Who took the first step on the moon? "We come in peace on behalf of all mankind

Neil Alden Armstrong, American astronaut, the first man to walk on the moon, was born on August 5, 1930 in Wapakoneta, Ohio, USA. In 1947 he graduated from High School in Wapakoneta. While studying in high school, he trained at the WFS city aviation school.

In 1947 he entered Purdue University, where he began conducting research in the field of aeronautical engineering. In 1949, Neil had to interrupt his studies - he was drafted into the US Navy. In 1950, Neil Armstrong became a Navy pilot and was sent to Korea.

From 1950-1952, he served in the Korean War, in which he flew 78 combat missions in the Grumman F9F Panther fighter and was shot down once. He received the Air Medal and two Gold Star medals.

In 1952 he returned to Purdue University, from which he graduated in 1955 with a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering.

In 1955, Armstrong began working at the Aircraft Propulsion Laboratory. Lewis (Flight Propulsion Laboratory). A year later, in 1956, he went to work at NASA's High-Speed ​​Flight Station at Edwards AFB in California (currently Dryden Flight Research Center). Research Center). Took part in testing of prototype and experimental aircraft F-100A and F-100C, F-101, F-104A, X-1B, X-5, F-105, F-106, B-47, KC-135.

In June 1958, he was selected to train as an astronaut as part of the Air Force command's MISS (Man In Space Soonest) program. However, after all work on the first manned flight was awarded to NASA in August 1958, the program was curtailed.

In October 1958, he was included in a group of pilots who were preparing to fly the experimental X-15 rocket aircraft. Between November 30, 1960 and July 26, 1962, Armstrong completed a total of seven flights in the X-15. The highest altitude he was able to reach was 63,246 m, and this happened during his sixth flight on April 20, 1962.

In April 1960, Armstrong was included in a secret group of seven astronauts for the military X-20 Dyna-Soar program. He was involved in practicing X‑20 landing operations on specially equipped F‑102A and F5D simulator aircraft. However, in the summer of 1962, seeing the futility of this program and hoping to continue his career as an astronaut at NASA, he left the group of X-20 pilots.

In September 1962, he was enrolled in the second class of NASA astronauts, having passed a selection from 250 candidates. Trained for flights under the Gemini and Apollo programs.

On March 16-17, 1966, as commander of Gemini 8, Neil Armstrong made his first flight into space. Due to the flight abort, most of the planned missions for Gemini 8 remained unfulfilled, but the main goal - the first docking with an unmanned Agena rocket - was achieved. The flight duration was 10 hours 41 minutes 26 seconds.

On June 16, 1969, as commander of Apollo 11, he began his second history-making flight into space. On July 20, 1969 (July 21 at 3:56 a.m. CET), Neil Armstrong jumped from the final stage of the lunar lander in front of millions of television viewers watching the moon landing live. “That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind," he said. "This is a small step for a man, a big leap for mankind." Armstrong spent 2 hours and 21 minutes outside the spacecraft.

Returned to Earth on July 24, 1969. Flight duration was 8 days 3 hours 18 minutes 35 seconds.

From 1969 to 1971, after landing on the moon, Armstrong worked as deputy chief of aeronautics at NASA.

He received a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California in 1970. From August 1971 to 1979 he worked as a professor of mechanics at the University of Cincinnati.

In August 1974, Armstrong retired from NASA and went into private business. From 1980 to 1982, he served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cardwell International, Ltd. in Lebanon, Ohio. From 1982-1992, he was chairman of Computing Technologies for Aviation, Inc., in Charlottesville, Virginia. At the same time, from 1981 to 1999, Armstrong served on the board of directors of Eaton Corp.

In 1986, he became deputy chairman of the commission that investigated the causes of the Challenger shuttle disaster.

In 2000, Armstrong was elected chairman of the board of directors of EDO Corp, a major manufacturer of electronics and instruments for the aerospace and defense industries.
Since 2005, he has been a member of the NASA Advisory Council.

Armstrong's many awards include the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

He was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. In 2009, Armstrong was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

August 25, 2012 Neil Armstrong. The cause of death was complications that arose in the coronary arteries of the heart.

