Original subtitles

NASA ADMIN: OK, are there any changes to the schedule? Arnie?

ARNIE: Line item seven, which is shown for all day,

all of first shift Tuesday.

The tank pressurization test will not start until 13:00.

NASA ADMIN: When do you want to run the leak check?

ARNIE: First shift Tuesday.

NASA ADMIN: Arnie, you going to extend that time out for five hours

by cutting it off in the front end of that LH2 storage tank pressurization?

ARNIE: Negative.

WALTER CRONKITE: It's three hours and 32 minutes

until man begins the greatest adventure in his history.

If all goes well, Apollo 11 astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins

are to lift off from Pad 39A out there

on the voyage man always has dreamed about.

So it is now, before they go,

as their gleaming vehicle sits poised and peaceful out there,

that there is time, if only briefly in this busy morning,

to think of those three men,

and the burdens and the hopes that they carry on behalf of all mankind.

And boring through the vastness, the blackness, and the cold of space,

they'll carry the pledge made eight years ago by President Kennedy

to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely in this decade.

ARMSTRONG: Each segment of the mission, every individual piece,

has to be completed perfectly

in order for the next step to be possible.

And of course the nation itself is backing us,

so we just sincerely hope that we measure up to that.

COLLINS: The whole Apollo program was designed

to get two Americans to the lunar surface and back again to Earth safely.

The enormity of this event

is something that only history will be able to judge.

ALDRIN: Apollo 11 has very simply been given the mission

of carrying men to the moon,

landing them there, and bringing them safely back.

CRONKITE: For in addition to the mission the three astronauts will perform,

and the experiments they'll undertake,

these men will carry with them many other things,

many things that are not nearly so easy to describe.

During the planned Apollo 11 journey,

we'll be concerned with such things as mid-course corrections and docking,

the astronauts, of course, will be concerned with very much more.

The flight of Apollo 11 is to be the culmination

of a national effort and the most difficult, most dangerous mission

ever attempted since this country, and the Russians,

started sending men into space.

38-year-old civilian Neil Alden Armstrong

is to become the first human being to touch the moon.

Aldrin will follow just 20 minutes later.

But Armstrong will take that first step.

The mission of Apollo 11,

a journey certainly for the history books.

The beginning of man's greatest adventure,

leaving this planet to set foot on the moon.

- CBTS 111: FLIGHT, CBTS 111. - FLIGHT: Go ahead.

CBTS 111: Verify Go/No Go for start automatic launch sequence.

FLIGHT: Verify Go.

- CBTS: Copy. - LAUNCH CONTROLLER: 561 verify.

CS18, spacecraft ready switch on.

Switch is on. Verify light.

Roger, 560. Verify.

All stations stand by to give a crew departure status at this time.

- CBTS to CTSS 111. - Go CTSS.

- LAUNCH CONTROLLER: CBTS. - CBTS: Go.

- LC: DNS. - Go.

- LC: STS. - Go.

- LC: FTS. - Go.

- LC: RTS. - Go.

- LC: Eight. - Eight. Go.

- LC: OK. BSC. - Go.

LC: Verify elevator number one at elevator number two

at 320-foot level.

320-foot level, verify.

214.

Roger, you're go for crew departure.

214.

Roger, you're go for crew departure.

Affirmative. Go.

CRONKITE: The dawn of this day heralded the dawning of a new age.

It's a time of exhilaration,

reflection, hope, fulfillment,

as a centuries-old dream starts toward reality.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER: This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control.

T minus three hours, four minutes, 32 seconds and counting,

right on time as far as the astronaut countdown is concerned,

the prime crew now departing from their crew quarters

here at the Kennedy Space Center.

Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and then finally Mike Collins,

plus their suit technicians

and Director of Flight Crew Operations, Deke Slayton,

now boarding the transfer van for the trip to the launch pad.

The trip in the transfer van should take some 15 minutes or so

to reach the pad,

at which time the astronauts will board the first of two elevators

for the trip to the 320-foot level at the launch pad,

where they will then proceed to ingress the spacecraft.

We logged the departure from the building at about 6:27 a.m.

Eastern Daylight Time.

The transfer van now departing from the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building

at the Kennedy Space Center on the start of its eight-mile trip

to Launch Pad A here at complex 39

where the Saturn V launch vehicle, now fully loaded with propellants,

going through preliminary checkouts.

This is Launch Control.

We passed 10,000-odd cars estimated parked around the gate 1 area

at four a.m. when we got here. Cars from every state,

with little kids staring wide-eyed at the Saturn V

glowing in the huge xenon spotlight 15 miles away,

and we saw teenagers with telescopes.

It was the very same road we came over eight long years ago,

21 manned space flights ago.

When we came out at just about the same hour to cover Alan Shepard's 15...

...America's first manned spaceflight. Americans cared then, I think.

This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control.

T minus two hours, 45 minutes, 55 seconds and counting.

As the prime crew for Apollo 11,

astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin Aldrin

are on the terminal part of their trip to the launch pad, in the transfer van.

It's now making the curve toward the pad.

We have discovered a problem at the launch pad itself

as the crew is about to arrive.

We have a leak in a valve located in a system

associated with replenishing liquid hydrogen for the third stage

of the Saturn V launch vehicle.

We have sent a team of three technicians and a safety man to the pad

and these technicians are now tightening bolts around the valve.

- CLTS: CLTC, this is CLTS. - CLTC: Go ahead.

CLTS: We have a leak on the S-IVB N valve.

We have it in the override closed position, to see if it'll get better.

It seems to be getting worse.

CLTC: Roger, which camera is that available on?

CLTS: It's on camera 18.

TECHNICIAN: Camera 18, you can see the men working on the hydrogen leak.

PA OFFICER: Once the technicians depart

we will send hydrogen again through this system

to assure that the leak has been corrected.

The astronauts now coming up toward the pad itself,

as the crew of several technicians at the 200-foot level

proceed to tighten some bolts around a leaking valve.

The astronaut team which has just arrived at the pad,

the transfer van now backing up toward the elevator.

In a matter of five minutes or so,

we'll be ready for the spacecraft commander Neil Armstrong

to come across the sill at the 320-foot level.

That is our status at two hours, 43 minutes, 47 seconds and counting.

This is Launch Control.

- CBTS: MSTC, CBTS 111. - MSTC: Go ahead.

- CBTS: Astros proceeding to 320. - MSTC: Understand.

We'll get the camera.

OK, Günter, you can hit the switch on the camera.

A2: LOAM, this is A2. IAS.

GÜNTER: Roger, camera has been activated.

MSTC: CBTS MSTC, the swing arm camera is on.

CBTS: CBTS copies.

GÜNTER: The crew's approaching the door.

MSTC: OK, babe.

PA OFFICER: This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control.

We've just passed the two hour, 21 minute mark in our countdown

and we are proceeding at this time.

At the 320-foot level, all three astronauts now aboard the spacecraft.

Just a few minutes ago,

astronaut Buzz Aldrin came in and took the center seat

to join Neil Armstrong on the left and Mike Collins on the right.

These are the positions they will fly at liftoff.

120 feet down, the work continues on a leaky valve at the 200-foot level,

the technicians still hard at work tightening bolts

around that valve at this time.

STC: CDR, STC. How do you read?

ARMSTRONG: STC, loud and clear.

- STC: Good morning, Neil. - ARMSTRONG: Good morning.

STC: Welcome aboard.

CMP, STC. How do you read?

ALDRIN: STC, CMP. Loud and clear.

STC: Good morning, Buzz.

ALDRIN: Morning. How are you gentlemen?

STC: Just fine, thank you.

GÜNTER: Let me make a last check here. CDR, LMP and CMP,

are you ready for hatch close and do you need any adjustment on your straps?

ALDRIN: LMP's happy.

GÜNTER: Roger. OK, good luck.

ARMSTRONG: Thank you, Günter.

