You're watching FreeSchool!
Mission Control: That's 15 seconds, guidance is
internal. 12, 11, 10, 9, ignition sequence start...
6... 5...4... 3... 2... 1... zero. All engines
running. We have a liftoff! Liftoff on Apollo 11!
Astronauts: Four forward, drifting to the right a little.
30 seconds. Contact light. Okay, engine stop.
Tranquility base here. The Eagle has landed.
Mission Control: Roger, Tranquility, we copy you on the ground.
You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue,
we're breathin' again.
Newscaster: Armstrong is on the moon. Neil Armstrong,
38-year-old American, standing on the surface
of the moon, on this, July 20th, nineteen
hundred and sixty-nine.
Armstrong:That's one small step for man, one
giant leap for mankind.
Aldrin: Oh, that looks beautiful from here, Neil.
Armstrong: It has a stark beauty all its own it's, uh, like
much of the high desert of the United States,
it's different but it's very pretty out here.
Aldrin:Beautiful view.                                         Armstrong: Isn't that something? 
Magnificent
sight out here. Magnificent desolation.
Mission Control: Tranquility base, Houston. Guidance recommendation is [inaudible] and you're
cleared for takeoff.
Roger, understand. We're number one on the
runway. Seven, six, five, engine on [inaudible].
Beautiful! Very smooth! Very quiet ride.
Apollo 11, Apollo 11, this is Hornet, Hornet,
over.
Apollo [inaudible] Apollo grid [inaudible]
our position, one three three zero.
I believe that this nation should commit itself
to achieving the goal, before this decade
is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning
him safely to the Earth.
Narrator:The flight of Apollo 11 was the culmination
of many years of planning, working, building
and testing. Thousands of people had contributed
toward this day of accomplishment. The great
Saturn V rocket and the complex Apollo spacecraft
had been assembled together and moved to the
launch pad. The equipment and techniques and
personnel had been proved in earlier missions,
and now, they were ready.
The astronauts chosen for this mission had
flown it many times in ground-based simulators.
They had all been in space before. They had
trained carefully and well. And now, they
too were ready.
Astronaut Michael Collins would pilot the
Apollo Command Module.
Astronaut Edwin Aldrin Jr. would pilot the
Lunar Module.
And astronaut Neil Armstrong would serve as
mission Commander. Armstrong would be the
first man to step upon the moon.
Mission Control:Six, five, four, three, two, one, zero, all
engine running. Liftoff! We have a liftoff!
32 minutes past the hour, liftoff on Apollo
11. Tower cleared!
Narrator: Three hours later, the Apollo command module moves forward to extract the lunar module
from the third stage of the launch vehicle.
Both are moving at more than 17,000 miles
an hour.
Docked together, they will sail a quarter
million miles across the sea of space, and
into orbit around the Earth's nearest neighbor.
During the three-day journey to the moon,
the astronauts kept busy. Checklists, navigation
and observation, housekeeping.
They must work in a weightless environment,
keeping their spacecraft and themselves in
good condition. Data must be collected and
reported. Experiments must be performed, including
photography both inside and outside the spacecraft.
Because of the film speed, these actions appear
faster than they actually were.
July 19th. Apollo 11 slows down and goes into
orbit around the moon. The bright blue planet
of Earth now lies 238,000 miles beyond the
lunar horizon.
Astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin, now in the
lunar module, separate from the command module.
Astronaut Collins remains behind. Preparation
for the lunar module descent to the moon now
begins.
The command module assumes the new name, 'Columbia.'
The lunar module will be called the 'Eagle.'
The four landing pads of the lunar module
are fully extended and locked in place. The
Eagle is poised and prepared for its descent
to the lunar surface.
The moon landing craft rocket engine fires
to slow it down, and to place it on the pathway
to the landing site in the Sea of Tranquility.
There is tension and caution as the Eagle
flies lower. Warning lights blink on as the
computer tries to keep up with the demand
for control data, but the status remains,
"Go."
Astronauts:60 seconds. Lights on. Down two and a half.
Forward. Forward. [inaudible] feet down, two
and a half. Picking up some dust. Four forward,
four forward, drifting to the right a little.
[inaudible] Contact light? Okay. Engine stop.
Mission Control: We copy you down, Eagle.
Astronauts:Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed.
Narrator: Through the window of the Eagle, Armstrong
and Aldrin see what no human eyes have ever
seen before. Their spacecraft casts a long
shadow across the undisturbed dust of centuries.
Seven hours after landing, after careful preparations
for later ascent were completed, Armstrong
opens the Eagle hatch, and begins his climb
down to the surface.
The first footsteps on this strange new world
must be taken cautiously. The moon has only
1/6th the gravity of Earth. The nature of
its surface was still unknown.
Armstrong: Okay, I'm gonna step off the LM now. It's
one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
Narrator: Once on the surface, Armstrong scoops up a
small sample of lunar dust and rock, precaution
against the possibility of an emergency take-off.
According to plan, astronaut Aldrin now descends
from the Eagle. He and his equipment would
weight 383 lbs. on Earth, here, they weigh
about 66 lbs.
For a brief moment, the first men on the moon
stand and look at the stark, lonely landscape
around them, an experience which no one before
them can share. But there is much to be done
in the limited time which they can stay on
this airless, cloudless, satellite of Earth.
This sheet of metal foil traps and holds particles
from the sun, the so-called 'solar wind,'
or barrage of solar energy which constantly
strikes the moon's surface. Results of this
experiment will be taken back to Earth to
reveal new secrets to anxious scientists.
An American flag is left behind on the moon,
together with medals honoring American and
Soviet spacemen who lost their lives in earlier
space tests, and a small disk, carrying messages
of goodwill from 73 nations on Earth.
A plaque on the lunar module reads, "Here
men from the planet Earth first set foot upon
the moon. July, 1969 AD. We came in peace,
for all mankind."
Through a specially-made television camera,
viewers in many nations on Earth were able
to watch the astronauts as they walked and
worked on the moon. Despite the bulky spacesuits,
and the backpacks containing oxygen, temperature
control and communications equipment, the
Apollo 11 crew found they could move easily
about the surface.
Because there is no wind or rain on the moon,
these footprints will remain for centuries.
After two hours and 31 minutes, the first
lunar explorers had completed their research
on the moon. A night of rest in the lunar
module, countdown preparations, and they were
ready to come home.
July 21st. The Eagle and its two-man crew
lifted off the moon perfectly, and climbed
slowly to rendezvous and dock with the mother
ship, Columbia. While Armstrong and Aldrin
explored the moon, astronaut Collins had kept
a long and lonely vigil in the Columbia. The
approaching Eagle was a welcome sight.
Once again, the bright blue planet of Earth
rises over the lunar horizon. For those who
had witnessed man's landing in the Sea of
Tranquility, the moon would never again appear
quite the same.
July 24th. Dawn in the Pacific. Apollo blazes
across the heavens, coming back to Earth at
25,000 miles an hour. President Richard Nixon,
who had talked with the astronauts by telephone
while they were on the moon, was waiting aboard
the recovery carrier to welcome the returning
voyagers.
The rock and soil samples brought back would
be examined and analyzed by scientists in
many lands. They would reveal new insights
into the origin and the age and the composition
of the moon. And, perhaps, new knowledge of
the Earth as well. Already experiments left
on the moon were sending back revealing new
information. The mission was successfully
completed. The Eagle had landed the first
men on the moon and Columbia had returned
them safely to Earth. Wherever man journeys
tomorrow, across the ocean of our universe,
history will remind him that Apollo 11 was
mankind's first encounter with a new world.