The astronaut was married twice. Children (from first marriage): sons Eric and Mark, daughter Karen.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Barack Obama has already called him America's greatest hero, and his own biographer James Hansen called him one of the most misunderstood people on the planet. Probably only an “incomprehensible” person could take the first step on the Moon.

Neil Armstrong became “sick” of the sky at age six when his father took him on an airplane flight. Then the boy firmly decided to connect his life with airspace. At the age of fifteen, Neil could already fly an airplane quite professionally. Then he will remember: “What I regret most is that when the Second World War ended, I was only 15 years old. In high school, I studied with guys who, having barely reached eighteen, went to the front. Then they - those who remained alive - returned to school to finish their studies, sitting with us at the same desk. I remember being terribly jealous of them. Because there was something in their eyes that no one else had.”

True, very soon Neil had the opportunity to try himself as a combat pilot - the Korean War began. It was during the war that the first rise of the future first man on the moon took place. Armstrong flew 78 combat missions and was awarded the Air Medal and two Gold Stars. Neil himself recalled the war with his characteristic sense of humor: “Beautiful girls constantly flash in films about the Korean War. I went through the entire Korean War and I can’t remember a single one.”

After the war, Neil Armstrong became a pilot for the National Aeronautics Advisory Committee. Here he became a test pilot for the North American X-15 hypersonic experimental aircraft. A little later, Armstrong was included in a secret group of seven astronauts in the X-20 Dyna-Soar military program. Here he was engaged in practicing X-20 landing operations on specially equipped simulator aircraft. However, Neil wanted to fly higher than the sky: he wanted to go into space. In the summer of 1962, he left the project and became an astronaut at NASA.

On May 16, 1966, Neil Armstrong made his first flight into space: on the two-seater Gemini 8 spacecraft as crew commander. This flight could have been the last for the astronaut. Then, having carried out the world's first docking in space, the astronauts found themselves in an emergency situation: due to a failure in the engine system, the ship spun around its axis at a frequency of one revolution per second. Armstrong was able to manually stop the rotation and stabilize the flight. Due to the early return to Earth, the Gemini 8 mission lasted about ten and a half hours.

Neil Armstrong will remember his first space journey like this: “I remember very well this eerie feeling: that little blue pea is the Earth. Crap. I raised my thumb and closed one eye. The earth completely disappeared behind my finger. You would probably think that I felt like a giant. No, I felt small, small, small.”

On July 21, 1969, the main upswing in Armstrong’s life took place: together with his partners Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin, he went to the moon. But it was Neil Armstrong, commander of Apollo 11, who was the first to set foot on the lunar surface, and then uttered the famous phrase: “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” They say these words were prepared by NASA “PR people.” Armstrong himself will later talk about his “lunar” impressions: “The landing approach was, by far, the most difficult part of the flight. Walking on the lunar surface was very interesting, but it was the part that we looked at as fairly safe and predictable. That is, a feeling of delight accompanied the landing, but not the walk.”

The flight to the moon was Armstrong's last space journey. In 1972, he left NASA and began teaching aeronautics at the University of Cincinnati. This was a very incomprehensible decision for a person who had “cosmic” popularity and had dozens of profitable applications in the business field.

However, Neil Armstrong still could not live without the sky. He liked to repeat: “Good pilots don’t like to walk. Good pilots love to fly." True, now he was no longer piloting a spaceship, but his own light aircraft. As he later admits: “The glider is the most amazing thing in the whole world. It makes you feel like you're just one step away from becoming a bird." At the same time, until very recently, Armstrong did not give up the hope of flying into space again: “I’m old. But when NASA calls me, I always remind them: guys, if you have something for me to do, let me know, don’t wait - maybe I don’t have much left.

Neil Armstrong passed away on Saturday August 25, 2012. Despite the strong belief that the first man on the moon once expressed: “Astronauts don’t die on Saturdays. At least I don’t know of a single case.”

Legendary man Neil Alden Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, USA, on August 5, 1930. From his parents, Neil inherited character traits such as modesty and determination, as well as an explosive mixture of German, Scottish and Irish blood.

