01:13:29,960 --> 01:13:34,240
the Moon.
The ascent stage would lift the

921
01:13:34,240 --> 01:13:39,560
two astronauts back into orbit.
There was only one engine for

922
01:13:39,560 --> 01:13:43,600
the ascent.
If it failed, there was no

923
01:13:43,600 --> 01:13:48,080
second chance.
They would not be able to leave.

924
01:13:48,480 --> 01:13:52,320
Armstrong and Aldrin completed
their pre launch checks.

925
01:13:52,840 --> 01:13:56,280
They armed the engine at the
appointed moment.

926
01:13:56,640 --> 01:14:01,760
The engine ignited.
The ascent stage rose smoothly

927
01:14:01,760 --> 01:14:05,720
from the descent stage, leaving
the legs in the lower body of

928
01:14:05,720 --> 01:14:11,240
Eagle behind on the surface.
From the small windows, the

929
01:14:11,280 --> 01:14:16,480
astronauts watched the gold foil
of the descent stage falling

930
01:14:16,480 --> 01:14:20,600
away beneath them, growing
smaller as they rose.

931
01:14:21,480 --> 01:14:25,080
The American flag and the
experiments they had set up

932
01:14:25,480 --> 01:14:30,480
remained on the Gray ground.
The ascent engine burned for

933
01:14:30,480 --> 01:14:35,360
about 7 minutes.
Lift an eagle into a low lunar

934
01:14:35,360 --> 01:14:39,200
orbit.
From there, careful maneuvers

935
01:14:39,200 --> 01:14:43,680
brought the two craft together.
After nearly 4 hours of

936
01:14:43,680 --> 01:14:48,040
navigation, Eagle rendezvoused
with Columbia.

937
01:14:49,000 --> 01:14:53,920
The two spacecraft docked gently
in lunar orbit, and the

938
01:14:53,920 --> 01:14:57,120
connecting tunnel between them
was opened.

939
01:14:57,480 --> 01:15:00,960
Collins later described the
moment when his crewmates

940
01:15:00,960 --> 01:15:05,960
floated back into the command
module as one of the happiest of

941
01:15:05,960 --> 01:15:09,680
his life.
He had been alone in lunar orbit

942
01:15:09,680 --> 01:15:15,440
for nearly 24 hours.
Now Armstrong and Aldrin were

943
01:15:15,440 --> 01:15:19,400
back, dusty and tired and
quietly elated.

944
01:15:20,160 --> 01:15:22,640
The three men were together
again.

945
01:15:23,000 --> 01:15:27,000
Eagle's ascent stage was
released and left in lunar

946
01:15:27,000 --> 01:15:30,440
orbit.
The crew of Columbia performed a

947
01:15:30,440 --> 01:15:34,760
final engine burn that lifted
the spacecraft out of lunar

948
01:15:34,760 --> 01:15:38,080
orbit and onto a path back
toward Earth.

949
01:15:39,000 --> 01:15:42,800
The moon began to recede in the
windows.

950
01:15:43,440 --> 01:15:46,960
Earth, small but growing, lay
ahead.

951
01:15:47,360 --> 01:15:50,960
The journey home would take
another three days.

952
01:15:51,800 --> 01:15:56,480
The mission was not yet over,
and a re entry through Earth's

953
01:15:56,480 --> 01:16:00,680
atmosphere still lay between
them and the ocean below.

954
01:16:01,560 --> 01:16:05,880
But the most uncertain part was
now behind them.

955
01:16:06,960 --> 01:16:12,480
They were no longer at the Moon.
They were going home, drawn back

956
01:16:12,480 --> 01:16:16,080
toward the small blue world
growing in the windows ahead.

957
01:16:16,480 --> 01:16:20,720
The voyage home was quieter than
the voyage out.

958
01:16:21,560 --> 01:16:26,400
The astronauts performed their
navigation checks, ate their

959
01:16:26,400 --> 01:16:32,480
meals, made small television
broadcasts to viewers on Earth

960
01:16:33,320 --> 01:16:39,200
and watched the planet grow
larger in the windows each day.

961
01:16:39,640 --> 01:16:42,800
The world ahead of them was
already changed.

962
01:16:43,200 --> 01:16:47,760
They could not yet know how
much, but they could sense it

963
01:16:47,760 --> 01:16:50,680
from the messages coming up from
Houston.

964
01:16:51,800 --> 01:16:56,640
Crowds were gathering.
Newspapers were being prepared.

965
01:16:56,960 --> 01:17:03,120
Their faces in those grainy
lunar photographs were already

966
01:17:03,120 --> 01:17:06,600
familiar to hundreds of millions
of people.

