Moonshot: The Inside Story of Mankind's Greatest Adventure

by Dan Parry

  Armstrong: 'For those who haven't read the plaque, we'll read the plaque that's on the front landing gear of this LM. First there's two hemispheres, one showing each of the two hemispheres of the Earth. Underneath it says "Here Men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind." It has the crew members' signatures and the signature of the President of the United States.'

  Aldrin later said, 'This was one place where I felt signing "Buzz" was too informal'.22

  Neil then took the TV camera from the MESA and after changing its lens he carried it to a point some 60 feet away to the right of the LM, where it could cover a wider region of the surface. While looking for a suitable spot, something in a crater caught his eye. This was later thought to be a glassy material produced during the intense heat and shock of a high-velocity impact. 'We were supposedly in a nondescript area,' Aldrin recalled, 'but there was far more to investigate than we could ever hope to cover. We didn't even scratch the surface.'23 The camera's white cable, leading back to the LM, retained a spiral kink that left it sticking up above the surface. Once it became dirty it was hard to see. Neil caught his foot in it and needed help from Buzz to untangle himself.

  While Armstrong was working on the camera, Aldrin set up the solar wind collector about ten feet to the right of the LM. Looking like a narrow flag, one foot wide and four and a half feet tall, the SWC was made of thin aluminium foil. Deployed facing the Sun, it was designed to capture particles of helium, neon and argon that were found in the solar wind.

  After setting up a table at the MESA, Buzz helped Neil remove the US flag from its case beneath the ladder. They carried it back towards the TV camera and chose a spot around 15 feet from the LM. The flag was designed to hang from a telescopic arm that extended perpendicularly from the pole. But despite pulling as hard as they dared, the arm wouldn't properly extend and Armstrong and Aldrin feared an imminent public relations disaster.24 The flag was left distinctly ruffled – as were conspiracy theorists, who later wanted to know why it looked as if it were being blown by the wind. After coping with this problem, the flag still threatened to upstage the men when it refused to be pushed into the ground. The dust on the surface was relatively soft but deeper down it became hard to penetrate. Inside his gloves Neil's hands were sweating and he found it difficult to grip the staff and drive it into the soil.25 At first the flag defied attempts to make it stand upright but eventually Armstrong forced it into the dust by about seven inches, far enough to prevent it toppling over live on television.

  In the meantime Collins, now on his eighteenth orbit, returned from his enforced silence and began to pass across the near side once again.

  Collins: 'Houston, Columbia on the high gain. Over.'

  Mission Control: 'Columbia, this is Houston. Reading you loud and clear. Over.'

  Collins: 'Yeah. Reading you loud and clear. How's it going?'

  Mission Control: 'Roger. The EVA is progressing beautifully. I believe they are setting up the flag now.'

  Collins: 'Great!'

  Mission Control: 'I guess you're about the only person around that doesn't have TV coverage of the scene.'

  Collins: 'That's all right. I don't mind a bit. How is the quality of the TV?'

  Mission Control: 'Oh, it's beautiful, Mike. It really is.'

  Neil took a picture of Buzz saluting the flag and then he went back to the MESA to begin collecting more material from the surface.

  Mission Control: 'Tranquility Base, this is Houston ... we'd like to get both of you in the field-of-view of the camera for a minute. Neil and Buzz, the President of the United States is in his office now and would like to say a few words to you. Over.'

  Armstrong: 'That would be an honour.'

  Mission Control: 'All right. Go ahead, Mr President. This is Houston. Out.'

  Nixon: 'Hello, Neil and Buzz. I'm talking to you by telephone from the Oval Room at the White House, and this certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made. I just can't tell you how proud we all are of what you [unclear] For every American, this has to be the proudest day of our lives. And for people all over the world, I am sure they, too, join with Americans in recognising what an immense feat this is. Because of what you have done, the heavens have become a part of man's world. And as you talk to us from the Sea of Tranquility, it inspires us to redouble our efforts to bring peace and tranquility to Earth. For one priceless moment in the whole history of man, all the people on this Earth are truly one; one in their pride in what you have done, and one in our prayers that you will return safely to Earth.'

  Armstrong: 'Thank you, Mr President. It's a great honour and privilege for us to be here representing not only the United States but men of peace of all nations, and with interests and the curiosity and with the vision for the future. It's an honour for us to be able to participate here today.'