Many years later, in 1972, the astronaut visited the land of his ancestors, in the city of Langholm, in Scotland, where he was officially awarded the title of honorary citizen, as an outstanding descendant of the Armstrong clan.

The future space conqueror had younger brothers and sisters: Dean and June. While Neil was a child, the family moved frequently because his father served as an auditor for the US government. Before settling in Ohio in 1944, the Armstrongs lived in 20 cities. Neal graduated from high school in Wapakoneta.

The boy's main hobbies were airplanes and membership in the Boy Scouts club. In both directions, the student achieved significant success: within the framework of the Boy Scout movement, the boy received the highest rank of Eagle Scout, and a pilot's license from the city aviation school - previously a driver's license. Thus, the future astronaut became a professional pilot at the age of 16, and from that moment his biography was inextricably linked with the sky.

In 1947, the young man entered Purdue University, where he studied aeronautical engineering and industry. The guy's grades were average, and his college education was paid for by the state in exchange for an obligation to serve three years in the army. After the army, Armstrong returned to university, where he studied for another two years.

Neil Armstrong's military conscription coincided with the Korean War. Neal's first jet flight occurred in 1949, and he flew as many as 78 missions during the war effort from 1949 to 1952. At that time, Neil was a fighter-bomber pilot and was shot down by enemy forces in one of the operations.

For his military services, Armstrong was awarded three honorary awards. In 1952, Neal joined the US Navy as a test pilot.

NASA

Neil Armstrong's path from pilot to astronaut, who became a hero of all mankind, was long and included the following stages:

• in 1956, Armstrong transferred to the NASA High Speed ​​Flight Research Station, where he tested the latest aircraft;
• From June to August 1958, he tested as an astronaut under the Air Force's MISS program;
• from October 1958, Armstrong was part of a group of pilots making experimental flights on the X-15 rocket plane; from 1960 to 1962, he made only 7 flights, but never reached the border with space;
• In 1960, Neil Armstrong was named to the second group of astronauts selected by NASA from a pool of 250 candidates.

Pilot Neil Armstrong

In 1966, as commander of Gemini 8, Neil Armstrong traveled to space for the first time. Due to malfunctions, most of the flight goals were never achieved, but the astronauts completed the main task, which was docking with the Agena rocket.

Flight and landing on the Moon

On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 launched from the Cape Canaveral launch site under the command of Armstrong. Along with the commander on board the starship were Michael Collins, pilot of the Columbia module, and Edwin Aldrin, also known as Buzz Aldrin, pilot of the Eagle module.

After one hundred and three hours of flight in orbit of the Moon, the landing module with Aldrin and Armstrong on board was disconnected, which soon successfully landed on the Moon in the Sea of ​​Tranquility. Before landing on the surface, an emergency situation occurred: the pressure building in the ship’s fuel line almost led to an explosion. After troubleshooting, the astronauts opened the hatch.

Neil Armstrong was the first to leave the spaceship, and his colleague was filming this historical moment. At the same time, the captain of Apollo 11 uttered the famous phrase, which was heard live in communication with the Earth:

"It's one small step for a man, but one giant leap for all mankind."

The astronauts stayed on the surface of the satellite for 2.5 hours, collecting soil samples, leaving a capsule with messages in 74 earthly languages ​​and planting the US flag. They took many historical photos and videos, documenting the fact of man's presence on the Moon.

Subsequently, when listening to and transcribing the recordings made by the astronauts, researchers and scientists have repeatedly asked the question, what exactly did Neil Armstrong say when his foot touched the lunar soil? In addition to the well-known phrase on the tape, one could hear the words: “Good luck, Mr. Gorski!”

Armstrong was repeatedly asked about this mysterious man in numerous interviews, but he only remained silent. And only many years later, the astronaut said that the mysterious Gorski was his neighbor when Neil himself was still a boy. Running to the neighbor's property to get the ball, he accidentally overheard the Gorski couple talking in an intimate moment. Madame Gorski refused her husband’s one frank request, saying that she would satisfy it “when the neighbor’s boy is running on the moon.” In the end, her words turned out to be prophetic.

