Hello All!   
      
   Wide Awake in the Sea of Tranquillity      
      
   Neil Armstrong was supposed to be asleep. The moonwalking was done. The moon   
   rocks were stowed away. His ship was ready for departure. In just a few hours,   
   the Eagle's ascent module would blast off the Moon, something no ship had ever   
   done before, and Neil needed his wits about him. He curled up on the Eagle's   
   engine cover and closed his eyes.   
      
   But he could not sleep.    
      
   Neither could Buzz Aldrin. In the cramped lander, Buzz had the sweet spot, the   
   floor. He stretched out as much as he could in his spacesuit and closed his   
   eyes. Nothing happened. On a day like this, sleep was out of the question.    
      
   http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2006/07/19/19jul_seao   
   tranquillity_r esources/earthrise.jpg   
      
   Above: Apollo 11 Earthrise. [More]   
      
   July 20, 1969: The day began on the farside of the Moon. Armstrong, Aldrin and   
   crewmate Mike Collins flew their spaceship 60 miles above the cratered   
   wasteland. No one on Earth can see the Moon's farside. Even today it remains a   
   land of considerable mystery, but the astronauts had no time for sight-seeing.   
   Collins pressed a button, activating a set of springs, and the spaceship split   
   in two. The half named Columbia, with Collins on board, would remain in orbit.   
   The other half, the Eagle, spiraled over the horizon toward the Sea of   
   Tranquillity.    
      
   "You are Go for powered descent," Houston radioed, and the Eagle's engine   
   fired mightily. The bug-shaped Eagle was so fragile a child could poke a hole   
   through its gold foil exterior. Jagged moonrocks could do much worse. So when   
   Armstrong saw where the computer was guiding them--into a boulder field-?he   
   quickly took control. The Eagle pitched forward and sailed over the rocks.    
      
   Meanwhile, alarms were ringing in the background.    
      
   "Program alarm," announced Armstrong. "It's a 1202." The code was so obscure,   
   almost no one knew what it meant. Should they abort? Should they land? "What   
   is it?" he insisted.    
      
   Scrambling back in Houston, a young engineer named Steve Bales produced the   
   answer: The radar guidance system was pestering the computer with too many   
   interruptions. No problem. "We've got you..." radioed Houston. "We're Go on   
   that alarm."   
      
   And on they went. Things, however, were not going exactly as planned. The Sea   
   of Tranquillity was supposed to be smooth, but it didn't look so smooth from   
   the cockpit of the Eagle. Armstrong scanned the jumbled mare for a safe place   
   to land. "60 seconds," radioed Houston. "30 seconds." Mission control was   
   hushed as the telemetry came in. Soon, too soon, the ship would run out of   
   fuel.    
      
   http://history.nasa.gov/ap11ann/kippsphotos/39601.jpg    
      
   Right: Mission Control during the Apollo 11 descent. [More]   
      
   Capcom later claimed the "boys in mission control were turning blue" when   
   Armstrong announced "I [found] a good spot." As for Armstrong, his heart was   
   thumping 156 beats per minute according to bio-sensors. The fuel gauge read   
   only 5.6% when the Eagle finally settled onto the floor of the Sea of   
   Tranquillity.    
      
   Armstrong (coolly): "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."    
      
   Houston (relieved): "We copy you down, Eagle."    
      
   Immediately, they prepared to leave. This was NASA being cautious. No one had   
   ever landed on the Moon before. What if a footpad started sinking into the   
   moondust, or the Eagle sprung a leak? While Neil and Buzz made ready to blast   
   off, Houston read the telemetry looking for signs of trouble. There were none,   
   and three hours after touchdown, finally, Houston gave the "okay." The   
   moonwalk was on!    
      
   At 9:56 p.m. EDT, Neil descended the ladder and took "one small step" (left   
   foot first) into history. From the shadow of the Eagle, he looked around: "It   
   has a stark beauty all its own--like the high desert of the United States."   
   Houston reminded him to gather the "contingency sample," and Neil put some   
   rocks and soil in his pocket. If, for any reason, the astronauts had to take   
   off in a hurry, scientists back on Earth would get at least a pocketful of the   
   Moon for their experiments.    
      
   Soon, Buzz joined him. "Beautiful view!" he exclaimed when he reached the   
   lander's broad footpad. "Isn't that something!" agreed Armstrong. "Magnificent   
   sight out here."    
      
   "Magnificent desolation," said Aldrin.    
      
   Those two words summed up the yin-yang of the Moon. The impact craters, the   
   toppled boulders, the layers of moondust--it was utterly alien. Yet   
   Tranquillity Base felt curiously familiar, like home. Later Apollo astronauts   
   had similar feelings. Maybe this comes from staring at the Moon so often from   
   Earth. Or maybe it's because the Moon is a piece of Earth, spun off our young   
   planet billions of years ago. No one knows; it just is.    
      
   http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2006/07/19/19jul_seao   
   tranquillity_r esources/buzz1.jpg   
      
   Above: Buzz Aldrin and the Eagle. [In stereo]   
      
   Truly, much of the scene was weird. The airless landscape jumped out at the   
   astronauts with disconcerting clarity and, as a result, the horizon felt   
   unnaturally close. Worse yet, the whole world seemed to curve, a side-effect   
   of the Moon's short thousand-mile radius. "Distances [here] are deceiving,"   
   noted Aldrin.    
      
