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Challenge Of Space - SA 69-07-07 (08) 10 Miles to the Moon
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Challenge Of Space - SA 69-07-07 (08) 10 Miles to the Moon
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- [00:01]
Tom Stafford
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- [01:04]
Carling Black Label Announcer
Carling World brewers of the great American beer Carling Black Label presents another story in the dramatic series the Challenge of Space.
- [01:30]
Charles B. Ryan
Good evening. This is Charles B. Ryan, head of the Department of Space Research here at the New Mexico Center. Tonight I have a story for you that is as fresh as tomorrow's headlines. A story that takes us but one step away from mankind's greatest adventure. And I call this story. 10 miles to the Moon.
- [02:00]
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- [02:57]
Charles B. Ryan
Through the ages, man has always reached out for the moon. Religions have been founded with the moon as an idol. Astrologers even today claim to plot the course of human lives as influenced by the moon. Madmen were supposed to come under the spell of this earthly satellite. Even our word for madman comes from the Latin for moon, lunatic. The moon is romance and the moon is madness. And now that man has grown wings, this romantic madness is still upon us. For we are the people who are blessed with the technology and the ability to do what man through the ages could only long to do. To reach out and touch the moon, to walk upon it, and to say, in truth, we have known the moon and it is ours. In 1961, a young man took his place in front of Congress in Washington and spoke. His name was John Fitzgerald Kennedy, President of the United States. And he spoke about the moon. I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth. No single space project will be more impressive to mankind. None will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. And I asked this Congress for funds to enable an impossible dream. Another instance of moon madness. At the time, that's what it seemed to be. Because the Russians were far ahead in the race toward the stars. America had not even been able to place an unmanned lunar probe closer than 20,000 miles to the lunar surface. And that's a good distance away. Nobody believed then, even remotely, that it could be done. And yet, in 1962, President Kennedy spoke again, spoke on the same subject. No nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space. That challenge is one that we are willing to accept, that we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win. The Challenge of Space. The title of this series of programs, and the words of President John Kennedy. But of course, there were immediate problems. Nobody knew just how to go about reaching the moon, far less landing a man on its surface. Rocket expert Vernon von Braun, looking far into the future, saw it like this. I would use two Saturn rockets, one carrying a manned capsule and the other one carrying extra fuel. Both these rockets would be launched into Earth orbit. And there they would rendezvous, like the rocket, with the capsules refueled from the other. The refueled capsule was then shot out of orbit towards the moon and return, in effect, quite simple. That was one approach from van of von Braun. Maxime Fager, one of the designers of the Mercury spacecraft, had yet another and possibly simpler idea. Here is how he described it. Naturally, everyone knows that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. So I envisage a rocket larger than any rocket yet on the drawing boards, which will simply lift the specimen from the Earth directly to the moon. The capsule, which has a certain amount of power of its own, would then lift from the surface of the moon and return to Earth. Two very sound theories from two of the leading exponents of rocket research. Both were worth considering, but the final answer had not yet been reached. An American spaceman had to reach the moon. President Kennedy had given the green light. But how would it be done? It was at a meeting in Washington that the answer was finally reached. And from the most unexpected source.
- [07:36]
Tom Stafford
Gentlemen, gentlemen. Cheers. Thank you.
- [07:41]
Charles B. Ryan
Now we thank Dr. Von Braun for his very enlightening talk. This is, I think, worth serious consideration. Now, our next speaker, some of you May already know, although he prefers to stay out of the limelight. Gentlemen, Dr. John C. Hubelt.
- [07:59]
Tom Stafford
Thank you. Thank you. Well, it's nice to know my friends are out in force today.
- [08:04]
Charles B. Ryan
Thank you.
- [08:05]
Tom Stafford
Now, gentlemen, I've examined the theories put forward by my eminent colleagues Maxim Fager and Dr. Wernher von Braun.
- [08:12]
Charles B. Ryan
And the one Fulton I have confirmed.
- [08:14]
Tom Stafford
Find with them is that they will not be practicable for quite some time yet.
