About Apollo 11

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

I found this on the internet, so as you know, it must be true.

 

Quote

Q:  

What sort of things happened during the first moon landing that were unexpected or for that matter a surprise and a mistake?

 

The whole Apollo program had been carefully designed to try and keep surprises to a minimum, with each step being practiced and rehearsed, before moving on to the next stage. Apollo 10 had gone through the whole landing mission from beginning to end - so the “only” new part of Apollo 11’s mission was the final 50,000 feet of descent - yet it still proved a lot trickier than perhaps was expected.

The first surprise came at the start of Eagle’s descent - when Neil Armstrong noticed that the landmarks he’d memorized were appearing too soon - meaning that Eagle was traveling faster than expected and so would overshoot the carefully chosen landing site. It was later found that the extra speed was because the tunnel connecting Eagle to Columbia, the command module, hadn’t been vented of air before the craft separated. The extra “push” of that air was enough to throw Eagle off course.

Armstrong was now in a situation of having to try and find a landing site by eye - but before he had a chance to think about that, the next problem appeared in the form of a “program alarm”, which indicated that the LM’s primitive computer was struggling to keep up and, in modern terms, rebooting itself. This wasn’t anything the crew had seen before and definitely wasn’t expected, but it had been simulated by ground teams who identified the issue and were able to give a continued “go” for descent within seconds.

The same type of alarms occurred several more times, but, famously, Armstrong was eventually able to get Eagle on the surface three miles from the planned landing site with very little descent fuel remaining. However, there was another unexpected scare on touchdown, when fuel pressures in the descent stage started rising, due to ice forming in the fuel lines after shut down. This could have led to an explosion that would have doomed the crew - and there was a lot of concern on the ground, but the issue proved to be very very short-lived and cured itself before the crew were even warned about it.

Another problem the crew ran into came at the very start of the moonwalk, as they depressurized the cabin. or rather, didn’t depressurize it. They found it far harder than expected to get the pressure down sufficiently to be able to pry the hatch open - and it was only after a hefty struggle that they managed it. I’ve always thought Aldin’s famous remark about “not locking the door on the way out” might have been concern that the hatch might reseal itself in some way, trapping the crew outside. However, it turned out the problem was due to waste gasses being vented by their PLSS backpacks - so no cause for concern once they were outside.

Although there were unexpected moments like those, some of the expected problems didn’t materialize. The actual moonwalk turned out to be easier than thought- Armstrong remarked very early on that it was easier than in the simulations. There had even been concerns that the lunar dust might combust when exposed to oxygen; after the moonwalk, the crew actually had to do a test with a small amount of lunar material, basically watching it for signs of smoke as they reintroduced air into the cabin and being ready to dump the atmosphere in a hurry if necessary. However, Armstrong & Aldrin were also the first to experience the irritation that the dust causes to eyes and lungs. It’s not a very pleasant material and the long-term effects on health are still unknown; though studies over the years have found that the men on the missions that included a moon landing have a higher risk of dying from cardiovascular issues - perhaps from the dust, or other causes not yet identified. On the plus side though, the feared “moon bugs”, which meant the crew had to quarantine on their return, never materialized.

So - Apollo 11 did run into some unexpected and potentially catastrophic issues, but in a sense, it was the last test flight of the Apollo series. The lessons were learned - and Armstrong and Aldrin themselves worked with the Apollo 12 crew, sharing their experience to ensure that four months later Pete Conrad and Al Bean flew a flawless mission to a pinpoint landing,

Apollo 12, along with all subsequent missions, also made sure they planted their flag a good distance away from the LM to avoid the final unexpected issue Apollo 11 encountered on the moon itself - that of their flag blowing over on liftoff. Awkward….

EDIT: Many thanks to Windy Wilson for pointing out that I hadn’t mentioned perhaps Apollo’s 11 most famous “ooops” moment - when Buzz Aldrin noticed that they’d broken the switch that armed their ascent engine, potentially marooning them on the surface forever. Most likely it happened when they were struggling to get the unwieldy life support backpacks on or off in the tiny cabin, but after a few moments of head-scratching, he realized he could push the switch to the “on” position with a pen - and disaster was averted.

Both pen and switch are now on display….

 

[Ozark Huckleberry]

 

1 hour ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

They found it far harder than expected to get the pressure down sufficiently to be able to pry the hatch open . . . .  the problem was due to waste gasses being vented by their PLSS backpacks

 

So in other words -- the lander's door was being held shut by pressure from farting?

 

Guess it's not the worst outcome . . .