“We come in peace on behalf of all mankind. By the way, regarding the first phrase spoken by Armstrong on the moon, Neil Armstrong is a small step of a man

Do you want to know better than a man? Ask him about the moon landing. His answer will allow you to immediately determine whether it is worth continuing to communicate with him, hiring or signing a long-term contract.

The point here, in fact, is not the Americans and the attitude towards them ... Although no, this is also the case. We admit that now in Russian society the attitude towards America is negative, many are not satisfied with them foreign policy, technological superiority, sanctions. But today's attitude of a person to someone or something is in no way able to influence the events of the past. And here is the first characteristic of a person: is his subjective view and preferences capable of influencing an adequate perception of reality? Do you need such a friend, partner or colleague who builds his own little world in his imagination, where he can live comfortably? Yes, we all live in such worlds, but some still try not to break away from reality.

Landing on the moon is a most complicated technical operation that required the efforts of tens of thousands of highly qualified professionals. This is a colossal innovation and risk. And all the details of this mission are detailed in millions of pages of published documents, scientific publications, photos and video. To understand the details of the flight to the moon and return back, not only and not so much engineering and space competence is required, but the desire to find out how it was. How did they land and take off? Where is the lunar soil now and who is studying it? What footprints are left on the moon and how to see them? Can cosmic radiation harm people in flight?.. All questions have answers. But if a person continues to ask them, expecting or demanding answers from you, then this is also his characteristic: he is not ready to seek new knowledge, is incapable or lazy in finding answers to questions that interest him, and he is quite satisfied with the first version of the answer that came across, if he just likes or fits his beliefs. When such questions are asked by a space engineer, this is simply an admission of his incompetence, and, unfortunately, such questions are now working at Roscosmos enterprises. Fortunately, they are few.

The lunar conspiracy is a big lie, a big fear and a big venality. It will take thousands of people involved in faking the various stages of the mission. After all, it’s not enough to make a movie, you still need to hide a hundred-meter rocket somewhere after launch, assemble a model of a landing ship, dig it out, and then rip kilometers of the “lunar” surface without a trace. Well, it's Americans, everyone knows how they know how to make movies, love money and are able to tell tales about weapons of mass destruction in Saddam or the nobility of terrorists in Syria. But after all, the lunar conspiracy requires the involvement of a much larger circle of people from other countries. What about the specialists who ensured the flights of Vostok, Voskhod and Soyuz, built the H1 superrocket, and taxied the Lunokhods on the Moon? They had no doubts about the validity of the landing, and tell how they closely followed the American lunar program. So are they idiots or liars? Were they deceived by a Hollywood craft that schoolchildren with photoshop are now exposing, or for some reason did they get involved in the biggest lie in the history of mankind? What about European, Soviet and Russian, Japanese and Indian scientists who studied the lunar soil, launched satellites to the Moon and did not see any signs of a fake? Did they sell out or were they intimidated so that they agreed to lie and sacrifice all their scientific authority?

Or maybe everything is simpler: there was a real landing, our specialists congratulated the competitors on a worthy victory, and cosmonauts, astronauts and scientists from all over the world continued to study space and the Moon together? And only a believer in a conspiracy is ready to admit that the most worthy representatives of humanity are corrupt and / or cowardly liars. What then does he think of those around him in Everyday life, and about you as well?