The Apollo 11 crew landed safely on July 24, 1969, although the departure from the Moon was not without some unpleasant incidents. Returning to the lander, the astronauts discovered that the engine start button was damaged. The situation was critical, since help from Earth obviously would not have arrived in time for the Moon within the three days available to the crew. Miraculously, the engine was able to start, and the first manned flight to the Moon ended in complete triumph.

Visit to the USSR

In May 1970, Armstrong visited Leningrad as part of a NASA delegation. The famous astronaut’s visit to the USSR did not end there. After the Leningrad conference, NASA representatives went to Moscow.

According to Armstrong’s recollections, the meeting with the Muscovites went much warmer, but most of all he remembered his acquaintance with the widows of Soviet cosmonauts: the spouses of Vladimir Komarov. During an official meeting with representatives of the country's leadership, Neil Armstrong presented the Chairman of the Council of Ministers with samples of lunar soil and a miniature flag of the USSR that had been on the Moon.

Lunar landing: myth or reality?

Both during Armstrong’s life and after his death, there were many legends about him and the legendary flight to the moon. So, for some time there was a theory that after what he saw on the satellite, the astronaut converted to Islam and became a Muslim. This legend has no basis, except for the similarity of geographical names - Lebanon in the USA and the Muslim country of the same name.

Heated debate surrounded numerous statements by journalists and “researchers” that Neil Armstrong did not go to the moon. Several books and numerous articles have been published, and several films have been made, debunking the myth of the presence of American astronauts on the Moon. One of the versions said that the documentary filming of the flight was faked by the famous, and all the footage was filmed in the pavilion.

As a result, these publications turned out to be falsifications, and the books and films turned out to be fiction. Even Soviet cosmonauts confirmed the presence of the Apollo team on the Moon, noting that some shots could well have been taken on Earth - for “clarification.”

Personal life

The astronaut’s personal life developed quite smoothly. Despite regular training and flying, Neil Armstrong was married twice. Neil met his first wife, Janet Sharon, after returning to university, and their wedding took place in 1956. At the same time, Janet was forced to leave her studies and take up housekeeping, which she later regretted.

The couple had three children: sons Eric and Mark and daughter Karen, who died at the age of two from a brain tumor.

In 1994, Neil divorced Janet and married Carol Knight, with whom he lived until 2012.

Death

The cause of death of the famous astronaut, who retired from NASA in the 70s, taught at the university and was engaged in business, was postoperative complications.

According to US Navy tradition, the astronaut's ashes were scattered over the Atlantic Ocean during the funeral.

Apollo 11- a manned spacecraft of the Apollo series, which for the first time delivered people to the surface of another cosmic body - the Moon.

Crew

Commander - Neil Armstrong (left)
Command Module Pilot - Michael Collins (center)
Lunar Module Pilot - Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. (right)

General information

The ship included a command module (sample 107) and a lunar module (sample LM-5). The astronauts chose the call sign “Columbia” for the command module, and “Eagle” for the lunar module. The weight of the ship is 43.9 tons. “Columbia” is the name of the statue on the Congress building in Washington and the ship in which Jules Verne’s heroes flew to the moon. The flight emblem is an eagle above the surface of the Moon, holding an olive branch in its talons. A Saturn-5 rocket (sample AS-506) was used for launch. The purpose of the flight was formulated as follows: “To land on the Moon and return to Earth.”

Moon landing

The spacecraft reached lunar orbit approximately 76 hours after launch. After this, Armstrong and Aldrin began preparing to undocking the lunar module for landing on the lunar surface.

The command and lunar modules were undocked approximately one hundred hours after launch. In principle, it was possible to use automatic programs right up to the moment of landing, but Armstrong, even before the flight, decided that at an altitude of about one hundred meters above the lunar surface he would switch to a semi-automatic landing control program, explaining his decision with the following phrase: “Automation does not know how to select landing sites " According to this program, the automation regulates the vertical component of the module's speed, changing the thrust of the landing engine according to signals from the radio altimeter, while the astronaut controls the axial position of the cabin, and, accordingly, the horizontal component of the speed. In fact, Armstrong switched to manual descent control mode much earlier, since the on-board computer was overloaded, and the emergency signal was on all the time, unnerving the crew, despite the assurances of the ground operator that the signal could be ignored (later the operator, who made the decision despite the emergency signals not to give up landing on the Moon, received a special award from NASA).

