Space Race to the Moon | Free Documentary

in July 1969 the crew of Apollo 11 was preparing for the United States first attempt of landing men on the moon NASA the space agency charged with making the mission possible had existed for a little more than a decade Apollo 11 was the first of six successful moon missions the result of an unprecedented surge in scientific and engineering activity with remarkable spin-offs this is the story of how Cold War paranoia and incredible expenditure paid off in less than nine years the United States went from space amateur to technological hyper power in 1950s America life was good the country's vast productive power had switched from making tanks ships and aircraft during the Second World War to cars and refrigerators the United States could dominate the world in a responsible capitalist sort of way America had emerged from the Second World War as the unchallenged nuclear-armed superpower but there was a problem the Soviet Union had finished the war with a giant battle-hardened army and the country soon had its own nuclear weapons becoming the world's second superpower its communist ideology calling for international revolution was a direct threat to the West both the Soviet Union and the United States had been working to extend their nuclear strike capabilities by developing missile technology here the Soviets were too disadvantaged their primitive warheads were big and cumbersome they had to design rockets capable of lifting much heavier loads but in October 1957 the Soviets surprised everyone the heavy-lift r7 rocket had sent Sputnik the first artificial satellite into orbit the 83 kilogram sphere was equipped with nothing more than a beeping radio transmitter two days later the Soviets tested a giant thermonuclear bomb and America could not help but link the two events gets the American people alarmed that a foreign country especially an enemy country can do this if we fear this in December 1957 America was preparing for its first satellite launch a vanguard rocket was to boost a tiny 1 kilogram payload to orbit coast-to-coast citizens were watching it was an intense humiliation for the United States just days later a Soviet delegate to the UN asked whether America would like aid earmarked for underdeveloped countries President Eisenhower had wanted a non-military rocket to carry his nations first satellite but the redstone missile developed for the army by vera von braun was given the directive to salvage national pride with a second attempt they would use the juno one in 1958 free men everywhere lifted their gaze to freedom satellite it was a success later that same year the Eisenhower administration established NASA to coordinate the country's space efforts soon after NASA recruited its first seven astronauts they were all test pilots at this time in 1959 the United States had attempted 20 satellite launches only eight could be successful in 1961 the Soviet Union's sprang another surprise his name was Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin he would become the first cosmonaut on the morning of April the 12th Gagarin was strapped into Vostok one it carried air and food for ten days if it's reentry Rockets failed Gagarin could last until his crafts orbit decayed naturally in 108 minutes Vostok 1 completed one orbit and landed safely back in the so VG three weeks later Alan Shepard was preparing to become the first American in space in NASA's new Project Mercury before dawn on May the fifth Shepard was delivered to the launch site two hours before the scheduled liftoff this would be the first manned flight of the Redstone launcher but the redstone did not have the power to reach orbit this would be a sub orbital hot in the spirit of the Cold War Shepard had called his mercury capsule freedom seven there were weather delays and Shepard had been strapped into his seat for three hours before the flight started freedom seven took him to a height of 187 kilometers ending 15 minutes later in the Atlantic where the capsule was picked up by a waiting aircraft carrier it was successful but compared to Gagarin's orbital flight it was a poor second then after another three weeks there was a further development I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before this decade is out of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth this seemed like a very rash proposition when President Kennedy made this speech his country had only successfully launched 12 satellites the US had made a further 16 attempts which had all failed the Atlas booster do to take the first American to orbit was still having problems but a new fast tracked program under the direction of German engineer dr. Verner von Braun had been under way for several years a new launcher the Saturn one was an attempt to surpass the Russians heavy lift capability it would use a cluster of narrow tanks that could easily be fabricated using the tooling developed for the country's existing rocket fleet it would also cluster eight rocket engines to deliver the required thrust the engine used was the h1 it was a direct descendant of the engine that powered Germany's v2 rocket after the Second World War Ferno von Braun and some of his team of rocket designers had surrendered to the American forces with them came hardware and extensive drawings tests began in New Mexico using modified v2 s blueprints for the v2 s engine were given to North American Aviation who implemented proposed improvements mentioned in the Nazi documentation a spin-off company Rocketdyne handled the work and are still making rocket engines today in developing the Saturn one there was a change in the approach of the engineers they were keen to avoid the high rates of failure that had occurred with other rockets this meant that all components would now be tested exhaustively before undertaking a launch this included the h1 engine which was required to deliver 99% reliability finally in October 1961 the first Saturn was ready for flight testing it was a giant first stage with a dummy second stage and nose cone as it sat on the pad taking fuel technicians were methodically checking the rocket subsystems this was time-consuming and would later be monitored by computer high-speed film cameras were focused upon elliptical areas of the pad launcher interface the technique that continues to this day the first test of a new rocket design was never expected to go well but the Saturn one performed flawlessly it was a small step towards President Kennedy's goal of landing a man on the moon although Congress was allocating huge sums for what was now called project Apollo NASA still had no clear idea how they could do it there were two competing approaches direct ascent where astronauts would ride a huge craft directly