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Commencing a look at some of the events of 50 years ago.
Today: The Moon Landing
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Facts, trivia, from Popular Mechanics:
20 Facts You Didn’t Know about Apollo 11
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Neil Armstrong's "one small step for man" wasn't
small at all. He had to drop about 3 1/2 feet (1.07m) from the foot of the
Eagle's ladder to the surface.
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They could have been locked out. When lunar module pilot
Buzz Aldrin joined Armstrong on the moon's surface, he had to make sure not to
fully close the Eagle's hatch because the cabin would start repressurising,
making it difficult to re-enter.
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Between 1969 and 1972, astronauts left behind more than
footprints—mostly things to help save weight for takeoff. Things like rovers
and descent and ascent stages, astronaut boots and a gold replica of an olive
branch.
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Pink Floyd jammed the tune "Moonhead" during the
BBC's live television coverage of the moon landing.
BTW:
The BBC used David Bowie’s then current hit “Space Oddity”
to soundtrack their Apollo coverage,, notwithstanding the lyrics. According to Bowie:
“I’m sure they really weren’t listening to the lyrics at
all. It wasn’t a pleasant thing to juxtapose against a moon landing…. Obviously,
some BBC official said, ‘Oh, right then, that space song, Major Tom, blah blah
blah, that’ll be great.’ ‘Um, but he gets stranded in space, sir.’ Nobody had
the heart to tell the producer that.”
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The American flag planted on the moon by the Apollo 11 crew
was likely purchased at a Houston Sears store by a NASA secretary.
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This anniversary year, six teams of scientists will begin to
examine one of three caches of lunar regolith from Apollo missions that have
been stored at NASA's Johnson Space Center since 1972.
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The Apollo Guidance Computer weighs 70 pounds yet was less
powerful than today's smartphones.
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In 2015, University of Oxford physicist David Robert Grimes,
Ph.D., developed a mathematical model determining that if the U.S. moon
landings were faked by the government, an estimated 411,000 people would have
been in on the hoax and at least one person would have leaked the conspiracy
within 3 years and 8 months.
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Apollo engineering influenced a lot of technologies and
products, such as freeze-dried backpacking meals, Dustbuster cordless vacuums,
Nike Air running shoes, anti-fog ski goggles, and studless winter t\yres.
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The first supper on the moon was the Last Supper. Shortly
before stepping on the moon, Buzz Aldrin took the rite of Christian communion,
consuming the sacraments of wine and bread that he brought on board.
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Eagle Scout Neil Armstrong earned 26 merit badges (21 are
required) but not the Space Exploration merit badge. It wasn't created until
1965.
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While many believe Armstrong said "one small step for
man," Armstrong later said that he in fact did include "a man"
in the quote but the audio cut out. It's become a source of investigation for
decades.
See, for instance:
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The Saturn V rocket that launched Apollo 11 burned through
203,400 gallons (770,000 litres) of kerosene fuel and another 318,000 gallons (1,204,000
litres) of liquid oxygen to lift the spacecraft just 38 miles (61 kilometres) into
the sky.
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If the Saturn V rocket had exploded, it would have created a
fireball in excess of 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Upon returning to Earth, Apollo 11 astronauts were
quarantined for two weeks in case they had been contaminated with dangerous
pathogens.
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President Richard Nixon's speechwriter drafted a
just-in-case address, July 18, 1969. "IN EVENT OF MOON DISASTER: 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..."
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The mission was so dangerous, the astronauts couldn't get
life insurance. So they each autographed hundreds of philatelic
"covers," envelopes their friends had postmarked on July 20, 1969,
which they knew their families could sell to collectors to fund their kids'
college education if they did not return.
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Aldrin threw a Buzz uppercut. In 2002, the former astronaut
punched a documentary maker who poked him with a Bible and demanded he swear
the moon landing wasn't staged.
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Sorry, hoax theorists: NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
Camera took photos of the six American flags left on the moon. Five are
standing; Apollo 11's was knocked down by takeoff thrust.
