[V.Narayan]

Apollo 11 : One small step for (a) man one giant leap for mankind

On this day 55 years ago Apollo 11 landed on the moon and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on its surface. It was the first ever and till date only visit by humans to another heavenly body. In terms of sheer magnitude of effort, technology break throughs, logistics organization and dare to dream it is probably the greatest single endeavour of humankind ever.

As a young boy I sat up with my uncle and father to listen to the landing live on radio - TV had not come to India yet {and even if it had we could not have afforded a TV set in any case!}. I was drowning in sleep. I recall my uncle {still alive} saying that it would be impossible for India to ever develop such technology. And in those days of famines, abject poverty, shortages of everything yes it did seem it was a bridge too far. And yet today here we are with Chandraayan.

The Apollo space craft comprised of 3 parts - command module, lunar module and service module. The lunar module was the one which landed on the moon. The service module, the largest of the 3 was as the name suggests the supply truck and the command module was the nerve centre and the piece that came back to earth and was designed to withstand re-entry. While the Lunar module landed on the moon, the Command & Service modules circled around the moon and served as the lifeboat that would bring the 3 astronauts and the samples of moon rock back to earth. The complexities of weight amongst other factors required that one component circled the moon and maintain adequate velocity to swing the way back to earth.

Today of the 3 astronauts only Buzz Aldrin is alive at the ripe age of ~94.

May we explore space in peace.




Lift off from Cape Kennedy. The Saturn moon rocket comprised of 3 stages required to give the mission speed to break away from earth's gravity. They were designed by Wernher von Braun a German rocket engineer who had earlier designed the path breaking V-1 & V-2 rockets for Germany in World War 2.



From left to right: Neil Armstrong {1930-2012}, the Commander of the mission and the first man on the moon; Michael Collins {1930-2021}, Command Module pilot who circled the moon while his other two colleagues walked on the service; Buzz Aldrin, the Lunar Module pilot. He was the 2nd man to walk on the moon. All 3 were 39 years old when they went to the moon.



Lunar Module on its way to the moon surface with an Earth Rise in the background.



Command & service Modules orbiting the moon. The conical part on the right is the command module that returns to Earth. The cylindrical portion in the centre is the service module i.e. the supply truck {fuel, oxygen etc} At the left is the small rocket engine that will push them away from moon's gravity and drift the spacecraft back to earth. Before re-entry into earth's atmosphere the service module and attached rocket are jettisoned.



The Lunar Module on the Moon with Buzz Aldrin in the picture.



Lest we forget. The very first picture ever taken of Mother Earth as a whole was this by the crew of Apollo 8 in December 1968. this photo was published a million times across every newspaper and magazine in the world. Those were days of peace before social media and the internet overcame us! It serves as a reminder of the fragile ball in space that carries us and how we owe it to our future generations to preserve it.

[Rehaan]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Naetik30]

To think they achieved this all, with a space vehicle that had lower compute power than what we have in an average mobile phone, is just mind boggling.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by Naetik30

To think they achieved this all, with a space vehicle that had lower compute power than what we have in an average mobile phone, is just mind boggling.

Beat me to it!

This is what amazes me about the whole space effort too. I have, casually lying around my house today, access to more computing power than the entire team at NASA did back then.

What the human brain can do with resources available. That's amazing!

Sadly, space as a goal, as an interest, seems to have died down. We seem to be looking inward and most mainstream reporting on science or technology seems only at the level of 'latest camera array in the new phone model x'.

Hopefully, with countries like ours reaching for the stars again, we'll inspire a new generation.

[Eddy]

This thread reminded me of a very popular quiz question in my school days - Who was the second man to walk on the moon?

This huge step for making also gave birth to some interesting conspiracy theories that made for some real entertainment

[SithDefender]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Apollo 11 : One small step for (a) man one giant leap for mankind

An inspirational and momentous achievement indeed. And then there are the idiots who say it was all fake .

I recently read "Endurance: A Year in Space" by Scott Kelly and it still brings back goosebumps. The Blue Dot is indeed a reminder of our fragility in our cosmos. Thank you for sharing, sir.

[nivatakavacha]

Fantastic topic to write on Sir. One of my favorite podcast is by BBC on this called "13 minutes to the moon" which is available for all to listen here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13...odes/downloads

The descent into Tranquility Base was fraught with danger and multiple software alarms (famously 1201, 1202) and the podcast really captures all this well. I would advice all enthusiasts to listen to it and feel a pulse of what happened.

The cherry on top is the music by Hans Zimmer.

[SideSwipe]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Apollo 11 : One small step for (a) man one giant leap for mankind

On this day 55 years ago Apollo 11 landed on the moon and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on its surface. It was the first ever and till date only visit by humans to another heavenly body. In terms of sheer magnitude of effort, technology break throughs, logistics organization and dare to dream it is probably the greatest single endeavour of humankind ever.

Indeed, a commendable achievement in the entire existence of Human Race until now (God knows what we are capable in future). Thanks Narayan for making us recollect and feel proud about what we have accomplished.

Penning down few titbits about the Apollo 11 moon landing mission.

1. The lunar spacesuits were created by a lingerie company – Playtex.

2. Aldrin took communion on the moon.

3. A felt-tip pen rescued the astronauts when ascent engine arming switch broke and pen was used as a improvised tool.

4. Aldrin and Armstrong left their poop and pee behind.

5. NASA quarantined the astronauts after return for fear of moon plague.

6. Landing module missed the target multiple times and landing eventually with 10 seconds worth fuel left.

7. There was a speculation that moon dust on the surface could not support weight of the human and could act like a quicksand. Hence Neil’s first step was indeed a significant one.

