Apollo 11: Preparing to Win the Moon Race

The Apollo 11 mission of July 1969 is without a doubt the earliest historical event that I can clearly recall and appreciate. At the age of seven, I remember watching the launch on Wednesday morning of July 16 as well as the television coverage of the lunar landing the following Sunday. Most memorable of all, my parents let me stay up well past my normal bedtime that night to watch live coverage of the first moonwalk. While I fell asleep not too long after Neil Armstrong first set foot on the Moon at 10:56 PM EDT, the event capped what was just the first of many summer vacations with memorable space-related events (see “Growing Up in the Space Age: Summer Vacations of the ‘70s”).

Like a lot of kids of my age at the time, I had followed the buildup in the months preceding the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing with much excitement. The flight of Apollo 7 in October 1968 tested the Command-Service Module (CSM) in low Earth orbit with a crew onboard for the first time (see “Apollo 7: Rise of the Phoenix”). The Apollo 8 mission flown over Christmas 1968 was the first manned flight of the Saturn V and tested the CSM in lunar orbit as part of the first manned flight to the Moon (see “Apollo 8: Where No One Has Gone Before”). Apollo 9 then successfully tested the Lunar Module (LM) in low Earth orbit in March 1969 (see “Apollo 9: Giving the ‘Spider’ Wings”). Finally, the flight of Apollo 10 in May performed a dress rehearsal of the Moon landing mission which did everything short of the actual landing itself (see “Apollo 10: The Adventure of Charlie Brown & Snoopy”). From the perspective of a seven year old, there seemed no doubt as I sat watching the Apollo 11 mission unfold, with my new National Geographic map of the Moon and wall chart showing each step of the Apollo lunar mission at the ready, that this flight would succeed just like all the earlier ones.

From the perspective of an adult a half century later with a fuller knowledge of the technical aspects of spaceflight and the challenges leading up to this historic event, the successful outcome of the Apollo 11 mission was by no means guaranteed, however. And given the comparatively primitive state of the technology at the time (compared to that available today with its risk-adverse culture), I find it amazing that the Apollo 11 mission was even attempted at all. But a Moon landing was attempted and succeeded not just once, but a total of six times over the coming 3½ years with only Apollo 13 marring an otherwise perfect record.

 

Mission Crew & Hardware

NASA officially announced the all-veteran crew for the Apollo 11 mission on January 9, 1969. It consisted of Neil A. Armstrong as the Commander, USAF Lt. Colonel Michael Collins as the Command Module Pilot (CMP) and USAF Colonel Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr. as the Lunar Module Pilot (LMP). Armstrong, who was 38 years old, was a civilian test pilot for NASA before being selected as part of NASA’s second group of astronauts in September 1962. Originally, Armstrong had been selected in June 1958 as an astronaut for the USAF Man In Space Soonest program which was cancelled a couple of months later in favor of NASA’s Project Mercury (see “The Origins of NASA’s Mercury Program”). During his career as a NASA test pilot, Armstrong flew the X-15 rocket plane a total of seven times between December 1960 and July 1962 reaching speeds as great as Mach 5.5 and altitudes as high as 63 kilometers – just 17 kilometers shy of the USAF altitude qualification for astronaut wings. Armstrong was once again named part of an astronaut team in March 1962 this time for the USAF X-20 Dyna Soar program before opting to join the NASA astronaut corps six months later (see “The Future That Never Came: The X-20 Dyna Soar Aerospace Plane”). Armstrong’s first space mission was as the command pilot of Gemini 8 in March 1966 (see “Gemini 8: The First Docking in Space”). Before being assigned to the Apollo 11 mission, Armstrong had served as the backup Commander for the Apollo 8 mission.

