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Apollo 11 Facts

• "...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. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important in the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish..." -- President John F. Kennedy
• Have you ever heard of "Armalcolite"? Armalcolite is a mineral that was discovered at Tranquility Base by the Apollo 11 crew. It was named for ARMstrong, ALdrin and COLlins, the three Apollo 11 astronauts.
• Armstrong may have been the first man to set foot on the Moon, but Aldrin was the first to pee there. He used the relief tube built into his spacesuit moments after stepping out, on live TV with millions of people watching.
• During Apollo 11, the astronauts ate two meals. Meal A was bacon squares, peaches, sugar cookie cubes, coffee, and pineapple-grapefruit drink. Meal B included beef stew, cream of chicken soup, date fruitcake, grape punch, and orange drink.
• Apollo 11’s command module was called “Columbia” and the lunar module was called “Eagle.”
• Partially because of the change in landing place, no-one knew the LM‘s exact position on the Moon until afterwards, using the laser reflectors deployed during the moonwalk. Mike Collins in Columbia, the Command Module, was never able to spot Tranquility Base from lunar orbit.
• Did you know that to apply to be an astronaut a pilot must have completed 1000 hours of flying time in a jet aircraft?
• Due to the unexpected presence of boulders, the Eagle had to fly for some distance beyond the intended landing site. The computer overloaded and they very nearly ran out of fuel. Since the Lunar Module was already below the altitude at which the astronauts could have ejected the landing stage and safely aborted, they were mere seconds away from a fatal crash when the touchdown light finally lit.
• After more than 2 hours on the lunar surface, they had left behind scientific instruments such as a retroreflector array used for the Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment. They also left an American flag and a plaque (mounted on the LM Descent Stage ladder) bearing two drawings of Earth (of the Western and Eastern Hemispheres), an inscription, and signatures of the astronauts and Richard Nixon.
• The Apollo 11 astronauts had a lot of trouble planting the American flag in the hard lunar soil, afraid it might fall over on live TV. During the liftoff from the Moon, however, Buzz watched as the Stars and Stripes indeed “toppled into the dust”.
• In addition to one million people crowding the highways and beaches near the launch site, an estimated audience of over 600 million people viewed the event on television; a new record at that time. President Nixon viewed the proceedings from the Oval Office of the White House.
• Buzz Aldrin, during the moment of silence he called for to give thanks right after the landing, took Holy Communion in the form of a small wafer and wine from a tiny chalice.
• In the southern Sea of Tranquility about 20 km southwest of the crater Sabine D, the landing site was selected in part because it had been characterized as relatively flat and smooth by the automated Ranger 8 and Surveyor 5 landers, as well as by Lunar Orbiter mapping spacecraft. It was therefore unlikely to present major landing or extra-vehicular activity (EVA) challenges.
• Neil Armstrong went out first because the door only worked that way in the cramped confines of the LM.
• Armstrong bestowed the name Tranquility Base on the landing site immediately after touchdown to the partial confusion of the staff at Mission Control.
• Armstrong’s first words after landing were: “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.
• When the astronauts took off their helmets inside the LM after their moonwalk, they noticed a strong odor. Neil described it as “wet ashes in a fireplace” and Buzz as “spent gunpowder”. It was the smell of moondust. NASA, by the way, had been worried that moondust might explode on contact with oxygen.
• A problem with a water filter afflicted the crew with excessive and “fragrant” flatulence throughout the entire mission.
• Snoopy, the Peanuts Comic Strip character was the astronauts’ personal safety mascot.
• Armstrong’s historic statement actually sounded like “That’s one small step for man ...ah... one giant leap for mankind.” Neil has always claimed he said “a man” but the “a” was lost in transmission. It has been recently confirmed that he did ineed say “a man”.
• As a traditional sign of peace, Buzz planned to leave on the Moon a small gold olive branch, along with an Apollo 1 patch and two Russian cosmonaut medallions in honor of those killed in the space race. He forgot until the last moment, and simply tossed them unceremoniously onto the surface on his way back up the ladder. The astronauts also chucked out their moonboots, backpacks, a sack of garbage and their urine bags.
• Apollo 11 carried to Moon and returned two large American flags, flags of the 50 states, District of Columbia and U.S. Territories, flags of other nations and that of the United Nations.
• Whiling away the hours after the mission in quarantine in Houston, Buzz filled out a government expense account report for the journey. Total amount reimbursed: $33.31.
• The backup crew for Apollo 11 were James A. Lovell, commander; William A. Anders, command module pilot; and Fred W. Haise, lunar module pilot.
• Apollo 11 was launched from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A. The splashdown point was 13°19 N 169°9 W, 2,660 km east of Wake Island, or 380 km south of Johnston Atoll, and 24 km from the recovery ship, USS Hornet. The total mission duration was 195 hr 18 min 35 sec.
• After rendezvous with Columbia, Eagle was jettisoned and left in lunar orbit. Later NASA reports mentioned that Eagle’s orbit had decayed resulting in it impacting in an “uncertain location” on the lunar surface.
• The astronauts were placed in quarantine after their landing on the moon due to fears that the moon might contain undiscovered pathogens, and that the astronauts were exposed to them during their moon walks. However, after almost three weeks in confinement (first in their trailer and later in the Lunar Receiving Laboratory at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center), the astronauts were given a clean bill of health. On August 13, 1969, the astronauts exited quarantine to the cheers of the American public.
• While moving in the LM cabin after the moonwalk, Aldrin accidentally broke the circuit breaker that armed the main engine for lift off from the moon. There was initial concern this would prevent firing the engine, which would strand them on the moon. Fortunately a ball-point pen was sufficient to activate the switch. Had this not worked, the Lunar Module circuitry could have been reconfigured to allow firing the ascent engine.
• On September 16, 1969, the three astronauts spoke before a Joint Session of Congress on Capitol Hill. They presented two U.S. flags, one to the House of Representatives and the other to the Senate, that had been carried to the surface of the moon with them.
• The entire Apollo Program cost $25.4 billion in 1969 dollars. That is equivalent to $135 billion in 2006 dollars. The Apollo spacecraft cost $28 billion (2006 dollars) to develop: $17 billion for the command and service modules, and $11 billion for the Lunar Module. The Saturn I, IB and V launch vehicle development cost about $46 billion.
• A speech titled “In Event of Moon Disaster” was prepared by William Safire for President Nixon to read on television in the event the Apollo 11 astronauts were stranded on the Moon. Following this address, radio communications with the moon would have been cut off, the astronauts left alone to die, while a clergyman was to commend their souls to “the deepest of the deep” in the fashion of a burial at sea.
• The familiar patch of Apollo 11 was designed by Collins, who wanted a symbol for “peaceful lunar landing by the United States”. He picked an eagle as the symbol, put an olive branch in its beak, and drew a moon background with the earth in the distance. NASA officials said the talons of the eagle looked too “warlike” and after some discussion, the olive branch was moved to the claws. The crew decided the Roman numeral XI would not be understood in some nations and went with Apollo 11; they decided not to put their names on the patch to “allow it to symbolize everyone who worked on the moon landing”. All colors are natural, with blue and gold borders around the patch. The LM was named Eagle to match the insignia.

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