ALDRIN: See you around, Günter.

STC: All right, pad leader, let's proceed.

GÜNTER: Roger, we're proceeding with closing the hatch.

STC: Roger.

GÜNTER: Sequence 441, the CM hatch is closed.

STC: Roger.

PA OFFICER: The hatch is closed

and we're beginning to purge the cabin to bring it...

...to the proper atmosphere for launch

which is a combination of oxygen and nitrogen,

60% oxygen and 40% nitrogen atmosphere.

Of course the astronauts themselves are breathing pure oxygen

through their space suits.

Coming up shortly will be another key test in which both the launch crew

for the launch vehicle crew and the spacecraft team

combine together with commander Neil Armstrong

to make a thorough check of the emergency detection system.

This is the system that will signal the astronauts in the cabin

if anything goes wrong below them.

We use the ground-based computer to accomplish this test.

It will take some 30 minutes.

Neil Armstrong will be doing most of the work in the spacecraft,

responding as different cue lights

signifying different difficulties are presented to him.

Our countdown continuing, this is Kennedy Launch Control.

RADIO ANNOUNCER: This is reserved for Vice President Agnew

and former President Johnson

who have not arrived yet.

Beyond that, NASA officials. 5,000 guests in all,

including some 400 Congressmen

and members of the Supreme Court, the presidential cabinet.

The NASA official who escorted us over to this site today

called it a Roman circus.

We all know that NASA has cooperation agreement with over 60 countries.

PA OFFICER: T minus 61 minutes on the Apollo 11 countdown

and all elements are go at this time.

Here in the firing room,

the launch vehicle test team still keeping a close eye

on the status of the propellants aboard the Saturn V launch vehicle.

This problem with the leaking valve is no problem at this time.

We've actually bypassed the valve,

but we are maintaining our hydrogen supply aboard the vehicle.

That big swing arm that has been attached to the spacecraft up to now,

will be moved back now, in five seconds, the swing arm will come back.

Mark.

CSA 9: CBTS, this is CSA 9. Arm nine is retracted.

CBTS: CBTS copy.

PA OFFICER OVER TANNOY: Fourth test with the launch vehicle,

checking out the various batteries

in the three stages of the instrument unit in the Saturn V.

We remain on external power through most of the count

to preserve those batteries which must be used during the powered flight.

We're just taking a look at them by going internal

and then switching back to external again. The batteries are removed.

The next time we go internal

will be at the 50-second mark with those batteries.

They will remain of course on internal power during the flight.

14 minutes, 30 seconds and counting.

All still going well with the countdown at this time.

For status report, we'll now switch to Mission Control Houston.

This is Apollo Mission Control.

Flight Director Cliff Charlesworth's team is on station here

in the Mission Operations Control Room,

ready to assume the control of this flight at tower clearance.

FLIGHT DIRECTOR: Flight controllers, coming up on auto sequence.

- BOOSTER, how are you? - We're go, FLIGHT.

- FD: EECOM? - Go, flight.

- FD: GNC? - Go, flight.

- FD: TELCOM? - Go, FLIGHT.

- FD: CONTROL. - Go.

- FD: NETWORK? Got her, Dale? - That's affirmative, FLIGHT.

CBTS: Mission Director, CBTS 111, verify go for launch.

MD: Go for launch.

PA OFFICER: We passed the six-minute mark in our countdown for Apollo 11,

now five minutes, 52 seconds and counting.

- FD: BOOSTER. - CBTS: CTSF, verify go for launch.

- CTSF: CTSF verifies go for launch. - CBTS: CTSC verify go for launch.

FD: BOOSTER, FLIGHT.

- CBTS: SRO verify go for launch. - SRO: SRO verifies go for launch.

- CBTS: LM verify go for launch. - LM: LM go for launch.

CBTS: Go for launch.

PA OFFICER: We have some 7.6 million pounds of thrust

pushing the vehicle upward,

a vehicle that weighs close to six and a half million pounds.

This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control, T minus one minute, 35 seconds

on the Apollo mission, the flight to land the first men on the moon.

Apollo 11, this is Launch Operations Manager.

The launch team wishes you good luck and Godspeed.

ARMSTRONG: Sure has been a nice smooth countdown.

ALDRIN: Thank you, babe. LMP...

PA OFFICER: T minus 60 seconds and counting. We've passed T minus 60...

55 seconds and counting.

Neil Armstrong just reported back it's been a real smooth countdown.

We've passed the 50-second mark.

Power transfer is complete,

and on internal power with the launch vehicle at this time.

40 seconds away from the Apollo 11 liftoff.

All the second stage tanks now pressurized. 35 seconds and counting.

We are still go with Apollo 11.

- FD: 30 seconds. - PA OFFICER: 30 seconds and counting.

Astronauts report it feels good. T minus 25 seconds.

20 seconds and counting.

T minus 15 seconds, guidance is internal.

12, 11,

ten, nine.

Ignition sequence starts.

Liftoff! We have a liftoff. 32 minutes past the hour, liftoff on Apollo 11.

- FC: Clear the tower. - PA OFFICER: Tower clear!

ARMSTRONG: Roger, we got a roll program.

PA OFFICER: Neil Armstrong reporting the roll and pitch program

which puts Apollo 11 on a proper heading.

ARMSTRONG: One bravo.

PA OFFICER: One bravo is a abort control mode.

Altitude's two miles.

CAPCOM: Apollo 11, Houston. You're good at one minute.

ARMSTRONG: Roger.

PA OFFICER: We're through the region of maximum dynamic pressure now.

FLIGHT DIRECTOR: Yeah, everything looks good here.

CAPCOM: 11, Houston. Your guidance is converged, you're looking good.

FLIGHT DIRECTOR: We're 1350 at the start, Bob.

PA OFFICER: Eight miles downrange, 12 miles high.

Velocity 4,000 feet per second.

FIDO: Stand by for Mode One Charlie.

CAPCOM: Stand by for Mode One Charlie.

- FIDO: Mark. - CAPCOM: Mark, Mode One Charlie.

- FD: Staging... BOOSTER. - BOOSTER: Go.

- FD: FIDO. - Go.

- FD: GUIDANCE. - Go.

FD: Good for staging.

PA OFFICER: Cliff Charlesworth taking a staging status.

CAPCOM: Apollo 11, this is Houston, you are go for staging.

PA OFFICER: CAPCOM Bruce McCandless

giving the reports here from the control center.

ARMSTRONG: Staging...

and ignition.

FC: Cut-off, ignition. Thrust is go all engines.

FD: Looks good, CAPCOM.

CAPCOM: Apollo, Houston. Thrust is go all engines. You're looking good.

ARMSTRONG: We've got skirt sep.

- CAPCOM: Roger, we confirm skirt sep. - ARMSTRONG: Roger.

- ARMSTRONG: Tower's gone. - CAPCOM: Roger. Tower's gone.

PA OFFICER: Neil Armstrong confirming both the engine skirt separation

and the launch escape tower separation.

Downrange 270 miles, altitude 82 miles.

FIDO: Stand by for S-IVB to COI capability.

CAPCOM: Stand by for S-IVB to COI capability.

ARMSTRONG: OK.

- FIDO: Mark. - CAPCOM: S-IVB to COI capability.

ARMSTRONG: Roger.

ARMSTRONG: Houston be advised, the visual is go today.

CAPCOM: This is Houston, roger that.

PA OFFICER: Altitude is 100 miles, downrange 883 miles.

Outboard engine cut off.

ARMSTRONG: And ignition.

CAPCOM: Ignition confirmed, thrust is go, 11.

PA OFFICER: And we have a good third stage now.

Velocity 23,128 feet per second,

downrange 1,000 miles, altitude 101 miles.

CAPCOM: Apollo 11, this is Houston. At ten minutes, you are go.

ARMSTRONG: And roger 11 go.

- FIDO: FLIGHT, FIDO, we are go. - FLIGHT DIRECTOR: Confirmed go.