Mike Collins, 38 years old, was a West Point graduate and served as a test pilot before being selected as part of NASA’s third group of astronauts in October 1963. Collins had flown as the pilot on the Gemini 10 mission in July 1966 (see “Gemini 10: Dual Rendezvous in Space”). Before his assignment to the Apollo 11 crew, Collins had been the original primary CMP for the crew which would eventually be assigned to Apollo 8. Unfortunately, he was temporarily removed from flight status in July 1968 because of surgery to remove an arthritic bone spur from his spine. Once he returned to duty, Collins served as a CAPCOM during Apollo 8.

Buzz Aldrin, 39 years old, was also a West Point graduate who later earned his doctorate in science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his work with manned orbital rendezvous. Because of his experience, he had been assigned to the USAF field office at NASA’s Manned Space Center in Houston, Texas (today’s Johnson Space Center) when he was selected as part of NASA’s third astronaut group along with Collins. Aldrin had previously flown as the pilot on the Gemini 12 mission in November 1966 and had logged a record total of 5 hours and 21 minutes over three EVAs during that four-day flight (see “The Grand Finale: The Mission of Gemini 12”). Before his assignment to the Apollo 11 mission, Aldrin was the backup CMP for Apollo 8.

The backup Commander for the Apollo 11 mission was US Navy Captain James A. Lovell. Lovell had the most flight experience of any astronaut at the time having previously flown as the pilot on the Gemini 7 long-duration mission (see the “Gemini 7: Two Weeks in the Front Seat of a Volkswagen“), as the command pilot flying with Buzz Aldrin on the Gemini 12 mission and as the CMP who replaced Collins for the historic Apollo 8 mission to orbit the Moon. The backup LMP was rookie astronaut Fred W. Haise, Jr. while the backup CMP role was filled by USAF Lt. Colonel William A. Anders who had flown previously as the LMP on the Apollo 8 mission with Lovell.

The launch vehicle for the Apollo 11 mission was the Saturn V designated SA-506. Aside from a reduction in the number of engineering measurements made of the rocket’s performance, SA-506 was essentially identical to SA-505 used on the Apollo 10 mission. The spacecraft assigned to the mission were CSM-107 and LM-5. For this lunar mission, CSM-107 carried a full propellant load for its SPS (Service Propulsion System) and had a launch mass of 28,800 kilograms. LM-5 was the first LM which had been part of a program by its prime contractor, Grumman, to reduce the mass to allow a lunar landing with sufficient propellant margins. Even carrying extra equipment needed to support a landing mission, the dry mass of LM-5 was 89 kilograms less than LM-4 flown on Apollo 10. Despite its lighter dry mass, LM-5 carried a full propellant load bringing its total launch mass to 15,002 kilograms – over a metric ton heavier than the launch mass of LM-4. With a total docked mass of 43.9 metric tons, the CSM-107/LM-5 combination was the most massive crewed spacecraft ever launched until this time as well as the largest payload ever sent to the Moon (beating Apollo 10 on both counts by a metric ton).

In order to avoid confusion during communications while the CSM and LM were flying independently, the two spacecraft were given callsigns. While the crews of the Apollo 9 and 10 missions had chosen more fanciful names like Gumdrop, Spider, Charlie Brown and Snoopy, NASA officials wanted more appropriate callsigns for the historic Apollo 11 mission. In the end, CSM-107 received the callsign Columbia while LM-5 was called Eagle – names deemed worthy for history to record.

 

The Mission Plan

The primary objectives of the Apollo 11 mission can be summarized simply as execute a manned landing on the Moon and return the crew safely to Earth. Launch of Apollo 11 would take place from Pad A of Launch Complex 39 at Cape Kennedy, Florida – the fifth Saturn V launch from LC-39A. The first two stages of the Saturn V along with an initial 145-second burn of its S-IVB third stage would place Apollo 11 into a temporary 185-kilometer parking orbit around the Earth. All systems of the spacecraft would then be checked out during the following two hours before the final decision to proceed to the Moon would be made. Assuming all is well, the S-IVB stage would reignite 2½ hours after launch about halfway through its second revolution for the Trans Lunar Injection (TLI). This burn would place Apollo 11 into an extended geocentric orbit which would intercept the Moon during the outbound leg. Following TLI, the CSM would extract the LM from the S-IVB stage and make a brief burn of the SPS to move away from the spent stage for the remainder of the 73-hour trip to the Moon. Afterwards, the S-IVB stage would turn and vent its residual cryogenic propellants to deflect itself further away from Apollo 11 and eventually fly past the trailing edge of the Moon and into solar orbit.

