Moonwalk, Episode 2: Adapting To Space

[Music] [Applause] [Music] hello I'm Lynn bandant and this is the second show of our four-part moonwalk series today's program is called adapting to a space environment as a title suggests this episode shows procedures Apollo operators used in order to make sure the astronauts would be able to survive in outer space this show explains the function of the different stages of the Moon rocket how the stages separate and What Becomes of them we pick up the moonwalk Story by looking back at some old classic space films that were a Hollywood perspective on future space travel for most people a trip to the planets was easy all you needed was a 10-cent movie ticket and a nickel bag of [Music] popcorn guard your speed to one [Music] half what was that I don't know two of killer Kane's Ships coming up fast behind us [Music] h [Music] come [Music] man thanks for saving us stand back you're prisoners business finance you to be taken to uh here they come you better put reverse back [Applause] Flash what science fiction in the childhood of the Space Age could have guessed the shape of reality the Saturn 5 rocket three stages 28 stories tall with 11 engines as powerful as all the waterfalls in North America combin mind years in the planning months in the building and testing the Saturn first stage lived but 2 minutes 41 seconds St and ignition 11 Houston thrust is go all engines you're looking good all Roger you're loud and clear you 2 minutes 41 seconds time to throw Apollo 40 mil up into the sky and then an empty shell to fall back into the sea we got skirt Roger we confirm skirt Tower's going Roger Tower Neil Armstrong confirming both the engine skirt separation and the launch Escape Tower separation yeah Houston 11 that Saturn gave us a magnificent ride all right your 11 we'll pass that on and it certainly looks like you're well on your way now 11 Houston uh your guidance is converged you're looking good down range 140 M altitude 62 mil velocity Mission Control in Houston Texas had taken over from launch control at Cape Kennedy for the duration of the 8-day mission the complicated technology of Apollo Saturn evolved from an ingeniously simple concept lunar orbit Rondevu this requires a rocket made in many pieces that discards the useless weight of each piece when its function is completed the flight began with a vertical lift through the heavy lower atmosphere and a tilt to the east at 6,000 mph the empty first stage is discarded to save weight so is an adapter ring and the unused Escape Tower with the second stage firing it reaches 15,000 mph when it too is jettisoned the third stage places Apollo in Earth orbit at 17,400 mph when the spacecraft has been thoroughly checked out by the crew the third stage fires again its speed now tearing it free from the grip of Earth's gravity while coasting outward the command service module separates and docks for access to the lunar module and the empty third stage is Left Behind Apollo loses speed throughout 9/10 of its Journey until the moon's gravity overcomes the pull of Earth Apollo fires in Reverse Direction slowing down enough to be captured in orbit about the moon Armstrong and Aldren enter the lunar module Eagle which separates leaving Collins and the command service module in lunar orbit Eagle slows still more and breaks to a touchdown on the lunar surface after the moonwalk the upper stage of the eagle lifts off leaving behind the now useless Landing stage and swings into orbit to dock with Colombia once again when the crew and moon samples are transferred to the command service module the lunar module is discarded the command service module fires itself out of lunar orbit and falls back to Earth as it approaches the re-entry speed of nearly 25,000 mph the service module drops away the Command Module plunges into the atmosphere protected by its heat shield slows still more by the heavy lower atmosphere it parachutes into the sea The Command Module Columbia is All That Remains of the original 3,000 tons of Rocket Fuel and cargo Apollo 11 is houst over while in Earth orbit the Apollo crew had less than 2 hours to check out all their spacecraft systems the last chance to discover and correct any malfunction before the third stage engine is restarted to break Vic them free of Earth the trans lunar injection we're 10 minutes away from ignition on trans lunar injection Apollo 11 this is Houston you are go for tli over 11 thank you r h 11 this is Houston slightly less than 1 minute to ignition and everything is go right here ignition [Applause] we confirm ignition and the thrust is [Applause] go guidance looking good velocity 26,000 ft per second Telemetry and radar tracking both solid velocity 27,800 ft per second through the window of the Command Module the Earth gently Slipped Away H 11 this is Houston thrust is good everything's still looking good 29,000 ft per second building up toward 30,000 ft per second follow 11 this is Houston around 3 and half minutes you're still looking good your predicted cut off is right on the nominal deep space tracking antennas a third of a world apart listened to Apollo and spoke to Apollo as the Earth turned at least one of them would have contact with Apollo at all times except when it passed behind the moon 34,000 ft per second now altitude [Music] 152 35,000 ft per second cut off we're showing velocity 35570 ft per second altitude 17 7 nautical [Applause] miles at 3 hours 11 minutes into the mission distance from Earth 3,140 nautical miles the s4b is reported in a stable attitude for this separation Apollo 11 this is Houston your go for separation okay Barrow be coming armed my intent is to use a bottle primary one as for the checklist there I just turned day on All Roger we with the logic we're awaiting confirmation of Separation complete we confirm the separation here on the ground Apollo 11 this is Houston radio check over the gold stone station reports a very weak signal we believe that Mike coll is now maneuvering the spacecraft uh and the transposition and docking maneuver and the antenna patterns aren't too good at the moment so we have a weak signal strength the command service module separated and turned around to dock with eagle the lunar module 11 is Houston how do you read Apollo 11 this is Houston radio check [Music] over all Roger we're copying you about uh 5 by two very week can you give us a status report [Applause] please how youing Mike oh loud and clear now Mike and we understand that you are doc that's hello Apollo 11 Houston we recommend you accept the M 49 continue through your sequence of sightings and then we'll analyze the data afterwards over okay on board was a fourth brain a small computer called discy which solved problems and helped with a long sequence of systems checks and data exchange with Earth Houston Apollo 11 star 40 has just disappeared now in the could the chion angle 47 something be a little high stand by hello Apollo 11 Houston we'd like you to press on to Star 44 over all right they found their way across the sea of space navigating by the same stars that guided Columbus