CAPCOM: Apollo 11, this is Houston. You are confirmed go for orbit.

ARMSTRONG: Roger.

PA OFFICER: We have a report on the launch heart rates now

from the flight surgeon.

Commander Neil Armstrong, 110.

Command Module Pilot Mike Collins, 99.

Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin, 88.

FIDO: FLIGHT, FIDO, we'll have some radar in shortly.

PA OFFICER: The flight dynamics officer, Dave Reed, will report a refined orbit

after more radar tracking.

CAPCOM: Apollo 11, this is Houston.

The booster has been configured for orbital coast.

Both spacecraft are looking good, over.

ARMSTRONG: Roger.

D'you want some of these lights down further, Mark? Mike?

COLLINS: Don't worry about it for the time being,

I'm potting around with handholds right now, Neil.

CAPCOM: Apollo 11, this is Houston through Tananarive, over.

ALDRIN: Hello, Houston, Apollo 11. Go ahead.

CAPCOM: For your information,

Canary radar shows you in a 103.0 by 103.0 orbit, over.

ALDRIN: Beautiful.

CAPCOM: You'll be AOS at Goldstone at 1:29:02,

LOS at Goldstone, 1:33:55, over.

ALDRIN: Roger.

PA OFFICER: This is Apollo Control at one hour, 51 minutes.

Moving across the Atlantic now towards Africa.

And on the next revolution,

the spacecraft will be accelerating to the required speed

to get it into an orbit that'll intercept the moon

during the trans-lunar injection maneuver,

the burn with the Saturn third stage

that will place the spacecraft on its trajectory toward the moon.

FD: Go/No Go for TLI. GUIDANCE.

- FD: GNC. - GNC: We're go, FLIGHT.

FD: EECOM.

- EECOM: We're go. - FD: FIDO.

- FIDO: We're go. - FD: RETRO.

- RETRO: Go, FLIGHT. - FD: OK, CAPCOM.

CAPCOM: Apollo 11, this is Houston. You are go for TLI, over?

ARMSTRONG: Apollo 11, thank you.

CAPCOM: We just got telemetry back on here, BOOSTER, and everything is go.

ARMSTRONG: Roger, everything looks good here.

PA OFFICER: We're showing present altitude about 108 nautical miles.

We expect to be at an altitude of 177 nautical miles at cut-off.

ARMSTRONG: We're just coming into the terminator here.

COLLINS: Ignition.

BOOSTER: We have ignition, FLIGHT.

- FD: Roger. - BOOSTER: We're go. Thrust is go.

CAPCOM: We confirm ignition and the thrust is go.

GUIDANCE: Guidance initiate, FLIGHT.

FIDO: FLIGHT. FIDO, radar confirms ignition.

CAPCOM: Trajectory and guidance look good and the stage is good, over.

ALDRIN: Roger, Apollo 11 is go.

PA OFFICER: Telemetry and radar tracking both solid.

- BOOSTER: Cut-off. - FD: Roger.

CAPCOM: We show cut-off and we copy the numbers in noun 62.

ARMSTRONG: Houston, Apollo 11, that Saturn gave us a magnificent ride.

CAPCOM: Roger 11, it certainly looks like you're well on your way now.

PA OFFICER: That was Neil Armstrong praising the launch vehicle.

- FLIGHT FIDO. - FLIGHT: Go.

We finally got some radar data back. Looks good.

We had a good burn. We've got a good flight to the moon coming up.

FD: Roger.

CAPCOM: FLIGHT CAPCOM, you want me to pass up those times?

- FLIGHT: That's affirm. - CAPCOM: OK.

Apollo 11, this is Houston.

For your information, we expect the maneuver to separation attitude

to begin at three plus 05 plus 03.

PA OFFICER: The crew pressing ahead

with their transposition and docking maneuver.

The spacecraft, after having separated the Saturn third stage, turning around,

docking with the lunar module,

extracting the lunar module from the Saturn third stage,

and pushing ahead en route to the moon.

ARMSTRONG: He's a little bit to our right.

ALDRIN: OK, I see him.

ARMSTRONG: We need about a five-degree right,

- we need to stop our... - ALDRIN: OK, let's stop here.

ARMSTRONG: He's pretty far away...

ALDRIN: How long do we want to run this film?

ARMSTRONG: How does he look, Mike?

OK, you got a 100.4 now.

PA OFFICER: It's a very weak signal.

We believe that Mike Collins is now maneuvering the spacecraft.

The antenna patterns aren't too good at the moment.

COLLINS: Flies like a spacecraft instead of a simulator.

CAPCOM: Apollo 11, this is Houston broadcasting in the blind,

request Omni Bravo if you read us, out.

ALDRIN: When a little piece of something hits the...

What do you call that covering?

The whole LM quivers every so often.

All the surface of it, you know, shakes like that.

Just in one spot; it's not being hit.

Stand by, we're close.

ALDRIN: Hey, Houston, Apollo 11, all 12 latches are locked.

PA OFFICER: Buzz Aldrin reporting that all 12 of the latches

in the docking mechanism have locked.

ARMSTRONG: Houston, we're ready for LM ejection.

We are sep'd, we have a cryo press light.

COLLINS: Houston, Apollo 11, we've completed our maneuver.

CAPCOM: Houston, roger out.

PA OFFICER: This is Apollo Control at six hours, 16 minutes into the mission.

Velocity now 11,479 feet per second.

Apollo 11's distance from Earth, 27,938 nautical miles.

CAPCOM is now Charlie Duke

and Gene Kranz and his white team of flight controllers

is preparing to take over the responsibility

from Cliff Charlesworth's team.

COLLINS: The PTC has started now. It looks good to us

and we'll be ready to copy in a minute or two.

Roger, we see it increasing now.

PA OFFICER: The spacecraft will be placed

in the passive thermal control mode,

will be rotated about its X-axis

at a rate of about three revolutions per hour

to maintain proper temperature balance within the spacecraft.

ARMSTRONG: And Houston, you might be interested

that out my left-hand window right now,

I can observe the entire continent of North America,

down to the Yucatan Peninsula, Cuba, and then I run out of window.

COLLINS: I didn't know what I was looking at, but I sure did like it.

CAPCOM: OK.

ALDRIN: I didn't have much outside my window.

CAPCOM: Apollo 11, Houston. We'd like a crew status report.

We're about to tell you goodnight, over.

ALDRIN: Status report is as follows.

Radiation-CDR 11002,

CMP 10002.

LMP 09003.

Negative medications,

fit as a fiddle, over.

CAPCOM: Copy 11, thank you much. You're cleared for some Zees, over.

COLLINS: OK, maybe we'll get around to lunch.

ALDRIN: Morning, Houston, Apollo 11.

CAPCOM: Roger, Apollo 11. Good morning.

PA OFFICER: Goldstone reports they're receiving TV from the spacecraft.

ARMSTRONG: Calling in from about 130,000 miles out.

Hello there, sports fans, you got a little bit of me

plus Neil's on the center couch and Buzz is doing the camera work.

Neil's standing on his head again, he's trying to make me nervous.

CAPCOM: Roger, copy. We see the DSKY flashing with a 651.

ARMSTRONG: We do have a happy home.

There's plenty of room for the three of us.

PA OFFICER: Apollo 11 is presently 131,000 nautical miles from Earth.

The spacecraft slowly rotates to maintain thermal balance.

CAPCOM: It looks like we got a good PTC going.

It's goodnight from the white team, over.

COLLINS: OK, see you tomorrow, thank you for everything.

- CAPCOM: Good morning, Apollo 11. - ALDRIN: Good morning, Houston.

Yeah, I've got the world in my window for a change.

CAPCOM: Sounds like one of these rotating restaurants.

FLIGHT DIRECTOR: OK, all flight controllers,

let's get handed over pretty quickly to the white team here.

We're going to be crawling into the LM shortly.

We're terminating PTC.