During the three-day trip to the Moon, the Apollo 11 crew would perform their normal duties checking out and maintaining spacecraft systems. During the mission, seven live telecasts from the CSM were planned to use a 5.4-kilogram color television camera built by Westinghouse which had been successfully tested on Apollo 10. Using navigation readings taken by the crew in combination with tracking data from the ground, Apollo 11 would make a single midcourse correction using the SPS and up to three minor corrections using the CSM’s smaller RCS (Reaction Control System) engines during the transit to the Moon. Like the earlier Apollo 8 and 10 missions, Apollo 11 would follow a free return trajectory that would pass the leading edge of the Moon and fly about 110 kilometers above the lunar far side. In case of a problem with the SPS, Apollo 11 would simply loop around the Moon and return back to Earth after a total trip time of 145 hours without the need of any additional propulsive maneuvers. A similar free return trajectory had already been employed by the unmanned Soviet Zond 5 and 6 missions launched in September and November of 1968 as test flights of the 7K-L1 variant of the Soyuz for a planned manned circumlunar flight.

Assuming that the SPS and other key systems on Apollo 11 were operating properly once the Moon was reached, the spacecraft would perform its Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) burn as it passed behind the Moon where it would be out of touch with ground controllers. The nominal 891 meters per second retrograde burn would then place Apollo 11 into an initial 111 by 315 kilometer lunar orbit. After two orbits, the SPS would perform a second burn for a delta-v of 48 meters per second to place the spacecraft into a near-circular 100 by 120 kilometer orbit. This two-step orbit insertion process was adopted to minimize the chances that Apollo would inadvertently crash into the Moon in the unlikely event of an excessive LOI burn. This orbit was designed to evolve a result of the influence of the Moon’s lumpy gravitational field over the following two days into a circular 111-kilometer orbit when the LM was scheduled to rendezvous after leaving the lunar surface.

 

Lunar Landing Plans

The lunar landing was scheduled to take place the day after entering orbit. The primary landing site for the Apollo 11 mission was known as Apollo Landing Site #2 located at 0.72° N, 23.71° E in the southwestern part of Mare Tranquilitatis. This landing site, like the other four Apollo landing sites, had been selected based on detailed imagery returned by NASA’s Lunar Orbiter mapping missions (see the Lunar Orbiter Program page) and subsequently inspected from orbit during the Apollo 8 and 10 missions. NASA’s Surveyor 5 had landed about 26 kilometers to the northwest of Landing Site #2 in September 1967 and found the region to be a comparatively smooth plains composed of basalt (see “Surveyor 5: Pulling Success from the Jaws of Failure”). Mission planners had identified launch windows in July, August and September of 1969 which could reach this site. The first launch window was between 9:32 AM and 1:54 PM EDT on July 16.

Because of the lighting conditions needed to make a safe landing, the slow rotation of the Moon would move the ideal equatorial landing spot westward by 370 kilometers per Earth day making it impossible to land at Landing Site #2 if the July 16 launch date were missed. Two backup launch dates were selected which would target alternate landing sites farther to the west. A July 18 launch would target Apollo Landing Site #3 in the southwestern part of Sinus Medii only five kilometers from where Surveyor 6 landed in November 1967 (see “Surveyor 6: The Third Time is the Charm”). The last launch opportunity on July 21 would go for Apollo Landing Site #5 in southeastern Oceanus Procellarum. Because of the lunar orbit requirements to reach this third site that July, Apollo 11 would need to fly a hybrid trajectory to the Moon. While initially launched into a free return trajectory, Apollo 11 would need to perform a maneuver to deviate from the safety of this path with a delta-v of 3 to 12 meters per second during the translunar coast after all systems checked out.