  Nixon: 'And thank you very much and I look forward, all of us look forward to seeing you on the Hornet on Thursday.'

  Armstrong : 'I look forward to that very much, sir.'

  Armstrong later told Aldrin that he had known the president might call. Buzz, who had had no such knowledge, wrote that the experience made him feel awkward. He felt he ought to have made some profound comment, but without wanting to intrude on the conversation he took what seemed to be the next best alternative and remained silent.26

  After the call, the astronauts went back to the MESA where Buzz picked up the Hasselblad camera left there by Neil. While Armstrong collected samples of rocks, Buzz took pictures of the impression his boots made in the dust. As he set up collection bags and the sample return containers on the table, Neil found he was working in shadow. He wanted to avoid collecting material that had been contaminated by the exhaust from the descent engine, and in looking for an undisturbed sunlit area he walked back towards the solar wind collector. He tried to scoop up as many different types of rocks as he could before taking them back to the table and dropping them into a bag. Making around ten trips to this spot, Armstrong repeatedly crossed back and forth from harsh sunlight into the LM's stark shadow and he found his eyes were sometimes slow to adjust. During training it had been suggested that he could possibly twist the LM immediately before landing, to make sure the MESA was in sunlight. But Armstrong remembered that 'I was very reluctant to do any fancy manoeuvring on the first lunar touchdown'.27

  Taking the camera from Buzz, Neil photographed the sample area before taking a full-frontal picture of Aldrin. Buzz, his gold visor pulled down, stands with his left arm raised as he prepares to read from the checklist on his glove, in what has since become one of the most iconic photographs of all time. Neil then gave the Hasselblad back to Buzz before taking from the MESA a stereoscopic camera, designed to snap close-up images of the lunar dust. It was a late addition to the flight, and Neil found it tricky to operate.28 Now half an hour behind their timeline, Armstrong tried the stereoscopic camera while Buzz removed the seismometer and the laser reflector from the LM's scientific equipment bay.

  Aldrin: 'OK; have you got us a good area picked out?'

  Armstrong: 'Well, I think right out on that rise out there is probably as good as any.'

  Buzz set up the seismometer about 50 feet to the left of the LM, placing it behind a large rock to shield it from the effects of lift-off. While he made sure it was level and that the solar panels were properly deployed, Neil set up the reflector. Made up of many finely machined quartz corners, the device would allow the measurement of small changes in the motion of the Moon or the Earth.

  Mission Control: 'Neil, this is Houston. Over.'

  Armstrong: 'Go ahead, Houston.'

  Mission Control: 'Roger. We've been looking at your consumables, and you're in good shape. Subject to your concurrence, we'd like to extend the duration of the EVA 1-5 [i.e. 15] minutes from nominal. We will still give Buzz a hack at 10 minutes prior, for heading in. Your current elapsed time is 2 [hours] plus 12 [minutes]. Over.'

  Armstrong: 'OK
. That sounds fine.'

  After setting up the experiments, their next task was to take a documented sample of the surface. This involved Buzz taking two core samples from an area that Neil would then closely photograph. While Aldrin prepared the tubes, Armstrong decided to break from the timeline and dash back to the 80-foot crater they had flown over just before landing. He knew this would be his best opportunity to take a look beneath the surface. The crater lay nearly 200 feet away to the east of the spacecraft, towards the Sun, and in the true spirit of exploration Neil freely ran across the ground, carrying the Hasselblad and the stereoscopic camera. He found that the crater was 20 feet deep, and after peering inside he spent a minute taking pictures.

  Researchers Joe O'Dea and Thomas Schwagmeier have shown that if Neil had been standing on the penalty spot in front of the right-hand goal on a soccer pitch, the LM would be just in front and to the right of the other penalty spot.29 The TV camera would be in the far right-hand corner, the flag would be between the camera and the LM, and the seismic and LRRR experiments would be over towards the left-hand boundary line.

