Apollo 11

DanHolohan

Just saw the documentary. It's incredible. Don't miss it. I was on the edge of my seat, even though I knew what was going to happen.

STEVEusaPA

Appolo...Apollo?
Where did you see it?
Edit: it’s in theaters

DanHolohan

It’s in the theaters. All real footage.

JUGHNE

I haven't seen it. But from reading books and viewing short documentaries about the Apollo Program, MBG is that today's generation should be surprised and in awe of these achievements:

Use of computer results that were probably double checked and verified with a slide rule.
Landing on the moon with the talents of a test pilot whose "computer" had over loaded and he flew/landed by the seat of his pants.
(The "computer" for the Saturn rocket stage separation would fill up a full size van, you can see it at Huntsville Alabama.)
Flying just up to the point of "no return" on the return fuel supply to launch back to lunar orbit (to go home) factor.
A nation/government that was aware of the risk involved and willing to take it--on live TV.
(And no cell phones BYW.)


Apollo 13 movie was consider somewhat Hollywood bling.
But if you read the book of that it was an amazing story and the movie followed it quite closely.

So please tell me if I have been just mislead by Urban Legends.

And we haven't returned to the moon since we stopped using slide rules. FWIW

DanHolohan

This entire movie is from film shot during the event. The space/moon footage makes you feel like you’re up there. The astronauts are in the credits as cinematographers. You have to see it to believe it.

JUGHNE

One of the few items not made in the USA was the still camera, IIRC was a 2 1/4 square Hasselblad (Swiss made?) with special operating levers for spacesuit gloves. Maybe a Time magazine story that I think I remember.

Gordy

The accent stage of the LM had its own engine, and fuel supply. Separate from the decent stage. It was more about crashing, and not being able to use the accent stage to get off the moon.

Just knowing that if anything went wrong once you left the pad, you were on your own, and no one was coming to help....let alone 240,000 miles away.

Some say it was all smoke, and mirrors...........not!

DanHolohan

Everyone should see this. It’s the last time we were all one.

Gordy

Very true. I can’t remember a time in my life where so much effort was put into such a substantial goal that all most everyone in the country was behind.

Many bright young minds. The logistics were incredibly daunting. The technology, and materials they used was inferior compared to the computing power, and materials of today.

The reason the Saturn 5 FI rocket engine isn’t reproduced is all the knowledge is gone. Each engine was near hand crafted, and all the notes, and tricks of the machinist trades those people used during their assembly are gone.

It’s a tragedy as I see it.

Gordy

All most as facinating as the distance from the sun to our moon is 400 times the distance from our moon to earth. The diameter of the sun is 400 times greater than the diameter of our moon.

Coupled with the fact that our moon is the perfect diameter, orbit, and distance from earth to completely block the sun during a full solar eclipse.

The things that keep me awake at night.......

JUGHNE

Gordy, thanks for the info on the LM. Separate tank makes sense and separate engine seems logical. More thrust needed for take off. Less for descent … there is still gravity helping to land you.
That Saturn is amazing. But so much effort and money for a single use of a few minutes. That would be almost disappointing to be involved for years for a few minutes of use, but it had to work only once and that made it a success if it did it's job.

Your thinking about the moon/sun/earth is interesting.
I think it is all about the gravity involved that put these things in place. But even more perplexing is that we do not see the dark side of the moon??

Mike_Sheppard

I’ve read Buzz Aldrin’s and Michael Collin’s books about Apollo 11. Definitely have to see this! Spaceflight is my second love, after boilers of course!

FranklinD

I was born in ‘82 so it was all “ancient history” to me...but my folks bought me the book “Lost Moon” by Jim Lovell during a vacation to DC when I was 13, and I’ve been hooked ever since. That’s the story (in his own words) of Apollo 13 - also what the movie is based on. A curious factoid about the ascent stage of the Lunar Module: the engine was never test-fired. They could test-fire every engine used on a given mission, from the Saturn V rocket, to the Service Module engine, to the Lunar Module descent stage engine...but not the ascent stage engine (the one used to lift off of the moon). The reason was that they wanted it to be as simple as possible, i.e. no pumps or complicated controls. They used two hypergolic chemicals with tanks pressurized by helium, and just a valve on each to start the flow. The fuel & oxidizer ignited on contact, no ignition source needed. Bulletproof. HOWEVER: the chemicals used were so awfully corrosive that the engines had to be completely rebuild after each test-firing. As a result, no Lunar Module Ascent Stage Engine had ever been fired before they pushed the Ignition button on the surface of the moon. Just truly unbelievable. There are a few documentaries on YouTube about the Apollo program that are just outstanding: the Saturn V, the Command/Service Module, the Lunar Module, the Lunar Rover, and the Computer & Navigation System are my favorites. I believe they’re all under the YouTube account of one Joshua Bonini. It is absolutely astounding what we, as a country, were able to accomplish in such a short time.