8. President Richard Nixon was prepared for an alternate reality and has prepared a speech for a negative outcome.

9. The U.S. flags put on the moon by Apollo astronauts are still standing.

[bullitt1]

Indeed one of the greatest achievement for mankind. Sad that after 50 years of this feat, space development is not where it should have been. Not a good idea to put a plaque on moon saying they come in peace when they were dropping bombs elsewhere on earth.

[dailydriver]

And yet, fifty five years later, we have not landed anywhere else. The Russo-American rivalry that was fed by the exigencies of Cold War resulted in a lot of scientific discoveries and technological advancements. The two power blocks outdid one another in digging out the resources and routing it towards space research. But the heydays of government sponsored trips have ended, at least in the west. I often wonder what the state of our exploration of outer world would have been, had the private entities not taken kindly to the field!

When the very nations that first set the ball rolling are finding it difficult to bring back an astronaut from the International Space Station (Ref: Sunita Williams), the Bransons and the Musks of the world appear to be the only hopes of/for the future. I don't think I can land on Mars in my lifetime. But if my next gen were to, I would prefer them to be backed by a benevolent government than be fostered by a capitalist cartel.

The only certainty on this day and time is that space is surely going to be (too) crowded in the future.

[NomadSK]

Thanks for sharing Sir. Just got into our library to get some books on this, found these interesting reads, from geological point of view.

Just a few months before the flight of Apollo 11, it was seriously suggested that, when Astronaut Armstrong took his first steps on the lunar surface, the soil would jump onto his spacesuit because of the electrostatic attraction. The resulting coating of soil covering his suit was expected to be so thick that he would not be able to see and might not be able to move. Then, if he were able to stagger back into the LM, there was concern that the highly reduced soil would burst into flames when the cabin was re-pressurized with pure oxygen. Even after several successful Apollo missions to the Moon, some scientists were still convinced that the lunar soil was like fresh snow and that an astronaut could push a rod into it to almost any desired depth.

Once on the surface, other visibility problems were noticed. Apollo 11 astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin first commented on this problem: “Distances on the lunar surface are deceiving. A large boulder field located north of the LM [lunar module] did not appear to be too far away when viewed from the LM cockpit. However, on the surface we did not come close to this field, although we traversed about 100 ft toward it. The flag, the television camera, and the experiments, although deployed a reasonable distance away from the LM and deployed according to plan, appeared to be immediately outside the window when viewed from the LM cockpit. Because distance judgement is related to the accuracy of size estimation, it is evident that these skills may require refinement in the lunar environment”

“I’m at the foot of the ladder. The LM [Lunar Module] footpads are only depressed in the surface about 1 or 2 inches, although the surface appears to be very, very fine-grained, as you get close to it, it’s almost like a powder; down there, it’s very fine. I’m going to step off the LM now. That’s one small step for (a) man, One giant leap for mankind. As the—The surface is fine and powdery. I can—I can pick it up loosely with my toe. It does adhere in fine layers like powdered charcoal to the sole and sides of my boots. I only go in a small fraction of an inch. Maybe an eighth of an inch, but I can see the footprints of my boots and the treads in the fine sandy particles.”

The Apollo 11 passive seismic instrument clearly recorded Astronaut Armstrong climbing the ladder into the LM. This sensitivity to seismic energy because of low attenuation gave rise to the phrase “the Moon rings like a bell,” as seen in the characteristically long seismic signatures of moonquakes and of meteoroid impacts on the Moon

[ajmat]

I still have the Time Magazine from that week. Believe it or not the article has very few pics, but 4 pages of written text

[am1m]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

And yet, fifty five years later, we have not landed anywhere else.

There have not been any human landings yes, but while the private companies are working on innovations that will commercialize the destinations/journeys that NASA achieved decades ago, the cutting deep-space explorations are still very much the preserve of government funding. And while it doesn't make front-page news anymore the way a manned landing would, there have been some great strides and discoveries.

That is always going to be the contradiction/balance - for the cost of a manned program, you could launch several unmanned research programs. The unmanned programs will do more to further the cause of human knowledge and space research, but the manned modules are what will get the public to fund a government backed program or investors to fund a private space org.

Excellent point about the Cold War driving space exploration and also coming to this point:

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

May we explore space in peace.

Does a war effort, even a cold war, drive the exploration of the uncharted better than a peaceful one? The original sea route explorations, driven by trade and imperial conquests. The space race that led to the Moon landing. How little of Antarctica has been charted since it was declared protected under the Antarctic Treaty. Personally, I'm in agreement, but wondering aloud if a military/profit motive is a necessary evil to get things going.

[Nav-i-gator]

Originally Posted by am1m

Does a war effort, even a cold war, drive the exploration of the uncharted better than a peaceful one? The original sea route explorations, driven by trade and imperial conquests. The space race that led to the Moon landing. How little of Antarctica has been charted since it was declared protected under the Antarctic Treaty. Personally, I'm in agreement, but wondering aloud if a military/profit motive is a necessary evil to get things going.

This is a reality. Still today, there is unlimited government funding to projects that have a defense/security angle to it (only other field that gets funding is medical science - reason being survival risks and/or potential big market as the life depends on it).

[cooldip]

Thank you sir for commemorating the event.

The sheer scale of engineering management is still difficult to match today.

In 2020-21, BBC did a podcast series with some brilliant storytelling.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...0wIASOYE8-1Wbz

The details on the podcast were mind-boggling. I still can't believe that the computer systems on the Apollo 11 were far more reliable and resilient than what most software engineers churn out today - even with all the advancements in operating systems, compilers, toolchains, virtualization, high-level architectural abstractions and now AI.