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Apollo 11
Copyright 1994 by Edward Willett
On July 20 we marked the 25th anniversary
of an historic event: my 10th birthday. As it happens, on the same day
we marked the 25th anniversary of the landing of men on the moon--the
best birthday present any 10-year-old ever had.
President John F. Kennedy told Congress
on May 25, 1961, that the United States should commit itself to landing
a man on the moon by the end of the decade. When he made that speech,
the technology to achieve his goal didn't exist; but just eight years
later, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon with the
now-famous words, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap
for mankind."
Apollo 11 was boosted into space by a
30-story-tall Saturn V rocket at 9:32 a.m. EDT on July 16, 1969. The
Apollo spacecraft consisted of a cylindrical service module, containing
a rocket motor and fuel, a cone-shaped command module containing
life-support, controls, communications equipment and three astronauts,
and the bug-like lunar excursion module (LEM). Besides Armstrong, a
civilian, Apollo 11's crew consisted of Air Force officers Edwin
"Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins.
After launch, the astronauts briefly
orbited the Earth, until the last stage of the Saturn V ignited and
boosted them toward the moon at just under 40,000 kilometres an hour.
Three days later, the service module's engine fired, braking the
spacecraft and putting it into orbit around the moon. After several
hours of preparation, the LEM (nicknamed Eagle), separated from the
command module (Columbia), and Armstrong and Aldrin made their descent
to the surface, leaving Collins in the command module.
Computers piloted the Eagle down to
within a few kilometres of the surface; then, seeing rocks and craters
covering the landing site, Armstrong took over the controls himself,
burning the engines an extra 70 seconds to carry the LEM past the danger
zone.
At 4:17:41 p.m. EDT on July 20, the LEM
touched down. "Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed,"
said Armstrong.
Hundreds of millions of people watched on
live television six hours later as Neil Armstrong stepped onto the
moon's surface. (In fact, one of the few people who couldn't watch was
poor old Michael Collins--he had to make do with radio.)
The astronauts spent 2 1/2 hours on the
surface, inspecting the spacecraft, placing scientific equipment,
gathering rock samples, and planting a U.S. flag, stiffened with wire to
look like it was waving in the breeze. After a rest period (although
neither astronaut slept much) they returned to lunar orbit (leaving the
lower half of the LEM behind), rendezvoused with Collins and then
returned to Earth in Columbia, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on
July 24. They were placed in quarantine for 18 days, in case they'd
brought back some unexpected form of disease. Then came the most
strenuous part of the mission: an endless round of personal appearances,
speeches and press conferences.
Five more Apollo missions landed on the
moon. And then the missions stopped. No human has set foot on another
world since 1972. In fact, the technology no longer exists. The public
became jaded, and politicians started slashing the budget. In 1969, it
seemed likely we would have a permanent lunar base by now and be well on
our way to Mars. It hasn't happened.
If you must put a dollar value on
everything, and some people must, the moon program paid huge
technological dividends. But spin-offs aren't enough reason to go into
space. For me, only one reason suffices: the human need to explore the
unknown.
Someday the ability to leave this planet
may mean the survival of the human race: the next comet to strike a
planet could as easily hit us as Jupiter. Someday we may need the
resources to be found on the moon and other planets. We don't know, we
can't know, what "use" space exploration is until we do it.
Reaching for something beyond our current grasp expands our abilities
and our understanding.
Twenty-five years ago, landing a man on
the moon seemed proof anything was possible. Today, too many people
believe that nothing is possible. I prefer to believe the former.
I hope that when the 50th anniversary of
Apollo 11 rolls around, we'll have returned to the moon--and moved
beyond it.
That would be my idea of a great 60th
birthday present.
These weekly columns on science appear in the Regina
(Saskatchewan) Leader Post and Red Deer (Alberta) Advocate.. They are
available for one-time publication or regular syndication to any interested
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