|
|
Post by LunarOrbit on May 31, 2005 22:25:46 GMT -4
What are some of your favourite moments or events during the Apollo program?
Some of mine are:
- Neil Armstrongs first words on the moon, "That's one small step for man... one giant leap for mankind."
- Pete Conrads first words on the moon, "That may have been a small one for Neil but it was a big one for me..."
- The first radio contact with Apollo 13 after re-entry
|
|
Bob B.
Bob the Excel Guru?
Posts: 3,072
|
Post by Bob B. on May 31, 2005 22:55:07 GMT -4
My favorite moments are the ones I can best recall from living through it (I was 10-14 during the time). The things that stand out for me are:
- Apollo 8; the broadcast on Christmas Eve and their reading from Genesis.
- Apollo 11; the lunar descent and landing followed by Neil's first steps on the surface.
- Apollo 13; all the improvisation and the relief following a safe return.
|
|
|
|
Post by DaveC on Jun 3, 2005 13:38:41 GMT -4
For me, in no particular order:
-the Apollo 11 landing
-the whole post-explosion Apollo 13 saga
-the first televised liftoff from the Moon (Apollo 15)
But I can remember a hundred other things that impressed the hell out of me, too. Apollo X - which few people think much about - had me wondering what I'd have done if I were the LM pilot. It must have been awfully tempting to send a "Houston, we have a problem" message during Snoopy's descent to 30,000 feet and have the chance to be the first on the Moon. Maybe someone knows - did the Apollo X LM carry sufficient fuel to land - and was the ascent stage fueled just in case there was a forced landing?
|
|
|
|
Post by Obviousman on Jun 4, 2005 0:31:55 GMT -4
IIRC, the LM was actually too heavy to land safely with it's fuel load.
|
|
|
|
Post by chrishead on Jun 28, 2005 5:54:05 GMT -4
Favourite moments, hmmm...
Apollo 8 deffinitely. I remember just imagining how awestruck I was thinking about a comment from one of the astronauts. It was the one about stretching an arm out with a thumb raised, and finding all of humanity and basically everything one knowns, to be covered by that thumbnail. That was what struck home to me at the time about the emormity of space travel. Nothing has ever quite matched that moment to me.
Other moments of course, Apollo 11 landing, and the entire world holding its breath.
Apollo 17 sent back some stunning pictures! I was doing a Geology O level course (amongst my A levels) at the time so I was spellbound!
Apollo 13, all the way from "Houston, we have a problem!" to the emotion at re-entry and beginning to think the worst (that 3 minutes (?? seemed like hours) must have been one of the longest of my, and probably many people's lives) and then final relief when we saw the parachutes open and then spalshdown and recovery! I only felt total relief when they stepped out on deck of the carrier!
|
|
|
|
Post by ottawan on Jun 29, 2005 14:55:42 GMT -4
Alan Shepard's "It's been a long way, but we're here."
|
|
|
|
Post by gtvc on Nov 13, 2011 13:11:39 GMT -4
Aldrin punched Bart Sibrel ;D its my favorite moment, Im kidding ;D I like to see the pictures of the moon missions and the films its incredible, is cool to see the astronauts driving cars on the moon going to different places on the moon a rock that is very far looks small and they come closer and the rock is very big. I think the networks should bring the high definition versions of this missions to the media I know the dvds are already on the market. Is me or Tv was more optimistic in the apollo time?  networks give to many ours to conspiracy shows of all kind  everybody is afraid of everything today, the sun, the food, the neighbor. |
|
|
|
Post by ka9q on Nov 14, 2011 0:57:30 GMT -4
IIRC, the LM was actually too heavy to land safely with it's fuel load. Actually, Snoopy could have landed safely but it could not have made it back to orbit. To save weight, the ascent propellant tanks were not completely filled because the rest of the LM was overweight. So yes, Stafford and Cernan could have been the first to land on the moon, but they would also have been the first to die there. |
|
|
|
Post by dwight on Nov 15, 2011 14:51:00 GMT -4
My favourite moment: When the B&W TV images flicker to life on Apollo 11. Followed closely by the Apollo 17 LM launch.
|
|
|
|
Post by zakalwe on Nov 28, 2011 8:44:04 GMT -4
IIRC, the LM was actually too heavy to land safely with it's fuel load. Actually, Snoopy could have landed safely but it could not have made it back to orbit. To save weight, the ascent propellant tanks were not completely filled because the rest of the LM was overweight. So yes, Stafford and Cernan could have been the first to land on the moon, but they would also have been the first to die there. Could it even land? I thought that it did not have the full Luminary software suite onboard (it had Luminary 1, Apollo 11 had Luminary 1A). IIRC Luminary 1 was missing some crucial routines that were necessary for a landing?? |
|
|
|
Post by ka9q on Nov 29, 2011 10:48:46 GMT -4
Good question - I don't know if Snoopy had the full software load. Considering the lead time required to debug the code and manufacture the core ropes, I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't there. Good point.
|
|
|
|
Post by echnaton on Nov 29, 2011 15:04:35 GMT -4
I recall that in The Last Man on the Moon Cernan passed on the story that Snoopy could have landed but was too heavy to return to orbit.
[playdor]So either Cernan was a liar for saying that or the whole program was fake and Cernan was a liar for saying Challenger landed on the moon. What do ya think of those beans. Huh![/playdor]
|
|
raven
Jupiter
That ain't Earth, kiddies.
Posts: 509
|
Post by raven on Nov 30, 2011 1:47:58 GMT -4
I wasn't alive for this like some of you gents.
I was born the same year of the Challenger disaster, if rather later in the year. There was some moments I do like looking back on it that show the more human side to the astronauts and not just as they heroes they also are.
For example, the alternate patch made by the backup crew of Apollo 14 and liberally distributed throughout both the CSM and LM.
"'Beep, beep', my ass!" indeed.
Another notable example is the rather adult and ribald inclusions into the Apollo 12 checklists.
|
|
|
|
Post by ka9q on Nov 30, 2011 7:37:54 GMT -4
I only learned about one of my now-favorite exchanges fairly recently when I read about it in "Return to Earth". The Apollo 11 crew was preparing to execute the TEI burn to return to earth when Collins wanted to double-check the CSM's attitude. As he pointed out to Aldrin and Armstrong, "I want to make sure that we're going forward. It is really important that we be going forward", adding "There is only one really bad mistake you can make here", which I took to be accidentally executing the TEI burn with the CSM facing rearwards. (I worked it out - they would have impacted the far side before AOS and the world would never have known what happened.)
At this point the whole crew gets a bit silly; Aldrin works out the direction of a rocket's thrust from first principles: "Let's see. The engine bell is that-a-way, the hot gases go out that-a-way, resulting in thrust this-a-way".
I found this exchange very believable and amusing because it captured the black sense of humor that many pilots seem to have. I guess it's how they cope with there being any number of possible mistakes that would be their last. Because the exchange was captured on the tape recorder during LOS, it also showed the more human side of the astronauts rather than the formal, self-conscious image they always had to project when they knew the world was listening.
|
|
|
|
Post by chrlz on Nov 30, 2011 8:18:00 GMT -4
My favourite moment: When the B&W TV images flicker to life on Apollo 11. Followed closely by the Apollo 17 LM launch. Same. I vividly remember watching as a kid, trying to work out what the heck the image was.. and then the ahah moment when they upsided the image! And cheers to Ed Fendell for finally getting it right, just in time.. |
|
networks give to many ours to conspiracy shows of all kind 
everybody is afraid of everything today, the sun, the food, the neighbor.
