The journey of a thousand
miles begins with one step. -- Lao Tzu
I would like to take my
readers on a journey back in time…
Today
is July 13th, 1969 . Today is my 12th
birthday. Every birthday is exciting but
this one is extra special. You see, it
is T minus three days. Any kid who grew
up in Satellite
Beach , Florida 25 miles up Route A1A.
The
mission is called Apollo 11. It represents
the culmination of a promise made eight years ago by the President after whom
the Space Center
My
family has been part of America Satellite Beach
The
crew, engineers and other support personnel are busy preparing for the mission
while we are busy celebrating my big day.
This is the first entry in my personal log of the most exciting two
weeks of my life.
Today is July 16th, 1969. We have liftoff! Three men are on their way into an elliptical orbit that will provide a “slingshot” effect to speed their journey to the moon.
ReplyDeleteIt is never a given that a bird will actually arise during its designated launch window. There are multiple layers of safety checks and cross-checks of complex systems that have multiple redundancies. Then there is the weather. Florida has two seasons – rainy and dry. Summer launches occur during the rainy season and the mere threat of a thunderstorm will delay the assembled craft’s emergence from the safety of the Vehicle Assembly Building.
Happily, the weather has cooperated and the bird is ready to take wing. We huddle before our black & white TV for the liftoff. We hear the roar, see the flames and finally see the ascent - very slow initially and then gaining speed. The bird rises and the network changes cameras. That is our moment to race out of the house into our back yard for some naked-eye viewing. A few minutes later we lose the bird downrange and race back in to the den. There is an anxious moment as the bolts fire to release the booster, which will fall into the ocean if all goes according to plan. Finally the TV cameras lose the bird downrange. We wish three brave men Godspeed.
Today is July 17th, 1969. It is T plus 1 day. The slingshot maneuver worked flawlessly and the docked modules speed along their lunar trajectory. The astronauts go about their duties and occasionally transmit audio and video to a fascinated public.
ReplyDeleteJust a few days ago, the modules and their boosters were waiting to be assembled in the Vehicle Assembly Building, which everyone calls the VAB. I recall riding with my dad onto the Kennedy Space Center, which we all call the KSC. All of the military, civil service and contractors comfortably inhabit a world that is a veritable alphabet soup. One cannot help falling in with it.
Anyway, my dad has clearance to enter the KSC with me riding along. He is my tour guide. He takes me to the VAB, which is then under construction. We walk just inside the vast doorway and admire the expanse within. When completed, it will be the largest enclosed space in the world. What the designers did not realize is that the expanse is so great that the building interior will have its own weather.
I marvel at this marriage of imagination and engineering. I feel very fortunate to have this level of access that only a few thousand of the billions of people on the earth enjoy.
Today is July 20th, 1969. It is T plus 4 days. More significantly, it is the day that NASA has succeeded on mankind’s first attempt to land a manned spacecraft on the lunar surface. It occurred at 2017 UTC, which was 4:17 PM EDT in Satellite Beach. The astronauts will make all the preparations to step outside, descend the ladder and set foot on the surface about 6-1/2 hours later.
ReplyDeleteThe docked command module and lunar lander achieved lunar orbit yesterday. There was no real question about their ability to reach that milestone, since it was first achieved seven months earlier by the Apollo 8 crew. I think back fondly to that time.
My dad has scored two tickets to a VIP viewing area for the Apollo 8 launch. My mom has stepped aside so that a very excited 11-year-old boy can go with his dad to view the launch. The area does not have grandstands like they do where the high mucky-mucks get to sit. We gain entry to a large dirt parking lot where some number of vehicles arrange themselves in a fairly organized manner. We get out of the car and peer through the vegetation that lines the Indian River. We can mostly see the majestic vehicle that will transport three men to the moon. The countdown reaches zero and we have liftoff. There is a mighty roar and the earth shakes beneath us. The magnificent machine comes fully into view with a continued roar as it gains altitude and velocity. I watch through my dad’s binoculars as the roar dies down and the bird dwindles until all I can see is the flame from the continued burning of the propellant. I am over the moon (pun intended).
Back to the current mission, there was no guarantee that the lunar lander would touch down successfully. First, the craft had to descend to the correct target. Second, it was possible that the target area would be strewn with boulders that were not visible from lunar orbit. Finally, there was some concern that the surface could be covered with a deep layer of dust that had settled from eons of meteor impacts. No one knew exactly what we would find down there.
Descent and landing proved to be the ultimate test of Neil Armstrong’s piloting skill. There was a targeting error and the initial site that Armstrong selected contained a boulder field. The landing very nearly had to be aborted until he was able to land the craft with less than a minute of fuel left. It did not sink down through a layer of dust. The Eagle had landed.
It is still July 20th in the U.S., although it is the 21st by Universal Time, which spacecraft observe. Preparations have been underway for the past 3-1/2 hours for man to walk on the Moon. Eagle has been depressurized since there is no airlock. After a tight squeeze through the hatch, Armstrong has stepped onto the ladder. He has prepared a brief remark that to commemorate the occasion. “This is one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.” We have been glued to the TV and are treated to the remarkable spectacle of Walter Cronkite dropping his mask for a moment. He removes his glasses and wipes away a tear. 600 million people join him.
ReplyDeleteIt is July 21st, 1969. T plus 5 days. Eagle has ascended from the lunar surface, leaving behind the landing stage. It has docked again with Columbia, the command module. Armstrong and Aldrin have reunited with Michael Collins and the astronauts have jettisoned the Eagle ascent stage into lunar orbit. The three men prepare for the three-day return flight to Earth. This stage of the mission feels almost anti-climactic back home, although everyone prepares to give the crew a heroes’ welcome home.
ReplyDelete