The Apollo Program--The Lunar Missions

Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders waited in a parking orbit in Apollo 8 for the words that would send them on a journey no human had ever taken. Finally, on December 21, 1968, they came from Mission Control.

“Apollo 8—you are GO for TLI.”

TLI. Trans Lunar Injection. For the first time in human history, Man was leaving the confines of Earth, and going to another celestial body. A few minutes later, Commander Borman fired the big engine on Apollo 8’s Service Module, and the men were headed for the moon.

This was only a circumlunar reconnoitering and test flight, and the spaceship carried no LEM for landing. But this flight would determine if the Apollo could make the trip to the moon and back.

The three astronauts arrived at the moon two and a half days later. It was a tense time for Mission Control, because to go into orbit around the moon, the Apollo’s engine had to be fired on the dark side of the moon, when the craft was out of communication. If the engine didn’t fire, the spaceship would fly off into space and be lost. Apollo 8 swung around the moon about 67 hours and 45 minutes after launch. Mission Control waited, holding their collective breath.

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At precisely the correct second, they heard the welcome transmission—“Houston, we are in lunar orbit.”

The three astronauts spent a bit more than 20 hours circling the moon, photographing possible landing sites, and getting the first ever photo of Earth rise at the moon. Trans Earth Injection for the return trip required the same stomach knotting backside engine firing, but Apollo functioned beautifully.

After an Earth orbit test of the LEM, and another circumlunar run with the LEM, it was time to set foot on the surface of our satellite.

July 16, 1969. Apollo 11 was carried aloft by SATURN AS506. By now, as there were two distinct spacecraft making up the spaceship—the Apollo and the LEM—the astronauts had reverted to the old Mercury tradition of naming each of them. For Apollo 11, the Command Module was Columbia, and the LEM was Eagle.

Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins crewed the mission. Armstrong and Aldrin would fly Eagle to the lunar surface. Collins would remain in Columbia in case a rescue in orbit was needed.

On July 20, the two LEM pilots climbed into Eagle, undocked from Columbia and fired the descent engine to begin their fall towards the lunar surface. Their target was a large level plain called the Sea of Tranquility. From orbital mapping photos it appeared smooth and a perfect spot for the first lunar touchdown. But as Armstrong brought Eagle within a few feet of the surface he and Aldrin could see Tranquility was covered in boulders. Armstrong flew the LEM over the surface for almost two minutes searching for a smooth landing site. He finally found one as the fuel gauge read dangerously low.

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He eased Eagle to the surface. “Contact light,” he radioed to Mission Control.

Then there was silence. For what seemed an eternity back on Earth there was no communication from the moon. Mission Control kept calling up for a response to no avail.

Then finally: “Houston, Tranquility base here. The Eagle has landed.”

Houston called back: “Roger Tranquility…you got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We’re breathing again.”

Some six and a half hours after landing, Neil Armstrong exited the LEM, and climbed down the ladder to the landing pad. After a few minutes he told Mission Control: “I’m stepping off the LEM now.”

For the first time in history a man set foot on another world.

Officially, Armstrong said, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Actually, in his excitement, he forgot the ‘a’. NASA insists it was covered up by static, but not.

Neil and Buzz spent 2-1/2 hours exploring around the LEM, collecting samples of rocks and dust. All told, they were on the moon for 20 hours. On July 21, Eagle’s ascent stage lifted them towards a rendezvous with the waiting Columbia in lunar orbit.

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Four months later, Chuck Conrad, Dick Gordon and Alan Bean flew Apollo 12—Yankee Clipper and Intrepid (LEM)—to the Ocean of Storms, obviously a less welcoming site than Tranquility. One reason for this choice was an artifact. One of the surveyor spacecraft that mapped potential landing sites was here. Conrad and Bean retrieved parts of it so scientists could examine the results of exposure to the extremes of the lunar environment.

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