NETWORK: FLIGHT NETWORK, we're receiving live TV.

PA OFFICER: Interior view of the command module

looking up into the LM hatch area.

ALDRIN: It's moved, coming down.

ARMSTRONG: We're about to open the hatch.

PA OFFICER: Buzz Aldrin has apparently carried the camera

into the LM with him.

ALDRIN: The vehicle is surprisingly very clean.

CAPCOM: Just a moment ago, we had a good shot of your PLSS, Buzz,

and the two helmet stowage bags,

and now behind, we have the DSKY and the ACA.

ALDRIN: That's about the position we'll be putting the camera in

after the initial descent down the ladder.

It'll be taking one frame a second.

- COLLINS: Hello there, Earthlings. - CAPCOM: Hello there.

ARMSTRONG: Probably the most unusual position a cameraman's ever had,

hanging by his toes from a tunnel and taking a picture upside down.

ALDRIN: We're going to go ahead and take all the loose data

on back into the command module, Charlie.

CAPCOM: Roger.

ARMSTRONG: And we're going to turn our TV monitor off now

while we have some other work to do. Apollo 11, signing off.

CAPCOM: Apollo 11, Houston.

As the sun sinks slowly in the west, the white team bids you goodnight.

ALDRIN: You earned your pay today, Charlie.

CAPCOM: Rog, goodnight all.

NEWSCASTER: The government has succeeded in harnessing the resources

of the government, the scientific community, the universities...

Now let's take a few minutes to review what else had been going on

around the world while Apollo 11 has held our attention.

The lull in the ground fighting in Vietnam is now in its fifth week

with only one incident reported from the battlefield so far today

and that one described as minor.

Police Chief Dominick Arena who filed a formal complaint,

charging Senator Edward Kennedy with leaving the scene of the accident

that took the life of Mary Jo Kopechne, a passenger in the Senator's car.

Kennedy, who suffered a slight concussion in the accident,

remains in seclusion near the family compound at Hyannis Port.

- FOA: FD1 FAO. - FD1: Go ahead.

FAO: You hear that story about Ted Kennedy? Did y'all hear about that?

That was the biggest story on the news.

FD1: Yeah, yeah, they'd forgotten about Apollo for Ted Kennedy.

CAPCOM: GNC, this is CAPCOM on MOCR 1.

GNC: Go ahead.

Have your people plotted pressure in that bottle versus time,

so we could take a look at it?

GNC: I don't think they've got it yet, they're testing work, CAPCOM.

OK, give me a call when that comes up. we'd like to take a look at it

- on one of the screens. - GNC: Rog.

ALDRIN: Morning again, Houston. This is Apollo 11.

CAPCOM: Roger 11, good morning.

Your systems are looking good from down here.

COLLINS: Looks good up here too, Bruce.

PA OFFICER: Deke Slayton, Director of Flight Crew Operations

and two members of the backup crew, Bill Anders, Jim Lovell,

have joined Bruce McCandless at the CAPCOM console.

Apollo 11, this is Houston, over.

ALDRIN: Roger, go ahead, Houston. Apollo 11.

11, this is Houston.

If Mike has a mask,

he's lost respiration rates on the biomed telemetry.

ALDRIN: Well, he was shaving a little bit ago. He might have...

CAPCOM: OK, Mike, we had a request that you check the two electrodes

that are placed one on each side of your lower ribcage, over.

COLLINS: All those wires and things look normal up here.

CAPCOM: Roger, Mike, we can see variations on our trace

as you connected and disconnected,

but the medics still don't have a signal.

COLLINS: I promise to let you know if I stop breathing.

PA OFFICER: Coming up in less than ten seconds now,

we'll be crossing into the sphere of influence of the moon

at this point as the moon's gravitational force

becomes the dominant effect on the spacecraft trajectory

and our displays will shift from Earth reference to moon reference.

The spacecraft was at a distance of 186,437 nautical miles from Earth

and 33,822 nautical miles from the moon.

All spacecraft systems are functioning normally.

The mission going very smoothly.

ARMSTRONG: View of the moon that we've been having's really spectacular.

The sun right behind the edge of the moon now.

The solar corona.

ALDRIN: The sky is lit all the way around the moon, quite an eerie sight.

There's a very marked three-dimensional aspect of having the sun's corona

coming from behind the moon the way it is.

ARMSTRONG: It's a view worth the price of the trip.

PA OFFICER: Mother Earth is 206,059 nautical miles behind.

Coming up on the lunar orbit insertion burn

in which the spacecraft will start its initial orbit around the moon.

That maneuver will slow the spacecraft down considerably

from its present velocity.

It should come from behind the east face of the moon 33 minutes later.

ARMSTRONG: Yeah, the moon is there, boy, in all its splendor.

COLLINS: Hello, moon, how's your old backside?

CAPCOM: All your systems are looking good going around the corner.

We'll see you on the other side, over.

PA OFFICER: The loss of signal as Apollo 11 goes behind the moon.

- COLLINS: Servo power one to AC1. - ALDRIN: Two to AC two.

ARMSTRONG: Two to AC2.

ALDRIN: Translational control power on.

COLLINS: Translational control power is on.

ALDRIN: Hand controller number two armed.

COLLINS: Hand controller number two is armed. 99.

99.

ARMSTRONG: Proceed.

COLLINS: Got B mode.

ARMSTRONG: Burning, we're looking good.

COLLINS: Here comes B-B, I mean, thrust A. Mark.

- ALDRIN: Got them. - COLLINS: Both?

ARMSTRONG: Now what's your chamber pressure?

COLLINS: It's good. It's 95.

ALDRIN: PUGS is oscillating around.

ARMSTRONG: OK, we're steering.

ALDRIN: 95 seconds in, it says go decrease... and hold on.

COLLINS: Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three...

ARMSTRONG: Shut down.

ALDRIN: Ball valves closed. Barber Pole.

ARMSTRONG: That was a beautiful burn.

COLLINS: Goddamn, I guess. 170 by 60. Like gangbusters! Whoo!

PA OFFICER: 30 seconds from acquisition time.

COLLINS: Well, I have to vote with the ten crew, that thing is brown.

ALDRIN: Yep. Sure is.

ARMSTRONG: Looks tan to me, but when I first saw it at that other sun angle,

it really looked gray.

ALDRIN: More sun angle you get...

COLLINS: More brown with increasing sun angle.

ALDRIN: God, that's a big beauty.

Gigantic crater, look at the mountains going around it.

My gosh, they're monsters.

That is a big mother over here, too.

ARMSTRONG: Whoo! Get another picture of that big fella.

ALDRIN: Look at those craters in a row. You see them going right out there?

There it is, it's coming up!

- COLLINS: What? - ALDRIN: The Earth. See it?

Just beautiful! Right over the LM.

Boy, does that ever look beautiful in the sextant.

CAPCOM: Apollo 11, Apollo 11, this is Houston, do you read?

ALDRIN: Yeah, we sure do, Houston.

LOI 1 burn just nominal as all get out and everything looking good.

It was like perfect.

ARMSTRONG: Delta-Tig zero, burn time 5:57... 60.9 by 169.9.

PA OFFICER: That burn report was by Neil Armstrong.

CAPCOM: Roger, we copy you.

The spacecraft is looking good to us on telemetry.

PA OFFICER: Apollo 11 on its first lunar revolution.

ALDRIN: You got a good view there, Neil?

ARMSTRONG: Yeah, I sure do.

COLLINS: It's beautiful out there.

ARMSTRONG: TPI approach. This is really something. You ought to look at this.

You want to watch our approach into the landing site,

you want to watch it right through this window. We're coming over.

We just passed Mount Marilyn, we're coming up on the Maskelyne series here,

straight out ahead.

PA OFFICER: 80 hours, 48 minutes now into the flight of Apollo 11.

Astronaut Charles Duke has arrived on the scene.

- DUKE: Hey, Dave? - REED: Yeah.

