The First Man on the Moon

Twelve astronauts have walked on the Moon. Many have shared their experiences but the First Man on the Moon was never part of the media frenzy.

I have always felt somewhat cheated when other astronauts spoke on Neil Armstrong's behalf in television documentaries.

On the first day of May 2012, I was alerted by Universe Today that the host of evoTV’s:The Bottom Line, Alex Malley, had done an interview with Neil Armstrong to be aired in a four part series:
An Audience with Neil Armstrong. http://thebottomline.cpaaustralia.com.au/

Most days I curse modern technology and the internet but on this marvellous day, I am in love with  every ram, Mb and gig , because today I am being transported back to where my love of the Universe began.

One huge event diverted my attention away from hippies, Francois Hardy and Twiggy - the Moon landing. Through crackling noises, I heard the broadcast. We had no television in South Africa those days and there was no hype or build-up to this magnificent achievement. I became totally moonstruck when I heard Neil Armstrong announce: "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." This event must have affected many subconsciously. The hippies washed the mud off their faces,  Françoise Hardy had gone into Astrology (why oh why?) and Twiggy announced that one cannot be a clothes horse for the rest of one's life. It was as if our dreams just got bigger and better.      

The USA was concentrating on Air Force and Naval rocket programs instead of paying close attention to Werner Von Braun's numerous articles on space rocketry and Russia caught the world off guard.

In 1946 about 700 "doctored" dossiers enabled the USA to "import" Nazi scientists and their expertise "legally". Von Braun was put into the rocket design division of the Army. Big mistake! Russia had bigger plans. Having lifted fruit flies into space hardly prepared the USA for the announcement by Russia that they had successfully put an artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, in orbit around Earth.

The USA retaliated. Von Braun's dreams became a fully funded reality.The Saturn V (Five) about 17m taller than the Statue of liberty from the ground to the torch, and a half meter shorter than St Paul's Cathedral in London was designed and ready to take man to the Moon.

On July 16 1969   Columbia, a command and service module, and The Eagle, a lunar lander ,perched on top of a Saturn V Rocket, was launched at 13:32:00 UTC from the Kennedy Space Center: Mission Apollo 11

On 20 July1969 the first long distance call from another world was made:

Eagle > Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.
Houston: Roger, Tranquility, we copy you on the ground. You've got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot.
Tranquility Base: Thank you.
Houston: You're looking good here.
Tranquility Base: A very smooth touchdown.
Houston: Eagle, you are stay for T1. [The first step in the lunar operation.] Over.
Tranquility Base:Roger. Stay for T1.

The Eagle landed in the southern Sea of Tranquility about 20 km southwest of the crater Sabine. NASA had put a man on the Moon. After 21 hours 31 minutes on the Moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin blasted off in the top bit of the lander to dock with Columbia, controlled by Module Pilot, Michael Collins, in order to fly back to Earth for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969.

A plaque on the landing stage of the Eagle, which is still on the Moon, is engraved: "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."