- [08:18]
Charles B. Ryan
Certainly not within the time period asked for by President Kennedy.
- [08:23]
Tom Stafford
Now it occurs to me that rendezvous around the moon is like being in a living room.
- [08:29]
Charles B. Ryan
Now why should we take the whole.
- [08:31]
Tom Stafford
Darn living room down to the moon when we could get there in an.
- [08:34]
Charles B. Ryan
Easy chair, A little tiny craft rather.
- [08:37]
Tom Stafford
Than a big one. So I've evolved this theory with which falls right within my field of work called Lunar Orbit Rendezvous or lor. Now gentlemen, tables of my figures have been handed to you.
- [08:51]
Charles B. Ryan
If you have any queries.
- [08:52]
Tom Stafford
Yes, you are being misleading, Doctor. Your figures lie. A point of order. Dr. Fletcher, please control yourself.
- [08:59]
Charles B. Ryan
Yes, Dr.
- [09:00]
Tom Stafford
Von Brown, you have the floor.
- [09:01]
Charles B. Ryan
With respect to Dr. Hobart. Mr. Chairman, I'm afraid this idea is no good.
- [09:06]
Tom Stafford
No good at all. Foreign.
- [09:12]
Charles B. Ryan
C Hubal's idea was dismissed. He was asked to drop the subject of Lunar Orbit Rendezvous entirely from talks he gave at NASA meetings and conferences. And still men talked and planned on the best way to reach the moon. If you're the purchasing manager at a manufacturing plant, you know having a trusted partner makes all the difference. That's why hands down, you count on Granger for auto reordering with on time restocks, your team will have the cut resistant gloves they need at the start of their shift. And you can end your day knowing they've got safety well in hand. Call 1-800-GRAINGER click granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. From taco night in Tulum to sushi.
- [09:59]
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- [10:27]
Charles B. Ryan
So close, yet still so far away. Finally, desperately, after months of frustration, the Dr. Houball bypassed the administration with a letter direct to the associate administrator of NASA. NASA gave Houbo to hearing and at last, Max F and Von Brown came round to his way of thinking. Now nothing stood in the way of the Apollo project, the fastest way to the moon. Work began on the Apollo modules, the three man capsule in which the astronauts would live on their way through a quarter million miles of space. And on the lunar excursion module, the lem, in which they would actually land the two craft which would orbit together, then separate, then rendezvous above the surface of the moon. The two craft which would become affectionately known as Charlie Brown and Snoopy. But first there were experiments. The first ended in tragedy when Apollo 1 burst into flames and the lives of three pioneer astronauts were snuffed out in seconds. But work went on, schedules were kept, men were trained, and then the first manned flight aboard Vana von Braun's gigantic Saturn rocket was made in the capsule named Apollo 7. Aboard were astronauts Wally Schirra, Don Isler and Walter Cunningham. These men and the Apollo mission were gold. They practiced the intricate maneuvers of docking in orbit, then returned to their native Earth. But then America gave the world a Christmas present unlike any it had ever had before. Astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell and Bill Anders flew their Apollo 8 capsule around the moon.
- [12:35]
Tom Stafford
Chris, the horizon here is very, very stark. The sky is pitch black and the sun is white. We can see the lunar craters Casper and Gilbert. Further on the horizon, the mountains are coming up now.
- [12:47]
Charles B. Ryan
They're heavily impacted with numerous craters. There's a beautiful moon out tonight, Frank.
- [12:52]
Tom Stafford
There's a beautiful Earth out there that we can see. Chris. I can see the entire Earth now, out of the Senate window. Hey, do you suppose there's intelligent life down there?
- [13:01]
Charles B. Ryan
Who's the joker?
- [13:03]
Tom Stafford
That's Bill Anders. But you know, as we headed out toward the moon coming up here, the Earth got smaller and smaller. The continents blended together. Maybe man's problems will also blend together and get smaller and we can start generating a spirit of cooperation.
