Page 73 - All About History - Issue 70-18

One small step for man
Primary Life
Support System
(PLSS)
The bulky backpack was
the Primary Life Support
System, or PLSS. It provided
oxygen, controlled suit
pressure and temperature,
removed harmful carbon
dioxide and monitored the
astronaut’s vital signs.
Radio antenna
During their moonwalk,
Neil Armstrong and
Buzz Aldrin were in
near-constant contact
with mission control on
Earth, and even had a
conversation with President
Nixon, thanks to the
antenna attached to their
spacesuits.
Gloves
Their gloves were covered
in a steel fabric and their
silicone-tipped fingers
were dexterous enough to
manipulate equipment and
pick up lunar rocks.
Sample
collection bag
Neil Armstrong and Buzz
Aldrin returned 22kg of
material from the Moon,
including bags of soil and
50 rocks, for scientists
to study on Earth. Their
findings from the rocks
have taught us a lot about
how the Moon formed.
landing a spacecraft on the Moon and then taking off again was it seemed relatively flat and safe to land on, but during the
a completely different kettle of fish. descent, Armstrong and Aldrin noticed that they were going
To train, the astronauts were given the flying bedsteads. long and would touchdown several miles beyond where they
This was the nickname for the Lunar Landing Research Vehicles were supposed to be.
(LLRVs) and their successor, the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle This was not good; as they neared the ground, Armstrong and
(LLTVs), which were skeletal contraptions with rocket thrusters Aldrin could see that Eagle was heading straight for a boulder
strapped to them and literally a jet engine blowing upwards field and should the Eagle crash into on of the boulders it could
to counteract five-sixths of the LLRV’s weight to simulate the damage the Lunar Module, preventing them from blasting off
one-sixth Earth gravity on the Moon. While flying an LLTV, again and returning home. Although Buzz Aldrin was technically
Armstrong experienced yet another of his the Lunar Module pilot, Armstrong, as mission
dramatic near misses, once again displaying “The next commander, took control.
calmness in the face of danger. On 6 May With fuel running low, boulders looming
1968, Armstrong’s LLTV went out of control, stop was a up below, and Aldrin constantly rattling off
forcing the Apollo astronaut to eject moments altitude and velocity data, Armstrong remained
before the LLTV plummeted to the ground and region on calm with the eyes of the world upon him.
exploded on impact. Armstrong parachuted His experience in dealing with crisis situations
safely to the tarmac below, but it is estimated the surface in flight, from the Korean War to the B-29,
that had he ejected just half a second later, Gemini 8 and the LLTV and numerous other
his parachute would not have opened in time in the Sea of instruments, now set him up for the moments
before he would have slammed into the ground that would forever define his life.
from a height of 200 feet. Tranquility” With just 45 seconds of fuel left and
Ironically, the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle engineers and mission managers in Houston
– the LLLTV had been seen as being less prone to accidents holding their collective breath, Armstrong expertly brought the
–
than the earlier LLRV, and more like what would be experienced Eagle down to the lunar surface. Then came his famous radioed
when trying to land on the Moon. Armstrong was soon to find message to mission control, “Houston, Tranquility Base here.
out what that was really like. The Eagle has landed.”
By the time the 16 July 1969 came around, Apollo 8 and After landing, the astronauts were meant to have a sleep
Apollo 10 had each flown around the Moon, but had not period to rest before embarking on the first ever Moonwalk.
landed. That was to be the mission for Armstrong’s Apollo 11. Like children on Christmas Eve night, however, they were too
As the mighty Saturn V rocket blasted skywards, it was waved excited to go to sleep, as NASA had timetabled for them. So the
on by thousands of people watching below and millions of Apollo 11 team prepared their spacesuits and got ready to go
people on their TV sets. The flight to
the Moon went by without a hitch and, The first woman in space
after making 30 orbits of the Moon, the Valentina Tereshkova presents
a badge to Armstrong to
Lunar Module, named Eagle and flown by commemorate his visit to the
Armstrong and Aldrin, detached from the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training
Center in Star City
Command Module named Columbia and
piloted by Collins.
The next stop for Armstrong and
Aldrin was a region on the surface in the
Sea of Tranquility, which is not a sea at
all, but a vast lava plain. The planned
landing spot had been chosen because
Armstrong stands next to the
X-15 after he carried out a research
flight on 30 November 1960
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