to the moon landed there and then turn or earth rendezvous where two rockets would launch separate parts into Earth orbit which would link up and then fly to the moon and land there were various concepts for a spacecraft that would fly from the earth to the moon land and then return all were huge both of these approaches would require a rocket of huge proportions and designs for the giant Nova were studied there was a third method proposed which required a rendezvous in lunar orbit it called for a dedicated lunar lander which could be discarded after it served its purpose langley engineer john who bought was convinced that this was the only way to get to the moon within president kennedy's 1969 deadline in july 1961 Gus Grissom had become America's second astronaut with another 15 minutes sub orbital flight at this stage to craft rendezvous in orbit was seen as a tremendous challenge her rendezvous in lunar orbit was seen as madness and who bolts lunar orbit rendezvous lor was dismissed but who bolt and an informal group working at Langley had been studying the problems associated with orbital rendezvous since the 1950s and they understood the mathematics very well frustrated at having the lunar orbit rendezvous plan blocked from access to higher management he wrote a strongly worded letter to the NASA Administrator in it he asserted that the only way to meet the presidential deadline was lor he insisted that a man could be put on the moon without the need for Nova with the lor concept now in the open the theory and the calculations were scrutinized closely and while the idea was still resisted the plan was sound finally when Ferno von Braun became convinced lunar orbit rendezvous was adopted in August 1961 German Tito was preparing to become Russia's second cosmonaut a25 he remains the youngest person to fly in space his flight in Vostok 2 made 17 orbits with cheeto remaining aloft for more than a day he was the first man to eat in space the first man to sleep in space and the first man to suffer from space sickness NASA were resigned to their second ranking in what had become known as the space race with the newest version of the Atlas booster they felt they were closing the gap an unmanned flight went well but they were still worried too the humiliation of the astronaut corps chimp 81 later called eNOS would be the first to fly on the Atlas it was the first caps you'll to have solid-state electronics there were some small problems during this flight but eNOS returned safely paving the way for NASA's first manned orbital flight in February 1962 John Glenn was to be the first American to go into orbit in a capsule hit named friendship 7 the American people were taking their country's role in the space race very seriously now Glenn's flight was an opportunity for the u.s. to salvage some pride John Glenn completed three orbits and returned to an Atlantic splashdown without incident as development continued successfully on the Saturn booster and the mercury program began more ambitious missions NASA was getting a clearer view of its path to the moon a new group of astronauts was recruited with names like Neil Armstrong Johnny Young and James Lovell and the lunar orbit rendezvous plan meant that a new program would be implemented before project Apollo originally called mercury to the program eventually emerged as project Gemini a larger version of the mercury capsule that would carry two astronauts was rapidly designed it featured ejector seats like a jet fighter and it would be boosted to orbit atop a refinement of the Titan 2 missile originally intended to carry a nuclear warhead training for the two-man missions began ahead of a tightly packed schedule of launches additional mercury missions were scrapped there were very specific objectives laid down for the Gemini program orbital rendezvous had to be mastered and docking with a target vehicle had to become routine planners also knew that any trip to the moon would involve leaving the spacecraft and surviving in the vacuum of space in a pressure suit new infrastructure was built at Cape Canaveral a giant Vehicle Assembly Building for the coming Saturn family of rockets was commenced in Alabama a captive rocket test facility was built and there were new engine test stands constructed in Mississippi at the new manned spacecraft Center in Houston Texas a new Mission Control hub was constructed it would monitor every detail of every mission largely due to the energy of Vice President Lyndon Johnson Texas was to become the focal point of America's space efforts it was September 1962 before a crowd in the stadium of Rice University in Houston give such a warm welcome to our President of the United States we choose to go to the moon we choose to go to the moon we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things not because they are easy but because they are hard because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills because that challenge is one that we're willing to accept one we are unwilling to postpone and one we intend to win though the American people were largely on side with the country's space goals Kennedy understood that the huge expenditures now being made could easily lead to an erosion of the national support but in little more than twelve months when the president returned to Texas he was assassinated Lyndon Johnson was now the president he strengthened his position in 1964 with a landslide win in the presidential election and under his leadership America's space objectives remained unchanged in August 1962 the Soviet Union had set another space first Vostok 3 and Vostok 4 orbited at the same time NASA felt the Russians were already working towards orbital rendezvous in June 1963 another cosmonaut was preparing for another first valentina Tereshkova will be the first woman to go into orbit in October 1964 vladimir komarov the commander flight engineer konstantin feoktistov and medical specialist boris yogorov flew to orbit on a new spacecraft was god 1 and they wore normal clothing not spacesuits to NASA it seemed that the Russians were starting their own equivalent of the three-man Apollo program towards the end of 1964 cosmonaut Alexei Leonov began training with a new piece of equipment as Voskhod capsule would be fitted with a collapsible canvas airlock that would let him leave the craft the Voskhod capsules electronics used thermionic valves which relied on the ambient air to dissipate their heat so the capsule could not be depressurized in March 1965 alexey leonov on boss god - became the first person to leave his capsule and float freely in space again the Soviet Union had beaten America in one of the critical steps NASA had stated it would need to master before an attempt at landing on the moon