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The lunar module (LM), with Astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin aboard, was undocked from the command-service module (CSM) at 100:14 GET, following a thorough check of all the LM systems. At 101:36 GET, the LM descent engine was fired for approximately 29 seconds, and the descent to the lunar surface began. At 102:33 GET, the LM descent engine was started for the last time and burned until touchdown on the lunar surface. Eagle landed on the Moon 102 hr, 45 min and 40 sec after launch. Immediately after landing on the Moon, Armstrong and Aldrin prepared the LM for liftoff as a contingency measure. Following the meal, a scheduled sleep period was postponed at the astronauts' request, and the astronauts began preparations for descent to the lunar surface. Astronaut Armstrong emerged from the spacecraft first. While descending, he released the Modularized Equipment Stowage Assembly (MESA) on which the surface television camera was stowed, and the camera recorded humankind's first step on the Moon at 109:24:19 GET. A sample of lunar surface material was collected and stowed to assure that, if a contingency required an early end to the planned surface activities, samples of lunar surface material would be returned to Earth. Astronaut Aldrin subsequently descended to the lunar surface. The astronauts carried out the planned sequence of activities that included deployment of a Solar Wind Composition (SWC) experiment, collection of a larger sample of lunar material, panoramic photographs of the region near the landing site and the lunar horizon, closeup photographs of in place lunar surface material, deployment of a Laser-Ranging Retroreflector (LRRR) and a Passive Seismic Experiment Package (PSEP), and collection of two core-tube samples of the lunar surface. Approximately two and a quarter hours after descending to the surface, the astronauts began preparations to reenter the LM, after which the astronauts slept. The ascent from the lunar surface began at 124:22 GET, 21 hours and 36 minutes after the lunar landing. In transearth coast only one of four planned midcourse corrections was required. The CM entered the atmosphere of the Earth with a velocity of 36,194 feet per second (11,032 meters per second) and landed in the Pacific Ocean. |
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| Aldrin: 540 feet, down
at 30 [feet per second] . . . down at 15 . . . 400 feet down at 9 . . forward
. . . 350 feet, down at 4 . . . 300 feet, down 3 1/2 . . . 47 forward . .
. 1 1/2 down . . . 13 forward . . . 11 forward? coming down nicely . . .
200 feet, 4 1/2 down . . . 5 1/2 down . . . 5 percent . . . 75 feet . . .
6 forward . . . lights on . . . down 2 1/2 . . . 40 feet? down 2 1/2, kicking
up some dust . . . 30 feet, 2 1/2 down . . . faint shadow . . . 4 forward
. . . 4 forward . . . drifting to right a little . . . O.K. . . .
Houston: 30 seconds [fuel remaining]. Aldrin: Contact light! O.K., engine stop . . . descent engine command override off . . . Houston: We copy you down, Eagle. Armstong: Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed! Houston: Roger, Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You've got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot. Armstrong: Thank you . . . That may have seemed like a very long final phase. The auto targeting was taking us right into a football-field-sized crater, with a large number of big boulders and rocks for about one or two crater-diameters around it, and it required flying manually over the rock field to find a reasonably good area. Houston: Roger, we copy. It was beautiful from here, Tranquility. Over. Aldrin: We'll get to the details of what's around here, but it looks like a collection of just about every variety of shape, angularity, granularity, about every variety of rock you could find. Houston: Roger, Tranquility. Be advised there's lots of smiling faces in this room, and all over the world. Aldrin: There are two of them up here. Collins: And don't forget one in the command module. |
The arrow points to the landing
site in the southern portion of Mare Tranquillitatis. The two large craters
near the middle of the lower margin of the photograph are Theophilus and
Cyrillus. The rim of Theophilus Crater truncates (cuts across) the rim of
Cyrillus Crater, indicating that Theophilus is the younger crater. Ejecta
from Theophilus may be present in the vicinity of the Apollo 11 landing site.