The flight to the Moon is the most outstanding achievement of Mankind. The unattainable pinnacle of science and technology of the entire civilization of the Earth. Without Mendeleev, the fuel would not have flared up, without Kepler, the orbit would not have been laid, without Pythagoras, the drawing of the ship and rocket would not have appeared. This is our victory too. Although the Americans left traces in the dust, but without the flights of Gagarin and Leonov, there would have been no steps of Armstrong and Cernan. It was a race, and it is impossible if someone is running alone. This is an achievement that is only possible through bold decisions, high concentration strength and will, faith in the ability of a person to create the impossible and make dreams come true. Denying or even doubting the landing on the moon is a voluntary rejection of all these qualities. Ask the doubters lunar program What do they think about the construction of the pyramids. I guarantee with a 95% chance that these people will tell you about aliens or the Atlantean civilization or whatever, instead of admitting that a simple Egyptian in a reed bandage with a copper pick in his hands was capable of such an incredible construction. This is not a matter of technology, it is a matter of attitude, because each of us looks at others through the prism of ourselves. Am I capable of great things? It means that others are the same: the peasant ancient kingdom, and a US engineer. So who would you like to be friends with and work with, someone who doesn't believe in themselves and others, or someone who is ready for great things?

ALL PHOTOS

"It's one small step for a man, but a giant leap for all mankind," - the famous phrase, which was said in 1969 before the first landing on the moon by American astronaut Neil Armstrong, was said impromptu
NASA

"It's one small step for a man, but a giant leap for the whole of mankind," - the famous phrase, which was said in 1969 before the first landing on the moon by American astronaut Neil Armstrong, was said impromptu, according to the BBC.

In English, the phrase of the astronaut sounded like this: " That "s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". Before the word " man"should have put the article" a", but Armstrong was either worried, or "for symmetry" lowered it, experts point out. And although due to the lack of an article, the meaning of the saying suffered somewhat (it became unclear whether Armstrong himself or all people in general were understood by "man"), namely in this form, the words of the astronaut went down in history.

Connoisseurs have long argued about the error in Armstrong's words. Some believed that the article did not reach the Earth due to a communication defect, others - that because of the accent, the astronaut said "hey" too softly. Dr. Chris Riley, author of the new book "Apollo 11, owner's manual", and linguist Jon Olsson decided to close this topic forever: they carefully studied the speech features of the first man to walk on the moon.

Meticulous scientists got acquainted with the materials recorded during and after the first lunar mission. They obtained the best available audio recording: a digitally restored original recording of the conversations from the space center in Houston. It turned out that Armstrong did not leave a place for the article in his phrase - the last sound of the previous word was already superimposed on the first sound of the next.

In addition, Armstrong could not pronounce the article too softly - both he and his relatives say "hey" quite articulately. Features of sound transmission exclude the possibility that the article was lost on the way to Earth. Perhaps Armstrong omitted the word for beauty: according to the authors of the new study, the phrase sounds more "smooth" in this form.

A minor mistake made by the astronaut, as well as actions during the landing and the construction of the phrase (in the English original there is no conjunction "but" between the parts), indicate that Armstrong pronounced it quite spontaneously.

Neil Alden Armstrong was born August 5, 1930 in Ohio. After graduating from school, he studied aviation engineering at the university, during the Korean War he was a fighter pilot (he was shot down once, received three awards), and after that he worked as a test pilot. In 1966, he flew into space on the Gemini 8 spacecraft, carrying out the first orbital docking of two spacecraft. On July 24, 1969, as part of the Apollo 11 expedition, he became the first earthling to set foot on the moon.

After the flight, Armstrong worked for NASA for some time, then began teaching at the university and doing business. He rejects all proposals of politicians for cooperation. In addition, the famous astronaut does not give autographs, because he knows that they are then sold at auctions. Any items related to Armstrong are very expensive: once the hairdresser of the conqueror of the moon, without permission, sold a strand of his hair for 3 thousand dollars. In exchange for forgiveness, the astronaut demanded that the hairdresser give all the proceeds to charity.

Exactly 43 years ago, Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon. This happened on July 21 at 02:56:15 UTC.

