First Man
Page 89
“I thought today went pretty well” MC at 03:14:02:08, OBR.
“no indication that any of the crew members are actually sleeping” Apollo 11 Spacecraft Commentary, 16–24 July 1969, CDT 00:03, 20 July, Release 270/1. Following the sleep period prior to the day of the landing, NASA reported that Collins had slept six hours, Armstrong five and a half, and Aldrin five.
Chapter 28: The Landing
Safire’s statements Bill Safire to H. R. Haldeman, “In Event of Moon Disaster,” July 18, 1969; Jim Keogh, The White House, “Memorandum for Bob Haldeman, July 19, 1969. Copies in NASA History Office, Washington, DC.
“Kuralt followed” Kuralt’s piece quoted in CBS, 10:56:20 P.M., pp. 49–50.
referred to the upcoming Moon landing as “a giant step” Ibid., p. 52.
“this particular morning the system came unglued” BA, RTE, p. 227.
“‘why do we need that there?’” NAA to author, Sept. 18, 2003, p. 27.
“Seats were not required” Thomas J. Kelly, Moon Lander, p. 63.
“crosshairs were in the center” NAA to author, Sept. 18, 2003, pp. 14–15.
“couldn’t land on AGS” Ibid., p. 24.
Fortunately, Stafford and Cernan See EC, The Last Man on the Moon, pp. 217–18, and TS, WHC, pp. 130–31.
“altitude limits” NAA to author, Sept. 18, 2003, p. 17.
“barnyard math” Ibid., pp. 16–17.
“all the guys in the trenches” Ibid., p. 18.
“could easily lose the signal” NAA: e-mail to author, Nov. 24, 2004.
“get the computer into the right program” NAA to author, Sept. 18, 2003, p. 20.
“take the tension” Cronkite quoted in CBS, 10:56:20 P.M., p. 74.
“pulled on my heart strings” VEAP, “Apollo 11,” p. 7.
“strategy for the throttle profile” NAA to author, Sept. 18, 2003, p. 21.
“like a magpie” BA, RTE, p. 229.
“used the push-to-talk mode” NAA to author, Sept. 18, 2003, p. 18.
“did not accurately catch the ignition point” Ibid., pp. 19–20.
“Landmark visibility was good” NAA, from the 1969 Technical Debrief, quoted in ALSJ, “The First Lunar Landing,” p. 12.
“wasn’t going to be a welcoming committee” NAA to author, Sept. 18, 2003, p. 20.
“get landing radar into the equation” Ibid., p. 21.
“got the Earth right out our front window” BA, 04:06:38:20 mission elapsed time.
“didn’t want to practice aborts” NAA to author, Sept. 18, 2003, p. 22.
“simply for readout purposes” Cronkite quoted in CBS, 10:56:20 P.M., p. 76.
“problem had never come up in the simulators” BA, RTE, p. 230.
“My inclination was just to keep going” NAA to author, Sept. 18, 2003, p. 22.
“go by the numbers” Koos quoted in EFK, Failure Is Not an Option, p. 268.
“Bales felt naked” Ibid., p. 269.
“THIS WAS NOT AN ABORT” Koos quoted in ibid., p. 270.
“same one we had in training” Duke quoted in ibid., p. 288.
“all those program alarms” NAA to author, June 4, 2003, p. 8.
“would have been helpful to have known that” Ibid.
“didn’t know anything about it” BA to author, p. 20.
“intimidated” NAA to author, June 4, 2003, p. 8.
“find somebody’s backyard to land in” NAA to author, Sept. 18, 2003, p. 23.
“not the place where I wanted to be landing” Ibid.
“a lot of our vision would be wiped out” Ibid., p. 10.
“pick out bumps and craters” Ibid.
“LM flew better than I expected” Ibid., p. 24.
“less traumatic” BA quoted in ALSJ, “The First Lunar Landing,” p. 21.
“Extend it” NAA quoted in ibid.
“our gear down” BA, from 1969 Technical Debrief, quoted in ALSJ, p. 24.
“sheet of moving dust” NAA to author, Sept. 18, 2003, p. 24.
“translational velocity” NAA, from 1969 Technical Debrief, quoted in ALSJ, p. 25.
“How’s the fuel? NAA, 04:06:43:57 mission elapsed time.
“never dreamed we could be flying this close to empty” EFK, Failure Is Not anOption, p. 291.
“no response from the crew” Ibid.
“very aware of the fuel situation” NAA to author, Sept. 18, 2003, pp. 25–26.
“liked to have a little forward motion” Ibid., p. 27.
“could hear a feather drop” EFK, Failure Is Not an Option, pp. 291–92.
“wasn’t panic stricken about the fuel” NAA to author, Sept. 18, 2003, p. 26.