- [13:19]
Charles B. Ryan
Merry Christmas, Frank. And so Apollo 8 circled the moon and came home. Then came the little publicized Apollo 9. But all this was prelude nothing more than the overture to the symphony which had yet to come. Because now, now came the second to last step in man's greatest achievement. Now wheeled out on its enormous gantry to the launch site at Cape Kennedy, comes the mightiest rocket the world has ever seen, the Titanic 7 5, the brainchild of Valenton Brown. The Saturn V rocket, the most powerful of all the Apollo boosters, consists of three stages. The first two stages are jettisoned immediately after burnout, by which time the third stage and the modules will be In a parking orbit around the Earth. Now, a five minute burn of the third stage boosts the spacecraft past escape.
- [14:27]
Tom Stafford
Velocity, the speed needed to escape the.
- [14:29]
Charles B. Ryan
Earth's gravitational pull, and sends it on its way to the moon at 24,000 miles an hour. After this first stage is jettisoned, old motive power comes from rockets contained in the service module, which is only jettisoned shortly before splashdown. Dr. Werner von Braun atop his powerful Saturn V rocket, waiting for the fire which will send them hurtling toward the moon, said three skilled men, command pilot Tom Stafford and fellow astronauts Eugene Cernan and John Young. And as they wait to hear the countdown reach the zero mark, let's hear from Command Pilot Tom Stafford.
- [15:08]
Tom Stafford
Apollo 10 Command Pilot Stafford describes the mission for Apollo 10. The major reason behind the Apollo 10 mission is to pull together all of the nine facts that we've had in the past for Pred Missions and find out the final unknowns before the actual lunar landing mission. Tom Stafford, you're going to be a very busy man. Those few minutes before liftoff from Cape Kennedy. Could you describe what you and John Young and Gene Cernan are doing inside the spacecraft there from about T minus 10 on down to zero? All right, at this time we're going through the final switch position checks with the spacecraft test conductor. And I'm monitoring the booster tank pressures and the booster parameters down below. And I have the jobs of the abort handle. John Young is looking at the computer in the center seat and looking at some of our basic small engine parameters. And Gene Sur is on the right checking the fuel cells, electrical power of all nature's AC power, DC power and the systems on the right hand side.
- [16:18]
Charles B. Ryan
Tom Stafford interviewed by William McCrory and Red Turner on the Voice of America. And at this moment in the Houston Space Control center, tension is mounting among controlled activity. The time is 18 seconds and counting.
- [16:35]
Tom Stafford
17 seconds and counting. Guidance internal. 15, 13, 12, 10, 9. We have a missile. Six engines on 5, 4, 3, 2. There's the fire. Engines running. Launch commits. There it goes. It's moving.
- [17:04]
Charles B. Ryan
The pioneers of Apollo 10 are on.
- [17:07]
Tom Stafford
Their way to the moon.
- [17:26]
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- [18:18]
Charles B. Ryan
Go for Carling.
- [18:19]
Carling Black Label Announcer
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- [18:29]
Charles B. Ryan
At this point, I'd like to backtrack slightly in time to just a few moments before the launch of Apollo 10 from pad 39B at Cape Kennedy. Because it is at this point that the story of this voyage, the voyage of the astronauts themselves begins. Over then to Red Turner at Cape Kennedy for a description of the vehicle that these men will ride.
- [18:51]
Tom Stafford
On top, we can clearly see the Apollo spacecraft and the command and service module below. The spacecraft standing on the pad stretches over 130 meters into the sky. The weight out there on the pad at this moment is 2,945,134 kg. This is the heaviest weight ever lifted into space by the United Spine, and we believe the heaviest thing ever lifted into space in history. Scheduled to go toward the moon will be 94,500 pounds or 42,865 kilograms of Apollo and lunar module spacecraft to be flung away from the Earth and headed for the moon.
- [19:39]
Charles B. Ryan
That's the machine that Van von Braun built. Perched high above it, the three men wait their long journey, a journey of eight days and more than half a million miles.