   The sky was equally baffling. Although the Eagle had landed on a bright lunar   
   morning, the sky was as black as midnight. An astronomer's paradise? No. Not a   
   single star was visible. The glaring, sunlit ground ruined the astronaut's   
   night vision. Only Earth itself was bright enough to be seen, luminous blue   
   and white, hanging overhead.    
      
   Armstrong was particularly fascinated by moondust, which he kicked and scuffed   
   with his boots. On Earth, kicking dust makes a little cloud in the air--but   
   there is no air on the Moon. "When you kick the surface, [the dust goes out   
   in] a little fan which, to me, is in the shape of a rose petal," recalls   
   Armstrong. "There's just a little ring of particles--nothing behind 'em--no   
   dust, no swirl, no nothing. It's really unique."   
      
   Enough of that. It was time for work.   
      
   Almost forgotten in Apollo lore are the checklists sewn to the forearms of the   
   spacesuits. These "honey-do" memos from NASA were jam-packed with   
   activities--from inspecting the lander to deploying the TV to collecting   
   samples. Some of the tasks were as detailed as bending over and reporting to   
   Mission Control how it went. They had a lot to do.    
      
   Neil and Buzz deployed a solar wind collector, a seismometer and a laser   
   retroreflector. They erected a flag and uncovered a plaque proclaiming, "We   
   came in peace for all mankind." They took the first interplanetary phone   
   call--"I just can't tell you how proud we all are," said President Nixon from   
   the Oval Office. They collected 47 lbs of moon rocks and took 166 pictures.   
   Check. Check. Check.    
      
   http://history.nasa.gov/ap11ann/kippsphotos/5942a.jpg   
      
   Right: Buzz Aldrin totes experiments from the Eagle onto the lunar surface.   
   [More]   
      
   Finally, after two and a half busy, exhilarating hours, it was time to go. The   
   checklist continued: Climb back in the Eagle. Stow the rocks. Prepare the ship   
   for departure (again). Eat dinner: Beef stew or cream of chicken soup. And   
   finally, sleep.    
      
   That was the limit. "You just are not going to get any sleep while you're   
   waiting [for liftoff]," Aldrin said after the mission.    
      
   The Eagle was not a sleepy place. The tiny cabin was noisy with pumps and   
   bright with warning lights that couldn't be dimmed. Even the window shades   
   were glowing, illuminated by intense sunshine outside. "After I got into my   
   sleep stage and all settled down, I realized there was something else   
   [bothering me]," said Armstrong. The Eagle had an optical telescope sticking   
   out periscope-style. "Earth was shining right through the telescope into my   
   eye. It was like a light bulb."    
      
   To get some relief, they closed the helmets of their spacesuits. It was quiet   
   inside and they "wouldn't be breathing all the dust" they had tramped in after   
   the moon walk, said Aldrin. Alas, it didn't work. The suit's cooling systems,   
   so necessary out on the scorching lunar surface, were too cold for sleeping   
   inside the Eagle. The best Aldrin managed was a "couple hours of mentally   
   fitful drowsing." Armstrong simply stayed awake.    
      
   When the wake-up call finally came,    
      
   "Tranquility Base, Tranquility Base, Houston. Over."    
      
   Armstrong answered with alacrity,    
      
   "Good morning, Houston. Tranquility Base. Over."    
      
   It was time to go home for a good night's sleep.    
      
        
      
   Author: Dr. Tony Phillips | Production Editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit:   
   Science@NASA   
      
   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
   More Information    
   Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon during the 1969 Apollo 11   
   mission, died on August 25, 2012, at the age of 82. "Neil Armstrong was also a   
   reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job," said a   
   statement from his family.    
      
    > Quotes on Armstrong's Passing   
      
    > Photo Gallery   
      
    > Administrator Bolden's Statement   
      
   This is the fourth installment of Science@NASA's Apollo Chronicles:    
      
   Episode 1: Dark Shadows   
      
   Episode 2: Jack Skis the Moon   
      
   Episode 3: The Smell of Moondust   
      
   The author would like to thank Eric Jones who penned the Apollo Lunar Surface   
   Journal, a must-read for historians of the Apollo program. Many of the radio   
   transmissions and recollections reported in this story come from the Journal.    
      
   How crowded was the Eagle? Click here to see: http://science.nas   
   .gov/media/medialibrary/2006/07/19/19jul_seaoftranquilli ty_r es   
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   Regards,   
      
   Roger    
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: NCS BBS - Houma, LA - (1:3828/7)