“If we had landed right on top of a rock” Ibid, p. 25.
“some merit to landing a little bit hard” Ibid.
“if there was sloshing” Ibid.
“Whew, boy! Man on the Moon!” Cronkite quoted in CBS, 10:56:20 P.M., p. 77.
“Okay, let’s get on with it” NAA, 04:06:46:23 mission elapsed time.
Chapter 29: One Small Step
“power of millions of prayers” VEAP, “Apollo 11,” p. 7.
“the same old Neil” Stephen Armstrong, quoted in CBS, 10:56:20 P.M., p. 104.
“opposite ends of the spectrum” JSA to author, Sept. 11, 2004 (morning), p. 35.
“I wanted to really know” Ibid., p. 33.
“didn’t care whether he was Catholic” Ibid., p. 30.
“a great tense time” Ibid., p. 33.
“welcomed other people, especially the guys” Ibid., p. 31.
“daddy’s going to the Moon” Mark Armstrong quoted in FOM, p. 46.
“asking him to talk to the boys” JSA to author, Sept. 11, 2004 (morning), p. 33.
“keep life as normal as possible” Ibid., p. 34.
“There he is! There he is!” JSA quoted in FOM, p. 134.
“some bird food?” Mark Armstrong quoted in ibid.
“sleep wasn’t really important” JSA to author, Sept. 11, 2004 (morning), p. 34.
“in bed with Janet” WAA to author, Sept. 18, 2003, p. 24.
“he just doesn’t answer” Rick Armstrong quoted in FOM, p. 246.
“pinpoint us more quickly than it did” NAA to author, Sept. 18, 2003, p. 30.
“You guys did a fantastic job” MC, 04:06:58:40 mission elapsed time.
“miniscule dot” MC, CTF, p. 405.
“can’t see a darn thing but craters” Ibid., p. 410.
“get out there and get some stuff” NAA to author, Sept. 18, 2003, p. 31.
“mascons” NAA quoted in ALSJ, “Post-landing activities,” p. 30.
“indicated that it was not safe to continue” NAA to author, Sept. 18, 2003, p. 29.
“fuel lines were not a new subject” Ibid.
“less than a serious problem” NAA to author, Sept. 18, 2003, p. 29. For additional comments by Armstrong on the concern about tank overpressurization right after the landing, see ALSJ, “The First Lunar Landing,” pp. 31–32.
“went through all the systems checks” NAA to author, Sept. 18, 2003, p. 29.
“a degree of relaxation there” Ibid., p. 30.
“trying to just describe what we saw” Ibid., p. 23.
“too excited to sleep” BA, RTE, p. 232.
“outside as soon as we could” NAA to author, Sept. 19, 2003, p. 1.
“part of the Communion bread loaf” Cronkite quoted in CBS, 10:56:20 P.M., p. 85.
“let him do his own thing” NAA to author, Sept. 18, 2003, p. 31.
“don’t remember that ever being mentioned” Ibid.
“EVA preparation checklist” NAA, from 1969 Technical Debrief, quoted in ALSJ, p. 2.
“lunar surface took quite a bit longer” NAA to author, Sept. 19, 2003, p. 1.
“careful of our movements” BA, RTE, p. 233.
“easy to bump things” NAA to author, Sept. 19, 2003, p. 3.
“never done the tests with the filters on” Ibid., p. 4.
“two hundred pound
s of pressure to open that up” Ibid.
“hatch proved to be no more difficult than a lot of other maneuvers” Ibid., p. 6.
“asked Houston if they were getting a picture” Ibid., p. 2.
“not ever concerned about falling from the ladder” Ibid., p. 6.
“Armstrong is on the Moon!” Cronkite quoted in CBS, 10:56:20 P.M., p. 96.
“pictures were surreal” NAA to author, Sept. 19, 2003, p. 2.
“replied that he was still thinking it over” BA, RTE, p. 233.
“Be descriptive now, Neil” JSA quoted in FOM, p. 268.
“Decisions, decisions, decisions!” Ibid., p. 258.
“a very simplistic statement” NAA to author, Sept. 19, 2003, p. 6.
“can’t recapture it” Ibid., p. 7.
“put it in parentheses” Ibid., p. 8.
“came across the idea for his statement” As to what might have triggered the now immortal phrases “one small step” and “one giant leap,” over the years since Apollo 11 people have expressed numerous theories, some of them tangible, a few quite fanciful. One theory, inspired by a comment Neil made in 1971 to NASA public affairs officer Robert Sherrod, suggests that the phrases derived from a children’s game called Mother, May I? that Neil occasionally played outdoors with siblings and friends during his Ohio boyhood. (NAA to Robert Sherrod, Washington DC, Sept. 23, 1971, p. 6, copy in NASA History Office Archives.) If the player takes the allotted “small steps” or “giant steps” before first saying, “Mother, May I,” he or she has to return to the starting line. Today, though Neil vaguely remembers playing the game, he does not recall talking about it to Sherrod or anyone else. “I think if I said that, that it would have been more in jest than if that actually contributed” (NAA to author, Sept. 19, 2003, p. 8).