- [19:53]
Tom Stafford
5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Always commenced. Lift on. We have lift on. Jump into the sky. Clear the tower. Here comes the air past the gate. Listen to that rocket. Hole to the clouds. Rock and roll. Disappeared into the clouds.
- [20:31]
Charles B. Ryan
That's William McCrory at the Apollo News center in Washington describing the launch of Apollo 10. Now, just how fast does a rocket this size travel? How long does it take to place three men, their equipment and a booster rocket into orbit? Let Jack Riley answer that question from the Apollo Mission Control center in Houston. With all systems go. Just more than three minutes into the ride. 81 miles downrange, 46 miles high. At 3 minutes and 9 seconds into the mission and just 1 minute and 40 seconds later, the ship was all of 230 miles downrange and 76 miles high. Some ride. And maybe Eugene Cernan said it best just shortly after liftoff when he spoke with his buddies up there.
- [21:27]
Tom Stafford
What a ride. Oh, babe, what a ride. Beautiful. Everything's looking good. It's fantastic, babe, really fantastic. Just like old time.
- [21:42]
Charles B. Ryan
Then, scarcely 10 minutes after liftoff, this was the news from Apollo 10.
- [21:47]
Tom Stafford
15 minutes after liftoff from the Earth. And the spacecraft is now moving fast out across the Atlantic. It is safely in orbit during its first revolution of the Earth.
- [21:57]
Charles B. Ryan
The raw power of the gigantic Saturn ship placing the three men in their orbit less than 15 minutes after liftoff. Now they began their first swoop around this Earth of ours, crossing even the sprawling continent of Africa. In a handful of exciting minutes, they're well into orbit.
- [22:16]
Tom Stafford
Cross over the Canary Islands, going over the continent of Africa, over Mali, Niger, Chad. In another four minutes. Central African Republic, Uganda. Over Nairobi. Right over Nairobi and out over the Indian Ocean.
- [22:41]
Charles B. Ryan
Two easy orbits of the Earth, and then the big jump to the moon. Now the powerful S4B rocket had to be fired for just less than six minutes to boost the three adventurers to a speed of more than 23,000 miles per hour. Escape velocity for trans lunar injection. Tom Stafford, John Young and Eugene Cernan are on their way.
- [23:05]
Tom Stafford
Trans lunar injection PLR underway now as Apollo 10 is in truth on the way to the moon.
- [23:17]
Charles B. Ryan
Now the pace of work eased off. For Tom Stafford, John Young and Eugene Cernan, there was still work to do, sure, but now there was also time for rest and relaxation and for much needed sleep. And with the moon in the region of three Earth days away, there was even time for kidding around with the ground staff.
- [23:37]
Tom Stafford
Hey, Smith, is Charlie Duke there?
- [23:40]
Charles B. Ryan
He sure is.
- [23:40]
Tom Stafford
Go ahead, Gene. Hey, Charlie. Babe, Play us a favorite song, will ya? I forget the title. Or what about fly me Someplace or something? You know the one I mean, babe?
- [23:51]
Charles B. Ryan
But there was still work to do. Plenty of it. Flight paths, systems, communications figures. All these had to be regularly checked and rechecked between Apollo 10 and Houston Control to make sure of a perfect lunar orbital entry. Then, on the night of May 21, 1969, at 10:45pm South African time, the rockets of Apollo 10 fired twice. And Tom Stafford spoke.
- [24:22]
Tom Stafford
Charlie, you could tell the world that we've made it.
- [24:38]
Charles B. Ryan
Man was once more in orbit around the moon. And now the pace quickened. After a few minor difficulties. With insulation that had come loose and a slip docking collar between the two modules. Snoopy and Charlie Brown. The goal was given for the separation of the modules in orbit 60 miles above the moon. Expert hands at the controls, the two modules move slightly apart in their lunar orbit.
