Apollo 11 Dramas Finally Revealed!!
February 11th 2008 16:50
A new documentary was aired on ABC 1 tonight, entitled "Apollo 11: The Untold Story". It concerned the NASA mission to the Moon. The entire world watched as Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong first walked on the Moon's surface. What none of us knew about at the time, were the real dramas behind the scenes, and kept hidden from public view, until now.
The released government documents, and the interviews with NASA staff who were working on the Apollo 11 mission at the time, and particularly the interviews with astronaut Buzz Aldrin, were amazing and the entire documentary actually filled me with apprehension, even though I knew the outcome was successful. It was a very well put together documentary.
Much actual footage was used too, which helped dramatise the whole event.
It started on the launch pad, when a valve for the rocket fuel started leaking, and Mission Control decided not to tell the astronauts! Luckily they fixed the problem, and the launch was successful.
The next problem happened enroute to the Moon, when a shining object was observed outside the craft carrying the astronauts. Neil Armstrong is heard asking Mission Control where the booster casing was, that had been ejected once the fuel was spent. They played the actual recording of Armstrong's question to Mission Control. In the interview of Buzz Aldrin, he said Mission Control answered, that the casing was 6,000 miles away from them, they then knew they were staring at a UFO, he said.
You then saw the actual film the astronauts shot of the UFO, and Aldrin saying that they decided not to bring it to the attention of Mission Control, as they knew their radio transmission was being monitored by news services etc all over the world. It was then stated that this phenomena had been experienced, prior to Apollo 11, by astronauts in Earth orbit, and since that mission.
Then another amazing event took place, not long after seeing the UFO, and just as they tried to get some sleep, Aldrin said the whole cabin filled with light, and then when he looked over at Collins and Armstrong, they both said they saw about 100 bright white particles stream through the cabin of the space craft. The scientists gave these particles a name, like particle Z, and it was not known what the long term side effects of them would be, but they passed through the space craft and the astronaut’s bodies without leaving a hole!
Next was the approach to the Moon and after successfully removing the landing module, by doing a very tricky and dangerous reverse to nose manoeuvre, Mission Control lost communication with them for some time afterwards.
It was then discovered, after they separated the module from the now mother ship controlled by Collins, and Aldrin and Armstrong had started the slow descent to the Moon's surface, that they were going to land off course, "running 4 seconds long", but worse was yet to come!
When they switched on the landing/ascent radar, the main computer (equivalent in computing power to something between a modern day digital watch and a mobile phone) failed! They then had two minutes of fuel left to land, and were travelling over terrain that they had not covered for a landing, and realised shortly after this, they were headed for a crater filled with boulders!
As they struggled on how to fix this problem, a 24 year old computer technician at Mission Control remembered he had jotted down some notes in case the computer failed. He was the only one to have thought this scenario may be important to notate! To regain control of the craft, Armstrong then had to take manual control of the lunar lander module, and land it himself by looking out the side port hole, with Aldrin's help.
Then came more disastrous news, they had spent too much fuel adjusting the craft, and now without a place to safely land, they had 60 seconds of fuel left.
Amazingly, Armstrong, with Aldrin calmly urging him on, landed the craft with just 30 seconds of fuel left. If they had burned more fuel than allowed for in the descent, the craft would not have had enough to get off the surface again!
Considering this, President Nixon had a eulogy speech prepared, and you see part of that document, which stated the astronauts had come to the Moon in peace, and were going to end their lives peacefully on the Moon's surface. It was not stated in the documentary whether Collins, in the orbiting space ship waiting for them, would have been able to bring the space ship home on his own, I suspect not.
Those famous words, 'One small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind!” said by Armstrong as he stepped onto the lunar surface, were in fact coined by Armstrong himself, and at the time of the event, which when you consider the hugely stressful environment they had just endured, was an incredible feat in itself.