the complete story did not emerge until after the fall of the Soviet Union once outside leonov's spacesuits swelled like a balloon making him too large to re-enter the airlock only by drastically venting his suit pressure could he squeeze back inside the Gemini spacecraft was a huge advance in capsule design mercury astronaut Gus Grissom had been involved in the capsules development and was responsible for the way pilot control systems resembled aircraft controls like the mercury capsule it had corrugated titanium skin but its life-support systems and power were housed in a separate module that was discarded before reentry the astronauts had separate hatches and sat in ejector seats importantly these hatches could be reopened and closed in space to allow for spacewalks the first manned Gemini flight Gemini 3 blasted off in July 1965 aboard for Gus Grissom and John Young three orbits and five hours later their craft landed in the Atlantic just west of the Bahamas 84 kilometres south of the intended target importantly Gemini 3 had been the first spacecraft to change its orbit a vital development toward NASA's short-term goal of orbital rendezvous Grissom and Young's flight had been a morale booster for America's space effort and they were treated as heroes less than a week after their return the two astronauts were given a ticker tape parade through the streets of New York people were now taking the idea of a moon landing seriously at the White House the astronauts met with President Johnson in parallel with the Gemini program hardware for the Apollo missions continued development the final configuration of the Apollo spacecraft had been decided and mock-ups were fabricated for use in testing other parts of the Apollo system because the Apollo command module was bigger than all previous spacecraft the designers had opted to return to the use of an escape tower similar to the mercury capsule to lift the crew clear in an emergency a special launcher known as Little Joe - was developed to test the escape system under a variety of simulated malfunctions during one trial a real problem occurred and the escape tower worked perfectly dummy capsules were dropped from aircraft to iron out problems with the landing parachutes because the Apollo missions would all splashdown in the ocean the capsule was tested in water there was always a trade-off between weight and strength and sometimes the engineers had to go back to the drawing board testing of the new Saturn rocket and its refinement the Saturn 1b was going well with no test flight failures on the morning of June the 3rd 1965 Gemini 4 was being prepared for astronauts James McDivitt and Ed white it will be their first flight this would be the first mission controlled from the new integrated Mission Control Center in Houston launch control remained at the Cape but after the launcher had cleared the tower all aspects of the remaining Gemini and Apollo flights were controlled from this complex this would be NASA's first long-duration flight an attempt was made to rendezvous with a Titan upper stage but with little success and depleted fuel reserves the exercise was abandoned above Australia white and McDivitt donned their spacesuits and began depressurizing the capsule Edie White had to struggle with his hatch door which had jammed but after attention from McDivitt who understood the problem it opened and white stepped outside he was tethered to the spacecraft by an eight meter line that fed him oxygen to maneuver he had a small zip gun that expelled oxygen it worked well but was soon running low on gas a communication problem meant that while Mission Control could hear him they could not speak to him messages had to be relayed VAR McDivitt it all looked deceptively simple but other than be outside white had no real task to perform around the world these pictures captured huge press attention right from its inception NASA had made a commitment to openness it was the one glaring difference between America and its Cold War adversary Jim McDivitt and Ed White were both alumni of Michigan University which held a ceremony for the astronauts when they were back on the ground although the Soviet Union may still be ahead in the space race America was catching up and the unfettered access NASA allowed the press meant that the Gemini program became a media phenomenon for McDivitt and white there followed the now regulations ceremonial at the White House public support meant that lavish funding kept flowing and the accelerated development of Apollo Hardware continued behind the scenes boost the testing of the Saturn one had concluded and his direct descendant the Saturn 1b was being fabricated for several unmanned missions it was earmarked for the first manned Apollo flight scheduled for 1967 the giant c5 now known as the Saturn 5 was also being built this was the rocket that would take men to the moon unlike the clustered tanks hastily pressed into service for the Saturn one the Saturn 5 had larger lighter single tanks and it replaced the eight h1 engines with five much larger f-1 engines Gemini 5 launched in August 1965 it was the first time a spacecraft had been powered by fuel cells rather than batteries this would enable flights of much longer duration but the system gave problems in addition the spacecraft thrusters were unreliable the crew of Gordon Cooper and Pete Conrad were forced to abandon a rendezvous exercised through diminished electrical supply and limited control of their craft but Gemini 5 did set a new record for endurance as Wally schirra and Tom Stafford's sat in their Gemini 6 spacecraft an atlas Aegina on an adjacent pad was ready for launch the Gemini capsule had been designed for docking and in October 1965 they would make the first attempt to rendezvous and dock with the Agena target vehicle the launch of the Agena was perfect but shortly after stage separation radar picked up five distinct objects the craft had exploded there was no point in proceeding with the mission scheduling for the Gemini program had been tight with roughly one new launch every six weeks there was no replacement Aegina ready to launch before the next flight Gemini 7 it was decided that Gemini 6 now called 6a would rendezvous with Gemini 7 which would launch first this would mean a very rapid turnaround between launches which used the same facilities in December 1965 Frank Borman and Jim Lovell were preparing for NASA's longest duration mission yet the plan called for a flight of 14 days more than long enough for a return trip to the moon the schedule called for Gemini 6a to launch eight days later sure our and Stafford had been through this exact procedure just seven weeks earlier there could be no faulty target vehicle to let them down a plug had released