“read all the [Tolkien] books” NAA to author, Sept. 19, 2003, p. 8.
“signalize [sic] the first lunar landing” Willis Shapley to George C. Mueller, Office of Manned Space Flight, NASA Headquarters, Apr. 1969, NASA Headquarters History Office.
“statements that were made” NAA to author, Sept. 19, 2003, p. 9.
“certainly wasn’t conscious” Ibid., p. 8.
“almost floating as he walked” VEAP, “Apollo 11,” p. 8.
“we try the clothesline technique” NAA to author, Sept. 19, 2003, p. 5.
“making our bodies into a bipod” Ibid.
“get a few quick pictures” Ibid., p. 9.
“get that camera down and hooked up” NAA, from 1969 Technical Debrief, quoted in ALSJ, “One Small Step,” p. 10.
“stark beauty of its own” NAA, 04:13:34:56 mission elapsed time.
“‘Were you born in a barn?’” NAA quoted in ALSJ, “One Small Step,” p. 16.
“never get the bent hatch closed again!” BA quoted in ibid., p. 16.
“one-sixth g environment” NAA to author, Sept. 19, 2003, p. 19.
“walked sideways while hooked to an assembly of cables” Ibid.
“keep a good eye out” BA, Men from Earth, p. 241. See also BA, RTE, p. 235.
“One time I came close to falling” NAA: e-mail to author, May 20, 2005, comments on chap. 29.
“first to pee in his pants” BA, RTE, p. 235.
“flag should just be draped down” NAA to author, Sept. 19, 2003, p. 12.
“a unique permanent wave” BA, RTE, p. 237.
“trouble getting it into the surface” NAA to author, Sept. 19, 2003, p. 12.
“let him do the responding” BA, RTE, p. 237.
“didn’t say it would be the president” NAA to author, Sept. 19, 2003, p. 13.
“could sense our son was emotionally shaken” VEAP, “Apollo 11,” p. 10.
“maybe it wasn’t even going to happen” NAA to author, Sept. 19, 2003, p. 13.
“Neil had the camera most of the time” BA, RTE, p. 236.
“who took what pictures” NAA: e-mail to author, Dec. 1, 2004.
“Buzz did have the camera some of the time” Ibid.
“enormity of the situation” BA to author, Mar. 17, 2003, p. 30.
“just not the opportunity for me ever to do that” Ibid.
“Stupid me, stupid me” MC to author, Mar. 25, 2003, p. 16. Even those who realized it at the time of Apollo have misunderstood why the omission occurred. “It’s a real anomaly,” Apollo 12 astronaut Dick Gordon has stated. For years Gordon believed that Buzz never had a chance to take any pictures: “Neil had the camera; Buzz didn’t have the mount. The only picture Buzz took was a stereoscopic picture of the footprints” (Dick Gordon to author, Apr. 12, 2003, p. 17). Apollo 9 commander Jim McDivitt has held the same mistaken views. “Why are there no pictures of Neil on the surface, Jim?” “That’s easy.” “Is it?” “Yes, the only camera they had, Neil had.” “So you are saying Buzz took no pictures?” “Yes, I think that’s right. There was only one camera, and I don’t think Buzz took any pictures” (McDivitt to author, Apr. 17, 2003, p. 18). Apollo 10 and Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan saw it the same way. “They took only one camera and it was on Neil’s suit, and I guess Neil never handed the camera over to Buzz to take a picture. It’s a tragedy” (EC to to author, Feb. 10, 2003, p. 12). Same with George Franklin, the lead engineer in the Flight Crew Support Division at the Manned Spacecraft Center who was responsible for preparing the LM crew for many of their surface activities. Franklin believes that “Buzz never took a picture.” “How do you explain that?” “Because of who had the camera.” “Was it too hard for Neil to get it off his chest bracket?” “No, we don’t know why. In the procedures, Neil was supposed to change out and he didn’t. Why? I can’t answer that question, why the camera was never changed over” (Franklin to author, Feb. 5, 2003, p. 7).
“I find that shocking” EFK to author, Feb. 8, 2003, p. 28.
“would not accuse him of that” CCK to author, Feb. 7, 2003, p. 20.
“some nefarious plot on Buzz’s part” MC to author, Mar. 25, 2003, p. 16.