The astronauts planted a US flag at the landing site, placed a set of scientific instruments and collected 21.55 kg of lunar soil samples, which were delivered to Earth. After the flight, the crew members and samples of lunar rock underwent strict quarantine, which did not reveal any lunar microorganisms dangerous to humans.

left to right: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin

By the evening of July 15, 500,000 tourists who wanted to become eyewitnesses historical event arrived in Brevard County, Florida, where Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center are located. By early next morning, the number was expected to reach 1 million. 1000 police officers tried to deal with traffic jams. The number of vehicles arriving from afar was expected to be 300,000. At the local headquarters civil defense calculated that if so many cars were put bumper to bumper, their string would stretch for about 1600 km. This was practically equal to the length of all roads available in the district. Many arrivals were accommodated for the night right on the beach of the small town of Coco Beach and on more remote beaches, from where a brightly lit rocket was clearly visible in the darkness. All hotels and motels in Brevard County were booked well in advance of launch day. Not a single free place was not even in the hotels of Orlando, 97 km to the west, and Daytona, 120 km to the north. All kinds of businesses flourished in the area. Motel owners have bought and rented extra cots, sunbeds and sun loungers to put next to the pools and rent out for the last two nights to those who can't find rooms in the hotels. 300 households in the Cocoa Beach area hosted guests, some for free, but most for $20-$25 per person per night. Restaurant owners made extraordinary stocks of groceries, but still feared that there would not be enough and that delivery trucks would simply not be able to get through the traffic. Stores were full of Apollo 11-themed souvenirs and toys, restaurants were offering $1.25 Rise martinis, and supermarket doors were littered with signs saying, "We'll be open all night the night before liftoff." All this, according to forecasts, should have brought Brevard County an income of 4-5 million dollars.

Launch and first day of flight

Apollo 11 launched on Wednesday, July 16, 1969 at 13:32 UTC. Among the 5,000 guests of honor at the Kennedy Space Center were the 36th President of the United States, Lyndon Johnson, current Vice President Spiro Agnew, and German rocket pioneer Hermann Oberth. 3,100 members of the press were seated on a separate platform. There was occasional applause during takeoff, but most of the spectators watched in silence until Apollo 11 was out of sight. The event was broadcast live on television in 33 countries on 6 continents. According to some estimates, about 25 million viewers watched it in the United States alone. Soviet television and radio reported on the launch of Apollo 11, but not in live(a short story was shown on the main evening news program). After takeoff, US President Richard Nixon at the White House declared the following Monday, July 21, when the astronauts were supposed to be on the Moon, the National Day of Participation and a non-working day for government employees (Eng. National Day of Participation). local authorities and private business support for this initiative throughout the country.

Second day of flight

On July 17, the White House announced that the Apollo 11 astronauts were bringing commemorative medals to the moon dedicated to the fallen Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Komarov. They were brought from a trip to the USSR by Frank Borman, to whom they were handed over by the widows of the astronauts. On board the spacecraft are also the Apollo 204 (Apollo 1) emblem and commemorative medals minted for the families of astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee before their deaths on January 27, 1967.

Third day of flight

On July 18, the Soviet newspaper Izvestia reported Richard Nixon's announcement that the Apollo 11 astronauts would leave commemorative medals on the Moon in honor of Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Komarov. The note about the flight did not contain any comments. On the same day, in response to a telephone request from Frank Bormann, President of the USSR Academy of Sciences Mstislav Keldysh sent a telegram in which he assured the American side that Luna-15, orbiting the Moon, would not interfere with the Apollo 11 flight. Keldysh promised to inform Bormann of any changes in the flight path of Luna-15, if they occur.

A picture of the Earth taken by the Apollo 11 astronauts at the beginning of the third day of the flight to the Moon from a distance of about 300,000 km. Europe, Africa and the Arabian Peninsula are clearly visible

The fourth day of the flight and entering the orbit of the moon

While the astronauts were still asleep, the decision was made at Mission Control in Houston to abandon Interim Course Correction No. 4 as well. Shortly after the crew awakened, Apollo 11 entered the shadow cast by the Moon. For the first time during the flight, the astronauts saw the sky strewn with stars, and were able to distinguish the constellations. They took pictures solar corona. Collins reported to Mission Control that the moon's ashen light was bright enough to read a book.