  Neil ran back to the LM just as Buzz was preparing to push in the first core sample, near the solar wind collector. Both Armstrong and Aldrin described attempts to run as more of a lope – somewhere between a run and a walk, where both feet would be off the ground at the same time. Finding that their actual 'foot motion' was quite slow, Neil said that while loping he would find himself 'waiting to come down' in between strides.30 At home in Houston, Pat Collins exclaimed, 'Look at Neil move. He looks like he's dancing – that's the kangaroo hop.' Joan Aldrin thought that Buzz too was doing a form of kangaroo bounce and she asked, 'How can you be serious about what you're doing when you're doing that?' For her, the moonwalk had an unreal quality about it, as if she were watching a Disney cartoon. In the Armstrong household, there was some debate as to who was saying what since Neil and Buzz sometimes sounded alike. Ricky suggested his father was easy to recognise since 'he always says uhhh'.31

  Taking two core tube samples, Aldrin needed a hammer to drive them into the ground. Nearby, Neil used a pair of longhandled tongs to retrieve any unusual examples of rocks he could find. He dropped them into a collection bag which was then put into one of the sample return containers. Hammering as hard as he could, Buzz found it difficult to force the tubes into the ground. After retrieving them, he then took down the solar wind experiment, rolled it up and placed it back in its container. This was also put into a sample return container, then both were sealed.32

  Mission Control: 'Buzz, this is Houston. It's about time for you to start your EVA close-out activities.'

  Aldrin: 'Roger. That's in progress.'

  Grabbing the magazine from the stereoscopic camera, Buzz put it in a pocket and started up the ladder, which he found was slippery now that his boots were covered in dust. Neil collected the magazine from the Hasselblad, attached it to the first rockbox, then secured both to the LEC strap so that he could haul them up to the cabin. Halfway up, the magazine fell off. Neil leant on the ladder, picked it up and attached it to the second rock-box while Buzz pulled the first into the cockpit. Neil then attached the magazine and the second box to the LEC. Coming at the end of the EVA, this was one of the most demanding moments during the walk on the surface. 'I worked real hard at a high workload,' Neil recalled.33

  Armstrong: 'OK. I've got one side [of the LEC] hooked up to the second box and I've got the film pack on.'

  Aldrin: 'OK. Good.'

  Armstrong: 'Boy, that filth from on the LEC is kind of falling over me while I'm doing this.'

  By the time they got the second box into the cabin everything was caked with dust, including the LEC. 'We all looked like chimney sweeps,' Armstrong later remarked.34 Neil asked Buzz whether he had remembered to leave the Apollo 1 badge and the two Russian medals on the surface. They had imagined improvising some form of ceremony but Buzz described it more as an 'afterthought'.35 Taking a pouch containing the items from his pocket, he threw it down on to the ground. Neil then jumped on to the ladder and climbed back into the spacecraft, once again guided by Buzz.

  Locking the hatch shut at 12.09am, they completed their post-EVA checklist before re-pressurising the cabin. Both felt a little disappointed that they had barely succeeded in getting everything done. After removing their helmets, they discovered a strange smell which Neil described as 'wet ashes' and Buzz as slightly 'metallic'.36 This smell was later noticed by other astronauts on subsequent lunar missions, one describing it as 'spent gunpowder'.37

  Meanwhile, aboard Columbia, Michael, on his nineteenth orbit of the Moon, was just coming back into radio contact with Houston. He had taken photos of the surface but still hadn't located Tranquility Base.

  Mission Control: 'Columbia. Columbia. This is Houston. Over.'

  Collins: 'Roger, Columbia on [omni antenna] Charlie. How do you read?'

  Mission Control: 'Roger, Columbia. This is Houston. Reading you loud and clear on Omni Charlie. The crew of Tranquility Base is back inside their base, repressurised, and they're in the process of doffing the PLSSs. Everything went beautifully. Over.'

  Collins: 'Hallelujah.'

  Aboard Eagle, Neil and Buzz were collecting the items they wouldn't be needing again, and dumping them into a bag. This would be jettisoned, along with the backpacks, in an attempt to save as much weight as possible. The Hasselblad camera had already been abandoned on the surface. Using a second camera, Buzz took a picture of a very relieved-looking Neil, then looked back at the flag and at the boulder field beyond it.38 The rocks appeared to be relatively close and the flag seemed to be right outside the window, but he knew that they hadn't got anywhere near the boulders and the flag was 15 feet away. With all available space now taken up by the bubble helmets, LEVAs, PLSSs, camera magazines and rock-boxes, the men tried to find space to eat. Armstrong later said that 'With all that stuff in the cockpit, there's really no place left for people to relax.'39 They then read through a checklist of switch positions, and in doing so Buzz noticed what at first glance appeared to be a serious problem.