One of the NASA staff members said Armstrong had been given hundreds of ideas, from Shakespeare to whatever else anyone could think of, for his landing speech, but the great man chose some incredibly poignant words of his own.
Then came the time to leave the Moon and another problem hit, and hit really hard!
When they had put their space walk suits on, in the lunar lander module, one of them had accidentally broken a small circuit breaker, the very circuit breaker needed to fire the engine to leave the Moon’s surface! Talk about bad luck, these guys had it in spades!
It was Aldrin’s ingenuity that saved the day. They had a few pens on board, one of them was a plastic and felt pen, which he realised would insulate against shorting the system out, and it fitted into the circuit breaker hole in the panel and so, with Aldrin at the ready, Armstrong at the helm, they managed to fire the engine and safely leave the Moon’s surface.
On reflection, the Mission Director, and many others in NASA realized, after the tragedies that befell the Shuttle Missions, that Apollo 11 had been not only an incredible success, but incredibly lucky too!
I well remember a couple of months or so after they returned to Earth, they arrived in Australia on a world goodwill tour. My sister grabbed me and off we went to the airport to farewell them, early on a Sunday morning I think it was, at a side area at Sydney Airport, or Mascot as it was called.
Their 707 (I think it was) leant to them by the USA President looked huge as we stood next to it. They seemed like Gods! I wanted to yell out, “Take me back with you! I want to go into space too!” But my private school boy indoctrinated etiquette disallowed that momentary outburst, so we stood mute, then applauded with everyone else, as they quietly climbed the mobile airplane stairs, stood at the top, smiled at us all, waved and disappeared into the aircraft. Those were the days, when you could saunter up to the most famous astronauts of all time, and shake their hand, as you stood next to a Presidential jet!
In closing, after marvelling at their stamina and bravery, as shown in this documentary, I reflected upon the open and relaxed way in which astronaut Aldrin referred to the UFO. It would seem the thaw is finally beginning and maybe, at last, we of this ordinary mortal realm are finally being let in on, the greatest secret of all.
Armstrong, Collins, Aldrin
The released government documents, and the interviews with NASA staff who were working on the Apollo 11 mission at the time, and particularly the interviews with astronaut Buzz Aldrin, were amazing and the entire documentary actually filled me with apprehension, even though I knew the outcome was successful. It was a very well put together documentary.
Apollo 11 Mission: Saturn V LIFTOFF!
Much actual footage was used too, which helped dramatise the whole event.
It started on the launch pad, when a valve for the rocket fuel started leaking, and Mission Control decided not to tell the astronauts! Luckily they fixed the problem, and the launch was successful.
The next problem happened enroute to the Moon, when a shining object was observed outside the craft carrying the astronauts. Neil Armstrong is heard asking Mission Control where the booster casing was, that had been ejected once the fuel was spent. They played the actual recording of Armstrong's question to Mission Control. In the interview of Buzz Aldrin, he said Mission Control answered, that the casing was 6,000 miles away from them, they then knew they were staring at a UFO, he said.
You then saw the actual film the astronauts shot of the UFO, and Aldrin saying that they decided not to bring it to the attention of Mission Control, as they knew their radio transmission was being monitored by news services etc all over the world. It was then stated that this phenomena had been experienced, prior to Apollo 11, by astronauts in Earth orbit, and since that mission.
Then another amazing event took place, not long after seeing the UFO, and just as they tried to get some sleep, Aldrin said the whole cabin filled with light, and then when he looked over at Collins and Armstrong, they both said they saw about 100 bright white particles stream through the cabin of the space craft. The scientists gave these particles a name, like particle Z, and it was not known what the long term side effects of them would be, but they passed through the space craft and the astronaut’s bodies without leaving a hole!
Next was the approach to the Moon and after successfully removing the landing module, by doing a very tricky and dangerous reverse to nose manoeuvre, Mission Control lost communication with them for some time afterwards.