What put us four minutes ahead?

REED: We arrived at the moon four minutes early.

Speaks well for the BOOSTER.

Well, no sh...

CAPCOM: 11, that really winds things up as far as we're concerned on the ground

for the evening. We're ready to go to bed and get a little sleep, over.

ALDRIN: Yeah, we're about to join you.

CRONKITE: This is of course the great day for mankind

when we leave our planet Earth and set foot on the moon.

So on this historic day, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin

are in their Lunar Module, in their spacesuits.

On this next pass, they are preparing to undock.

PA OFFICER: Both spacecraft looking very good at this time.

The following revolution, revolution 13, Armstrong and Aldrin,

they will undock from the Command and Service Module.

From which point the powered descent to the lunar surface will be initiated.

CAPCOM: Apollo 11, Houston, we are go for undocking, over.

ALDRIN: Roger, understand.

ARMSTRONG: We're all set when you are, Mike.

COLLINS: OK, here you go. See you later.

ARMSTRONG: See you.

ALDRIN: Looks like a good sep.

ARMSTRONG: Roger. Eagle's undocked.

ALDRIN: The Eagle has wings.

ARMSTRONG: It's looking good.

COLLINS: Thrusting.

OK, Eagle. One minute till Tig. You guys take care.

ARMSTRONG: See you later.

FD: OK, all flight controllers, Go/No Go for powered descent.

- RETRO. - Go.

- FIDO. - Go.

- GUIDANCE. - Go.

- CONTROL. - Go.

- TELCOM. - Go.

- GNC. - Go.

- EECOM. - Go.

- SURGEON. - Go.

CAPCOM, we're go for powered descent.

CAPCOM: Eagle, Houston. If you read, you are go for powered descent, over.

ARMSTRONG: Descent armed.

ALDRIN: Altitude light's on.

ARMSTRONG: We will proceed.

ALDRIN: Proceed. One. Zero.

Ignition. Ten percent.

CAPCOM: Eagle, we got you now. It's looking good, over.

ALDRIN: Rate of descent looking good.

CAPCOM: EAGLE, Houston. Everything's looking good here, over.

ALDRIN: Roger, copy.

Houston, we're getting a little fluctuation in the AC voltage now.

CAPCOM: Roger.

- TELCOM: It's OK, FLIGHT. - CAPCOM: Stand by. Looking good to us.

You're still looking good at coming up three minutes.

ARMSTRONG: OK, we went by the three-minute point early.

We're long.

Our position checks down range show us to be a little long.

CAPCOM: Roger, copy.

FC: He thinks you're a little bit long downrange.

FD: I think we confirmed that.

- GUIDANCE: We confirm that. - FD: Rog.

ALDRIN: Altitude rate looks right down the groove.

ARMSTRONG: Roger, about three seconds long, rolling over.

FD: OK, all flight controllers, I'm going around the horn.

ARMSTRONG: Watch that signal strength.

FD: Make your Go/No Goes based on the data you had prior to LOS.

I see we got it back. Give you another few seconds.

CONTROL: We're yawing.

- FD: OK, RETRO. - Go.

- FD: FIDO. - Go.

- FD: GUIDANCE. - Go.

- FD: CONTROL. - Go.

- FD: TELCOM. - Go.

- FD: GNC. - Go.

- FD: EECOM. - Go.

- FD: SURGEON - Go.

FD: CAPCOM, we're go to continue PDI.

CAPCOM: Eagle, Houston, you are go to continue...

ALDRIN: OK, the ED Batts are go at four minutes.

FD: Did you get that, TELCOM, ED Batts are go.

CAPCOM: You are go to continue powered descent,

you are go to continue powered descent.

And Eagle, Houston. We had data dropout. You're still looking good.

GUIDANCE: Looks good, FLIGHT. Looks good.

ARMSTRONG: Houston, you're looking at our Delta H.

Program alarm.

It's a 1202.

ALDRIN: 1202.

1202 alarm.

- FC: 1202, what's that? - CAPCOM: 1202 alarm.

GARMAN: It's executive overflow. If it does not occur again, we're fine.

If it has not occurred again, continue.

GUIDANCE: We're go on that, FLIGHT.

- FD: We're go on that alarm? - If it doesn't reoccur we'll be go.

ARMSTRONG: Give us a reading on the 1202 program alarm.

GUIDANCE: We're go.

CAPCOM: Roger, we got you, we're go on that alarm.

ARMSTRONG: Roger.

ALDRIN: Same alarm and it appears to come up when we have a 16/68 up.

CAPCOM: Six plus 25, throttle down. Six plus 25, throttle down.

ARMSTRONG: Throttle down on time.

ALDRIN: You can feel it in here when it throttle's down.

FD: All flight controllers, Go/No Go for landing.

- RETRO. FIDO. GUIDANCE. - Go.

- CONTROL. TELCOM. - Go.

- GNC. EECOM. SURGEON. - Go.

FD: CAPCOM, we're go for landing.

CAPCOM: Eagle, Houston. You're go for landing, over.

ALDRIN: Roger, understand. Go for landing. 3,000 feet. Program alarm.

- 1201. - ARMSTRONG: 1201.

1201 alarm.

- GUIDANCE: Same type, we're go FLIGHT. - CAPCOM: We're go.

ARMSTRONG: Pretty rocky area.

- CONTROL: Attitude hold. - FD: OK, att hold.

ALDRIN: 100 feet, three and half down. Nine forward.

- CAPCOM: We better be quiet, FLIGHT. - FD: Rog.

OK, the only call-outs from now on will be fuel.

- CONTROL: Stand by for 60. - FD: Rog.

- CONTROL: 60. - FD: 60 seconds.

CAPCOM: 60 seconds.

ALDRIN: Lights on.

60 feet down. Two and a half.

65 feet...

ARMSTRONG: OK, Houston, looks like a good area here.

ALDRIN: Looking good, down a half.

Two forward, forward.

That's good.

40 feet down. Two and a half.

Picking up some dust.

30 feet. Two and a half down.

- CONTROL: 30. - FD: 30 seconds.

ALDRIN: Four forward. Drifting to the right a little.

20 feet, down a half, drifting forward just a little bit.

Light.

ARMSTRONG: Contact light.

- Shut down. - ALDRIN: OK, engine stop.

ACA out of detent.

ARMSTRONG: Out of detent. Auto.

ALDRIN: Mode control both auto. Descent engine command override off.

Engine arm off. 413 is in.

ARMSTRONG: Engine arm is off.

CAPCOM: We copy you down, Eagle.

ARMSTRONG: Houston...

Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.

CAPCOM: Roger Twan-Tranquility.

We copy you on the ground.

You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue.

We're breathing again. Thanks a lot.

ARMSTRONG: Thank you. Very smooth touchdown.

ARMSTRONG: Houston, that may have seemed like a very long final phase.

The auto targeting was taking us right into a football field-sized crater,

and it required us flying manually over the rock field

to find a reasonably good area.

CAPCOM: Roger, we copy. It was beautiful from here.

Be advised there are lots of smiling faces in this room

and all over the world, over.

PA OFFICER: We have some heart rates for Neil Armstrong

during that powered descent to the lunar surface.

At the time the burn was initiated, Armstrong's heart rate was 110.

At touchdown on the lunar surface, he had a heart rate of 156

and the heart rate is now in the 90s,

and we do not have biomedical data on Buzz Aldrin.

ARMSTRONG: The hatch is coming open.

PA OFFICER: Hatch reported coming open

at 109 hours, eight minutes, five seconds.

ARMSTRONG: OK, Houston. I'm on the porch.

CAPCOM: Roger, Neil.

ALDRIN: OK, everything's nice and straight in here.

ARMSTRONG: OK, can you pull the door open a little more?

ALDRIN: All right.

ARMSTRONG: Houston, this is Neil, radio check.

CAPCOM: Neil, this is Houston, loud and clear.