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And some more, from news.com at:
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Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins didn’t even have the luxury of
a loo onboard the Apollo 11 spacecraft as they were propelled towards orbit
from Florida in front of one million spectators. During their eight days in Space, the trio
had to pee into a ‘roll-on cuff’ — a rubber tube that resembled a condom and
was hooked up to a ‘receiver’ tube and a collection bag. They had to change the
cuff every day. And the process for
defecating was even more disgusting.
Astronauts on Apollo missions relied on an “extremely basic
system” which involved taping a plastic bag to their buttocks to capture their
faeces, a NASA report states. After going to the toilet, they then had to seal
up the bag, knead it, roll it into the “smallest possible volume” and store it
so they could bring it back to Earth. The
astronauts couldn’t use the same system when they were on the Moon itself, so
they wore an absorbent pair of undershorts instead — essentially, a nappy.
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Armstrong made a promise to his concerned gran before the
Apollo 11 mission. Elderly Caroline
Korspeter told TV crews that her grandson had assured her he wouldn’t step out
of the spacecraft on to the Moon if it looked dangerous. The 82-year-old said of the journey: “I think
it’s dangerous. I told Neil to look around and not to step out if it didn’t look
good. He said he wouldn’t.”
In the end, Armstrong didn’t have to heed his gran’s
warning. He stepped on to the lunar
surface, remarking: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for
mankind,” before returning safely to Earth days later.
He died in August 2012, aged 82.
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Armstrong and Aldrin left a range of items on the Moon
before heading back to our planet. These
included a tiny silicon disk, about the size of a 50-cent piece, containing
messages of peace from 73 leaders across the world — including the Queen. Her Majesty’s message read: “On behalf of the
British people I salute the skill and courage which have brought man to the
Moon. May this endeavour increase the knowledge and wellbeing of mankind.”
Other souvenirs left behind on the lunar surface included
the American flag, a small replica of an olive branch, and a plaque proclaiming
“Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon. July 1969, A.D.
We came in peace for all mankind.”
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BTW:
The story that Neil Armstrong cryptically uttered "Good
luck, Mr. Gorsky" as he first stepped onto the moon is false, according to
authoritative myth debunking site snopes.com
The story goes as follows:
When Apollo Mission Astronaut Neil Armstrong first walked on
the moon, he not only gave his famous “One small step for man; one giant leap
for mankind” statement, but followed it by several remarks, including the usual
COM traffic between him, the other astronauts, and Mission Control. Before he
re-entered the lander, he made the enigmatic remark “Good luck, Mr.
Gorsky.”Many people at NASA thought it was a casual remark concerning some
rival Soviet Cosmonaut. However, upon checking, [they found] there was no
Gorsky in either the Russian or American space programs.
Over the years, many people have questioned him as to what
the “Good luck, Mr. Gorsky” statement meant. On July 5, in Tampa Bay, FL, while
answering questions following a speech, a reporter brought up the 26- year-old
question to Armstrong. He finally responded. It seems that Mr. Gorsky had died
and so Armstrong felt he could answer the question. When he was a kid, Neil was
playing baseball with his brother in the backyard. His brother hit a fly ball
which landed in front of his neighbors’ bedroom window. The neighbors were Mr.
and Mrs. Gorsky. As he leaned down to pick up the ball, he heard Mrs. Gorsky
shouting at Mr. Gorsky, “Oral sex? Oral sex you want? You’ll get oral sex when
the kid next door walks on the moon!”
Snopes.com says that the alleged statement does not appear in
NASA transcripts and that Armstrong himself said in late 1995 that he first
heard the anecdote delivered as a joke by comedian Buddy Hackett in California.
Nonetheless when the space shuttle Columbia crew completed a
repair mission on the Hubble Space Telescope in March 2002, chief repairman
John Grunsfeld called out (in homage to this legend) “Good luck, Mr. Hubble” as
the telescope drifted off.
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Gallery:
Earthrise
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