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Jeffrey Kluger is the editor of Time magazine and co-author of "Apollo 13":
On July 16, 1969, Walter Cronkite, of CBS News, described the "greatest adventure" in human history, when three men sat down to have a breakfast consisting of two men. a steak and eggs.
Seven years ago, President John F. Kennedy decided to take up the challenge. "We chose to go to the moon during this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard"
Neil Armstrong was the commander of the Apollo 11 mission; Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin was the pilot of the lunar module and Michael Collins was the pilot of the control module.
Kluger asked 88-year-old Collins, "How did your very different personalities complement each other, and did they fight each other?"
"We never clashed," he replied. "I got along very well with Neil and Buzz, I come back almost every day to John F. Kennedy, I felt that we were fulfilling his mandate, if we were successful, and I was just thrilled to be here. to be part of it. "
When the Saturn V rocket took off that morning, Cronkite announced to fellow commentator, astronaut Wally Shirra, "Oh, that sounds good, Wally!"
CBS News
And it was "beautiful" throughout the 239,000-mile orbit around the moon, until the men parted: Collins staying in lunar orbit in the control module, Armstrong and Aldrin heading towards the surface of the moon in the lunar module, known as the eagle.
But when the time came to land, they had to improvise a little bit.
Armstrong, who died seven years ago, gave a rare interview with Ed Bradley of "60 Minutes" in 2005. He recalled: "Our autopilot was taking us to an area where it was difficult to land.
"It was a very big crater, the size of a football stadium, with steep slopes covered with very big rocks, the size of a car.It was not the kind of place where I wanted to go. try to make the first landing. "
Viewers around the world watched an animated simulation of approach and touchdown, in keeping with the original flight plan that indicated when the lunar module was installed. Assumed to land. But when the critical moment arrived, he had not yet landed.
Bradley asked Armstrong, "So what did you do?"
"Well, we took control by hand and flew more to the west, maybe half a kilometer away, where the lunar surface was much smoother and we found a beautiful place, "he said.
"You do not have a lot of fuel to do that," Bradley said.
"No, we ran out of fuel," Armstrong replied.
The world held its breath until Armstrong's voice was heard: "Houston, tranquility base here, the eagle has landed."
Mission Control responded, "Roger Tranquility, we're copying you to the ground, we're about to turn blue, we breathe again, thank you very much."
To which Cronkite added, "Oh, my boy!"
Armstrong recalled: "And we finally landed without anyone knowing exactly how much fuel, some estimates in 20 seconds [worth]. "
Then, just when everyone was waiting: the first step of humanity on the moon. But who would make this first historic step? The exit protocol in the previous flight space provided for the junior officer to depart first, while the commander remained on board.
The commander in this case was Armstrong; Aldrin was the young man on the moon.
Now 89 years old and making few appearances in public, Aldrin also spoke at "60 Minutes" in 2005. He said: "The problem was that among those who wrote the proceedings, they knew that they were not going to be able to do it. it was somehow a "hot potato". & # 39;
"I went to Neil's office and said, "Neil, no decision is made about it. And obviously, I think I have to represent a position, and I think you have to do it. But we need a decision on this to be able to move forward. He said: "I understand the historical significance of what's going on, and I'm not going to eliminate it." "
"So, he wanted it," Bradley said.
"Clearly he did, yes."
Bradley asked Armstrong: "Was it important for you to be the first to get out of the car?"
"Not for me!" he has answered. "From my point of view, we both arrived at the same time."
Armstrong stated that at the end, the two men were sitting in the eagle: "The direction on which the hatch was hinged was certainly an important part of that determination," he said.
The first words of Armstrong on the surface, now immortal, were a little confusing at the time. "It is a small step for the man, a giant step for the man. "
Bradley asked Armstrong: "Did you drop the" a "- small step for the man – or was it lost in the transmission?"
"Well, you've been listening to me for a while now and you've heard me drop a lot of syllables," he says. "So, I certainly can not say I did not drop another one, or maybe I just did a blunder!"
NASA
Then Aldrin dropped the ladder. Kluger asked him in an interview for Time magazine two years ago about his first words: "Magnificent Desolation".
"You can not call it beautiful," Aldrin said. "It was a shabby dust that had not changed for thousands, 100,000 years, you could not find any place on Earth as barren and lifeless."
Armstrong and Aldrin began to raise an American flag. It has proven to be easier said than done.
Armstrong says, "[The flagpole] would go about as far, and then it seemed like it was just hitting rock. So, we were fighting on it. And finally, we managed to stand up. "
NASA
As for Michael Collins, he stayed in orbit, checking with NASA. As he was circling the moon, he would be completely disconnected. Even when he was flying over the other members of his Apollo crew, he could not see what the rest of the world was watching.
Kluger asked Collins: "Do not you regret not having closed the last 60 kilometers and left Collins footprints on the moon?"
"No," he replied. "I would be a liar or a fool if I said that I have the best place on Apollo 11. But I felt that I was an important part of it." When I was behind the moon I found out later that I was described as, oh, lonely, lonely, lonely, I was happy there, I had my own little estate.And actually, go down and touch the moon, huh, it was not at the top of my list. "
While walking to the surface, Armstrong said, "It has a clean beauty.It's like a big part of the high desert of the US It's different but it's very pretty here . "
As Armstrong and Aldrin were conducting their scientific experiments, they seemed to enjoy themselves. Shirra noted, "They have a lot more emotion than we thought, they're going to let off steam!"
After two hours and 31 minutes of walking on the moon, it was time to go home. Aldrin climbed the ladder, then the first man on the moon became the second to leave him. The lunar module exploded.
Collins said he was delighted to be reunited with them: "I was about to kiss Buzz Aldrin on the front, and I decided no, no, I think the books of story would not like it! It was a wonderful time. "
It took a little less than three days to return to Earth and dive into the Pacific.
"I think it was best to see these three beautiful open parachutes and know that we were going to separate, but with success. A successful splat! "Said Collins.
The astronauts went directly to quarantine for three weeks. But their mission was still not over. As Aldrin pointed out, "the PR manager said," We have some things to do. You can make this trip around the world. And you do not have to leave if you do not want to. "My God. (Laughs) How can you say that?"
Around the world, 650 million people have followed each stage of their journey. Now, the world wanted to see, in person, the first men to walk on the moon.
Collins said: "I was stunned, I thought when we went somewhere, they said," Well, congratulations. You, the Americans, have finally done it. "And instead, unanimously, the reaction was:" We did it. We humans have finally left this planet. We did it. "
NASA
For more information:
- Apollo 11 (nasa.gov)
- Apollo 11 (Smithsonian National Museum of Air and Space)
- "Apollo 13" by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger (Mariner), in hardcover sizes, Paperback and eBook, available on Amazon
Story produced by Alan Golds.
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