Apollo 11: the routine of the astronauts on the moon

The checklist on the wristwatch reminded the astronauts what to do at every moment and not to forget any task. They did everything, except the last task

In yesterday's article We left with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin confirming that the Eagle had landed. Today we will continue and accompany their agenda on July 20, 1969, at the base of peace.

Immediately after landing, the astronauts intended to leave. NASA was the one who was worried. No one had landed on the moon before. What if the lander's legs start to sink into the moon dust, or the Eagle suffers a leak of some kind. So the first thing the two did was prepare for takeoff back, and meanwhile in Houston they were reading their and the spacecraft's telemetry and looking for signs of trouble. There were no problems and three hours after touching down, Houston finally gave the signal that everything was fine, and the moonwalk began.

At 09:56 EST, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the ladder and took one small step (left foot first) into history. From the shadow of the landing craft he looked around and said: "The place has its own beauty - like the high deserts in the USA." Houston reminded him to collect soil samples and Neal put some of the rocks and soil in his pocket, in case the astronauts had to return in a hurry, so that the scientists down on Earth would get at least a handful of the lunar soil for their experiments.
Buzz soon joined him. "Nice look" he said when he reached the top step of the ladder. "Isn't that something beautiful!" Armstrong agreed with him. “Spectacular view out here.”
"Spectacular destruction," Aldrin added.

The two words summed up the yin-yang of the moon. The impact craters, the collapsing rocks, the layers of moon dust - everything was completely alien. But the base of tranquility seems strangely familiar, like home. The other Apollo astronauts had a similar feeling in the following missions. It is possible that this comes from looking at the moon from the earth. Or maybe because the moon is a piece ejected from the young earth billions of years ago. no one knows that's how it is.

Honestly, most of the scene was weird. The airless landscape is revealed to the astronauts with uncanny clarity, and as a result, the horizon appears unnaturally close. The entire world appears curved, a byproduct of the moon's small diameter. "The distances here are deceptive" commented Aldrin.

The sky also cheated. Although the eagle landed on a clear moonlit morning, the sky was as black as the middle of the night. Is it heaven for astronomers? No. Because no stars are visible. The ground shining in the sunlight disrupted the night vision of the astronauts. Only the earth itself was too bright to see and shone in a blue and white light, hanging overhead.

Armstrong was particularly fond of the moon fight, which he kicked and shuffled around with his feet. On Earth, a dust kick creates a small dust cloud in the air, but there is no air on the Moon. "When you kick the ground, the dust comes out of it with a little momentum, which to me looked like a rose petal." Armstrong recalled. "There is only a small ring of particles. No dust, no swirl. is nothing. It's a unique thing."

One of the forgotten items in Apollo's lore was the to-do list attached to the arm of the space suit. These are memos from NASA for many activities - from the landing vehicle to the installation of the antennas and the collection of samples. Some of the tasks were detailed such as bending down and reporting to the control center how it was. They had a lot of tasks.

Neal and Buzz installed a system to collect solar wind particles, a seismometer and a mirror to reflect laser rays. They pulled out a flag and revealed a sign saying: "We came in peace in the name of all humanity." They made the first interplanetary telephone call. "I called to tell you how proud we are of you," said President Richard Nixon from the Oval Office. They collected about 21 kg of moon rocks and took 166 pictures.

Finally, after two and a half busy and exhausting hours it was time to go back. The checklist continued: climb back to the eagle, store the rocks, eat dinner - meat stew or chicken soup in cream. And finally - go to sleep.

That was the end of the list. "They wouldn't get any sleep from us while we're waiting to launch," Aldrin said after the mission.

Neil Armstrong was supposed to be sleeping. The moonwalk has already been done. The moon rocks are well stored in place. His ship is ready to dock. In a few hours, the return module of the Eagle is supposed to take off from the moon, something no ship has done so far, and Neil is required to be clear-headed in this process. He leaned against the hood of the Eagle and closed his eyes. But he could not sleep.

Buzz Aldrin didn't fall asleep either. In the small cell Aldrin had a warm corner - the floor. He stretched as hard as he could in his space suit and closed his eyes. Nothing happened. On such a day, what else could be expected?

The eagle was not a good place to sleep. The tiny cabin was noisy from the pumps and brightly lit by the warning lights that could not be dimmed. Even the window let in a glow that was enhanced by the sun shining brightly outside. "After I entered the sleep phase and everything worked out, I realized that something else was bothering me," Armstrong said. “The Eagle had a telescope that stuck out like a periscope. The Earth shone right above the telescope into my eye, it was like a light bulb."

To get some relief they closed their space suit helmets. It was quiet inside and they didn't have to breathe in all the dust they picked up after going outside, Aldrin said. But it didn't work. The suit's cooling system, which was so essential in the journey to the lunar surface, was too cold to sleep inside the Eagle. The best Aldrin could manage was "two hours of fragmented mental slumber." Armstrong just stayed awake.

When the wake-up call finally came "The base of peace, the base of peace, here's Houston for." Emmerstrong answered eagerly: "Good morning Houston, this is the base of peace, go. It's time to return home, to Earth, for a good night's sleep."

On the same topic on the science website

• The structure of the Apollo 11 spacecraft
• The tension that accompanied the landing on the moon