Break, break. Buzz this is Houston,

radio check and verify TV circuit breaker in.

ALDRIN: Roger, TV circuit breaker's in. And read you loud and clear.

CAPCOM: Roger.

And we're getting a picture on the TV.

ALDRIN: I hope you got a good picture.

CAPCOM: There's a great deal of contrast in it

and currently it's upside down on our monitor,

but we can make out a fair amount of detail.

ALDRIN: OK.

ARMSTRONG: I'm at the foot of the ladder.

The LM footpads are only...

depressed in the surface about one or two inches,

although the surface appears to be very, very fine grained

as you get close to it, it's almost like a powder.

Ground mass is very fine.

I'm going to step off the LM now.

That's one small step for man,

one giant leap for mankind.

I only go in a small fraction of an inch,

maybe an eighth of an inch,

but I can see the footprints of my boots and the treads

in the fine, sandy particles.

CAPCOM: Neil, this is Houston. We're copying.

ARMSTRONG: There seems to be no difficulty

in moving around as we suspected.

It's even perhaps easier than the simulations

of 1/6th G that we performed

in various simulations on the ground.

The descent engine did not leave a crater of any size.

It has about a one-foot clearance on the ground.

I can see some evidence of rays emanating from the descent engine,

but a very insignificant amount.

CAPCOM: Roger, Neil. We're reading you loud and clear.

We see you getting some pictures and the contingency sample.

ARMSTRONG: Interesting. It's a very soft surface,

but here and there where I plug with the contingency sample collector,

I run into very hard surface

but it appears to be very cohesive material of the same sort.

I'll try to get a rock in here.

CAPCOM: That looks beautiful from here, Neil.

ARMSTRONG: It has a stark beauty all of its own.

It's like much of the high desert of the United States.

It's different, but it's very pretty out here.

- That in the pocket? - ALDRIN: Ah, yeah. Push down.

Got it?

No, it's not all the way in. Push it.

There you go.

ARMSTRONG: Contingency sample is in the pocket.

My oxygen is 81%.

I have no flags and I'm in minimum flow.

ALDRIN: OK. I got the camera going at one frame a second.

Ready for me to come out?

ARMSTRONG: Just stand by a second, I'll move this over the handrail.

ALDRIN: How far are my feet from the...

ARMSTRONG: OK, you're right at the edge of the porch.

ALDRIN: OK, now I want to back up and partially close the hatch,

making sure not to lock it on my way out.

Particularly good thought.

ALDRIN: That's our home for the next couple of hours,

and we want to take good care of it.

ARMSTRONG: You're on... You've got three more steps and then a long one.

ALDRIN: Beautiful view.

ARMSTRONG: Isn't that something? Magnificent sight out here.

ALDRIN: Magnificent desolation.

ARMSTRONG: OK, Houston. I'm going to change lenses on you.

CAPCOM: Roger, Neil.

We're getting a new picture. You can tell it's a longer focal length lens.

ARMSTRONG: For those who haven't read the plaque,

we'll read the plaque that's on the front landing gear of this LM.

"Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969 A.D.

We came in peace for all mankind."

PA OFFICER: Neil Armstrong getting ready to move the TV camera now

out to its panorama position.

ARMSTRONG: I got plenty of cable.

ALDRIN: You got plenty. Plenty more.

CAPCOM: OK, it looks good there, Neil.

ARMSTRONG: OK.

PA OFFICER: One hour seven minutes' time expended.

Buzz is erecting the solar wind experiment now.

ALDRIN: Some of these small depressions through the upper surface of the soil

and about five or six inches of bay.

It breaks loose and moves as if it were caked on the surface

when in fact it really isn't.

COLLINS: Houston, Columbia on high gain, over.

CAPCOM: Columbia, this is Houston reading you loud and clear, over.

COLLINS: Yeah, reading you loud and clear. How's it going?

CAPCOM: Roger, the EVA is progressing beautifully.

They're setting up the flag now.

COLLINS: Great.

CAPCOM: I guess you're about the only person around

that doesn't have TV coverage of the scene.

COLLINS: How is the quality of the TV?

CAPCOM: It's beautiful, Mike. It really is.

They've got the flag up now

and you can see the stars and stripes on the lunar surface.

COLLINS: Beautiful, just beautiful.

CAPCOM: Neil and Buzz. The President of the United States is in his office now

and would like to say a few words to you, over.

ARMSTRONG: That would be an honor.

CAPCOM: Go ahead, Mr. President. This is Houston, out.

NIXON: Hello, Neil and Buzz. I'm talking to you by telephone

from the Oval Room at the White House.

And this certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made

from the White House. I just can't tell you how proud we all are

of what you have done.

For every American this has to be the proudest day of our lives,

and for people all over the world. Because of what you have done,

the heavens have become a part of man's world.

And as you talk to us from the Sea of Tranquility,

it inspires us to redouble our efforts

to bring peace and tranquility to Earth.

For one priceless moment, in the whole history of man,

all the people on this Earth are truly one.

One in their pride in what you have done,

and one in our prayers that you will return safely to Earth.

ARMSTRONG: Thank you, Mr. President.

It's a great honor and privilege for us to be here,

representing not only the United States but men of peace of all nations,

and with interests and curiosity and with the vision for the future.

It's an honor for us to be able to participate here today.

PA OFFICER: Neil's been on the surface an hour now,

Buzz not quite 20 minutes less than that.

Heart rates on both crewmen averaging between 90 and 100.

ARMSTRONG: I don't note any abnormalities in the LM.

Quads seem to be in good shape,

the primary and secondary struts are in good shape,

antennas are all in place.

There's no evidence of problems underneath.

PA OFFICER: The SEQ bay contains the scientific experiments

to be left on the surface of the moon.

ALDRIN: You got us a good area picked out?

PA OFFICER: Aldrin carrying the two experiments.

ARMSTRONG: Straight out on that rise out there is probably as good as any.

ALDRIN: I'm going to have to get on the other side of this rock.

ARMSTRONG: Yeah. The laser reflector is installed, and the bubble's level

and the alignment appears to be good.

PA OFFICER: They've been on their life support systems two hours, 25 minutes.

ALDRIN: Houston, I have the seismic experiment flipped over now

and I'm aligning it with the sun

and all parts of the solar array are clear of the ground now.

PA OFFICER: Buzz Aldrin is collecting a core tube sample.

ALDRIN: It almost looks wet.

ARMSTRONG: Got it! Sampled.

CAPCOM: Neil, this is Houston.

After you've got the core tubes and the solar wind,

anything else that you can throw into the box would be acceptable.

ARMSTRONG: Houston, we've got about I'd say 20 pounds of carefully selected,

if not documented, samples.

CAPCOM: Houston. Roger, well done, out.

ALDRIN: Anything more before I head on up, Bruce?

CAPCOM: Negative, head on up the ladder, Buzz.

ALDRIN: Adios, amigos.

ARMSTRONG: OK.

PA OFFICER: Transferring the sample containers into the LM cabin now.

Unofficial time off the surface at 111:37:32.

ALDRIN: OK, the hatch is closed and latched and verified secure.

ARMSTRONG: OK.

CAPCOM: And we'd like to say from all of us down here in Houston

and really from all of us in all the countries in the entire world,

we think that you've done a magnificent job up there today, over.

ARMSTRONG: Thank you very much.

ALDRIN: It's been a long day.

CAPCOM: Yes, indeed. Get some rest there and have at it tomorrow.

PA OFFICER: Not since Adam has any human known

such solitude as Mike Collins is experiencing

during the 47 minutes of each lunar revolution when he's behind the moon,

while he waits for his comrades to soar with Eagle from Tranquility Base,

and rejoin him for the trip back to Earth.

Collins, with the help of flight controllers

here in Mission Control Center,

has kept the Command Module systems going pocketa, pocketa, pocketa.

CAPCOM: Columbia, Columbia, good morning from Houston.