Craters in the vicinity of the landing site include Moltke (the bright-rayed
crater to the lower right of the arrow), Sabine (left of arrow) and Maskelyne
(upper right of arrow). [Consolidated Lunar Atlas photograph]
Moderate-resolution vertical
view This photograph was taken from the Lunar Module and it includes both the landing site (arrow) and the Command/Service Module (upper right of arrow). The sharp-rimmed crater at the lower margin is Moltke. The craters north and west of the landing site are secondary craters resulting from ejecta thrown out of Sabine Crater. [NASA photograph]
High-resolution
vertical view
The two groups
of irregularly shaped craters north and west of the landing site are secondaries
from Sabine Crater. This view was obtained by the unmanned Lunar Orbiter V
spacecraft in 1967 prior to the Apollo missions to the Moon. The black and
white film was automatically developed onboard the spacecraft and subsequently
digitized for transmission to Earth. The regularly spaced vertical lines are
the result of combining individually digitized 'framelets' to make a composite
photograph and the irregularly-shaped bright and dark spots are due to nonuniform
film development. [NASA Lunar Orbiter photograph]
Enlargement of high-resolution view
The fresh 180-meter-diameter crater left of the center is West Crater. The landing site is about 60 meters west of 33-meter-diameter Little West Crater. Astronaut Neil Armstrong visited the rim of Little West Crater while astronaut Edwin Aldrin worked around the Lunar Module. [NASA Lunar Orbiter photograph]
| This site is the source of a huge colletion of
wav files documenting the audio record of the Apollo 11 mission from Lift
Off to Splash Down. These 132 files document more than just the highlights of the mission -- they cover practically everything the Astronauts did of any importance including nearly 90 minutes on the Lunar Surface. For ease of access, they are chronologically named and also avilable by group (event) so that they may be played in the order they occured in. -
my thanks to James Charles Kaelin
for
such an outstanding site
and
historical preservation
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| The flag on the moon
represents an important event in vexillological history. This paper examines
the political and technical aspects of placing a flag on the moon, focusing
on the first moon landing. During their historic extravehicular activity (EVA), the Apollo 11 crew planted the flag of the United States on the lunar surface. This flag-raising was strictly a symbolic activity, as the United Nations Treaty on Outer Space precluded any territorial claim. Nevertheless, there were domestic and international debates over the appropriateness of the event. Congress amended the agency's appropriations bill to prevent the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from placing flags of other nations, or those of international associations, on the moon during missions funded solely by the United States. Like any activity in space exploration, the Apollo flag-raising also provided NASA engineers with an interesting technical challenge. They designed a flagpole with a horizontal bar allowing the flag to "fly" without the benefit of wind to overcome the effects of the moon's lack of an atmosphere. Other factors considered in the design were weight, heat resistance, and ease of assembly by astronauts whose space suits restricted their range of movement and ability to grasp items. As NASA plans a return to the moon and an expedition to Mars, we will likely see flags continue to go "where no flag has gone before." |
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The Apollo
11 home page National Space Science and Data Center
Apollo 11 images at Johnson Space Center
JSC Digital Image Collection Johnson Space Center Houston
The Apollo home page NSSDC
Lunar home page NSSDC
Apollo 11 Mission Overview - Lunar and Planetary Institute
Apollo 11 Mission Summary - Kennedy Space Center
Apollo 11 Information - National Air and Space Museum
Apollo Lunar Surface Journal - Transcript of Apollo communications
25th Anniversary of Apollo 11: 1969-1994
Apollo 11 Mission - mission pictures, information, and summary of facts.
Adam's Astronomy Page
Spacezone: Apollo 11 - with audio and video files in QuickTime and Real Audio.
History Place: Apollo 11 - features photos with descriptive text and sound clips.
Apollo 11 Facts National Air & Space Museum
Apollo 11 Lunar Surface Journal by Eric M. Jones
Project Apollo Kennedy Space Center
Space Related Links: Premeire Space Editions - Houston
Nick Proach Models Incredible Model Builder