About an orbit before the planned lunar landing, the CSM would undock from the LM and perform a radial maneuver with a delta-v of 0.8 meters per second using its RCS to enter an equi-period orbit. This would allow the CSM to move 3.3 kilometers ahead of the LM a half orbit later. At this point behind the Moon and out of touch with ground controllers, the LM would perform the Descent Orbit Insertion (DOI) burn to start its descent. If the DOI were aborted, the CM’s orbit would automatically bring the two spacecraft back together a half orbit later. If the decision to proceed is made, DOI would start with the engine of the LM’s Descent Propulsion System (DPS) burning for 15 seconds at a 10% throttle setting then ramp up to 40% until a retrograde delta-v of 48.1 meters per second is achieved. This would lower the perilune of the LM’s 111-kilometer orbit to 15 kilometers. All of the procedures to this point had already been tested during the Apollo 10 mission (see “Apollo 10: The Adventure of Charlie Brown & Snoopy“).

As the LM approaches its perilune about 480 kilometers up range from the intended landing site, the DPS is ignited once again for the start of the 12-minute powered descent towards the lunar surface. Initially under computer control, the LM’s DPS would be fired nearly horizontally in the direction of travel to negate the 1,700 meter per second orbital velocity of the spacecraft. With the crew’s windows facing upwards, the landing radar was expected to lock onto the approaching lunar surface at an altitude of 13.7 kilometers. The braking phase would end at an altitude of about 2,300 meters some 7.9 kilometers up range from the landing site. The LM attitude then would start to pitch slowly forward as part of the “high gate” phase of the approach. At an altitude of about 150 meters and 600 meters up range of the landing site, the LM would now be in the “low gate” phase where the LM is now vertical allowing the crew to view the approaching landing site. The crew could then opt to assume manual control of the landing to choose the touchdown point with about a minute’s worth of reserve DPS propellant. Landing would take place at a vertical speed of about one meter per second.

Safely on the surface, the crew would begin a post landing checkout of the LM’s systems. This would be followed by a short meal and the first of two four-hour rest periods scheduled for the 21½-hour stay on the lunar surface. After waking, the crew would have another meal and prepare for their surface EVA. Assuming an on-time launch on July 16, the 2-hour, 40-minute surface EVA was scheduled to start at about 06:00 GMT on July 21 – about 2:00 AM EDT in the late-night hours back in the US.

 

The First Moonwalk

For their EVA, the Commander and LMP would use the same A7L spacesuits they wore at launch and during other key parts of the flight. Their suits differed from the 16-kilogram intravehicular variant worn by the CMP with the addition of an outer thermal micrometeoroid garment integrated with the suit to provide additional protection during the EVA. For the EVA, the astronauts would also don lunar overshoes to provide better traction and protect their suits’ boots as well as a lunar extravehicular visor attached to their bubble-like pressure helmets to help shield the astronauts from the Sun’s rays. Life support during the EVA would be provided by the Portable Life Support System (PLSS) backpack which also supplied power, communications and cooling water for up to four hours. Atop of the PLSS was an Oxygen Purge System (OPS) which would provide at least a half an hour’s worth of oxygen during an emergency. The OPS could also be used if the astronauts needed to perform an EVA to return inside the CM in case of an issue during docking in lunar orbit. The complete Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), as it was called, had a total mass of 83 kilograms and had been tested in Earth orbit during the Apollo 9 mission in March 1969 (see “Apollo 9: Giving the ‘Spider’ Wings”).