First landing on the moon

On July 20, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin moved into the lunar module, activated and tested all of its systems, and brought the folded landing stage legs into position. Michael Collins in the onboard telescope of the command module on the 12th orbit observed landmarks on approach to the main landing area to clarify the data in the navigation system and the start time of the controlled descent of the lunar module. After that, Apollo 11 received the go-ahead to undock the command and service and lunar modules. At the beginning of the 13th orbit, when Apollo 11 was over reverse side Luna, Columbia, and Eagle undocked. Armstrong, using the thrusters of the attitude control system, made a complete rotation of the lunar module around the vertical axis, Collins visually examined it and reported that the landing stage legs opened normally. When communication with the Earth was restored, Armstrong reported to the control center in Houston about the undocking.

Lunar Module Eagle in orbit around the Moon after undocking with Command Module Columbia

At an altitude of about 460 m, Armstrong saw that the autopilot was leading the ship to a point on the near edge of a large crater surrounded by a field of boulders up to 2-3 meters in diameter (later it was found that this is the West Crater, English. West Crater, with a diameter of 165 m). In a post-flight interview, he said that he initially considered this place to be good, since from a scientific point of view, landing near a large crater would be very valuable. However, Armstrong quickly realized that it would not be possible to land the Eagle in a fairly safe place without reaching the crater. He decided to fly it. At an altitude of approximately 140 meters, the commander switched the computer to semi-automatic mode, in which the landing stage motor is controlled automatically and maintains a constant vertical speed of 1 m / s, and the attitude control system motors are controlled completely manually. Armstrong reduced the tilt of the Lunar Module back from 18° to 5° from vertical. This increased the horizontal forward speed to 64 km/h. When the lunar module flew over the crater, the commander began to look for a place suitable for landing, and chose a relatively flat area between small craters and a field of boulders. At a height of about 80 meters, the vertical rate of descent was about 0.5 m/s. Aldrin reported that 8% of the fuel remained. A few seconds later, he added that he saw the shadow of the "Eagle" on the surface of the moon. During the final approach, the lunar module was turned about 13° to the left of the course, and the shadow was out of Armstrong's field of view. At that moment, a warning came on that the computer was not receiving data from the landing radar. This went on for several seconds. At an altitude of 30 meters, Aldrin reported that there was 5% fuel left and that a warning light had come on. A 94-second countdown has begun, at the end of which Armstrong will have only 20 seconds left to land the ship or urgently abort the landing and take off.

As Armstrong recalled, at a height of about 9 meters, the Eagle, for some unknown reason, began to move to the left and back. It was possible to cope with the backward movement, but it was not possible to completely extinguish the movement to the left. It was impossible to slow down the descent or hover even more, since there was very little fuel left, and the allowable time limit before aborting the landing was almost exhausted (in one of his interviews in 2001, Armstrong recalled that he wanted this first landing to go as smoothly as possible , but at the same time he knew that if you repay horizontal speed and level the ship, it was possible to fall from a height of about 12 meters and even more, in conditions of weak lunar gravity, the landing stage supports had to withstand the impact). Shortly after Aldrin reported a height of 6m, a vertical speed of 0.15m/s, and a horizontal speed of 1.2m/s, Duke of Houston warned that 30 seconds remained. 9 seconds after this warning, Aldrin yelled "Contact signal!" This happened at 20:17:39 UTC on July 20 (102 hours 45 minutes 39.9 from flight time)

