Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins were alone in space preparing to enter the Moon’s orbit, a process called Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) but their radio went dead on the dark side of the moon. BBC documentary-drama ‘8 Days: To the Moon and Back’, said: “The LOI burn takes them into lunar orbit and they are on the far side of the moon meaning the are out of contact with Mission Control.” The documentary was aired this week to mark the 50th anniversary of the Moon landings yesterday.
It included extraordinary audio recordings from inside the spacecraft which revealed what the men were talking about during these tense moments.
They sound calm, discussing the huge craters on the surface of the moon.
Mr Aldrin can be heard saying: “There’s a big mother over there too.”
Mr Amstrong replied: “Come on now, Buzz, don’t refer to them as big mothers. Give them some scientific name.”
One of the astronauts said: “Look at the mountains going around that crater, my gosh they are monsters.”
Meanwhile, in the control room, it was “very quiet” one reporter said at the time.
The people at NASA’s headquarters in Houston, Texas, were nervously waiting for contact to be reestablished.
They did not know during this time whether the men were safe or the mission going according to plan.
Finally, one of the astronauts said: “There it is, it’s coming up. The Earth. Beautiful.”
The three men could see the Earth emerging from behind the Moon in their vision.
Michael Collins said: “We ought to have AOS now,” meaning Acquisition of Signal.
Mission Control radioed up: “Apollo 11, Apollo 11. This is Houston, do you read?”
They received the reply: “Reading you loud and clear Houston, how’s us?
Mission control said: “Could you report on your burn status report,” and were told it was “perfect”.
Apollo 11 was now in lunar orbit and there was only one stage left before Mr Armstrong and Mr Aldrin could step foot on the surface of the Moon.
They needed to launch out in the lunar module, leaving Mr Collins in the control module.
They were, of course, successful in this stage too and the men had just over two hours to take pictures and samples on the Moon.
Then, they underwent the perilous journey back, which culminated in the parachute into the ocean.
Incredibly, they all made it back safely and became national and global heroes.
Source: Read Full Article