Apollo 11

Apollo 11 (July 16th to 24th 1969) was the first spacecraft to land men on the Moon. On July 16th it rose on a column of fire into the sky from Cape Kennedy, Florida. It was the largest machine in the world. Four days later it got to the Moon.

The mission: In May 1961, a month after Russia sent the first man into space, US President Kennedy said:

“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 Earth. “

In the US 58% were opposed.

NASA, the US space agency, carried out the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo test flights with its Mission Control at Houston, Texas. By Apollo 8 in 1968 they could circle the Moon.

The cost: $24 billion (back when $1 was worth what is now $7) or $3 billion a year from 1962 to 1969. To compare, the US military was spending $14 billion a year (1965-72) to wage war in Vietnam. Martin Luther King Jr’s Freedom Budget to wipe out poverty called for $18.5 billion a year (1968-77).

The protests: Rev. Ralph Abernathy led a mule train with 500 civil rights protesters to Cape Kennedy. He was proud of Apollo 11 and prayed for its safety, but he was also concerned about the 20% of the US living in poverty. Thomas Paine, the head of NASA, met with Abernathy.

Paine:

“the great technological advances of NASA were child’s play compared to the tremendously difficult human problems with which he and his people were concerned”

The crew:

• Neil Armstrong (Navy test pilot, Gemini 8)
• Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr (Air Force pilot, Gemini 12)
• Michael Collins (Air Force test pilot, Gemini 10)

On July 20th, Collins minded the mother ship, Columbia, while Armstrong and Aldrin took the lander, the Eagle, down to the Moon.

The landing: At 1,800 metres above the Moon, the lander’s computer started flashing a warning (part of it was rebooting!). The navigation part of the computer still seemed to work, so they kept going. At 100 metres the computer was heading the lander towards large rocks. Armstrong took control, looking for a safe place to land. He landed with just 17 seconds of fuel left.

Armstrong:

“Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”

The moonwalk: Armstrong, outranking Aldrin, stepped onto the Moon first:

“That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.”

He left out the “a” by accident.

Thanks to the Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station in Australia, 15% of the human race watched on television (in grainy black-and-white) while Neil and Buzz gathered rocks, soil, solar wind, took colour pictures, took out the trash (and sewage), talked to President Nixon, practised low-gravity walking, and set up scientific instruments. They also planted a US flag and read the plaque on the lander:

“Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”

Faded Glory: When they blasted off from the Moon, the flag fell. The sun has probably long since turned it white.

– Abagond, 2019.

Sources: especially Google Images, gorging on the 50th anniversary coverage (CNN, ABC, BBC, C-Span, 2019), The Atlantic (the flag, 2019), Space (protests, 2019), Huffington Post (Freedom Budget, 2011), “The Men Who Walked on the Moon” (BBC via YouTube, 75 minutes, 1979) by James Burke, and video of the moonwalk itself (1969).

See also:

• Moon
• Apollo 11 was made possible by:
  • Robert Goddard
  • NASA
    • Hidden Figures
    • Apollo 8
    • The Apollo 11 computer
• Apollo 11: Original TV broadcast of the first moonwalk
• songs:
  • David Bowie: Space Oddity
  • Gil Scott-Heron: Whitey on the Moon
• Vietnam War
• Martin Luther King, Jr
  • Riverside speech against the Vietnam War – the three ills of the US: racism, militarism, materialism
  • Freedom Budget
  • King’s Dream at 50: A Report Card
• Ralph Abernathy – led the SCLC after Dr King’s death

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