early forcing an automatic shutdown for the second time Chiron Stafford had been unable to get off the ground three days later Gemini 6a launched successfully within six hours that two Gemini's were side by side rendezvous was one of the difficult maneuvers that had to become routine before a realistic attempt at landing on the moon could be made although the American public may not have appreciated the finer points of orbital mechanics moving pictures of a spacecraft in orbit again roused huge media attention Gemini's seven set a new record for time in orbit but during the last few days the spacecraft had developed thruster problems the return to earth was technically uneventful though Borman and Lovell were weakened after two weeks in space astronauts were now greeted as returning heroes with intense press coverage they were becoming celebrities next were two first time astronauts Neil Armstrong and Dave Scott as mission commander Neil Armstrong would be the first American civilian to go to space Gemini 8 had a very busy flight plan docking still had not been achieved and this flight was scheduled to rendezvous and dock with an Agena target vehicle that would launch an hour before the Gemini this launch was perfect and the crew of Gemini 8 were able to rendezvous and finally to dock with the target vehicle but again there is a thruster problem which sent the two docked craft into a spin armstrong separated the craft but the rate increased the Gemini hue thruster was stuck on flight rules called for a prompt return the destroyer Leonard F Mason picked up the crew and air capsule from the Pacific an ocean away from the planned recovery region on Gemini 9 Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan would try to achieve the objectives unmet by gemini eight docking was still to be mastered and as a substitute for the Agena target vehicle a shorter unit known as the Augmented target docking adaptor was launched it achieved orbit but there was a worrying life displayed on a console in Mission Control when Stafford and Cernan caught up with their target they saw the ascent of shroud still in place an argument between contractors meant the team that normally fitted the fairing was sidelined resulting in what became known as the angry alligator the target was useless Gemini 9 had nothing to dock with in addition a spacewalk by Cernan saw him exhausted and drenched in sweat with his helmet fogging tight deadlines laid down for the American space program were accelerating development but was NASA courting disaster a mission review committee was established to make certain objectives were realistic rendezvous and docking had been hampered by equipment failure but mission planners were confident it would be mastered the one outstanding problem facing the Gemini team was the spacewalk or a VA for extra vehicular activity after ed White's Joyride in space it came as a surprise that it was so difficult to actually work in weightlessness practice for this activity on the ground had focused on a low-friction air table technique but it was nothing like being weightless and in a vacuum for brief periods in an aircraft traveling along a parabolic curve an astronaut could experience weightlessness this was difficult but with only three more Gemini missions scheduled it was felt to be of value in December 1966 John Young and Michael Collins on Gemini 10 had very similar mission objectives to the previous two Gemini flights they successfully rendezvoused and docked with our Aegina target then using the Agena z' engine boosted their orbit to a new record high the craft then rendezvous with the spent Aegina used by Gemini 8 Collins make two spacewalks losing his camera in the process as he made his way to the target craft he found it difficult to gain purchase he was suffering similar difficulties to his colleagues on previous flights Gemini 11 had a two-second launch window Pete Conrad and dick Gordon performed a direct ascent rendezvous just 94 minutes after launch this was the type of rendezvous planned for the Apollo missions they docked and undocked four times giving NASA confidence in their rendezvous and docking ability then using the Agena z' engine the linked craft achieved a record orbital high point of 1300 kilometers during Evy a Gordon attached a tether to the Agena as part of a gravitational experiment but yet again the process was exhausting compared with simulated exercises on the ground NASA had just one more Gemini mission to iron out their Eevee a problems planners decided to try a new simulation in preparation for the Eevee a scheduled for the final Gemini flight Buzz Aldrin went through neutral buoyancy training at the McDonough school swimming pool near Baltimore there would be new anchor points installed on both spacecraft a waist tether was part of the new equipment astronauts had said they used too much energy just trying to maintain their position as Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin walked to their launcher they wore signs saying the end the final Gemini mission was a big news event the next spaceflight was to be Apollo one due for launch in February 1967 though the flight plan called for the same rendezvous and docking as the previous four missions each flight was about refinement of technique particularly the way in which the guidance compute was being used but the prime objective for Gemini 12 was Eevee a Gemini 12 blasted off on the 11th of November in 1966 rendezvous and docking was straightforward and so were the EVs Aldrin followed the new protocols with restraints and sheduled rest periods and was able to use tools designed for Apollo with Gemini 12 NASA was confident it had mastered the techniques needed for the challenging Apollo program the Saturn 1b had made two unmanned flights with early versions of the Apollo command and service modules both were suborbital flights Gus Grissom ed white and Roger Chaffee were slated as the crew for the first orbital mission Apollo 1 with a block one command module in training for the mission they were frustrated at the continuous changes being made to the Apollo spacecraft it was the culmination of everything NASA had learned from the mercury and Gemini programs but it was not coming together easily on January the 27th 1967 the crew and support team were doing a plugs out test a launch simulation where the craft was not connected by umbilicals as had been the case on all previous missions they were breathing pure oxygen at slightly above atmospheric pressure the Saturn 1b was not fueled and the tests were not regarded as dangerous but a spike in voltage triggered a flash fire in the spacecraft and in seconds the crew were dead flammable materials and the pure oxygen atmosphere were a lethal combination