During the first two hours of their stay on the Moon, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin were busy simulating the pre-launch preparation (Eng. Simulated Countdown), in case, for some reason, it would be necessary to terminate their stay on the Moon ahead of schedule. After landing, the next opportunity to take off and rendezvous with the "Columbia" was provided on the next turn, after 1 hour 58 minutes. A prelaunch simulation was included in the flight plan at Aldrin's suggestion. For the first landing, this seemed not at all superfluous, but not a single subsequent crew did anything like this again. During small pauses, the astronauts looked out the windows and told Houston about their first impressions. Aldrin said that the color of the surface is highly dependent on the angle at which you look at it relative to the Sun. According to him, there was no general, primary color at all. According to Armstrong, the color of the surface at the landing site was the same as it was perceived from orbit at a given angle of elevation of the Sun (about 10 °). It is mostly grey, pale gray and slightly brownish when viewed away from the Sun, and with darker shades of gray when viewed at 90° to the Sun. The area around was relatively flat with a large number of craters with a diameter of 1.5 to 15 m and literally thousands of very small craters with a diameter of 0.3-0.6 m. In the distance ahead, at a distance of 1-2 km, a hill was visible, although the distance to it was difficult to define. Armstrong reported that no stars were visible from the surface at all, but the large and bright Earth was perfectly visible through the docking window located above his head. After simulating pre-launch preparations, Armstrong requested permission from Houston, instead of rest, which was the next item in the flight plan, to begin surface approach in about three hours. Permission was given in less than half a minute, it was clear to everyone that emotional condition astronauts will still not let them fall asleep. In addition, the mission's main event moved from midnight US East Coast time to prime time.

After opening the exit hatch, at 109 hours 16 minutes 49 seconds of flight time, Armstrong, turning his back on him, began to slowly squeeze into it. Aldrin prompted him in which direction to move and turn, so as not to catch on to anything. Once out on the platform above the stairs, Armstrong first rehearsed the return to the lunar module. He crawled back into it and knelt down. Everything worked out fine. Taking the bag of garbage that Aldrin gave him, he climbed out onto the platform again and threw the bag onto the lunar surface. After that, Armstrong pulled the ring and opened the cargo compartment of the landing stage to the left of the stairs (when looking at the lunar module), thereby turning on the TV camera. Descending onto the round plate of the lunar module support, Armstrong jumped back onto the bottom step of the stairs and informed Aldrin that it was possible to go back, but he had to jump hard. He jumped down onto the plate again and reported to Houston that the module's legs were pressed into the surface by only 2.5-5 cm, although the lunar soil is very fine-grained, almost like powder when viewed from a close distance. Holding the ladder with his right hand, Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface with his left foot (the right one remained on the plate) and said: This is one small step for a man, but a giant leap for all mankind.

This happened at 109 hours 24 minutes 20 seconds of flight time, or at 02 hours 56 minutes 15 seconds UTC on July 21, 1969. Still holding on to the ladder with his hand, Armstrong stepped onto the ground with his right foot and reported his first impressions. According to him, small particles of soil were like powder, which can be easily tossed up toe. They stuck in thin layers to the soles and sides of the moonboots like crushed charcoal. Feet sank into it quite a bit, no more than 0.3 cm. But Armstrong could see his footprints on the surface. The astronaut reported that moving on the Moon is not difficult at all, in fact it is even easier than during simulations of 1/6 of the Earth's gravity on Earth. According to Armstrong's observations, the landing stage engine did not leave any crater on the surface, about 0.3 m between the nozzle bell and the ground, and the lunar module stood on a very level place. Despite the fact that he was in the shadow of the lunar module, Armstrong, according to him, could clearly see the entire surface of the "Eagle" and Buzz in the porthole, the reflected light from the illuminated surface was quite bright. With the help of a lunar equipment conveyor, which was a flat cable with carabiners, Aldrin handed Armstrong a camera, and the commander began to shoot the first lunar panorama. Houston reminded him of the emergency sample of lunar soil (in case the stay on the Moon had to be urgently interrupted). Armstrong collected it using a special device that looked like a small net, and put it in a pouch in the hip pocket of his suit. The mass of the emergency sample was 1015.29 g. It consisted of regolith and four small stones of approximately 50 g each.