to Shores unknown 11 Houston we copy two good marks over [Applause] okay okayy drug removal is coming next [Applause] 3 days falling to the Moon free of the gravity of Earth no up or down no day or night a sense of Stillness while traveling at the speed of a meteor about how long it'll be before you start closing the limb back up over an invisible Speck in the night somewhere between here and there a constantly monitored from Earth within this tiny spacecraft a temporary Earth environment warmth air food water everything necessary to sustain life beyond these fragile walls nothingness absolute cold an end to [Applause] life the most important function of the spacecraft life was also monitored constantly through Telemetry the heartbeat and breathing of each astronaut although each breath was 30,000 ft farther from Earth than the breath before it should one heart flutter it would at once be a matter of concern to Millions Worlds Away unlike any other place man had traveled before space could provide him with nothing it is a vacuum devoid of every element needed for life to send man into this nothingness to protect him it was first necessary to Define him what is the human machine how does it function what is the nature of its nervous system its respiration its circulation digestion sight hearing balance it's [Music] endurance what gases to breathe should he take with him from Earth what atmospheric pressure suits him best is it possible to give him a more efficient atmosphere for space travel than nature provides on Earth [Music] the Moon is 250° hot in sunlight and 240° below zero in the middle of its night how long can a man bake or freeze what protection will he need from this inhuman environment what strains will the heart take when the pressure of gravity is removed from the limbs what protection will the body need from Sudden deceleration or acceleration [Music] man's sense of direction speed and balance are easily fooled can his mind be trained to ignore false signals from his senses [Music] [Music] I [Music] [Music] [Music] we were defining the physical man in absolute [Music] terms once we knew man's limitations we could build him an artificial environment for space travel Colombia the Command Module was a supreme achievement of the techn ology of its age it was a mini Planet complete with its own environmental control system tele Communications electrical power guidance navigation stabilization propulsion reaction control it provided hot and cold water and removed carbon dioxide from the air three men could live here for more than a week eat work sleep shave exercise and listen to music it was micr meteor proof burn prooof and seaworthy and it could tilt itself in any direction in short it was the most intricate and sophisticated machine ever made by man as for man however we're stuck with the original model all we can do is add an outer layer of things he does not naturally have space medicine showed us where man is vulnerable and we learned to compensate for most of the weaknesses with technology and ful workmanship I uh made boxing gloves before I came here and the fact is I was an experienced sewer but I had to learn all over again because uh it was completely different from what I had sew before this was getting right down to a 64 of an inch and where I had sew before you just sewed on a production line and this here is uh quality more than quantity like we always think our job is the hardest whatever we're doing we got the hardest job but when they say well go over there and maybe do SE and sell well you'll find out that job is harder than yours and a lot of times we're sewing or making things and maybe the girl next to you she's doing the same thing but we never see the suit put together one don't know where the this part goes or the other one don't know where the other part goes like the gloves if they would give you a glove to sew you would know where to start well when they're up there in space you know what parts you've worked on and you just say well I hope that part don't fail because I'd feel it was my fault if it did my sentiment is what Hazel said well I just wondering if my pair of gloves was what he had on right if you make a mistake that if you don't admit it you have to think about the astronaut too if you make a uh like a needle hole in the bladder or something like that well if we don't admit that that would be on your conscience all the time seems me cuz I remember Armstrong all them used to come in and uh they would look around and see what we were doing and once a while they talk to us and signed their a we get them to sign their autograph sound like a real comical we got to kick out them we all want to talk to them I guess I mean when I'm going down the aisle is everybody looked at look at afraid to talk I hi buddy oh i' love to go into space I think it would be really thrilling just to get in there and just Blast Off I'd love to go to space and just live there every day you get up you come to work you go home you clean house if we go out there there's no house no kids no problem I like to ride an airplane and I think I'd like to go in space and I'd like to wear our own suit that we make I think I could depend on don't it [Music] after body electrodes have been attached to monitor heartbeat and breathing the first items of clothing are the water cooled underwear and a urine collector a spacit is basically a sealed bag of atmosphere a stiffened balloon pumped up to counteract the vacuum of space it might be called a one-man spaceship of the smallest possible Dimensions the pressure suit has to guard against extreme temperatures hard radiation from the Sun and Tiny meteorites yet it must have the flexibility to allow a man to function as he would in his Natural Earth [Music] environment [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the backpack cleans and cools the suit's oxygen cools and circulates water through the water cooled underwear and provides radio [Music] communication [Music] over the pressure helmet is a clear visor then a gold coated visor to protect against micrometeor and solar radiation the final test was how would the suit work in the silent weightless world of [Music] [Applause] space [Music] weightlessness on Earth can be experienced only underwater or in an airplane following a parabolic flight path [Music] the only true test was in space [Music] itself [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] no up or down no day or night only the slow creeping of the harsh sunlight Through the Windows as the spacecraft rotates to keep from getting too hot on one side too cold on the [Music] other They Carried with them the biological day of the Earthling three meals a snack or two 8 hours of [Music] sleep time to work time to relax time to reflect 3 days falling upward to the moon now the stage is set for man to venture onto the moon the many space simulations prove to be most effective now it is time to take the knowledge gained from these tests out into space and this is exactly what happens in next week's program called one small step I'm Lyn [Music] band [Music]