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Apollo 11's 35th Anniversary

Posted by michael on from the tales-of-giant-sky-ships-in-the-Southlands dept.

colonist writes "35 years ago, on July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 began to achieve the goal set by the late President Kennedy: '...before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth'. On July 20, Michael Collins orbited the moon in the command module Columbia while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the lunar surface in the lunar module Eagle. The descent engine was halfway through its final 12-minute burn when a yellow caution light lit up on the display of the lunar module computer. [ARMSTRONG: Program Alarm... It's a 1202. ALDRIN: 1202. (Pause) ARMSTRONG: (To Buzz) What is it? Let's incorporate (the landing radar data). (To Houston) Give us a reading on the 1202 Program Alarm.] Buzz Aldrin's recollection: 'Back in Houston, not to mention on board the Eagle, hearts shot up into throats while we waited to learn what would happen. We had received two of the caution lights when Steve Bales the flight controller responsible for LM computer activity, told us to proceed... We received three or four more warnings but kept on going. When Mike, Neil, and I were presented with Medals of Freedom by President Nixon, Steve also received one. He certainly deserved it, because without him we might not have landed.' Fred Martin describes the incidents, and Peter Adler looks at the design of the system."

4 of 318 comments (clear)

  1. Happy birthday by zaren · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Not just to Apollo 11, but to me! :)

    --
    Come to the University of Mars! Classes starting soon!
  2. Slack In Space! by DynaSoar · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Were they running Slackware in the LEM, or was the crew just a couple of members of the Church of the SubGenius?:

    "109:19:48 Armstrong: Okay. Need a little slack? (No answer; Long Pause) You need more slack, Buzz?

    109:20:40 Aldrin: No. Hold it just a minute."

    Buzz had enough Slack. You be the judge.

    --
    "I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
  3. don't forget Mars is on the horizon... by SethJohnson · · Score: 0, Offtopic


    In spite of our half-trillion-dollar deficit, the Bush Administration is going to send humans to Mars someday. While the announcement was a feel-good distraction from the Iraq war, perhaps the actual mission will distract us from having to don space helmets to go outside because the Clean Air Act was undermined to help big business.
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    $5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
  4. How far we've fallen by sfjoe · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    President Kennedy: '...before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth'.

    And look at the sad sack that sits in Kennedy's office today. Too depressing.

    --
    It's simple: I demand prosecution for torture.