Post-flight analysis showed that the computer overload was caused by the fact that, in addition to controlling the landing, which required 90% of the computer's power, it was assigned to control the radar that ensured the rendezvous with the command module in orbit, which required another 14% of the power. For subsequent flights of lunar expeditions under the Apollo program, the computer logic was changed.

The need to switch to a semi-automatic control program also arose because the automatic program led the lunar module to land in a crater with a diameter of about 180 meters, filled with stones. Armstrong decided to fly over the crater, fearing that the lunar module would flip over during landing.

The lunar module landed in the Sea of ​​Tranquility on July 20 at 20:17:42 GMT. At the moment of landing, Armstrong transmitted: “Houston, this is Tranquility Base. "Eagle" sat down." Charles Duke of Houston responded: “Got you, Calm.” You landed on the moon. We're all blue in the face here. Now we are breathing again. Thanks a lot!"

Stay on the Moon

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin walks onto the surface of the Moon

The astronauts performed operations simulating a launch from the Moon and made sure that the onboard systems were in working order. Even during the selenocentric orbit, the astronauts asked permission to abandon the planned rest period; after landing, the medical director of the flight gave such permission, considering that nervous tension, apparently, would still prevent the astronauts from falling asleep before going to the Moon.

An external on-board camera mounted on the lunar module provided a live broadcast of Armstrong's exit onto the lunar surface. Armstrong descended to the surface of the Moon on July 21, 1969 at 02:56:20 GMT. Having descended to the surface of the Moon, he uttered the following phrase:
That's one small step for a man, but one giant leap for all mankind.

Man's first step on the moon

Aldrin soon reached the lunar surface about fifteen minutes after Armstrong. Aldrin tested various methods of quickly moving across the surface of the Moon. The astronauts found normal walking to be the most appropriate. The astronauts walked on the surface, collected a number of samples of lunar soil and installed a television camera. Then the astronauts planted the flag of the United States of America (before the flight, the US Congress rejected NASA’s proposal to install the UN flag on the Moon instead of the national one), held a two-minute communication session with President Nixon, carried out additional soil sampling, and installed scientific instruments on the surface of the Moon (a seismometer and a laser radiation reflector) . Aldrin had great difficulty leveling the seismometer using a level. Ultimately, the astronaut leveled it “by eye” and the seismometer was photographed so that specialists on Earth could determine the position of the device on the ground from the photograph. Another delay was caused by the fact that one of the seismometer's two solar panels did not automatically deploy and had to be deployed manually.

Aldrin at the seismometer. The lunar module, a US flag with a wire frame to prevent sagging, and a camera on a tripod are visible in the background.

After installing the instruments, the astronauts collected additional soil samples (the total weight of the samples delivered to Earth was 24.9 kg with a maximum allowable weight of 59 kg) and returned to the lunar module.

With a lifespan of an autonomous life support system of about four hours, Aldrin spent just over one and a half hours on the lunar surface, Armstrong - about two hours and ten minutes.

After returning to the lunar cabin, the astronauts put no longer needed items in a bag, depressurized the cabin and threw the bag onto the surface of the Moon. A television camera operating on the surface of the Moon showed this process and was turned off soon after.

After checking the on-board systems and eating, the astronauts slept for about seven hours (Aldrin curled up on the cabin floor, Armstrong in a hammock suspended above the main engine casing of the lunar take-off stage).

Launch from the Moon and return to Earth

After another meal by the astronauts, at the one hundred and twenty-fifth hour of the flight, the take-off stage of the lunar module took off from the Moon.

Total duration of stay of the lunar module on the surface of the Moon: 21 hours 36 minutes.

On the landing stage of the lunar module remaining on the surface of the Moon, there is a sign with a map of the Earth’s hemispheres engraved on it and the words “Here people from planet Earth first set foot on the Moon. July 1969 AD. We come in peace on behalf of all Mankind." Engraved below these words are the signatures of all three Apollo 11 astronauts and President Nixon.