high pressure in the capsule made opening the inward swinging door difficult the United States was in mourning Gus Grissom ed white and Roger Chaffee were buried with full military honors many at NASA had been dreading this kind of outcome in a speech to colleagues at Mission Control flight director Gene Kranz said we were too gung-ho about the schedule and we locked out all of the problems we saw each day in our work manned flights were suspended the space agency had to find out what went wrong and then completely redesigned the capsule and mission procedures all Apollo remnants were impounded a NASA initiated an exhaustive investigation both houses of Congress also set up inquiries Frank Borman was the only astronaut to serve on NASA's accident review board he was commander on his first mission and had been selected to command the third manned Apollo mission but there was a cloud over the whole program ultimately borman's testimony before a House committee helped convince Congress that the manned Apollo program was saved to resume operations outside the inquiries NASA tried to maintain its focus astronauts who were experts in spaceflight we're now being sent on field trips to learn about geology in preparation for the moon missions since 1964 the Soviet Union's space program had gone quiet but in April 1967 news broke that Vladimir Komarov flying in a new three-person spacecraft known as saw use 1 had failed to deploy its parachutes killing the cosmonaut although in the United States manned missions for 1967 had been put on hold NASA was still busy the new Saturn 5 was almost ready for its first flight it's three stages and their engines had all been exhaustively tested on the ground for flight testing NASA had adopted a new all up testing plan that had worked in missile development it involved more risk but testing all stages together rather than on separate flights would save a lot of time intelligence reports were beginning to filter through that the Soviets were running their own lunar program to maintain their lead in what clearly was a race for the moon but when had it until first saturn v launch also marked the first use of the new launch control complex at the kennedy space center at this originally scheduled for late 1966 developmental problems with the second stage pushed the launch out to November 1967 not all managers were happy with the all up test but they realized that if everything worked it will eliminate four launches start at eight point nine seconds we'll be looking there was a fear of a launch pad explosion with 90% of the saturn v launch weight being highly explosive fuel calculations had been made to understand the damage a low altitude failure could create a malfunction would have been catastrophic almost certainly causing NASA to miss it's 1969 deadline ignition sequence starts five four we have ignition all engines are running we have liftoff we have liftoff at 7:00 a.m. Apolo for bristled with sensors and small film cameras the cameras were sealed inside pods that were ejected after staging some of the most memorable images of the Apollo program come from these cameras observing stage separation in the Gemini launches the first stages had exploded after separation though this did not threaten missions engineers wanted to understand everything that happened there were no surprises the new Saturn 5 behaved exactly as its designers had intended the lunar module a vital piece of the Apollo Hardware had suffered changes in design with resulting fabrication delays engineers began loosely basing their plans on helicopters but the large windows were soon dispensed with because of their weight the astronauts would have to stand close to tiny windows to see their landing place learning to fly a craft designed to land on the moon was not easy at its Langley Research Center NASA had built a lunar module simulator I've tried to recreate a lunar gravity environment so astronauts could practice the last 50 meters of their descent to the lunar surface more popular with the astronauts was the lunar landing research vehicle and its offshoot the lunar landing training vehicle it was nicknamed the flying bedstead in lunar simulation mode a jet engine counterbalanced 5/6 of the crafts weight control of the craft came from variable rocket engines similar to that on the lunar module when astronaut Neil Armstrong made his second flight in the research vehicle things did not go according to plan NASA had concerned about the reliability of these machines making a number of attempts to withdraw them from service and with good reason the crafts rapid development had not included Windtunnel testing and even in slight breezes there were control issues Armstrong ejected safely just 60 meters above the ground but the training vehicle continued as an important adjunct to the Apollo program results from the inquiry into the Apollo one fire had led to an extensive redesign of the Apollo command module the hatch now opened outwards and could be unlocked quickly the wiring was shielded in non-flammable sleeves and combustible materials inside the craft were excluded Apollo spacesuits had been changed as well to eliminate flammable materials unlike the Gemini suits which were air-cooled Apollo astronauts would now wear an inner suit crisscrossed with tubing to carry cooling water above that there was a blue pressure garment with an outer protective layer of fire resistant beater cloth a completely sealed helmet that did not swivel with the head was introduced a backpack could be added for life-support and radio communication independent of the spacecraft the suit was named the extra vehicular mobility unit or EMU for short and although it has been refined the same design remains in use to this day Wally schirra Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham would make the Apollo program's first manned flight by October 1968 NASA had confidence in the new command module Apollo 7 would launch to Earth orbit on a Saturn 1b the bigger Apollo capsule provided a more comfortable environment necessary for long-duration flights that were required to get to the moon the crew could take off or put on their bulky spacesuits as required and they didn't have to remain in their couches as in the mercury and Gemini spacecraft soon after reaching orbit the command and service modules separated from the s4b upper stage on a moon mission this would normally house the lunar module one of the four adapter panels have not opened fully on subsequent flights these would separate completely from the upper stage the spacecraft turned around and practiced docking using a visual reference target that would usually be mounted on the lunar module not long into the mission schirra came down with a cold and in