“don’t think it crossed his mind” CCK to author, Feb. 7, 2003, p. 20.
“practiced their photography” AB to author, Feb. 7, 2003, pp. 5–6.
“That’s a possibility” Ibid.
“What I can imagine Neil thinking” EC to author, Feb. 10, 2003, p. 12.
“got out the sample bags” NAA to author, Sept. 19, 2003, p. 17.
“never been disappointed about the rocks” NAA: e-mail to author, Dec. 23, 2004.
“‘documented samples’” Ibid.
“still actively studying the Moon rocks” Ibid.
“the bubble just kept circling” NAA to author, Sept. 19, 2003, p. 18.
“amazed watching that thing bloom like a flower” Ibid.
“knew it forwards, backwards, and blindfolded” Ibid., p. 15.
“snap a picture of the crater” Ibid., p. 20.
“Not spectacular outcroppings” Ibid.
“too many interesting things to do” NAA, from postmission press conference, quoted in ALSJ, “EASEP Deployment and Close-out,” p. 15.
“didn’t mind breaking the rules” NAA to author, Sept. 19, 2003, p. 15.
“dust in an oxygen environment can be flammable” Ibid., p. 22.
“inordinate amount of force” NAA, from 1969 Technical Debrief, quoted in ALSJ, “EASEP Deployment and Close-out,” p. 19.
“pulled the packet out and tossed it onto the surface” BA, RTE, p. 238.
“sort of guarded” BA quoted in ALSJ, “EASEP Deployment and Close-out,” p. 22.
“how I got up to the third step” NAA to author, Sept. 19, 2003, p. 23.
“jump pretty high” Ibid.
“Like colts almost” Cronkite to Sevareid, quoted in CBS, 10:56:20 P.M., p. 103.
“their own personal items” Anonymous NASA MSC official quoted in Nicholas C. Chriss, “Astros Take Secrets, But They’re Personal,” New York Post, May 22, 1969. See also Donald K. Slayton, Director of Flight Crew Operations to NASA Headquarters, Attn: Mr. Julian Scheer, “Astronaut PPKs,” Oct.
22, 1968, NARA Fort Worth, RG 255.
“had to make a list” AB quoted in Air & Space Smithsonian (Dec. 1994–Jan. 1995).
“something memorable for her” Cronkite quoted in CBS, 10:56:20 P.M., p. 85.
“not even worthy of being typed up” BA, RTE, p. 214.
“1974 memorandum for the NASA Associate Administrator Rocco Petrone Robert Pearlman: e-mail to author, Dec. 29, 2004.
“total weight of this kit shall not exceed” See “Astronaut Preference Kit Policy,”n.d., at www.collectspace.com/resources/flown_apollo_apk.html.
“small flags are to be carried in a plastic vacuum” NASA Press Release 69–83E, July 3, 1969. I wish to thank Robert Pearlman for providing a copy of this memorandum.
“In my PPK” NAA: e-mail to author, Dec. 22, 2004.
“didn’t bring anything else for myself” NAA to author, Sept. 19, 2003, p. 23.
“if I wanted to send anything” JSA to author, Sept. 11, 2004 (morning), p. 39.
Chapter 30: Return to Earth
“unknowns were rampant” NAA quoted in Quest, p. 38.
“on that scale was probably a thirteen” Ibid.
“truckload of equipment inside that cockpit” NAA, from the 1969 Technical Debrief, quoted in ALSJ, “Trying to Rest,” pp. 3–4.
“Each PLSS bounced on the porch” BA, quoted in ibid., p. 13.
“giving the packages the heave-ho” Ibid.
“last item jettisoned” NAA, quoted in ibid., p. 13.
“scent of wet ashes” Ibid., p. 16.
“like it was going to catch fire” BA, quoted in ibid.
“postpone our answer to that one” NAA, 04:18:44:01 mission elapsed time.
“couldn’t tell if I was tired” NAA to author, Sept. 19, 2003, p. 25.
“couple hundred pages of checklist items” Ibid., p. 24.
“engine cover” Ibid. See also ALSJ, “Trying to Rest,” pp. 22–26.
“temperature got quite brisk” Ibid., p. 24.
“had never heard this thing run” Ibid., p. 25.
“quality of sleep was poor” NAA quoted in ALSJ, “Trying to Rest,” p. 23.
“had the better sleeping place” BA, from the 1969 Technical Debrief, quoted in ALSJ, “Trying to Rest,” p. 25.
“get by with a low amount of sleep” NAA to author, Sept. 19, 2003, p. 25.
“overflow of program alarms” Ron Evans, 05:01:41:14 mission elapsed time.
“wasn’t hard to recreate what I’d just seen” NAA to author, Sept. 19, 2003, p. 26.