LUNAR LANDING FACTS
July 20, 1969, the day man first walked on the moon, will long be engrained in the American mind as a day of awe, victory, and national pride. We finally made it to the moon–and we did it first. It’s easy to overlook, however, the challenging history that accompanied the Apollo program, and the little building blocks that made the “giant leap for mankind” possible. Read on to find out about the behind-the-scenes facts, widely unknown milestones, and quirks that made the historic Apollo mission thoroughly American.
• The Apollo spacecrafts consisted of three parts: the Command Module (CM), which housed flight controls and crew; the Service Module (SM) which housed propulsion and support systems; and the Lunar Module (LM), which was used to land two men on the surface of the moon, house them, and bring them back to the CM at the conclusion of their mission.
• The three parts of the craft were mounted on top of a massive Saturn V rocket, which stood 364 feet high, weighed 6.1 million pounds, and produced more than 7.5 million pounds of thrust at lift-off–the explosive power equivalent to a small nuclear bomb.
• To leave Earth’s orbit, the Saturn V propelled the Apollo astronauts to 24,208 miles per hour–the fastest humans have ever traveled.
• Neil Armstrong’s parents appeared on I’ve Got a Secret in September 1962 when he was accepted as an astronaut. When asked how they would feel if their son happened to become the first man to walk on the moon, Mrs. Armstrong replied, “Well, I guess I’d just say, God bless him and wish him the best of all good luck.”
• Neil Armstrong wasn’t specifically chosen to be the first man on the moon. Only after the successful flight of Apollo 10, long after Armstrong was designated commander of Apollo 11, was it clear his mission would make the first to attempt to land on the moon. Had there been a setback on Apollo 10 or 11, Apollo 12 might have been the first lunar mission.
• Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong became the first men to eat on the moon. They shared a breakfast of bacon squares, sugar cookies, peaches, pineapple-grapefruit drink, and coffee.
• Apollo 13 was the Apollo programs’ shortest manned mission, returning to Earth only 5 days and 22.9 hours after launch. Apollo 15 was the longest, clocking in at 12 days, 17 hours, and 12 minutes.
• Astronaut William Anders took the now famous color photograph of the Earthrise during the Apollo 8 mission. For decades, there was a debate between Anders and Commander Frank Borman over who should get credit for the photograph. Today it is agreed that Borman took the black and white images of the Earthrise, while Anders snapped the color images.
• A heartbeat irregularity observed in Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and Jim Irwin during their lunar EVA prompted NASA to pack the Apollo 16 crew off to the moon with generous supplies of orange juice laced with potassium, which they were instructed to drink as often as possible. The dietary supplement did not sit well with the team, and astronaut John Young notably exclaimed, “I haven't eaten this much citrus fruit in 20 years! And I'll tell you one thing, in another 12 [days], I ain't never eating any more.”
• During the Apollo 7 flight, all three astronauts–Wally Schirra, Don Eisele, and Walt Cunningham–developed head colds. The only solution was to take regular doses of Actifed and blow incredibly hard. Against the advice of ground controllers, the astronauts decided against wearing helmets for reentry lest the pressure build up and burst their eardrums.
• Apollo 10 marked the first live color television broadcast from space.
• The Apollo 1 mission officially received its name after the fire. Apollo missions had previously been referred to as AS-201, AS-202, etc. Apollo 1 was designated AS-204. Following the fire, the astronauts' widows asked NASA to reserve the name “Apollo 1” be reserved for the flight their husbands would never make.
• MTV’s Video Music Award, the “Moonman,” is modeled on Buzz Aldrin, and is informally called a “Buzzy.” |
