We’ve all heard of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon for the first time
in the late 1960’s but there are many facts about their mission that aren’t widely known.
On this episode we take a look at 10 unknown facts about the first moon landing.
Number ten, No Life Insurance for Astronauts Life insurance companies aren’t exactly
keen on supplying insurance to astronauts let alone ones going to the moon for the first
time.
While possible it would have been outrageously expensive so the crew of the Apollo 11 mission
needed to get creative on how they could provide financial support for their families if they
weren’t able to return home.
Already being famous for the journey they were embarking on, the autographed and dated
envelopes they signed would have been worth a fortune if they didn’t come back.
Number nine, Stinky Moon Dust Soon after Neil and Buzz stepped onto the
moon they realized the dust on the surface was much more sticky then they anticipated.
Immediately clinging to their Chromium steel fabric outer layer of their space suits, much
of this dust was brought back to earth whether they liked it or not.
Not only did the dust stick to the outer surface but it got stuck in all the crevices of their
suits and made a mess inside lunar lander when they went back inside.
To their surprise, after they took off their helmets the dust came in contact with oxygen
for the first time ever which produced a pungent smell that of gunpowder or as Neil armstrong
described it “wet ashes in a fireplace”.
For the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission Neil Armstrong’s suit will be on
display which is covered in moon dust from the bottom of the boots to the knees.
Number eight, Wrong landing Spot When the lunar module separated from the Columbia
command spacecraft, full compression wasn’t achieved which caused a loud pop sound which
ejected the spacecraft with more force then they planned for.
This event caused the lander to fly way off course which had them set to land in a football
field sized valley full of truck sized boulders.
Because of the increased velocity the flight time was increased significantly burning precious
fuel needed to re enter orbit when leaving the moon.
Error codes 1202 and 1201 started popping up on the screen which stumped both astronauts
and nasa command.
Realizing it wasn’t critical they pushed forward with landing.
Those error codes were the redimentry computers of the time being overloaded with too much
information at once.
The intended landing should leave them with more than 2 full minutes of thrusting fuel
to leave the moon but because of the extended flight they touched down with just 30 seconds
of fuel left.
Neil Armstrong landed the craft manually off to the side of the valley of truck sized boulders
on a smooth spot by just looking out the window.
So much space dust was kicked up by the engine’s thrust that he used a few large boulders that
could still be seen as a reference point of how close they were.
When the craft touched down, Neil had landed so softly that the 32 inches of compression
on the legs of the lander that were expected to absorb some of the impact weren’t compressed
at all.
This additional height made the drop off from the lander to the surface almost 3 feet greater
than intended.
Number seven, Space Suit Too Big During the development process of the lunar
module a critical error was made.
Initially the hatch size and space suit with life support backpack were measured and designed
to have the suit easily fit through the hatch.
A last minute design change on the hatch has made but no change was made to the suit size.
After landing on the moon, Neil Armstrong twisted and turned trying to squeeze out of
the hatch.
The highest heart rate’s measured during this mission to the moon happened at this
very moment wondering if they’d make it out of the lunar lander.
In this effort to squeeze through the hatch Neil’s backpack broke off the ascent engine
arming switch.
Both astronauts were oblivious to this as the sound doesn’t exist in the vacuum of
space.
21 hours after the mission was complete on the moon Neil and Buzz started their takeoff
checklist procedure.
Within the procedure was checking the engine arming switch which they had found to be broken.
Nasa told them to get a few hours of sleep while they come up with a solution.
With Nasa scratching their head of what to do, Buzz Aldrin, out of frustration, jammed
his pen in there which worked perfectly as a lever.
Number six, Customs Forms Required to Return to Earth
All three astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins were required to
fill out a US Customs forms when they returned to earth.
Bringing back moon rocks, moon dust and lunar samples they had to declare these “items”
on their customs declaration form seen here.
Splashing down in the pacific Ocean near Hawaii, their customs form shows Cape Kennedy, Florida,
the moon and on July 24th, 1969 Honolulu, Hawaii.