Memorial plaque on the landing stage of the Apollo 11 lunar module

After the take-off stage of the lunar module entered a selenocentric orbit, it was docked with the command module at the 128th hour of the expedition. The crew of the lunar module took the samples collected on the Moon and moved to the command module, the take-off stage of the lunar cabin was undocked, and the command module started on its way back to Earth. Only one course correction was required during the entire return flight. It was necessary due to poor meteorological conditions in the originally planned landing area. The new landing area was located approximately four hundred kilometers northeast of the originally planned one. The separation of the command module compartments occurred at the one hundred and ninety-fifth hour of the flight. In order for the crew compartment to reach the new area, the controlled descent program was modified using lift-to-drag ratio.

The crew compartment splashed down in the Pacific Ocean approximately twenty kilometers from the aircraft carrier Hornet (CV-12) 195 hours 15 minutes 21 seconds from the start of the expedition at a point with coordinates 13°30′ N. w. 169°15′ E. d. (G).

On the water, the crew compartment was initially installed in a non-design position (bottom up), but after a few minutes it was turned over to the design position using inflatable float cylinders.

Three light divers were dropped from the helicopter, who brought the pontoon under the crew compartment and brought two inflatable boats into readiness. One of the divers in a biological protection suit opened the hatch of the crew compartment, handed over three similar suits to the crew and closed the hatch again. The astronauts put on their spacesuits and 35 minutes after splashdown, they transferred to the inflatable boat. The diver treated the astronauts' spacesuits and the outer surface of the compartment with an inorganic iodine compound. The crew was lifted aboard a helicopter and taken to the aircraft carrier 63 minutes after splashdown. The astronauts went straight from the helicopter to a quarantine van, where a doctor and a technician were waiting for them.

President Nixon speaks to the Apollo 11 crew in a quarantine van

President Nixon, NASA Director Thomas Paine, and astronaut Frank Borman arrived on the aircraft carrier to meet the astronauts. Nixon addressed the astronauts in the quarantine van with a brief welcoming speech.

The astronauts were in quarantine for 21 days (counted from the moment they launched from the Moon). From the very first day on Earth, the crew began reporting on the flight and undergoing medical examinations. These examinations, as well as the analysis of samples and the impact of lunar materials on plants and animals, did not reveal the presence of lunar microorganisms, and it was considered possible not to extend the quarantine.

At the end of the quarantine period, the astronauts spent one day with their families, after which on August 13, 1969, ceremonial meetings of the astronauts were organized successively in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

On September 16, the Apollo 11 crew was received at the US Congress. On this day, Congress approved a new US government award - the Congressional Medal of Honor for Space Exploration.

Some results of the flight

NASA has repeatedly emphasized that the Apollo 11 mission was aimed at solving engineering problems rather than scientific research on the Moon. From the point of view of solving these problems, the main achievements of the Apollo 11 flight are considered to be the demonstration of the effectiveness of the adopted method of landing on the Moon and launching from the Moon (this method is considered applicable when launching from Mars), as well as demonstrating the ability of the crew to move around the Moon and conduct research in lunar conditions.

On launch day, July 16, 1969, all the roads around Cape Canaveral were clogged with cars. People gathered to see History. Souvenir dealers sold out of everything from T-shirts and baseball caps to Apollo and NASA pins and buttons. According to eyewitnesses, people even pulled out bunches of grass around the roads adjacent to the cape and sealed them in bags as souvenirs

July 16, 1969, Cape Canaveral (now Cape Kennedy). The Saturn V launch vehicle roars into the sky

Flight directors Gene Krantz, Glynn Lunney and Cliff Charlesworth watch Neil Armstrong's first steps on the Moon

The historical spacesuit in which Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, now a museum exhibit

The unclear television footage could not convey the main thing - the courage of people, the enormous risk, technological complexity and coherence of teamwork. From launch to splashdown, the Apollo 11 project was executed almost flawlessly. This fact can be considered the most remarkable aspect of this achievement, if we do not forget about all the surprises that awaited the astronauts during a manned flight, about all the inconsistencies and mistakes that plagued NASA in previous and subsequent space programs. “I had this feeling that sooner or later something was going to go wrong,” says flight director Glynn Lunney. “But everything went like clockwork.”