COLLINS: How's the black team today? All primed and rarin' to go?

CAPCOM: You betcha there, Mike.

Going to keep you a little busy here. Soon as we get the state vector in,

we'd like you to go ahead and do a P52, option three.

And then when you come on around the other side there,

we'll give you some landmark tracking information on the 130.

COLLINS: All right, fine, understand. Thank you.

CAPCOM: Tranquility Base, Houston. How was the resting standing up there?

Did you get a chance to curl up on the engine can?

ALDRIN: Roger. Neil has rigged himself a really good hammock with a waist tether

and he's been lying on the ascent engine cover

and I curled up on the floor, over.

CAPCOM: Roger. Copy, Buzz.

PA OFFICER: Our science support room here in Mission Control Center

reports receiving continuous data

from the passive seismic experiment placed on the lunar surface

last night by the Apollo 11 crew.

Recorded the astronauts' footsteps on the moon

and will probably receive its strongest signal when the ascent engine ignites

and starts Eagle on its way into lunar orbit and rendezvous with Columbia.

- CAPCOM: Tranquility Base, Houston. - ARMSTRONG: Go ahead.

CAPCOM: Roger. Just a reminder here, we want to make sure

you leave the rendezvous radar circuit breakers pulled.

ARMSTRONG: OK.

JIM LOVELL: Eagle and Columbia, this is the backup crew.

Our congratulations on yesterday's performance

and our prayers are with you for the rendezvous, over.

COLLINS: Thank you, Jim.

ARMSTRONG: Thank you, Jim.

PA OFFICER: Almost 5,000 pounds of propellant

will be run through the ascent engine

on the ascent burn which will place Eagle back into lunar orbit

and following that, the rendezvous sequence

completed with the docking at 128 hours approximately.

Flight Operations Director Chris Kraft commented that some 500 million people

around the world were helping push Eagle off the moon and back into orbit.

Flight Director Glynn Lunney is polling the various positions

here in the control room on their readiness.

- FD: FIDO, status. - FIDO: Got it all. Go.

FD: GUIDANCE.

GUIDANCE: Waiting for guidance steering at two minutes.

- FD: CONTROL. - CONTROL: We're go, FLIGHT.

- FD: TELCOM. - Go, FLIGHT.

- FD: SURGEON. - Go, FLIGHT.

GUIDANCE: We see it, FLIGHT. Looks good.

CAPCOM: Tranquility Base, Houston.

ARMSTRONG: Roger, go ahead.

CAPCOM: Roger, Eagle's looking real fine to us down here

and you're cleared for takeoff.

ALDRIN: Roger, understand. We're number one the runway.

PA OFFICER: GUIDANCE reports both navigation systems on Eagle

are looking good.

ALDRIN: Nine, eight, seven, six,

five, abort stage, engine arm. Ascent. Proceed.

ARMSTRONG: The Eagle has wings.

ALDRIN: Stand by for pitchover. Very smooth.

ARMSTRONG: We're going right down US 1.

CAPCOM: Roger.

ALDRIN: Not very much thruster activity.

FIDO: FLIGHT, FIDO. PGNS, MSFN, we're looking good.

- FD: Roger, mighty fine. GUIDANCE? - GUIDANCE: Go both systems.

- 30 seconds, FLIGHT. - ALDRIN: 700, 150 up. Beautiful.

- FD: TELCOM. - TELECOM: Go.

CAPCOM: Eagle Houston, you're still looking mighty fine.

ALDRIN: Roger. Good agreement in Delta-V to go in both AGS and PGNS.

CAPCOM: Roger.

PA OFFICER: All three data sources are agreeing quite closely here.

CAPCOM: Eagle, Houston. Aft Omni, low-bit rate,

and we'll see you at 127 plus 51.

PA OFFICER: 127 hours, 39 minutes, 39.2 seconds.

This is the start time for a series of velocity match maneuvers

to bring Eagle in with Columbia.

ALDRIN: Houston, the AGS has a Delta-H of 15.5 and a maneuver of 51.3.

CAPCOM: Roger, we copy.

PA OFFICER: As the two vehicles come around on the 26th lunar revolution,

Mike Collins aboard Columbia

is spring-loaded to do what is called a mirror image maneuver.

ARMSTRONG: OK, we're about 500 feet a second coming in at you.

COLLINS: Eagle, Columbia. I've got 470 now for R-dot, and I just broke lock.

Could you hold silence for a few seconds here while I reacquire?

Columbia has reacquired you.

ARMSTRONG: OK, Mike, I'll try to get in position here and then you got it.

COLLINS: Eagle, Columbia's starting to maneuver to TPI attitude.

ARMSTRONG: OK.

Looks good, Mike.

ALDRIN: OK, we're all yours, Columbia.

PA OFFICER: Communications are somewhat scratchy

with Columbia and Eagle now reunited to become Apollo 11 again.

CAPCOM: Apollo 11, Houston, about a minute and a half to LOS.

You're looking great. It's been a mighty fine day.

COLLINS: Boy, you're not kidding.

PA OFFICER: Armstrong and Aldrin transferring

back to the Command Module with Mike Collins.

COLLINS: Houston, this is Columbia reading you loud and clear.

We're all three back inside, the hatch is installed,

we're running a pressure integrity check. Everything's going well.

CAPCOM: Roger. How's it feel up there to have some company?

COLLINS: Damn good, I'll tell you.

CAPCOM: I bet.

I bet you'd almost be talking to yourself up there after ten revs or so.

COLLINS: No, no. It's a happy home up here.

It'd be nice to have 100 million Americans up here.

CAPCOM: Rog. They were with you in spirit anyway, at least that many.

COLLINS: Thank you, sir.

CAPCOM: And Apollo 11, Houston, all your systems look real good to us.

We would like you to jettison Eagle.

You're go for power arm and you're go for a jettison.

ALDRIN: OK.

There she goes. She was a good one.

CAPCOM: Roger dodger. We got Eagle looking good.

It's holding cabin pressure

and it picked up about two feet per second from that jettison.

PA OFFICER: The crew jettisoned the LM at 130 hours, 30 minutes.

We're now ten seconds away from trans-Earth Injection.

They will burn their service propulsion system engine

for two minutes, 28 seconds, to start them on their way back to Earth.

CAPCOM: Apollo 11, Houston. One minute to LOS.

PA OFFICER: The trans-Earth injection maneuver

will be performed on the backside of the moon

at the beginning of the 31st revolution.

We'll reacquire the spacecraft on the other side of the moon.

CAPCOM: Hello, Apollo 11. Houston.

You're looking good going over the hill. Go sic 'em!

ALDRIN: Thank you, sir. We'll do it.

COLLINS: Stand by for ullage. Ullage.

ALDRIN: Got the ullage.

COLLINS: Burn! A good one. Nice.

- ALDRIN: I got two balls. - COLLINS: Here come the other two.

ALDRIN: Barber pole, gray, the other two are on good.

COLLINS: Man, that feels like G, doesn't it?

COLLINS: One minute. Chamber pressure's holding right on a hundred.

COLLINS: Gimbals look good. Total attitude looks good.

Rates are damped out a little bit.

COLLINS: Standing by for engine off.

ARMSTRONG: It should be shut down now.

- COLLINS: OK. - ARMSTRONG: Shut down.

COLLINS: Beautiful.

ALDRIN: Beautiful burn. SPS, I love you! You are a jewel!

CAPCOM: AOS.

PA OFFICER: And there's the cue. We have acquisition of signal.

Hallelujah!

COLLINS: Thank you, Charlie boy. Looking good here.

That was a beautiful burn. They don't come any finer.

CAPCOM: Roger.

COLLINS: Tell 'em to open up the LRL doors, Charlie.

CAPCOM: Roger, we got you coming home.

ALDRIN: Let's get some music. How about these tapes?