the confines of the capsule it quickly spread to the other tube in zero-gravity the nasal congestion was not clearing in the same way it would on earth and the crew were very uncomfortable eating became a sore point with the astronauts though the food had improved since the earlier space missions the freeze-dried and bite-size rehydratable meals fell short of what they considered acceptable the demands on this mission were considerable tense interchanges between the sick astronauts and Mission Control were not uncommon they had to fire the service module engine no less than eight times public relations reached new heights on the mission a series of TV broadcasts from the capsule were watched around the world at one point Shira refused to switch on the TV equipment because the schedule was too crowded and the crew had not eaten preparing for reentry a new dispute broke out the astronauts refused to wear their helmets during the return to earth with their colds they worried about the rapid changes in pressure they wanted to hold their noses and blow to equalize the buildup aboard the carrier essex the apollo 7 astronauts were treated as returning heroes but they did not receive the usual nasa honors ensure our eyes Lee and Cunningham never flew again at the Kennedy Space Center another Saturn 5 was being assembled it would be the first Saturn 5 to carry people Frank Borman Jim Lovell and William Anders were training hard for the mission - to fly to Earth orbit with a lunar module to test procedures in docking undocking and staging of the lunar lander unexpectedly their training was interrupted the Apollo 8 crew along with their backup crew were called to a meeting just months before the flight problems with the lunar module would lead to a delay of many months endangering the 1969 moon landing deadline so a new mission was proposed Apollo eight without the lunar module would fly to the moon and go into orbit intelligence reports had suggested that the Soviet Union was planning to make a similar attempt a NASA had no intention of being beaten again by the Russians the Apollo 8 astronauts would be the first people to leave Earth orbit on a mission that would test the command module in deep space the objectives had changed to understanding long-range communication spacecraft navigation and the examination of potential lunar landing areas the flight would be a risk although the first Saturn 5 flight had gone well the second known as Apollo 6 had not engineers were confident they understood the problems and had solved them Borman Anders and Lovell had to have faith that the issues would not recur 51a it was a flawless launch eleven and a half minutes later the spacecraft was in a parking orbit with crew and ground staff checking all systems during the second orbit Mission Control gave them the thumbs up tli translunar injection soon after the s4b upper stage fired pushing Apollo 8 out of Earth orbit toward the moon now a new problem arose frat Boorman began to feel sick and throw up which is even more unpleasant in zero-gravity because of the attitude of the spacecraft they could not see the moon but through the round window they began seeing more and more of the earth they were the first people to see our planet in its entirety however this window soon fogged with gas from the oils in the chemical sealant Apollo 7 had also suffered from this problem as Apollo 8 approached the moon the crew prepared for an engine burn that would place the craft in lunar orbit the main engine had to fire for four minutes when the command module was behind the moon out of radio contact this was the first time the crew got a decent view of the moon William Anders prepared to photograph the lunar surface an important part of the mission was the document areas such as the Sea of Tranquility in preparation for future lunar landings on their fourth orbit they saw something astounding oh look at that picture little Wow then three and I'll take that up casual after this mission it was said they went to the moon and discovered the earth MEA roller colourful quick after 10 orbits of the moon Apollo 8 fired its main engine and began its return to Earth during the crews back Bill Anders captured more pictures of the earth the Apollo 8 astronauts returned as heroes their flight around the moon had put NASA's space effort back on the front pages on their return to Houston there was an outpouring of national pride finally the US was winning the space race but it was the end of 1968 and there was only one year left to reach the moon within President Kennedy's deadline the missing piece of the apollo system was the lunar module it had existed as a mock-up for five years but there had been delays in manufacture of the final craft no one had built a moon lander before and there was nothing similar to base it on throughout its development its designers were repeatedly asked to cut its weight by the builders of the saturn v as they gained a clearer understanding of the capabilities of the launch system in march 1969 a lunar module with a crew was headed to earth orbit apollo 9 will be the first test of the complete apollo system russell Swihart dave scott and commander Jim McDivitt faced a punishing schedule they would test the lunar module and the life support backpack for use on the lunar surface once in orbit the command and service modules separated from the s4b upper stage that carried the lunar module they docked with the lunar lander to withdraw it from the s4 beam after separation Apollo 9 backed away to a safe distance and ground control sent the discarded stage on a course toward the Sun the next few days were spent in maneuvers with the main engine being fired five times changing the orbit in preparation for testing of the lunar module and to simulate mid-course Corrections that would be needed on a trip to the moon the crew removed the hatches and probes to clear the connecting tunnel between the command module and the lunar module that had been named gumdrop and spider these were the first craft to be named since Gemini threes Molly Brown every aspect of the linked spacecraft was closely monitored in Mission Control soon McDivitt and Swihart would fly in a machine that had no capability of returning to the ground and nothing could go wrong you in case something did go wrong and the two crafts couldn't dock again a spacewalk had been planned to test at outside transfer between spider and gun drop this was the Apollo programs first spacewalk and Russell spike art was only connected by a nylon tether all his oxygen and electrical power came from the portable life support system he wore on his back both spacecraft had been depressurized and while spike art was busy at the lunar module Dave Scott was retrieving an experimental