After much debate, it was decided that the Commander would make the first step on the Moon. His descent would be recorded by still and 16 mm movie cameras operated by the LMP inside the LM. During his descent down the ladder, the astronaut would deploy the Modular Equipment Storage Assembly (MESA) on the right side of the LM descent stage. In addition to the equipment the crew would need during their EVA, MESA carried a 3.3 kilogram black and white, slow-scan television camera capable of returning 325-line images at ten frames per second. Built by Westinghouse, the TV camera was mounted in MESA to record the first steps on the Moon from near ground level. Later, the camera would be removed and mounted on a tripod stowed in MESA some distance away from the LM to monitor the EVA. This more modest television camera system was chosen over the color camera to help minimize communication bandwidth issues.

Shortly after making his first steps on the Moon and familiarizing himself with the environment, the Commander would gather a contingency sample of surface material and stow it in a pocket in his EVA suit guaranteeing at least one lunar sample was returned to Earth in case the EVA was cut short. The LMP would join the Commander on the surface after about 25 minutes. The astronauts’ schedule was tightly choreographed and practiced back on Earth to maximize the return of the 160-minute EVA. High on the list was the gathering of up to 60 kilograms of surface samples including some which were to be photographed to document their context for geologists back on Earth. The astronauts would also inspect the LM to determine how it fared during landing. The astronauts, who would stay within about 30 meters of the LM during the surface EVA, would also take photographs to document the site as well as their equipment and activities.

Because of the limited EVA time on this first lunar landing mission, only a simple set of experiments which could be quickly deployed were carried. One of these was the Solar Wind Composition (SWC) experiment where the astronauts would mount a 30 by 140 centimeter sheet of ultra-pure aluminum foil on a telescopic pole exposed to the Sun. Ions from the solar wind would embed themselves in the foil during its two-hour exposure. Before ending the EVA, the astronauts would stow the foil in a Teflon bag for return to Earth so that the isotopic composition of the solar wind could be studied.

Also included on the Apollo 11 flight was the Early Apollo Scientific Experiment Package (EASEP). The EASEP hardware, with a total mass of 77 kilograms, was stowed in the back left quadrant of the LM’s descent stage and occupied a volume of just a third of a cubic meter. First was the Laser Ranging Retro-Reflector (LRRR) consisting of an array of 100 precision-ground fused silica corner cubes mounted on a pointable frame. It would be set up about 21 meters off the left side of the LM. By timing the round trip time of laser pulses fired from observatories on the Earth and reflecting off the LRRR, the Earth-Moon distance could be determined with an accuracy of centimeters.

The other EASEP experiment was the Passive Seismic Experiment Package (PSEP) which consisted of a trio of long-period and one short-period seismometers to monitor moonquakes. Set up about three meters beyond the LRRR to avoid any environmental interference from the LM descent stage, solar panels on the PSEP provided 34 to 46 watts of electricity to power the experiment and its radio system used for transmitting data and receiving commands. While the solar-powered PSEP could only return data during the two-week long lunar day, it also included a pair of radioisotope heaters each fueled by 34 grams of plutonium-238. Generating 15 watts of thermal energy each, the heaters were designed to keep the seismometers’ temperature above -54° C in order to avoid damage during the long lunar night. This was the first use of nuclear sources on a crewed American space mission.

 

The Return Home

After the astronauts returned inside the LM with their samples and equipment, they will repressurize the cabin, transfer themselves to the LM’s life support and start removing their surface EVA gear. They would then depressurize the LM briefly one more time and toss out their PLSS backpacks and other gear no longer needed. The crew would then eat and take a four hour, forty minute rest period. After waking and eating another meal, the Commander and LMP would prepare for launch.