- [25:03]
Tom Stafford
The separation burn. This is a maneuver in which the command module will slowly fire its RC Astro Reaction Control System cluster and mount away from the lunar microwave. Okay, separate. There we go. There's the burn. That's John Young Confirming is 2.5. I can see you firing, John, and you're moving away. 5.3 on, 5.0 on EMS and 0 on EMS. John doing readout. And we'll see you back in about six hours. Stanford said adios and we'll see you in about six hours. For the first time orbiting on the moon, men are going off into a maneuver in a spacecraft designed only to operate in space. The Lunar Micro.
- [25:56]
Charles B. Ryan
The first flight of a spacecraft designed and built only for travel in space. See you in six hours, says Charlie Brown to Snoopy. And now there's just one more step to go on this important mission. The descent to 10 miles of the moon. But suddenly there's trouble. Snoopy fails to pick up the signals from Charlie Brown's radar transponder. Stafford calls John Young to check the transponder. And John Young replies.
- [26:36]
Tom Stafford
Radar mechanism transponder and electronic device on the command module which says here I am when you're looking for me. Hello, Houston. Hudson, we have our new uplay down at the office that was being Shut up. Asking Houston for an update on the guidance system. Standby, we'll have in a moment. Okay, am I below you or above you? Oh, you're right up. That's gone. Young for a little better transponder lock from the Charlie Brown transponder.
- [27:12]
Charles B. Ryan
Roger.
- [27:13]
Tom Stafford
We've been copying your problems. We're working it down here. Standby. This is a no go for DOI It's a no goof with the best. This radar doesn't work. This thing is read zero. Let's check a second. That's John Young saying if the instrument's working properly, ME on the command module. How about trying to recycle the power switch, Char the switch off and back on again. That's what the Earth is telling. Hey, that is you guys. It's OD now. I could kiss you.
- [27:45]
Charles B. Ryan
A cry of relief from Eugene Cernan. Babe, I could kiss you. And now descent. And the lunar module goes down. Skimming over the craters and hills, Snoopy searches for a landing site for those who will follow. In a few weeks time on the dark side of the moon, communication from the little spacecraft blacks out. And for 50 suspenseful minutes the world holds its breath until speeding through the lunar dawn, an exultant voice calls out. Now the mission appears successful, but the troubles are not yet over. Halfway through the second orbit, only 9.4 miles above the moon, Snoopa's controls go out of kilter. A moment of nightmare for the two men aboard. This is Houston.
- [28:44]
Tom Stafford
What's the matter, Snoop? Body of God as a wild. Baby. Don't worry about it.
- [29:04]
Charles B. Ryan
We're going to get through a simple switch. Yet two men might today be lost because of it. The rest of the mission went without a hitch. Snoopy and Charlie Brown redocked in lunar orbit. And Charlie Brown, now with all three men aboard, sailed back home to a splashdown which today is almost routine. But two friendly, heartwarming messages had yet to reach astronauts Tom Stafford, Eugene Cernan and John Young. The first came as they sped back toward the Earth.
- [29:32]
Tom Stafford
Hey, look at a message for you guys.
- [29:34]
Charles B. Ryan
Here it is.
- [29:35]
Tom Stafford
Congratulations to Snoopy for doing what I've been trying to do for a long time. Sign the red barrel.
- [29:42]
Charles B. Ryan
And the other came from the crewmen of the astronauts pickup ship, the USS Princeton. As the three pioneers were plucked from the waters of the Pacific, painted on.
- [29:52]
Tom Stafford
The bottom of that helicopter a special welcome sign, a message. Hi there Charlie Brown.
- [30:06]
Charles B. Ryan
And. And that's the story. A story as new as tomorrow's headlines. The story of the trail which is being blazed to our mysterious satellite right at this moment. A story of hope, of endeavor, of frustrations and most of all, of supreme courage. Only a few days from now, God willing, man will have set foot on the moon for the first time. An impossible achievement. But for those who blaze the exciting trail and next week I hope I'll be here to tell you about the preparations for this historic journey. Until then, this is Charles B. Ryan here at the New Mexico center wishing you all good night. Recorded material in tonight's program was used by courtesy of the Voice of America.
- [31:13]
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- [31:15]
Charles B. Ryan
A thirst for a beer that's strong.
- [31:18]
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