NY_Rob

FranklinD said:

..A curious factoid about the ascent stage of the Lunar Module: the engine was never test-fired. They could test-fire every engine used on a given mission, from the Saturn V rocket, to the Service Module engine, to the Lunar Module descent stage engine...but not the ascent stage engine (the one used to lift off of the moon). The reason was that they wanted it to be as simple as possible, i.e. no pumps or complicated controls. They used two hypergolic chemicals with tanks pressurized by helium, and just a valve on each to start the flow. The fuel & oxidizer ignited on contact, no ignition source needed. Bulletproof. HOWEVER: the chemicals used were so awfully corrosive that the engines had to be completely rebuild after each test-firing. As a result, no Lunar Module Ascent Stage Engine had ever been fired before they pushed the Ignition button on the surface of the moon.

And, as I understand... some of the ascent engine mock-ups did fail to ignite in lab tests. The engineers were very, very concerned that the actual mission ascent engines would also fail to burn. There was no back up systems for the ascent engine... if it failed to burn the crew was doomed.
If anyone remembers the excellent 1960's movie "Marooned".. that was based on a fictional incident where a non-firing retro rocket prevented an orbiting 3-man capsule to slow down and return to earth.

Leonard

Links to bunch of interesting Apollo videos.
See links in post #1, 4, 13, 17, 18 , 19, 20 of this link
https://www.smokstak.com/forum/showthread.php?t=175553

Jamie Hall

It was real... I was involved, personally.

Intplm.

I watched as a young child. Was great then.

@Jamie Hall. No kidding? How were you involved?

Jamie Hall

No kidding. Initial landing site area selection, trajectory calculation, some programming (it's amazing what you can cram into 16K... which is all we had!)

hvacfreak2

Jamie Hall said:

No kidding. Initial landing site area selection, trajectory calculation, some programming (it's amazing what you can cram into 16K... which is all we had!)

Wait.... are you saying that you worked on the Apollo 11Moon Mission ? Far freaking out man. Did you ever get to meet Von Braun , Michael Collins or any others ?

Intplm.

Now that is so cool @Jamie Hall

Jamie Hall

hvacfreak2 said:

Jamie Hall said:

No kidding. Initial landing site area selection, trajectory calculation, some programming (it's amazing what you can cram into 16K... which is all we had!)

Wait.... are you saying that you worked on the Apollo 11Moon Mission ? Far freaking out man. Did you ever get to meet Von Braun , Michael Collins or any others ?

Yes, yes, and yes -- but don't get carried away -- there were several thousand people, one way or another, who worked on and contributed to that mission and Apollo in general. I was just one of them, but we all felt the sense of mission and purpose -- and enormous pride in our Country -- and still do.

Intplm.

Jamie Hall said:

hvacfreak2 said:

Jamie Hall said:

No kidding. Initial landing site area selection, trajectory calculation, some programming (it's amazing what you can cram into 16K... which is all we had!)

Wait.... are you saying that you worked on the Apollo 11Moon Mission ? Far freaking out man. Did you ever get to meet Von Braun , Michael Collins or any others ?

Yes, yes, and yes -- but don't get carried away -- there were several thousand people, one way or another, who worked on and contributed to that mission and Apollo in general. I was just one of them, but we all felt the sense of mission and purpose -- and enormous pride in our Country -- and still do.

Yeah but still super cool @Jamie Hall ("Just a steally eyed missile man"). To contribute in any capacity !!

Voyager

I watched First Man on a recent airline flight. Pretty good movie also. I haven’t yet seen Apollo 11, but I watched most of them on TV real-time. It just never gets old, unlike me...

FranklinD

@Jamie Hall That is fantastic. I’d just like to say thank you for your contributions. I wish I had been around for it, though I am greatly enjoying the efforts of SpaceX and the like. I’d have to say that my favorite Apollo mission would have to be Apollo 8. Truly amazing - no backup/“lifeboat” LEM and every mile out of orbit was the furthest mile humans had ever been from Earth. To imagine what it would’ve been like to be onboard as the command module slipped around to the dark side of the moon in radio silence, three men more alone than anyone else has ever been. Just truly amazing, courageous, and inspiring to me to this day. Borman, Lovell, and Anders appeared in a well-done documentary about the flight in the late 90’s, I believe, that is just excellent. I’ll post a link if I can find it online. Frank Borman’s description of riding the Saturn V to orbit - they were the first to ride the full rocket - was truly entertaining.

Mike_Sheppard

@Jamie Hall that is so awesome! I’ve read and watched so many Gemini/Apollo books. The teamwork and engineering that was done was truly amazing. If I could go back to any time and re-live my life it would probably be during the Apollo years.

Gordy

My mom’s uncle lived to be 102. He was born in 1894 died 1996. Just think of all the life changing advances in technology that guy saw in his life time.