About 21½ hours after landing, the LM ascent stage’s Ascent Propulsion System (APS) would be ignited to liftoff from the descent stage. The planned 7-minute, 14-second burn of the APS would place the LM ascent stage in an initial 17 by 24 kilometer orbit about 445 kilometers behind the CSM in its 111-kilometer orbit. Over the next 3¼ hours as the distance between the two spacecraft begins to close, the LM would use its RCS engines to perform a series of maneuvers to raise its orbit and rendezvous with the CSM. Docking would take place almost 28 hours after the two spacecraft had separated for landing. Following the transfer of the crew, lunar samples and other equipment to the LM over the next four hours, the ascent stage would be jettisoned leaving the CSM to fly solo for the balance of the mission.

About 7½ hours after the LM is jettisoned, the SPS would be ignited for the Trans Earth Injection (TEI) burn after spending a total of 59½ hours in lunar orbit. The 149-second TEI burn would increase the velocity of the CSM by 1,004 meters per second allowing it to escape the Moon and start its 59.6-hour journey back to Earth. During the coast back home, up to three mid-course maneuvers would be made to ensure that Apollo was headed for its narrow entry corridor. At the beginning of reentry after the SM had been jettisoned, the CM would be travelling at 11,034 meters per second. The CM would use its lift to steer towards its intended recovery zone. After reentry and the deployment of the parachutes, the CM would splashdown at in the central Pacific at 10.6° N, 172.4° W where the primary recovery ship, the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, would be waiting. Assuming an on time launch on July 16, the total mission length would be 8 days, 3 hours and 19 minutes.

Because of concerns about contamination from the Moon, the crew would don biological isolation garments before exiting the CM. After being flown to the USS Hornet, the crew would enter the Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF). The Apollo 11 crew would remain in the MQF until they were transferred to the Lunar Receiving Laboratory (LRL) along with a doctor and the engineer who powered down the CM’s systems after it was recovered and placed into quarantine itself. After the USS Hornet arrives in Hawaii, the MQF would be offloaded and transferred to a C-141 transport to be flown to the LRL at the Manned Spacecraft Center (today Johnson Space Center) along with the lunar samples and the CM. Once there, the crew and others in quarantine would be transferred from the MQF to quarantine facilities at the LRL. After tests with the lunar samples, the crew and CM showed that there were no biological hazards, quarantine would end 21 days after liftoff from the lunar surface. Afterwards the crew could go on their way, the CM would be released for post-flight inspections and the lunar samples could be released for analysis by teams of scientists.

 

Getting Ready

The first piece of Apollo 11 mission hardware to arrive at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida was the ascent stage of LM-5 on January 8, 1969 followed by its descent stage four days later. The stages were mated on February 14 to start combined systems checks. In the meantime, the Spacecraft Launch Adapter, SLA-14, which would protect LM-5 during launch arrived at KSC on January 10. Nine days later, the third stage of the SA-506 Saturn V launch vehicle designated S-IVB-506N was delivered to KSC. On January 23, CM-107 and SM-107 arrived and were mated six days later. The delivery of the S-II-6 second stage of the launch vehicle was made on February 6. With the arrival of the S-I-6 first stage on February 20, stacking of SA-506 on Mobile Launch Platform 1 (MLP-1) began at the Vertical Assembly Building (VAB) at LC-39. SA-505 was already being prepared on MLP-3 inside the VAB for the upcoming Apollo 10 mission and SA-504 on MLP-2 was already at LC-39A for the final preparation to launch Apollo 9.

Meanwhile in the Soviet Union, the first launch their own Moon rocket, known as the N-1, was attempted. N-1 serial number 3L was to carry a dummy LK (the equivalent of the Apollo LM) and a 7K-L1S Soyuz variant (a modified version of the 7K-L1 used in the unmanned Zond circumlunar test flights) into lunar orbit as part of the first test flight of this huge rocket. The first N-1 lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 09:18:07 GMT of February 21, 1969 under the power of the 30 NK-15 engines of its first stage producing 45,400 kilonewtons of thrust. Within seconds of liftoff, the giant N-1 began to experience problems and excessive pogo which ruptured fuel lines. The ascending rocket’s control system shutdown the engines after only 68 seconds of flight and with the unmanned descent module of the 7K-L1S pulled to safety by the launch escape system. Soviet hopes of flight testing their manned lunar landing hardware had suffered yet another setback. Meanwhile, Apollo 9 lifted off from LC-39A on March 3 for its successful manned test of the LM in low Earth orbit (see “Apollo 9: Giving the ‘Spider’ Wings”). Eight days later, Apollo 10 was rolled out of the VAB to LC-39B for its test flight.