It was then discovered, after they separated the module from the now mother ship controlled by Collins, and Aldrin and Armstrong had started the slow descent to the Moon's surface, that they were going to land off course, "running 4 seconds long", but worse was yet to come!
When they switched on the landing/ascent radar, the main computer (equivalent in computing power to something between a modern day digital watch and a mobile phone) failed! They then had two minutes of fuel left to land, and were travelling over terrain that they had not covered for a landing, and realised shortly after this, they were headed for a crater filled with boulders!
As they struggled on how to fix this problem, a 24 year old computer technician at Mission Control remembered he had jotted down some notes in case the computer failed. He was the only one to have thought this scenario may be important to notate! To regain control of the craft, Armstrong then had to take manual control of the lunar lander module, and land it himself by looking out the side port hole, with Aldrin's help.
Then came more disastrous news, they had spent too much fuel adjusting the craft, and now without a place to safely land, they had 60 seconds of fuel left.
Amazingly, Armstrong, with Aldrin calmly urging him on, landed the craft with just 30 seconds of fuel left. If they had burned more fuel than allowed for in the descent, the craft would not have had enough to get off the surface again!
Considering this, President Nixon had a eulogy speech prepared, and you see part of that document, which stated the astronauts had come to the Moon in peace, and were going to end their lives peacefully on the Moon's surface. It was not stated in the documentary whether Collins, in the orbiting space ship waiting for them, would have been able to bring the space ship home on his own, I suspect not.
Armstrong steps onto the Moon
Those famous words, 'One small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind!” said by Armstrong as he stepped onto the lunar surface, were in fact coined by Armstrong himself, and at the time of the event, which when you consider the hugely stressful environment they had just endured, was an incredible feat in itself.
Man's first footprints on the Moon
One of the NASA staff members said Armstrong had been given hundreds of ideas, from Shakespeare to whatever else anyone could think of, for his landing speech, but the great man chose some incredibly poignant words of his own.
Aldrin on the Moon
Then came the time to leave the Moon and another problem hit, and hit really hard!
When they had put their space walk suits on, in the lunar lander module, one of them had accidentally broken a small circuit breaker, the very circuit breaker needed to fire the engine to leave the Moon’s surface! Talk about bad luck, these guys had it in spades!
Man on the Moon
It was Aldrin’s ingenuity that saved the day. They had a few pens on board, one of them was a plastic and felt pen, which he realised would insulate against shorting the system out, and it fitted into the circuit breaker hole in the panel and so, with Aldrin at the ready, Armstrong at the helm, they managed to fire the engine and safely leave the Moon’s surface.
On reflection, the Mission Director, and many others in NASA realized, after the tragedies that befell the Shuttle Missions, that Apollo 11 had been not only an incredible success, but incredibly lucky too!
I well remember a couple of months or so after they returned to Earth, they arrived in Australia on a world goodwill tour. My sister grabbed me and off we went to the airport to farewell them, early on a Sunday morning I think it was, at a side area at Sydney Airport, or Mascot as it was called.
Their 707 (I think it was) leant to them by the USA President looked huge as we stood next to it. They seemed like Gods! I wanted to yell out, “Take me back with you! I want to go into space too!” But my private school boy indoctrinated etiquette disallowed that momentary outburst, so we stood mute, then applauded with everyone else, as they quietly climbed the mobile airplane stairs, stood at the top, smiled at us all, waved and disappeared into the aircraft. Those were the days, when you could saunter up to the most famous astronauts of all time, and shake their hand, as you stood next to a Presidential jet!
In closing, after marvelling at their stamina and bravery, as shown in this documentary, I reflected upon the open and relaxed way in which astronaut Aldrin referred to the UFO. It would seem the thaw is finally beginning and maybe, at last, we of this ordinary mortal realm are finally being let in on, the greatest secret of all.
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Comment by Cibbuano
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Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
thanks for the comment...seems you are the only one interested in this amazing story! I wonder what has happened to all the nay sayers regarding UFOs now huh?
cheers
fog