15 minutes after Armstrong took the first step on the moon, Aldrin began to descend from the cockpit. Armstrong, standing below, not far from the stairs, corrected his movements and photographed. Having descended onto the support plate, Aldrin, like Armstrong before him, tried to jump onto the first step of the stairs, but he succeeded only on the second attempt. Jumping down, he looked around, holding on to the ladder, and said, “Nice view! Gorgeous desert! After a few steps, Aldrin jumped slightly in place. Armstrong at the same time made three high jumps, up to half a meter in height. At the post-flight interview, he said that it was not difficult to maintain balance when walking, but while jumping up, he began to fill up backwards, and once he almost fell, so he decided that jumping was enough.

They stayed on the Moon for a total of 21 hours 36 minutes 21 seconds.

Return to Earth

Shortly before entering the dense layers of the Earth's atmosphere, the service module was separated and retracted from the command module, the latter was deployed with a blunt end forward. At 195 hours 03 minutes 06 seconds of flight time, Apollo 11 entered the dense layers of the atmosphere at an altitude of 122 km from the Earth's surface at a speed of 11 km/s. After 15 minutes, the ship splashed down 3 km from the calculated point and 24 km from the Hornet aircraft carrier
In the Soviet Union, the delivery of astronauts aboard the Hornet aircraft carrier for the first time during the entire mission was broadcast live on television via the Intervision system. On the same evening, the first two-thirds of the main information program was devoted to the successful completion of the Apollo 11 flight, including the announcement that Nikolai Podgorny, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, sent a congratulatory telegram to President Nixon with best wishes to the astronauts.

The astronauts had to be in quarantine for 21 days (counting from the moment they took off from the moon). At the Lunar Reception Laboratory (LRL), they were greeted by 12 staff and specialists, including a doctor and a spokesman for the Center for Manned Flight in Houston, who had already been in quarantine for a week. The crew was given one day of rest, after which they began a post-flight technical survey, writing reports and regular medical examinations and tests. V free time you could work out in the gym, read, watch TV, play table tennis. Communication with families - only by phone. There were no press conferences during the quarantine period. Every day, a representative of the press service of the MCC in the same conference room where the post-flight survey of astronauts took place, told the pool of journalists about the latest news through a glass wall.

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

Red carpets and world tour

The first day after the lockdown, August 11, the astronauts officially had a day off, and although they briefly stopped at the Space Center, most they spent time with their families. On August 12, the Apollo 11 crew gave their first press conference after the flight. Armstrong summed it up, saying that the Moon is a harsh and special place, which, nevertheless, looked non-hostile and turned out to be non-hostile. The main difficulty, he said, was that there was too little time to do everything that I wanted to do. "We," Armstrong said, "had the problem of a 5-year-old boy in a candy store—there's just too much stuff around."

On September 29, 1969, the astronauts and their spouses went on a world tour. It lasted 38 days. Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin made stops in 29 cities in 22 countries, gave 22 press conferences, met with 20 heads of state, in 9 cases received high national state awards. The world tour ended on November 5 with a solemn ceremony at the White House in Washington. The President of the United States called it the most successful trip good will in the history of the United States.

From 1968 to 1972, the US sent a number of people to the moon. Twelve of them walked along it. Since then, no one has returned to the moon. Over the years, much of what these people did while they were there has either become of no interest to the public or is simply ignored. Most people know that Neil Armstrong was the first person to set foot on the moon, and that's enough.

Thanks to the popular movie, many of us are familiar with the Apollo 13 mission, which miraculously returned to Earth after an onboard explosion. Still there are tons more interesting facts about what these people did and said during their historical journeys. We have compiled a list of such facts for you.

One of the most popular photographs of the first moon landing shows Buzz Aldrin standing next to an American flag. However, this flag had a very unfortunate fate, as it fell a few hours later when Neil Armstrong returned to the command module. After Aldrin pressed the rocket launch button, he looked out the window and saw how the nozzle explosion swept everything away, including the infamous flag.

Remarkably, the other flags still on the Moon, placed there by successive astronauts, and which were placed far enough away from the rocket, all turned white. For forty years, unfiltered sunlight and radiation have completely burned out the red and blue colors.