This customs form was posted to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website on the 40th
anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.
Despite listing Honolulu as their return location they actually landed 920 miles or 1480 km
southwest of Hawaii yet only 13 miles or 21 km from the United States Navy ship the USS
Hornet.
Taking 2 full days to return back to Honolulu on July 26th they pulled into the harbour
yet were in a quarantine trailer the whole time and wore biological containment suits
when they moved from the deck of the USS Hornet to land.
The quarantine trailer and the Apollo 11 astronauts were transported to Houston where they spend
3 full weeks in isolation to make sure they didn’t have some creepy space monster living
among them.
Number five, Poop on the Moon Now you might be thinking Neil Armstrong and
Buzz Aldrin upon landing on the moon quickly stepped out of the lunar lander to drop a
steamer on the moon’s surface but that’s not quite how the story goes.
First off when they landed on the moon it was intended they rest for 4 hours but being
excited as being the first people to step foot on the moon they started post flight
checklists which took about 4 hours at which point they stepped out of the lunar module.
Poop, trash and food wrappers where placed in a white bag which was left on the moon’s
surface, which you can see below the lunar lander.
Along with trash and poop were tools like hammers, scales, seismic sensors, 84 lb or
38 kg life support packs being their oxygen tanks and a laser reflector used to measure
the distance from the moon to earth were all left to reduce weight.
Dropping all this weight allowed them to take on 47.5 lbs of moon rock and dust samples.
This step of reducing weight was necessary as most of the fuel was used to just get to
the moon and land on it.
The ascent stage or the top half of the lunar lander detached from the legs to further reduce
weight to make it back into space to dock with the Colombia module piloted by Michael
Collins.
While we are talking about space poop, astronauts today have a toilet with a seatbelt and a
suction device to get the poop out.
During the Apollo 11 mission this problem hadn’t been solved yet and Michael Collins
took tablets that stop diarrhoea to avoid the problem all together.
Number four, The Flag The American flag placed on the moon has had
2 different companies claim they made it.
Nasa wouldn’t confirm which supplied it but instead hinted it came from Sears.
Nasa engineer Jack Kinzler stated the flag was purchased from a government catalog.
Valley Forge and Annin both sourced nylon fabric for their flags and both claim the
American flag on the moon is there's.
To shake things up even more did you know that the American flag that was planted on
the moon by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin wasn’t even planted there for a full day.
21 and a half hours after landing on the moon the ascent stage of the lunar module blasted
off of the moon.
Buzz Aldrin took a peek out of the window to see the planted American flag along with
rock and dust being launched from the force of the thrusters.
Number three, Failed Mission Speech Should Neil and Buzz get stuck on the moon
and not be able to leave, a speech was prepared for President Nixon to read to the world.
His speech reads:
“Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay
on the moon to rest in peace.
These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their
recovery.
But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.
These two men are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal: the search for
truth and understanding.
They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation;
they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth
that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.
In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice,
they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.
In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations.
In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.
Others will follow, and surely find their way home.
Man's search will not be denied.
But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.
For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that
there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.”
Number two, Only 1 Photo of Armstrong Both Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were outfitted
with cameras on the moon but this here is the only full body picture of Neil Armstrong.
Neil snapped many of Buzz bouncing around the moon but Buzz was instructed to take pictures
of the moon’s surface.
While you can’t tell this is Neil as he has it back to the camera you can clearly
see his face in the reflection of the close up shot of Buzz Aldrin.
Number one, Famous Line Misquoted When Neil Armstrong stepped out on to the
surface of the moon his famous quote:
Listening to it, it sounds like That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
Apparently according Neil Armstrong that was misquoted.
He apparently said “That one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”.
Because of his American midwest accent and radio noise that a wasn’t heard as it melded
into the word for beforehand.
If you listen closely you can hear it.
“One small step for a man” “One small step for a man”
“One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”