50 years of the greatest space adventure

Bringing humans into another world and bringing them safely back to Earth is what made Apollo 11 the biggest space adventure to date. Because although different ships have already reached the Moon and some planets, such as Venus and Mars, they will continue to do so afterwards, being the first inhabited mission sets it apart from any other robotic probe journey. Included, that of Voyager 1 and 2, man-made objects that are further away from Earth, having even left the solar system.

The most powerful rocket

Previously motivated for scientific purposes by a competitive political context between the United States and the Soviet Union, the "race to space" used much of the knowledge developed for war purposes. Rocket technology developed during the Second World War was decisive for the journey to the moon. And among those who have to do with this challenge, emphasized the figure of Wernher von Braun, who, in the time of Sputnik I (the first artificial satellite of history, launched by Moscow in 1957), was at the head of the ballistic missile office. of the US Army German – although born in Poland – and naturalized American after the Second World War, he worked since the age of 20 on rockets; hence its connection with the German V1 and V2 bombs used against Britain. At age 45 and originally from Huntsville, where the Ballistic Missile Bureau worked, he was already leading the research and manufacture of weapons that would lead to Saturn V, the rocket that propelled the Apollo 11 capsule to the Moon.

At 110 meters altitude, the Ángela de Córdoba tower, heavier than a naval destroyer and with a capacity equivalent to 25 pbadenger jets of the time, was the largest and the more powerful rockets ever built. For the initial lift, it required a set of five engines generating a total of 3 million and a half thrust. After take-off, the rocket "breaks up" in stages (three), each with its own pilots; So until the Apollo capsule is finally returned to the Moon, traveling 40,000 kilometers at the hour.

A set of 45 thousand kilos

The Apollo, located above the Saturn V rocket, was formed by the control module, which, along with another service, constituted the Columbia, with its own wheel and biosystems; there, Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins traveled; go back and forth from the lunar orbit. At the Columbia joined the alunizador vehicle or lunar module, to which Eagle was baptized (Eagle, in English). In total, the whole weighed 45,000 kilos; and its design and operation, such as those of the rocket, were the product of extensive developments in previous manned programs and, above all, in previous Apollo missions.

The control module, whose pilot was Collins, was detached from the lunar vehicle once the unit was orbiting our natural satellite, 112 kilometers from the surface. Aldrin, pilot of the lunar module, and Armstrong, commander of the mission, left the Columbia, which would remain Collins, to go to the Eagle, height of 6.5 meters, with which they would descend in the so-called Sea of The tranquility, a relative safety region for his relief. With its own main rocket, lit at 15,000 meters to slow it down, the lunar module descended with a movement similar to that of a helicopter, stabilized both by a set of small rockets that surrounded the cabin. The power could be set like a car, with a pedal.

After touching the selenitic soil, Armstrong and Aldrin spent 21 hours and 38 minutes on the surface of the moon, at which time they placed the American flag, conducted scientific experiments, collected samples of rocks and lunar dust, took photographs, transmitted images, left memorial messages in different media, spoke on the radio with President Richard Nixon, fed and rested. Aldrin also received communion within the lunar module, with items that NASA allowed him to carry and in accordance with the permission of his church.

A pen to take off

Once placed in the lunar module, they activated the engine mounted, which was in the lower part of the vehicle. To do this, they did not without the anecdote of having damaged the switch when they were housed with their spectacular spatial suit and solved with a pen. Detached from the base of the alunizador (which resembled those of the following missions, Apolo 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17, on the same surface), they headed for the meeting in lunar orbit with Collins. Once attached to the Columbia and the three at the back of the badpit of the control module, they untied the Eagle leaving it in space. They would do the same thing with the service module.

Finally and in what was one of the most dangerous phases of the trip, which was already more than a million and a half kilometers (although the Moon is 380 000 km from Earth, the total trajectory of astronauts is counted, including the terrestrial and lunar orbits they have completed), the re-entry into the atmosphere and the landing were missing. First of all, the capsule has, thanks to its heat shield and its right angle of entry, temperatures above 2,500 degrees (that's what makes the meteorites that reach the fragment of our planet). After overcoming this barrier in the upper part of the atmosphere, the capsule was aided by parachutes in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii, where she was rescued by helicopters from the carrier. USS Hornet aircraft. The greatest space adventure in history lasted a total of 8 days, 3 hours, 18 minutes and 35 seconds.

Historical Images

The march of the moon, an image that has become an icon (Nasa).

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