  Aldrin: 'Houston, Tranquility. Do you have a way of showing the configuration of the engine arm circuit breaker? Over. The reason I'm asking is because the end of it appears to be broken off. I think we can push it back in again. I'm not sure we could pull it out if we pushed it in, though. Over.'

  While wearing his PLSS, at some point Buzz had knocked off the switch that would send electrical power to the ascent engine - on which they were depending to get home. 'The little plastic pin simply wasn't there,' Buzz wrote.40

  Nearly a minute after Aldrin reported the problem, Houston responded.

  Mission Control: 'Tranquility Base, this is Houston. Our telemetry shows the engine arm circuit breaker in the open position at the present time. We want you to leave it open until it is nominally scheduled to be pushed in, which is later on. Over.'

  The crew's next task was to depressurise the cabin in order to open the hatch and eject the backpacks and the bag of rubbish. Before they began, for the first time in the mission Deke Slayton came directly on the radio.

  Slayton: 'Tranquility Base, Houston.'

  Armstrong: 'Go ahead. Tranquility Base here.'

  Slayton: 'Roger. Just want to let you guys know that, since you're an hour and a half over your timeline and we're all taking a day off tomorrow, we're going to leave you. See you later.'

  Armstrong: 'I don't blame you a bit.'

  Slayton: 'That's a real great day, guys. I really enjoyed it.'

  Armstrong: 'Thank you. You couldn't have enjoyed it as much as we did.'

  Slayton: 'Roger.'

  Aldrin: 'It was great.'

  Slayton: 'Sure wish you'd hurry up and get that trash out of there, though.'

  Armstrong: 'Yes. We're just about to do it.'

  Slayton: 'OK.'

  In depressurising the cabin, this time they used a second valve to speed up the process, and with their suits connected to the LM's life-support s
ystem they opened the hatch. Neil threw the two backpacks down the ladder, along with their over-boots and the bag containing food trays and other litter.

  Mission Control: 'Tranquility. We observed your equipment jettison on the TV, and the passive seismic experiment recorded shocks when each PLSS hit the surface. Over.'

  Armstrong: 'You can't get away with anything any more, can you?'

  Armstrong and Aldrin had now been awake for more than 21 hours, and with their last task of the day completed, at 3.23am Houston bid them goodnight. Although filthy with dust, the cockpit was tidier and there was now room to sleep. Settling down for the seven-hour rest period, Buzz lay on the floor while Neil sat on the ascent engine cover, his feet suspended by a cable lashed above the instruments. They kept their helmets and gloves on, hoping that this would shut out some of the whirring noise from the life-support system.41 But as the temperature dropped, both men found it hard to doze.

  On Earth, Pat Collins was also finding it hard to sleep, and in the small hours of the morning she strolled outside to gaze up at the Moon.42 In a Vietnamese prison camp, air force pilot Sam Johnson – an old friend of Aldrin's – approached one of the guards and, pointing to the Moon, said, 'That's ours now.'43

  Chapter 15

  MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

  Tired and still wearing their bulky pressure-suits, Armstrong and Aldrin shivered in the cold cabin of the LM. Warning lights and electroluminescent instrument panels could not be switched off and the surface reflected sunshine so brightly, light penetrated the thin window shades. Even the Earth kept Neil awake, since it lay directly in his line of sight through Eagle's alignment telescope. 'It was just like a lightbulb,' he later recalled.1 The cabin was shielded from the Sun by the bulk of the spacecraft, so without a heater it became uncomfortably chilly. Raising the temperature of their cooling systems had little effect and neither Neil nor Buzz could properly sleep.

  Stretched out in the comparative luxury of the command module, Michael was woken by Mission Control at 9.31am on Monday, 21 July.2 He was immediately given instructions on navigation tasks before vanishing behind the Moon at the start of his twenty-fourth orbit. Houston then called Tranquility Base, and after a breakfast of cold snacks Neil and Buzz powered up the computers and the rendezvous radar. Houston still hadn't established their position, and to provide further details Buzz was asked to track the command module using the rendezvous radar. Once he'd done this, Mission Control changed the checklist procedures and asked Buzz to switch off the radar until they reached orbit, to avoid overloading Eagle's computer. During the descent the computer had been so busy it had triggered a series of alarms. During the ascent it would be busier still. 'We were concerned,' admitted Charlie Duke, 'very concerned.'3