♪ When a century was born and a century had died

♪ About these good old days, the old lady replied

♪ Why, they were just a lot of people

♪ Doing the best they could

♪ Just a lot of people, doing the best they could

♪ And then the lady said

♪ That they did it pretty up and walking good

♪ Whatever happened to those faces in the old photographs?

♪ I mean the little boys

♪ Boys

♪ Hell, they were men

♪ And here they come

♪ Sitting straight and proud

♪ And he's driving her stone blind

♪ And would you look at her

♪ Ah, she never looked finer

♪ Always better than today

♪ Sweetheart on parade

♪ And the people cheered

♪ Why I even saw grown men

♪ Break right down and cry

♪ And the sun, it is going down

♪ For Mr. Bouie

♪ As he's singing with his class of 1902

♪ Oh, mother country

♪ I do love you

♪ Oh...

♪ Mother country, I do love you...

ARMSTRONG: Hey, this should be getting larger.

And if it is, it's the place we're coming home to.

No matter where you travel, it's always nice to get home.

CAPCOM: We concur, 11. We'll be happy to have you back.

PA OFFICER: Apollo 11 now 94,961 nautical miles from Earth.

Re-entry is scheduled to begin 18 hours, 18 minutes and 12 seconds.

COLLINS: How's old FLIGHT, Bruce?

Did he ever let you go get a cup of coffee

while we were over on the backside?

BRUCE: Things have been going pretty smoothly down here.

He's really not that hard to get along with.

COLLINS: He must be mellowing.

BRUCE: Well, we've only got two of them back here right now.

The next item scheduled on the flight plan is a television transmission.

PA OFFICER: You may be interested in knowing that Jan and the children,

and Pat and the youngsters and Andy Aldrin are down here

in the viewing room watching this evening.

ALDRIN: Oh, we're glad to hear that.

ARMSTRONG: You have good S-band signal strength now, Houston?

CAPCOM: OK, you're coming through loud and clear now, 11, with your patch.

ALDRIN: This has been far more than three men on a voyage to the moon.

We feel that this stands as a symbol

of the insatiable curiosity of all mankind to explore the unknown.

This operation is somewhat like the periscope of a submarine.

All you see is the three of us.

But beneath the surface are thousands and thousands of others.

We'd like to give a special thanks to all those...

Americans who built those spacecraft.

Who did the construction,

design, the tests,

and put their...

their hearts and all their abilities into those crafts.

To those people, tonight we give a special thank you.

And to all the other people that are listening and watching tonight,

God bless you. Goodnight from Apollo 11.

PA OFFICER: Weather in the recovery area, the skies will be partly cloudy,

a six-foot sea,

temperature near 80 degrees.

This landing area is 215 miles to the northeast

from the original landing area.

It moved because of thundershowers in the original area.

Apollo 11's distance now is 3,000 nautical miles,

velocity 26,685 feet per second.

In the next 20 minutes, Apollo 11 will add almost 10,000 feet per second

to that figure. Entry at 75 statute miles.

Beginning blackout at 62 statute miles.

And main chute deployment 10,500 feet.

CAPCOM: And 11, Houston. Weather's still holding real fine in the recovery area.

Looks like it's about 1,500 scattered,

high scattered, and still three- to six-foot waves.

COLLINS: The air part of it sounds good.

CAPCOM: Roger.

COLLINS: The Earth is really getting bigger up here

and of course we see a crescent.

PA OFFICER: Apollo 11 lined up right down the middle of the entry corridor.

We're a minute and 45 seconds from entry.

Blackout will begin 18 seconds after entry.

CAPCOM: Apollo 11, Houston. You're still looking mighty fine here.

You're cleared for landing.

COLLINS: We appreciate that, Ron. Thank you.

- ALDRIN: Rog. Gear's down and locked. - CAPCOM: Roger.

PA OFFICER: The guidance officer reports

the Command Module computer looks good

and the guidance and navigation system is go.

CAPCOM: And 11, Houston. You're going over the hill there shortly.

You're looking mighty fine to us.

ARMSTRONG: See you later.

- ALDRIN: There's your horizon. - ARMSTRONG: Got the horizon now.

PA OFFICER: And beginning of blackout

approximately 17 seconds after entry interface

into the atmosphere.

400,000 feet or approximately 85 miles above the Earth.

At blackout,

we were showing velocity of 36,237 feet per second.

Range to go to splash, 1,510 nautical miles.

TRACKING STATION: LOS.

REDSTONE TRACKING STATION: Redstone LOS. Blackout.

CAPCOM: Apollo 11, Houston, through ARIA.

CAPCOM: Apollo 11, Houston, through ARIA.

Apollo 11, Houston, through ARIA 4.

FLIGHT DIRECTOR: OK, CAPCOM,

one last call here then we'll have to give up

and let the Recovery people have it.

CAPCOM: Apollo 11, Houston, through ARIA.

RECOVERY OFFICER: Apollo 11, Apollo 11, this is Hornet. Hornet, over.

COLLINS: This is Apollo 11, reading you loud and clear.

Our position, 1330 16915.

There they are!

RECOVERY OFFICER: Condition of crew, over.

ARMSTRONG: The condition of the crew, 4,000-3,500 feet on the way down.

Latitude, longitude, 13. 30, 169.15, over.

RECOVERY CREW: Hornet roger, copy, out.

PA OFFICER: Hornet reports spacecraft right on target point.

RESCUE PERSONNEL: Splashdown!

RECOVERY OFFICER: Hornet copies.

SWIM 1: This is SWIM 1. The Command Module is at stable 1.

RECOVERY OFFICER: Hornet roger.

PA OFFICER: Stable 1 now, stable 1.

COLLINS: Our condition is all three excellent.

We're just fine, take your time.

PA OFFICER: That was Mike Collins reporting the crew is excellent.

RESCUE OFFICER: The third astronaut is in the net and on his way up.

This is Recovery 1, I have three astronauts aboard.

HORNET: Recovery 1, Hornet. Understand.

BIG swimmer has completed his decontamination of the Command Module.

PA OFFICER: The elevator will take Recovery 1

down to the hangar deck where the crew will enter

the Mobile Quarantine Facility.

This control center becoming jammed with people.

We've never seen this many people in the control center at one time before.

The Apollo 11 plaque has been hung in the Mission Control Center,

a replica of the crew patch.

And the flags are waving and the cigars are being lit up

and clear across the big board in front

is President John F. Kennedy's message to Congress of May, 1961.

JFK: Even though I realize that this is,

in some measure, an act of faith and vision.

For we do not now know

what benefits await us.

But if I were to say, my fellow citizens,

that we shall send to the moon,

240,000 miles away from the control station in Houston,

a giant rocket, more than 300 feet tall,

fitted together with a precision better than the finest watch,

carrying all the equipment needed for propulsion, guidance,

control, communications, food and survival,

on an untried mission, to an unknown celestial body

and then return it safely to Earth,

re-entering the atmosphere at speeds of over 25,000 miles per hour,

causing heat about half that on the temperature of the sun,

almost as hot as it is here today,

and do all this, and do all this and do it right, and do it first,

before this decade is out,

then we must be bold.

CRONKITE: Man's first trip to the moon, a magnificent eight-day voyage

spanning time and space and history,

ended today when three American explorers

brought their small ship down safely in the Pacific.

Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins

landed their spacecraft southwest of Hawaii

at ten minutes of one, Eastern time,

nine miles from the recovery ship and two miles off target.

After donning protective clothing,

the three astronauts were airlifted to the carrier Hornet,

and transferred to a special isolation chamber.

They'll be quarantined 18 days while scientists determine

if they've brought back any dangerous lunar organisms.

Their flight climaxed centuries of dreaming

and months and years of planning and training.

I'd like to take this opportunity particularly to thank all those of you

I see out there who are my gracious hosts

here in the lunar receiving laboratory.

And I can't say that I would choose to spend a couple of weeks like that,

but I'm very glad that we got the opportunity to complete the mission.