First on the Moon: The Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Experience

306 Pages·2019·19.07 MB·English

by  Rod Pyle

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Text © 2019 Rod Pyle
Foreword © 2019 Buzz Aldrin. All Rights Reserved.
Cover © 2019 Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
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ISBN 978-1-45493240-6
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Interior design by Ashley Prine, Tandem Books Image Credits — see page 188
Dedicated to the nearly half-million men and
women who made our first expeditions to the
Moon possible. You performed miracles in less
than a decade.

CONTENTS
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1
“PROGRAM ALARM!”
Chapter 2
RACE TO THE MOON
Chapter 3
MEN FOR THE MOON
Chapter 4
HOW DO WE DO THIS?
Chapter 5
THE REAL STUFF
– Apollo’s Children –
Chapter 6
MOON MACHINES I: THE SATURN V
Chapter 7
MOON MACHINES II: THE LUNAR MODULE
Chapter 8
T-MINUS ZERO
Chapter 9
ARRIVAL
Chapter 10
DOWN AND SAFE
Chapter 11
MOONWALKING
Chapter 12
COMING HOME
Chapter 13
AFTERMATH
Epilogue
BACK TO THE MOON
Acknowledgments
Notes
Image Credits
Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin suited up and doing a final check of his communication system before
boarding for the Apollo 11 mission.
FOREWORD
On July 20, 1969, at 109:43:10 hours’ mission elapsed time, I stepped onto the
lunar surface. The Apollo 11 mission that delivered us to that forbidding, rocky
world was the culmination of a decade of intensive development and stunning
human creativity, and that first landing forever changed how humanity looks at
both itself and the heavens.
Neil Armstrong and I spent over two hours on the surface of the Moon. We set
up a number of scientific instruments, spoke to the president of the United
States, collected soil and rock samples, and conducted experiments in mobility,
the physical nature of the lunar surface, and much more. We learned more about
the Moon during our short visit than had been gleaned in all of human history.
Five more Apollo crews explored the Moon, building on the knowledge gained
from our first brief visit.
Now we stand on the threshold of a new space age. After decades working in
Earth orbit with the space shuttle and the International Space Station, humanity
is seriously considering how to send humans to explore what lies beyond. New
rockets from companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and United Launch Alliance
are poised to open new vistas in the heavens. Other nations and several private
companies are pursuing space exploration with their own programs, and
increasingly in partnership. My own designs for cycling spacecraft to efficiently
take humans to Mars are gaining acceptance. The future of human space
exploration and development is brighter than ever.
But this all began with those early, tentative forays into the heavens during the
space advances of the 1960s, which led to those first steps on the moon in 1969.
I’m proud to have been a part of that incredible journey, as are my fellow
astronauts who followed us to the Moon. I’m also grateful to the 400,000 men
and women who built the Apollo program, the American public who supported
it, and the amazing accomplishments in space that have followed. Now it’s time
to step up our commitment to space, and I’m pleased to say we are doing so.
As I think about what space adventures await us, it’s hard to believe that it has