Launch

The launch went off without any special hiccups; the huge three-thousand-ton Saturn V rocket went into the sky and, after correction, set a course leading to the Moon. The Mission Control Center rotated four teams: “white”, “black”, “green” and “burgundy”. NASA employees were very young, 25-28 years old, with rare exceptions (for example, the flight director of the “white” team, Gene Kranz, was 35). Information on trajectory corrections was calculated on Earth, but on board the main navigation tool was the sextant, with which astronauts navigated by the stars - just like in the time of Columbus.

On the way to the moon

On July 20, after entering the lunar orbit, the “white” team took over the watch, obliged to accompany the landing on the Moon. This important operation was previously carried out only on simulators. “There were two different teams responsible for landing and taking off from the moon, and both were on duty during the landing,” recalls Sy Liebergot of the black team. “If the landing was cancelled, the landing group stood up, and the take-off group took their places.”

After the separation of the lunar module, Armstrong and Aldrin began braking and moved into a landing orbit. According to Joe Gavin, who was in charge of the lunar module project for Grumman Aerospace, tensions reached a breaking point: “We were aircraft designers. An airplane can always be tested in flight and defects can be corrected, but here it was impossible.”

Landing

The moment we landed, trouble started. The ship's computer issued "error 1202" and almost immediately followed by "error 1201." The atmosphere in the control center was tense, everyone was leafing through reference books, trying to figure out what this meant. Jack Garman, head of the Apollo guidance system programming team, shouted, “Everything is fine!” It later turned out that these errors were related to the processing of signals from the docking radar, which should not have been used during landing. The computer was stumped by signals from two radars - landing and docking. But the computer's operating algorithm made it possible to bypass this problem in emergency program execution mode.

The landing took place in semi-automatic mode - the automation controlled the thrust for a given rate of altitude reduction, Armstrong controlled the horizontal movement, looking for a place to land. Everything went smoothly during training, but in real life it took quite a long time to find a suitable place. The control center did not know that the module was flying over the crater, but they saw how fuel was being consumed. “There were only 18 seconds left on my stopwatch until the landing was cancelled,” recalls Bob Carlton, who was responsible for controlling the lunar module on the “white” team.

On the moon

After the report from the Moon, the applause died down at the MCC and there was a slight lull. It was envisaged that the crew would rest and sleep before entering the lunar surface. One of the “negotiators,” astronaut Bruce McCandless, went home for lunch. But he didn’t even have time to get out of the car when his wife ran out of the house screaming: “They can’t sleep! You are urgently called to the Mission Control Center!” And while McCandless was returning, the flight director of the “black” team, Milt Windler, made a decision: “If they can’t sleep from nervous tension and are eager to go to the Moon, let them go!” And when Neil Armstrong walked down the ramp, it was time for his famous line: “It’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Realizing the importance of the historical moment, the commentator at the control center blocked the switch for negotiations with the crew with his foot, and everything that was said from the Moon was broadcast directly.

One of the crew's main tasks was to collect soil samples. Armstrong was asked to first pick up something nearby, so that if he had to leave quickly, he would have some evidence of being on the Moon. Neil filled the container with the first stones and dust that came to hand. Ironically, these samples later turned out to be the best samples of lunar regolith ever returned from the Moon.

The way home

When the time came to leave the Moon, it turned out that on Earth they could not indicate the exact location of the lunar landing! “We had five possible locations,” recalls David Reed, who was responsible for flight dynamics on the green team. “We knew where the lunar module was, according to the crew, according to the guidance system, according to the radar tracking, according to the control center and according to the geologists.” The exact coordinates were established after the module took off from the Moon (the minimum error was about 8 km).

There were some hiccups: during one of the exits, Aldrin touched and broke the takeoff engine switch with a bulky life support unit on his suit, and he had to start the takeoff manually by pressing the switch with a pen.

On July 24, 1969, the command module splashed down safely. But the celebrations at the Mission Control Center began only when the astronauts stepped aboard the aircraft carrier. “We were young, fearless,” recalls Cy Liebergot, “and no one told us that we couldn’t send a man to the moon. That's why we did it."