sample from the outside of the command module this spacewalk was cut short because spike art was suffering from space sickness the next day spider and gumdrop separated for the first time using its descent engine the lunar module withdrew to a distance of around 150 kilometers the next time Dave Scott in the command module saw the lunar module it had jettisoned its lower half all engine tests for both stages had worked well and NASA was developing confidence in its new moon craft before redocking with a command module McDivitt and sweetheart did a complex series of pirouettes to allow scott to inspect the craft from every angle when the three astronauts were reunited the lunar module was jettisoned eventually to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere they spent several more days in orbit photographing the earth before splashing down in the Atlantic NASA had just nine months more to meet President Kennedy's end-of-the-decade deadline for putting a man on the moon but there would be one more step before they made the first attempt to land our saviors fertilizer Apollo 10 would take a lunar module to the moon and descend toward the surface but it would not land in keeping with NASA's very tight schedule it had a long list of questions to answer and the mission would have the most experienced crew of any Apollo mission so far lunar module pilot Gene Cernan had flown on Gemini 9 command module pilot John Young had flown on Gemini 3 and 10 and Commander Tom Stafford had flown on Gemini 6 and 9 one of the important problems that this mission had to solve was linked with the moon's uneven gravitation previous manned and unmanned lunar orbital missions had discovered that variable concentrations of mass within the moon had caused lunar orbits to be erratic NASA needed to map these irregularities to fully understand how their spacecraft would perform in lunar orbit nine we have ignition sequence start engines on - engines running once commit liftoff we have with 29 minutes past the hour Apollo 10 would be a complete rehearsal for the first lunar landing it would be the second Apollo craft to leave Earth orbit docking with and extraction of the lunar module which had been the major focus of previous missions was becoming commonplace we show you clothes and finding perhaps laughing where there got to graze Rutger Apollo 10 was the first spacecraft to make color television transmissions and they pulled in audiences of around 1 billion there as in the previous mission Apollo 10 had two spacecraft each needing a different callsign the astronauts had elected to call the mothership Charlie Brown and the lunar module Snoopy after the popular peanuts cartoon strip of the time subsequently space crews were asked to choose names that had a little more gravitas after they disappeared behind the moon they fired the main engine for six minutes which the astronauts described as being interminable the craft went into lunar orbit as planned and six hours later Stafford and Cernan entered Snoopy to prepare it for descent toward the lunar surface it was teeming with weightless flakes of mylar insulation that had come loose when the connecting tunnel had pressurized these cause itching for the rest of the flight but there were more problems right we'd like you to the lunar module was more than three degrees out of alignment with the command module and air pressure in the tunnel between the two craft could not be released Houston was worried that undocking now could damage the latches that held them together engineers on the ground decided that anything less than six degrees was not a problem and Snoopy was given the all-clear to undock this was the first time a lunar module had flown in the environment for which it had been designed mission planners were concerned that Stafford and Cernan might try to seize the opportunity to make it unauthorized landing so Snoopy had been short fueled if they did land they could not get back for the next eight hours John Young would be alone in Charlie Brown I get over Cali for a few sitting over great that great we copy Snoopy drop lower and lower passing directly over the proposed landing site for the next Apollo mission and traveling more than 500 kilometers from the mothership but just before they were due to jettison the descent stage a guidance setting switch which was in the wrong position cause the lunar module to gyrate wildly by dumping the descent stage and switching to manual control Tom Stafford was able to regain stability my own that it's and I got saving if they had a wild like you know but they got it under control over the rendezvous went according to plan and Apollo 10 remained in lunar orbit for another 29 hours mapping anomalies in the lunar gravity before returning to the earth but even as they were near the moon another Saturn 5 had been rolled out to the launch pad Apollo 11 was being prepared for the first attempt at her landing on the moon early on July the 16th 1969 vast numbers were gathering along the beaches of Central Florida to witness history the American people had been preparing for this moment for almost a decade since the late President Kennedy set a moon landing as the nation's gold more than a million people were crowding the roads and causeways around Cape Canaveral that had been renamed Cape Kennedy minor dignitaries and friends and family of space workers had access to special stands constructed in the grounds of the Kennedy Space Center to see the Apollo 11 astronauts blast off while the public had great faith in NASA's ability to land men on the moon the experts working in the space business put their chances of success at no better than 5050 the astronauts had spent long hours in simulators preparing for every eventualities yet the equipment they used for practice only provided an approximation of conditions in space with some of the test rigs appearing bizarre a special gantry built at NASA Langley provided something approaching the experience of lunar gravity hours before the schedge would launch the giant Saturn 5 was slowly taking fuel its tanks would be constantly topped up till seconds before liftoff michael collins was the command module pilot he had flown previously on Gemini 10 Buzz Aldrin was a lunar module pilot he had pioneered new techniques for space walking on Gemini 12 and the mission commander was Neil Armstrong on Gemini 8 his cool head and quick thinking had saved the mission from tragedy Apollo 11 would have a fully experienced team chosen to deal with and solve difficult problems and there would be problems every NASA mission had built upon the experience of previous missions but there was always a point when they entered unknown territory and the pressure to reach the moon before the end of 