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| Earth Rising! |
50th Anniversary of The Moon Landing : Apollo Program Facts
▪ The engineering and scientific achievements of the Apollo Program are unrivaled in human history: disciplines involved included computer software and the integrated circuit, fly-by-wire aircraft, fire retardant and reflective metalized fabrics, solar panel technology, better kidney dialysis, freeze-dried foods, and much more.
▪ It took 400,000 engineers, techs, and scientists and cost $25.5 Billion (4.4% of 1966 U.S. budget).
▪ The Saturn V rocket lifted the Apollo payload into earth orbit and remains the tallest (363 ft), heaviest (6 ½ million lbs), and most powerful (7 ½ million lbs) rocket ever used.
▪ Scientists have bounced laser beams off mirrors left on the moon’s surface to measure its distance from earth – revealing that the moon is slowly moving away from us!
▪ Astronauts Grissom, Chafee, and White died in the tragic Apollo 1 fire in 1967 during a launch rehearsal test. NASA hired Boeing to help with its accident investigation and evaluate all Apollo systems. This effort ultimately saved the Apollo Program – a fact kept quiet for decades.
▪ In early 1969, the INTELSAT II satellite over the Atlantic Ocean failed. Since it was intended to deliver Apollo 11 moonwalk signals to UK & Europe, another signal path via Japan and the Indian Ocean was necessary. This circuitous path added signal delay and resulted in a poorer TV picture quality in the UK & Europe.
▪ The total mission took 8+ days (July 16th to the 24th, 1969). The 240,000-mile one-way trip to the moon took 3+ days.
▪ Apollo 11’s lunar module (LM) overshot the planned landing spot by 4 miles with 25 sec of maneuvering fuel left (Armstrong’s heart rate: 150 beats per minute; normal = 60 to 100).
▪ “One small step” was actually a 3½ foot drop down to the moon’s surface. Armstrong’s landing was so light that the lander’s shock absorbers did not compress upon landing on the moon.
▪ 550 million viewed the landing: 1/6th of world population at the time. Due to the TV signal traveling half way around the world to Houston, Australian audiences saw Armstrong’s “first step” before the rest of the world.
▪ Due to LM’s weight issues, a TV camera was originally considered “an unnecessary concern” as it meant that weight had to be taken out of the LM. In early 1969, a meeting convened at Houston over this and luckily for the world’s most historic event the camera was allowed. Additionally, use of the TV camera’s top-secret light amplifier tube required a Department of Defense approval.
▪ Along with Australia’s huge Parkes antenna, the deployment of the LM’s 3-meter antenna was unnecessary – allowing Armstrong’s “first step” to be televised (deploying the 3-meter antenna would have made filming his first step impossible). High wind gusts (70 mph) on the Parkes antenna at the time of the moonwalk also threatened receiving the moon video.
▪ U.S. flag left on moon was purchased by NASA from Annin Flagmakers of New York City for $5.50 in 1969 (other accounts have it purchased from Sears). It was secured to the lunar lander’s ladder for the trip to the moon. To stage its famous photographs, it was braced on the upper edge to make it stand out straight. It is believed that the severe conditions on the moon’s surface eventually will disintegrate all flags left by the Apollo missions.
▪ Aldrin’s backpack broke the ascent engine-arm circuit breaker—he armed it with a pen.
▪ Astronauts declared "moon rock and moon dust samples” on customs forms upon return to earth. These rocks were over 3.7 billion years old.
▪ Armstrong’s words “That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind” is still debated as his intended “a” not heard on actual audio (his heartrate was 112 beats per minute at this point).
▪ Among items left on moon was a laser reflector that is still being “pinged” by scientists and medallions honoring Russian cosmonauts Gagarin and Komarov, both dying tragically (Gagarin in an airplane crash and Komarov in a Soyuz capsule crash).
▪ A special earth station in Australia sensed the sun’s solar flare activity and would have warned NASA of impending solar flares. Without the protection of the earth’s atmosphere, the astronauts would be exposed to lethal doses of radiation from these sun flares.
▪ On July 30, 1971, Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin became the first humans to traverse the lunar surface on wheels – on a “moon buggy” built by Boeing. A total of twelve men walked on the surface of the moon between 1969 and 1972.
▪ Due to LM’s weight issues, a TV camera was originally considered “an unnecessary concern” as it meant that weight had to be taken out of the LM. In early 1969, a meeting convened at Houston over this and luckily for the world’s most historic event the camera was allowed. Additionally, use of the TV camera’s top-secret light amplifier tube required a Department of Defense approval.
▪ Along with Australia’s huge Parkes antenna, the deployment of the LM’s 3-meter antenna was unnecessary – allowing Armstrong’s “first step” to be televised (deploying the 3-meter antenna would have made filming his first step impossible). High wind gusts (70 mph) on the Parkes antenna at the time of the moonwalk also threatened receiving the moon video.
▪ U.S. flag left on moon was purchased by NASA from Annin Flagmakers of New York City for $5.50 in 1969 (other accounts have it purchased from Sears). It was secured to the lunar lander’s ladder for the trip to the moon. To stage its famous photographs, it was braced on the upper edge to make it stand out straight. It is believed that the severe conditions on the moon’s surface eventually will disintegrate all flags left by the Apollo missions.
▪ Aldrin’s backpack broke the ascent engine-arm circuit breaker—he armed it with a pen.
▪ Astronauts declared "moon rock and moon dust samples” on customs forms upon return to earth. These rocks were over 3.7 billion years old.
▪ Armstrong’s words “That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind” is still debated as his intended “a” not heard on actual audio (his heartrate was 112 beats per minute at this point).
▪ Among items left on moon was a laser reflector that is still being “pinged” by scientists and medallions honoring Russian cosmonauts Gagarin and Komarov, both dying tragically (Gagarin in an airplane crash and Komarov in a Soyuz capsule crash).
▪ A special earth station in Australia sensed the sun’s solar flare activity and would have warned NASA of impending solar flares. Without the protection of the earth’s atmosphere, the astronauts would be exposed to lethal doses of radiation from these sun flares.
▪ On July 30, 1971, Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin became the first humans to traverse the lunar surface on wheels – on a “moon buggy” built by Boeing. A total of twelve men walked on the surface of the moon between 1969 and 1972.
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