Unauthorized psychic experiments

During the Apollo 14 mission, unbeknownst to the Houston authorities (and even the crew members), Edgar D. Mitchell performed several unscheduled extrasensory perception experiments. During the first hours of his sleep time on the way to the moon and back, Mitchell focused on the symbols that are commonly used in psychic trials. Together with a group of doctors in Florida, he arranged the sessions in advance, hoping to figure out if thoughts could be transmitted thousands of kilometers into space. The results were zero, to put it mildly.

Apparently, Mitchell and his partners on Earth were out of sync. In any case, the results were published in the 1971 issue of The Journal of Parapsychology, for no reason.

When we think of astronauts, the stern and strong-willed men who participated in the beginning of the space program, we would never imagine them sobbing and wiping away tears, if not for Alan Shepard. Truly, this is one of the most underrated American astronauts. Not only was he one of the first Americans in space, but at the age of 47, he became the oldest person to ever walk on the moon. After resigning from the space program a few years earlier due to an inner ear disorder, Shepard vowed to fight the affliction and return to the game. In early 1971, he was part of the Apollo 14 mission.

By the way, this is the same astronaut who on the Moon made the longest throw in history (“for miles and miles”). However, few people know that this very astronaut could not restrain his emotions when he took his first steps on the lunar surface. Alan Shepard cried while standing on the moon. Although what is there such a thing - in the end, he could not wipe his tears in any way.

Lunar communion

Astronauts have been warned by NASA bosses that since virtually the entire world will be listening, they should not participate in any religious ordinances while traveling to the moon. Since they represent the whole of humanity, why offend members of other faiths? However, Buzz Aldrin considered the occasion too important to let slip by.

Thus, after the landing was completed and everyone was waiting for the historic steps, Aldrin turned on the radio and asked everyone who was listening to find a way to mark this moment in history and thank everyone they saw fit. For him, this meant opening a small flask of wine and taking out the loaves of bread he had brought with him. After reciting a passage from the Gospel, he ate bread and drank wine, becoming the first and so far the only person to honor the Christian ritual of communion on the moon. Neil Armstrong watched his partner with respect but indifference.

First words

The famous words of Neil Armstrong, when he took the first step on the moon, sound like this (according to official history): "This is one small step for a man, but a giant leap for all mankind." Of course, these words have become the subject of endless debate, plus many argue that he misspoke and said not “for a man”, but “for a man”, which slightly underestimates the significance of his words.

In fact, the first words that were spoken on the surface of the moon while still inside the ship are usually understood as the first words after a safe landing, namely: “Houston, here is the base of tranquility. The eagle has landed. However, there was so much technical jargon exchanged between the astronauts before and after these words that it's actually hard to tell which words were first spoken on the Moon.

To complicate matters further, Armstrong's landing was so soft that no one could be completely sure what he said immediately after landing. Decryptions come down to three possible options. Aldrin could indicate that the contact light had turned on by saying "contact light". Armstrong could then instruct Aldrin to turn off the trigger motor with the words "switch off". Aldrin turned off the engine and said "ok, stop the engine." None of these phrases were significant, so it is perhaps better to take Armstrong's message to mission control in Houston as a starting point.

What does the moon smell like?

Astronauts visiting the moon were surprised by its pungent smell. Of course, they didn't feel it until they got back to the lunar module and took off their suits. The smallest powder was everywhere, on the hands and on the faces of the astronauts. Some have tasted moon dust. But the first contact of lunar dust with oxygen in four billion years gave rise to a very specific smell.

Most astronauts described it as the smell of spent gunpowder, which they were familiar with. military service. Why did he smell like that? Unknown. Chemically, the moon and gunpowder are not similar at all, so there are various theories as to why this happened. The first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong, said that the moon smelled like wet ashes in a fireplace.

