Moonwalk, Episode 1: The Day Before

[Music] July 20th 1969 the New York Mets are in the midst of winning their first world championship The Beatles are making their last album together as a group and and Neil Armstrong is about to take a step that will be long Remembered in the next four weeks we look at the sequence of events that led up to that memorable step a step that truly is to be one giant leap for mankind I'm Lynn bondan of the NASA Lewis Research Center in Cleveland Ohio and I'm your host for the next four weeks in our series called moonwalk this program highlights the mood of the people just before the Apollo 11 Voyage the anticipation the apprehension the feeling in the air that something phenomenal is about to happen a million mornings forgotten by the mind of man Dawn remembers again the magic circle Stonehenge [Music] [Music] all [Music] magic circle Observatory Temple aligned with the rising of the sun and the Turning of the [Music] heavens stones from afar brought by man to this place where no Stones were before more than 3,000 years [Music] [Music] ago [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] I [Music] Apollo 11 15 July 1969 Cape Kennedy Florida the night before the great day we're going to the Moon together pack your bags and jump into the car going to take a trip to tell you where you [Music] are goodbye mother so long mother so long mother goodbye goodbye mother so long mother so long mother so long Mother Earth good my mother good my mother [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] 6 million of machine 36 stories tall nearly 10 years work of half a million [Music] people through the night it was checklist double checked electronically monitored computerized televised dehumanized of human error while the night of Celebration was ending the day began for the astronauts breakfast medical examination suiting up Neil Armstrong Commander Apollo 11 Edwin Buzz Aldren lunar module pilot [Music] Michael Collins Command Module pilot [Music] [Laughter] to take them to P 39a slon said everything is going SL to plan not [Music] really [Music] [Music] the [Music] [Applause] [Music] upon [Music] far across the Indian River 12 Mi away the rocket at 6:32 a.m. 3 hours before launch on pad 39a Armstrong and Aldren walked on the surface of the Earth their next steps would be on the moon Spectators rolled in by the thousands campers trailers cars and Pickups filled the campsites and the beaches line the highways lined the Parkways nose to tailgate Cape canaval to [Music] [Applause] [Music] Titusville [Music] [Applause] [Music] the weather is very satisfactory for launch this morning a thin cloud cover about 15,000 ft temperature at launch time expected to be about 85° tus 1 hour 29 minutes 30 seconds and counting this is Kennedy [Music] [Applause] propellant load pressure and temperature digital transmission worldwide tracking stabilization and guidance radio frequency Telemetry and voice Communications signal conditioner integration spacecraft electrical power flight control s4b propulsion stage monitoring s1c S2 propulsion stage every important valve gauge and circuit was continually monitored at launch control center throughout the 28 hour countdown countdown uh still going well T minus 55 minutes 10 seconds and counting this is Kennedy among the 6,000 special guests were a vice president an ex-president two plain loads of the Diplomatic Corp from Washington 205 us congressmen 19 Governors 30 Senators 50 Mayors from cities across the country movie celebrities and television personalities and another two plain loads of dignitaries from [Music] Europe [Music] around the world another morning not so very different from the morning before or tomorrow [Music] morning [Music] this day on which man will leave Earth to walk on the moon three billion people went about their daily lives some in the way their ancestors did centuries before others in a world shaped by modern technology it seemed that most people were unaware that this event might changed the history of the human race that this morning would be marked in history books and learned by their children's children in what age of man will the meaning of this morning be [Music] understood [Music] [Laughter] [Music] this is Apollo Saturn launch control we pass the six minute Mark in our countdown for Apollo 11 the flight to land of the first men on the moon we're on time at the present time for our plan lift off of 32 minutes past the hour coming up shortly that swing arm up at the spacecraft level will come back to its fully retracted position this should occur at the 5 minute Mark in the count the swing arm now coming back as our countdown continues skip shovin informing the astronauts that the swing arm now coming back 4 minutes and Counting we are go for Apollo 11 we'll be coming up in the automatic sequence about 10 or 15 seconds from this time the vehicle starting to pressurize as far as the repellent tanks are concerned and all is still go as we monitor our status for it firing command coming in now we're on an automatic sequence as the master computer supervises hundreds of events occurring over these last few minutes 2 minutes 10 seconds and counting oxidizer tanks in the second and third stages now have pressurized T minus 1 minute 35 seconds to third stage completely pressurized T-minus 60 seconds in counting we passed T-minus 60 55 seconds and counting Neil Armstrong reported back when he received the good wishes thank you very much we know it will be a good flight good luck and guard speed 40 seconds away from the Apollo 11 liftoff all the second stage tanks now pressurized 35 seconds and counting we are still go with Apollo 11 30 seconds and counting astronauts report it feels good t- man has 25 seconds 20 seconds and counting t- man has 15 seconds guidance is internal 12 11 10 9 ignition sequence start 6 5 [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I [Music] [Music] re [Music] what standby for mode one Charlie Mark mode one Charlie this is Houston you are go for [Music] staging cut [Music] off [Music] [Music] stat and ignition [Music] [Applause] houstones go all engin you're looking good all Roger you're loud and clear [Music] [Applause] Houston [Music] we got skirt Roger we confirm skirt Z Tower's going Roger Tower when Apollo was safely underway control of the mission was switched to Houston the months of tightly focused work at the cape were over it could honestly be said that this was the culmination of the dreams and fantasies of men and women over 25 centuries of recorded [Applause] time Jam Marone Gil Frank John hubo Deus Mar Alan h j Kennedy jusin ISAC Newton Constantin and Robert Goddard the American rocket Pioneer Yankee inventor dreamer they called him the moonman and laughed but on his own he went ahead designing inventing and testing his first Proving Grounds were on his aunt Effie's Farm in Auburn Massachusetts the neighbors complained with a grant from Daniel Guggenheim he moved to New Mexico with his wife Esther who was also his camera woman Gard had invented and launched the world's first liquid propellant rocket in 1926 and in the end he accumulated more than 200 patents for everything from multi-staged Rockets to fuel pumps and clustered [Music] engines [Music] by the year 1930 his Rockets achieved a speed of 500 mph and an altitude of 2,000 ft this was the year in which the three Apollo Astronauts were born Godard had a vision of the age of space but the world was too slow to make it happen before his death thank you Robert Goddard for your inventiveness and perseverance we can see that all the hoopla surrounding the long- awaited Apollo 11 Mission created somewhat of a worldwide Carnival atmosphere very few people remained unaware of this unprecedented Journey next week we take a further look into the preparations that were necessary in order for man to survive outside Earth's atmosphere the show is called adapting to a space environment I'm Lyn bandant [Music]