1969 had been unrelenting but across America people were supremely confident and launch parties were held across the country local entrepreneurs were quick to capitalize on the mood of celebration the swing now coming back as our countdown continues at the Kennedy launch center tension was high for german-born rocket pioneer Verna von Braun his whole life had been leading up to this moment everyone at the Cape understood how many different components had to work correctly for a successful launch astronauts agreed that the launch made the most anxious this would be the sixth launch of the Saturn 5 booster and while some of these flights had been a little lumpy all were regarded as successful t-minus 15 seconds guidance is internal 12 11 10 9 ignition sequence starts after it cleared the launched our control was transferred from the firing room at the Cape complex to Mission Control in Houston twelve minutes after launch Apollo 11 was in low Earth orbit apart from a slightly rough ride with the third stage everything had been routine translunar injection and docking with the lunar module were now practices that had been done many times before and they too were achieved with little fuss like a million in damage you are a dog the cruise to the moon and lunar orbit had been done twice before and flight manuals and checklists had all been rewritten with the benefit of previous experience the Apollo system had been designed so that all navigation observations and engine burns could be made by the crew but radio ranging techniques had improved so rapidly that Mission Control was now giving all the instructions however the crews still use the onboard technology to determine their position in case of a communications problem command module pilot took pride in the accuracy of their navigation both the command and lunar modules were equipped with the Apollo guidance computer one of the first practical microcomputers for most computations there was a manual workaround but for the complex flight path required for the lunar module to land on the moon the flight computer was essential in lunar orbit the crew of Apollo 11 would lose radio contact every time they passed behind the moon during the 13th orbit the lunar module separated from the command module the two craft now adopted individual core science the command module became Columbia and the lunar module was now Eagle descent to the moon happened in three separate stages each controlled by its own computer program the first stage was the breaking phase that changed the orbit so it will reach a zone above the designated landing point during this period the crew were traveling feet-first looking up at the earth the next stage was the approach phase when the Eagle tipped up into a more vertical attitude this was when Aldrin and Armstrong got their first view of the landing point a long elliptical region in the Sea of Tranquility was their target the open plane was judged to be the easiest place for the first lunar landing I would like that but unexpected things began happening fuel in the lunar landers tanks began sloshing around while this was not dangerous the notion meant the craft could give no clear indication about its pre-programmed landing site then the flight computer began sounding an alarm and there was only one person in Mission Control that knew what a 1202 alarm was a young software engineer understood the computer was overloaded but that it would still look after critical functions the mission would continue right here we got you we're going at alarm the final part of the landing sequence was still computer controlled but it allowed the commander to override the crafts rate of descent and it's positioning as it was heading for a field of large boulders Armstrong took control looking for an appropriate landing area underpaid brain 1/2 down 9 forward this took longer than anyone expected 875 feet and looking good down a half six forward fuel was running low 60 seconds Python down two and a half forward forward at pretty feet down to a nap picking up some dust city feet two and a half down face that out for forward four forward drifting to the right little okay and a half shutting second or just I'm back right okay engine stop a PA had a defense control both all of these an engine command override off and then our mob for thirteen is in the relief in Mission Control was palpable we copy you down eagle tranquility we copy you on the ground you got a bunch of guys about to turn blue we're breathing again thanks a lot oh girl because of the distractions during the descent no one had a clear idea of the Eagles exact location after the craft was made secure the flight plan called for the astronauts to get some sleep but armstrong and aldrin requested a change which was agreed to they began preparing for their walk on the lunar surface seven hours later Armstrong was climbing down the ladder a black-and-white TV camera was now activated and around the world six hundred million people were watching this was something new no one had thought that history would be televised with the world as witness it had been argued that television is a waste of time now NASA was rescheduling future missions so their astronauts could step on to the moon in prime time Armstrong and Aldrin spent two and a half hours on the lunar surface and much of that time was used in ceremonial duties such as planting the US flag and chatting to the president the trip back to lunar orbit went smoothly from here the three astronauts were back on thoroughly understood ground the three-day return cruise to Earth was a calm period before a storm of publicity obligations that the Apollo 11 astronauts had not prepared for Armstrong Aldrin and Collins were faded in ticker-tape parades across the United States and then across the world NASA was keen to build on this wave of popularity but the final three scheduled moon landings were soon cancelled and although the remaining moon missions became more ambitious and complex the American people lost interest the Apollo program ended in 1972 nobody has been back to the moon since you

Channel: Free Documentary

Views: 562,505

Rating: 4.6625905 out of 5

Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, Moon, Moon Documentary, NASA, NASA Documentary, Apollo 11, Apollo 11 Documentary, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Space Race, Space Race Documentary, Moon Landing, Moon Landing Documentary, space documentary, Race to the Moon, Astronaut, Astronaut Documentary, space science, astronaut training, space travel, Space Training, astronaut requirements, wernher von braun, sputnik, kennedy space center, cape canaveral

Id: WoJcvjhbJ70

Length: 84min 42sec (5082 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 04 2020