With stacking of SA-506 completed on March 5, 1969, testing of CSM-107 and LM-5 in a high altitude chambers proceeded and was completed on March 18 and 21, respectively. On April 14, CSM-107 with LM-5 tucked inside of SLA-10 were erected atop of SA-506 in the VAB. After completing a series of tests over the next month, Apollo 11 was moved from the VAB to LC-39A on May 14 – just six weeks after the launch of Apollo 9. On May 18, Apollo 10 lifted off from LC-39B for its dress rehearsal of the lunar landing. With the successful completion of this mission, the way was clear for the launch of Apollo 11 for the first manned lunar landing attempt (see “Apollo 10: The Adventure of Charlie Brown & Snoopy”).

Preparations for the launch of Apollo 11 continued culminating with the completion of the countdown demonstration tests on July 3. All was set for the terminal countdown to start at 5:00 PM EDT on July 14 for a launch attempt on July 16. Halfway around the planet at that time, the Soviet Union was pushing forward with its next lunar mission. At 20:18:32 GMT (4:18:31 PM EDT) on July 3, N-1 serial number 5L lifted off for the second unmanned launch attempt of the Soviet Moon rocket. Trouble was immediately encountered following liftoff with the giant rocket falling back to Earth just 23 seconds after launch. The resulting explosion destroyed its launch facilities and sent debris flying for up to ten kilometers.

Despite the second N-1 failure, the Soviets still had one more card up their sleeve. At 02:54:41 GMT on July 13 (10:54:41 PM EDT on July 12), the unmanned Luna 15 was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and successfully sent on its way to the Moon. According to official Soviet press statements, the mission of Luna 15 was to study circumlunar space, the Moon’s gravitational field and the chemical composition of the lunar surface while performing surface photography. While there was much speculation about its true mission and concerns that it might somehow interfere with Apollo 11, in reality this was a sample return mission hoping to return the first material from the Moon before Apollo 11 (see “Luna 15: The Soviet Union’s Last Lunar Gamble”). The stage was now set for the space drama of the century.

 

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Related Video

Here is a 1969 NASA video previewing the Apollo 11 mission:

 

Here is the prelaunch press conference with the crew of Apollo 11 along with a collection of footage showing the astronauts training for their EVA:

 

Related Reading

“Apollo 10: The Adventure of Charlie Brown & Snoopy”, Drew Ex Machina, May 29, 2019 [Post]

“Apollo 9: Giving the ‘Spider’ Wings”, Drew Ex Machina, March 19, 2019 [Post]

“Apollo 8: Going Where No One Has Gone Before”, Drew Ex Machina, January 5, 2019 [Post]

“Luna 15: The Soviet Union’s Last Lunar Gamble”, Drew Ex Machina, July 19, 2019 [Post]

 

General References

David Baker, The History of Manned Space Flight, Crown Publishers, 1981

Courtney G. Brooks, James M. Grimwood and Loyd S. Swenson, Jr., Chariots for Apollo: The NASA History of Manned Lunar Spacecraft to 1969, Dover, 2009

Alan Lawrie & Robert Godwin, Saturn V The Complete Manufacturing and Testing Records, Apogee Books, 2005

Richard W. Orloff and David M. Harland, Apollo: The Definitive Sourcebook, Springer-Praxis, 2006

Apollo 11 Moon Landing Press Kit, NASA Press Release 69-83K, July 6, 1969