Moon Landing 1969
July 16, 2019
On July 16, 1969, something happened that caused the whole world to come to a standstill for a few days and forcefully diverted attention away from the earthly live preoccupation and job attention.
The Americans had launched Apollo 11 on its Saturn V Rocket bound for the Sea of Tranquility on the surface of the Moon. Mesmerised, South Africans listened to every radio broadcast and read every available Newspaper. South Africa did not have Television yet!
The mission proceeded as planned, and the Astronauts reached the Moon on July 19. The spacecraft commander was Neil Armstrong, the Command Module pilot Mike Collins, and the Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin. The mission proceeded as planned; the astronauts reached the Moon on July 19. Armstrong and Aldrin entered the Landing Module, named Eagle, and undocked from the Columbia. After a quick inspection system checkout and a cheerful, “l will see you cat’s later’, the astronauts, fired their descent rocket and headed for the lunar surface.
At 6000 feet above the surface, an alarm sounded, which meant that the computer was becoming overloaded. Back at Houston, Steve Bales, the Flight Control Computer expert, told the mission to disregard the alarm and the landing continued. The crew finally looked out at the Moon surface at an altitude of fewer than 2000 feet with only three minutes of fuel remaining.
The Eagle headed toward a large boulder field surrounding a crater which was the proposed landing spot! Armstrong realised the landing spot was unsafe and that the LM was heading for a crash. Increasing the Eagle’s forward velocity to 55 miles per hour, caught the eyes of all mission controllers. The increase was not according to the flight plan! Armstrong saved his life and that of Aldrin!
Continuing the manoeuvre, Armstrong found a clear area about the size of a house and slowly brought the Eagle to a gentle landing with 17 seconds of descent fuel remaining.
The first words from the Moon were Aldrin’s, ‘Okay. Engine stopped.’ Followed shortly by Armstrong’s, ‘Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed’. Human history had changed; the species had landed on another celestial body.
On July 20, 1969, at 10:39 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time Armstrong backed out of the Lunar Module and descended to the Moon surface. At 10:56 P.M. Armstrong said, ‘Alright, I’m stepping off the footpad now.’ That was followed immediately by,
‘That’s One Small Step For Man, One Giant Leap For Mankind.’
Moon Landing had a profound impact. People were in awe of what achieved technologically and what people could do if they worked professionally in teams, no matter what their ethnicity was!
People were in awe of the divineness of the human mind and spirit!
“God make the United States of the World Great Again!”