967
01:17:06,840 --> 01:17:15,640
Inns of On the 24th of July
1969, Apollo 11 approached Earth

968
01:17:15,640 --> 01:17:20,560
at high speed.
The service module which had

969
01:17:20,560 --> 01:17:25,520
carried them all the way to the
moon and back was released,

970
01:17:26,040 --> 01:17:30,880
leaving only the small command
module to make re entry.

971
01:17:32,040 --> 01:17:37,960
The capsule oriented itself for
the descent, its blunt heat

972
01:17:37,960 --> 01:17:46,160
shield facing the atmosphere,
and entered at nearly 25,000 mph

973
01:17:46,560 --> 01:17:50,000
for a few minutes.
The friction of re entry

974
01:17:50,000 --> 01:17:53,640
surrounded the capsule with a
fireball.

975
01:17:54,440 --> 01:18:00,440
Temperatures outside the heat
shield reached several 1000°.

976
01:18:01,280 --> 01:18:06,360
Communication with the ground
was cut off by the ionized gases

977
01:18:06,360 --> 01:18:11,120
of re entry.
Then the capsule emerged into

978
01:18:11,120 --> 01:18:15,720
denser air.
The parachutes deployed in

979
01:18:15,720 --> 01:18:23,720
sequence, and Columbia descended
gently toward the Pacific Ocean.

980
01:18:24,200 --> 01:18:29,800
The splashdown was about 13
miles from the recovery ship,

981
01:18:30,160 --> 01:18:36,200
the USS Hornet.
Helicopters were already in the

982
01:18:36,200 --> 01:18:39,720
air.
Within minutes, Navy divers in

983
01:18:39,720 --> 01:18:44,840
protective suits reached the
floating capsule, attached

984
01:18:44,840 --> 01:18:50,040
flotation collars and helped the
three astronauts emerge.

985
01:18:50,680 --> 01:18:56,560
The astronauts themselves wore
biological isolation garments

986
01:18:57,240 --> 01:19:01,400
because no one was certain
whether they might have brought

987
01:19:01,400 --> 01:19:05,880
back any unknown lunar
microorganisms.

988
01:19:06,960 --> 01:19:12,160
The crew was lifted by
helicopter to the Hornet, where

989
01:19:12,160 --> 01:19:17,280
they walked into a sealed
quarantine trailer that would be

990
01:19:17,280 --> 01:19:20,880
their home for the next three
weeks.

991
01:19:21,240 --> 01:19:25,720
President Nixon was aboard the
Hornet to greet them.

992
01:19:26,520 --> 01:19:31,080
He spoke to them through the
trailer window, smiling broadly.

993
01:19:31,880 --> 01:19:36,760
The world celebrated.
Parades were planned.

994
01:19:36,960 --> 01:19:42,240
Stamps were printed.
The lunar samples were carefully

995
01:19:42,240 --> 01:19:48,480
moved to laboratories for study.
The astronauts themselves

996
01:19:48,800 --> 01:19:54,320
remained in quarantine, watching
it all from a distance through

997
01:19:54,320 --> 01:19:57,920
television.
When the quarantine ended in

998
01:19:57,920 --> 01:20:03,480
August, the three men began an
exhausting world tour.

999
01:20:04,240 --> 01:20:09,040
They visited dozens of
countries, met heads of state,

1000
01:20:09,400 --> 01:20:14,560
addressed huge crowds.
Aldrin found the Tour

1001
01:20:14,560 --> 01:20:19,920
particularly difficult.
He struggled in the years that

1002
01:20:19,920 --> 01:20:24,480
followed with depression and
with the question of what one

1003
01:20:24,480 --> 01:20:32,240
does after walking on the moon.
At 39, Armstrong became quieter

1004
01:20:32,320 --> 01:20:37,000
than he had been before,
retreating from public life as

1005
01:20:37,000 --> 01:20:41,320
much as he could.
Collins wrote a thoughtful

1006
01:20:41,320 --> 01:20:47,400
memoir, Carrying the Fire,
considered one of the finest

1007
01:20:47,400 --> 01:20:53,080
books by any astronaut.
The three men had returned.

1008
01:20:54,080 --> 01:20:58,040
They had done what no one had
done before.

1009
01:20:58,800 --> 01:21:04,040
And each of them, in his own
way, would carry that journey

1010
01:21:04,040 --> 01:21:08,280
for the rest of his life.
In the years that followed

1011
01:21:08,280 --> 01:21:14,280
Apollo 11, five more crude
missions reached the lunar

1012
01:21:14,280 --> 01:21:23,680
surface.
Apollo 12141516 and 17 each

1013
01:21:23,880 --> 01:21:28,800
carried 2 astronauts down to
different landing sites.

1014
01:21:29,240 --> 01:21:33,480
They brought back hundreds of
pounds of lunar rock.

1015
01:21:34,360 --> 01:21:39,320
They drove small electric
vehicles across the surface.

