Apollo 11 moon landing was very close to a failure, and if you were around in 1959 and told your friends that ten years from now, we’d be sending men to the Moon and bringing them back safely to earth, you would have been laughed at, ridiculed, and probably told to see a psychiatrist. This was considered fantasy at the time, not too different than saying that in 2029, we’re going to visit Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun.
Neil Armstrong’s First Man On The Moon
Yet, on July 20, 1969, that’s what happened. Neil Armstrong took Man’s first step on the Moon on that day. When historians look back on humankind’s history a thousand years from now, Neil Armstrong’s name will likely still be remembered.
The Apollo 11 moon landing is perhaps man’s greatest technological achievement in human civilization’s history. The 52nd anniversary of this momentous event is in 2021, and we should celebrate.
This is a celebration for the entire world, not just the United States, the flag of these three men represented because that landing represents the zenith of human technology and ingenuity.
How Big Chance Had Apollo 11 For Success?
Yet, this event should never have happened. The odds of success were very low. Even Neil Armstrong only gave it a 50% chance of success. Computer technology was measured in kilobytes and megahertz at the time, not the terabytes and gigahertz of today, which are a million times less powerful.
The Apollo 11 astronauts had to be shielded from deadly cosmic rays. The number of stages involved in the rocket launch, from Earth orbit to lunar orbit, to descent on the Moon, to ascent, and the landing back on Earth.
How Many Times Did We Land on The Moon?
All had to be choreographed and practiced to perfection, with little to no room for error. Safety margins were razor-thin. The smallest anomaly could cause disaster. Everything had to work flawlessly.
Is it any wonder that millions of people believe that we never landed there? Yet it happened – not just once, but six times over three and a half years between 1969 and 1972 in multiple Apollo missions.
However, the very first mission had two life-threatening events that could have easily ended in disaster. These potential disasters are now mostly forgotten, but it’s time to remember them on this anniversary.
Apollo 11’s Final Descent
They remind us of how individual creativity and determination can turn catastrophe into stupendous success. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were in the Eagle lunar module on their final descent.
They were falling rapidly towards the surface of the Moon at 20 feet per second. But when they looked out the window, they did not recognize the simulations or see them in the dozens of photographs they had studied from previous Apollo missions.
It turns out that a navigational error and a faster-than-anticipated speed caused them to overshoot the planned landing zone by four miles. Now, the lunar terrain was not smooth, as it would have landed at their designated landing site. Instead, there was a vast crater field and car-sized boulders, dangerous areas to land in.
Lunar Module Running Out of Fuel
But they had to land, and land soon, because they were running low on fuel. Four hundred feet or 122 meters before they hit the surface, Armstrong decided to level the craft and cruise horizontally until he could find a smoother surface to land on. Of course, this would use up more fuel. If they did not land before running out of fuel, they would drop to the ground like rocks.
At best, they would almost certainly damage the craft beyond repair, or they would have to abort the mission, which was equally risky because it was not known whether there was enough time to ignite the ascent engine before they hit the ground. And there was not going to be a rescue mission.
Lunar Module 60 Seconds of Fuel Left!
They were flying to save their lives! There were 60 seconds of fuel left, and they had not found a suitable landing spot. Houston control: “Down two and a half, “forward, forward…” In Houston, they heard the 60-second low fuel alarm warning.
In normal simulations, the craft was expected to land with plenty of fuel or two minutes of fuel left. But at the 60-second mark, they were still about a hundred feet or ten stories above the Moon’s surface. Armstrong began to descend further with 30 seconds left.
They were still 10 feet or 3 meters off the ground. At this point, the thrust from the engine was kicking up so much moon dust that they could not tell exactly how far off the surface they were.
Houston Controllers
All they could see was a haze of powder and a few boulders. The contact light finally came on, and they were on the surface. Only 20 seconds of fuel was left! And disaster had been averted. Houston controllers breathed a sigh of relief but celebrated only mildly, knowing that the mission was long from over.
There was supposed to be a four-hour rest period before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin explored the Moon’s surface.
Exploring the Moon’s Surface
But within three hours, they were eager and ready to explore the moon’s surface. After exploring the surface of the Moon for about two and a half hours, when they came back into the module, as they took their backpacks off, unbeknownst to them at the time, Aldrin’s backpack had snapped off something on the control panel.
Lunar Module’s Circuit Breaker Switch Broken
As the astronauts were getting ready for some long-overdue sleep, Aldrin noticed a small black object lying on the floor and realized it was a circuit breaker switch. Buzz Aldrin next to the Lunar Module. Scanning the control panel, he noticed that the switch was missing from the labeled “Engine Arm.”
Now, they could have broken numerous switches on that control panel, and it would have made no difference. But this circuit breaker switch was special. It happened to be the one required to ignite the ascent engine so that they could go back up into orbit.
If the engine did not ignite, they could not return home. And there would be no rescue mission. So, this tiny black switch could potentially determine whether they lived or died. He told Houston, and they didn’t immediately know what to do. They said, “We will work on this down here, so you guys go ahead and go to sleep.”
“Hey, we got a circuit! We got power!”
Of course, these guys could not sleep with this looming catastrophe hanging over their heads. Contrary to the popular narrative, it was not a metal ballpoint space pen that Aldrin inserted into the circuit but a spare plastic felt-tip pen that he had brought with him on his spacesuit that saved the day and saved their lives.
Aldrin: “I had gotten a felt tip pen so I could read the writings on the rendezvous” chart. So I used it, felt tip pen two hours before.” “Hey, we got a circuit! We got the power”! So we were coming pretty close to not being able to come home.” I want to add a couple of thoughts that there are millions of people in the world who don’t believe that man has ever walked on the Moon.
How Many Americans Believe We Never Went to The Moon?
Some stats are pretty surprising. In 1969, less than 5% of people doubted the authenticity of the video images they saw on their TV screens. But today, a full 6% of Americans doubt the moon landing ever took place.
Neil Armstrong took all the iconic images of the astronauts from the Apollo 11 mission. The picture below shows Buzz Aldrin standing next to the motionless US flag. Over 50 percent of Russians refuse to believe that Americans set foot on the Moon.
This may not be all that surprising because there’s widespread government control of media and propaganda disseminated by the Russian regime.
How Many British People Think We Never Landed on the Moon?
But the most surprising stat is that 25 percent of British people and 9 percent of French people – our allies do not believe we landed on the Moon. What would be the irrefutable proof that could convince people that we did land there?