Records or prestige

Of course, "-11" can be called the "highlight of the program", and in general this is a very expressive moment in space exploration by mankind. However, the dress rehearsal for this mission, Apollo 10, set several records that have yet to be broken. In addition to the cool names (Command Module Charlie Brown and Lunar Module Snoopy), the three men who flew on the mission went down in history as the people who traveled further from home than anyone else. Eugene Cernan, Thomas Stafford, and John Young traveled more than 408,950 kilometers from Houston when they reached the far side of the moon.

Due to the timing of their mission, the Moon was particularly far from the Earth, and the planet's rotation flipped Houston to the opposite side of the Earth. Even though the crew of Apollo 13 was technically further from the Earth's surface, Apollo 13 traveled a gigantic distance from its launch point. After setting this record, the team set another one - they picked up a speed of 39,897 kilometers per hour, returning home. At the moment, this is the maximum speed at which a person has ever moved.

Lunar Module Pilots

Astronaut Pete Conrad was a man who expanded horizons. As commander of Apollo 12, the second manned flight to the Moon, he waited until his module was on the dark side of the Moon and out of radio signals, and then did the unthinkable: on the way from the surface of the Moon to the lunar module, he allowed his pilot to fly, " hold the helm." Thus, he, as it were, showed that "lunar module pilot" is not just a name.

The job of the lunar module pilot (like many others) was to ensure that the commander received all the information needed to fly under his command. He could only fly the lunar module if the commander couldn't fly for certain reasons that never happened. As they drifted on the dark side of the moon, Conrad turned to the pilot, Alan Bean, and said, "You can steer this transport for a minute." Surprised but pleased, Bean was happy to take control, if only for a little while.

Priceless sculpture

David Scott, commander of Apollo 15, wanted to pay tribute to the many people who . Before starting his mission, he asked the Belgian artist Paul von Hooydonk to create a small statue that could honor all the astronauts - American and Russian - who died in pursuit of the dream of all mankind. The sculpture looked like a human, but did not represent race, gender, or nationality. There was no commercial profit from the goodwill gesture, just a tribute to the memory of all the astronauts who died in the line of duty.

The artist agreed, and on August 1, 1971, the crew of Apollo 15 left a finger-sized figurine on top of Mons Hadley, next to a plaque bearing the names of 14 famous cosmonauts who had died (in fact, two more Soviet cosmonauts had died by this point, but the USSR not reported yet). A few years later, the artist decided to "raise" some money by selling signed copies of the sculpture, but Scott convinced him that this was a violation of the agreement. Perhaps someday a small statue will be in the lunar museum on the surface of the moon.

scientist on the moon

As the Apollo program was canceled due to budget cuts, NASA came under more and more pressure from the scientific community to send a real scientist to the moon while they could. Up to this point, NASA had only sent its own test pilots trained as astronauts. But they took only an abbreviated course in geology and, of course, could not replace those who devoted their whole lives to the study of rocks.

What did Neil Armstrong eat on the moon?

We have already learned that when the rocket took off, the American flag fixed on the Moon fell due to the explosion of the nozzle. We also learned that the first words of a man on the moon sounded different than is commonly believed. But do you know what kind of food the astronauts tried during the first landing on the surface of our satellite?

It is believed that the first dish Neil Armstrong tasted on the moon was a baked turkey. Of course, it was not at all like a Thanksgiving dish, but was in liquid form. But the second man on the moon, Buzz Aldrin, tasted bread and wine. The fact is that he was an elder in the church and decided to conduct the Christian rite of the Eucharist.

With that in mind, NASA began hiring scientists and training them in astronautics, right down to how to fly a plane. These guys had no chance, but when it became known that Apollo 17 would be the last mission to the moon, Harrison Schmitt, a Harvard geologist, was called. He had completed the intensive training required to qualify as an astronaut and was ready to go.

Needless to say, sending a geologist to the moon is like sending a military historian during the Great Patriotic War. Schmitt spent three days poking around on the moon and even brought back some interesting specimens. Other scientists went into space later, but Schmitt remained one of those who walked on the moon.