1016
01:21:40,040 --> 01:21:45,400
They left more instruments
behind, more flags, more

1017
01:21:45,400 --> 01:21:49,960
footprints.
The last of those missions,

1018
01:21:50,240 --> 01:21:58,480
Apollo 17, returned to Earth in
December of 1972.

1019
01:21:58,800 --> 01:22:04,520
No human being has walked on the
moon since.

1020
01:22:04,920 --> 01:22:11,040
There are reasons for that.
The cost of the program had been

1021
01:22:11,040 --> 01:22:15,160
enormous.
The political urgency that had

1022
01:22:15,160 --> 01:22:20,480
driven it.
The Cold War rivalry had eased.

1023
01:22:21,200 --> 01:22:25,200
New priorities took the place of
old ones.

1024
01:22:25,640 --> 01:22:31,360
The space agencies of the world
turned their attention to other

1025
01:22:31,360 --> 01:22:37,120
goals, to space stations, to
robotic missions across the

1026
01:22:37,120 --> 01:22:42,920
solar system, to telescopes that
could see almost to the

1027
01:22:42,920 --> 01:22:48,400
beginning of the universe.
The moon remained where it had

1028
01:22:48,400 --> 01:22:54,440
always been, patient and grey,
with the small artifacts of

1029
01:22:54,440 --> 01:22:59,240
human visits still scattered
across a few of its plains.

1030
01:22:59,720 --> 01:23:05,360
The footprints are still there.
The lunar surface has no wind,

1031
01:23:05,680 --> 01:23:11,880
no rain, no flowing water.
The only forces that act on

1032
01:23:11,880 --> 01:23:18,760
those prints are the slow rain
of micrometeorites, tiny grains

1033
01:23:18,760 --> 01:23:23,280
striking the surface over
millions of years, and the

1034
01:23:23,280 --> 01:23:28,880
changes of temperature between
lunar day and lunar night.

1035
01:23:29,280 --> 01:23:34,560
The prints will erode
eventually, but on a time scale

1036
01:23:34,560 --> 01:23:40,200
that has barely begun.
For all practical purposes, they

1037
01:23:40,200 --> 01:23:43,520
will remain for millions of
years to come.

1038
01:23:43,880 --> 01:23:49,440
What Apollo 11 gave us was more
than a footprint.

1039
01:23:50,240 --> 01:23:53,200
It was a new way of seeing
ourselves.

1040
01:23:54,280 --> 01:23:59,520
The photograph of the Earth
taken from lunar orbit, a small

1041
01:23:59,520 --> 01:24:04,320
blue and white sphere against
the black, became one of the

1042
01:24:04,320 --> 01:24:11,360
most famous images ever taken.
It changed how many people

1043
01:24:11,360 --> 01:24:16,120
thought about the planet.
The borders that loomed so large

1044
01:24:16,120 --> 01:24:21,960
on maps simply did not exist
when seen from that distance.

1045
01:24:22,840 --> 01:24:26,800
There were only oceans and
continents and clouds, and

1046
01:24:27,320 --> 01:24:31,680
beneath them a single shared
home.

1047
01:24:32,160 --> 01:24:37,160
The astronauts themselves often
spoke of that view more than the

1048
01:24:37,160 --> 01:24:40,520
moon, as the thing that stayed
with them.

1049
01:24:41,840 --> 01:24:47,920
From far away, the Earth looked
fragile and beautiful and

1050
01:24:47,920 --> 01:24:52,560
unified.
They had gone to another world,

1051
01:24:52,720 --> 01:24:57,920
only to find that what they had
really seen, perhaps for the

1052
01:24:57,920 --> 01:25:03,920
first time, was their own.
The moon is still above us, to

1053
01:25:03,920 --> 01:25:10,400
night somewhere, depending on
its phase and the hour, it is

1054
01:25:10,400 --> 01:25:13,600
rising or setting or crossing
the dark.

1055
01:25:14,760 --> 01:25:17,680
The footprints are still there,
waiting.

1056
01:25:18,680 --> 01:25:23,920
The flag, bleached by sunlight,
still stands.

1057
01:25:25,320 --> 01:25:29,080
The reflector still answers when
called.

1058
01:25:29,600 --> 01:25:36,400
The world slows, and so do we.
Let the moon keep its quiet

1059
01:25:36,400 --> 01:25:40,080
distance.
Let the planet turn beneath you

1060
01:25:40,560 --> 01:25:45,160
as it always has.
Let your breathing soften.

1061
01:25:46,400 --> 01:25:53,440
There is nothing more to do to
night, the long voyage of Apollo

1062
01:25:53,440 --> 01:25:59,680
11 has been told, and the moon,
as always, watches over the slow

1063
01:25:59,680 --> 01:26:02,720
turning of our small and
beautiful home.

1064
01:26:03,120 --> 01:26:03,800
Good night.