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Reaching For The Moon
Reaching For The Moon
Reaching for
the Moon
A series of articles from the Astronomy archives
NASA
Moonwalk In this iconic picture that includes
Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the Moon,
Buzz Aldrin’s helmet reflects Armstrong’s
shadow and image, as well as that of
HOW ONE
the lunar lander that they set on the
surface. NASA
SMALL STEP
BECAME
A GIANT LEAP
A billion people watched Neil Armstrong step onto the
lunar surface in 1969. But space reporter JAY BARBREE
was there for all the steps before that.
N
eil Armstrong stared out at the alien world beyond ship more stable, bringing its ladder closer to the surface. But Neil’s
his lunar lander’s window. He was surprised at how piloting skills proved to be the problem. He sat Eagle on the Moon
quickly the dust, hurled away by the final thrust of so gently that there was no collapsing of the pads and legs, and the
Eagle’s descent rocket, had settled back on the sur- bottom rung of the ladder was still 3.5 feet (1.1 meters) up.
face. Within the single blink of an eye, the Moon Way to go, Armstrong, he scolded himself as he dangled a foot
had reclaimed itself as if it had never been disturbed, and Neil stud- over the rung and fell slowly to the footpad beneath him. But
ied the desolation surrounding himself and Buzz Aldrin. No birds. before he would take another step, he wanted to be sure he could
No wind. No clouds — a black sky instead of blue. get back up to the ladder. In the low gravity, he sprang with such
It was obvious NASA had made the correct decision regarding force that he almost missed the bottom rung. He steadied himself.
who would be first to leave the lunar lander. Outfitted in his bulky Satisfied he could handle the extra-long step, he descended back
spacesuit, boots, and backpack, there was no way Buzz could have onto the footpad.
maneuvered around Neil to the hatch. The “OK, I just checked getting back up to that
commander simply had to be the first to leave first step, Buzz. It’s not collapsed too far, but
and the last to return. Neil leaned forward, it’s adequate to get back up.” He told me he was undecided until he was faced with the loss of transmission wiped it from our ears, or had Neil nervously
backing out, stopping on the porch with its “Roger. We copy,” acknowledged Cap- moment. skipped the word?
large handrails leading to the ladder. Com in Houston. He reached up with his gloved hand grasping the ladder and Knowing Neil’s struggles with public speaking, I believe the lat-
He moved slowly and steadily as if he had “It takes a pretty good little jump,” Neil then turned left, leaning outward. “I’m going to step off the LM ter, and with all the excitement and emotions of the moment, I’ve
no place to go. The Moon had been waiting told them before turning his attention to his now,” he said, lifting his left boot over the footpad and setting it never been convinced Neil himself really knew for sure.
for 4.6 billion years, and Neil was in no dilemma. For some time, he had been think- down in Moon dust that shot up and outward in a fine spray — a
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hurry. Every move had to be precise, correct, ing about what he would say when he actually spray that lasted only a quick instant in the absence of an atmo-
no problems. stepped on the Moon. He had thought about sphere. “That’s one small step for man,” Neil said with a momen- HIS MOTHER HAD TOLD HIM her only real concern for his
Soon, he was a step above lunar dirt, and one statement he judged had meaning and fit tary pause, “one giant leap for mankind.” safety on the Moon was the lunar crust might not support him.
he paused, staring at Eagle’s landing footpads the historic occasion, and he ran it by his Most didn’t know Neil had meant to say, “That’s one small step Again, Neil tested his weight. Then he told Mission Control, “The
and legs. They had been designed to com- Neil Armstrong snaps a picture of the Apollo brother, Dean, and others close. Neil had not for a man,” and the loss of the a set off an argument for years to surface is fine and powdery. I can pick it up loosely with my toe. It
press with the force of landing, making the lunar module from afar. NASA made up his mind. come. Had a beep in the transmission covered the a or some other does adhere in fine layers like powdered charcoal to the sole and
2 A ST R O N O M Y • PROJECT APOLLO: Reaching for the Moon © 2018 Kalmbach Media Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form W W W.A S TR O N O MY.CO M 3
without permission from the publisher. www.Astronomy.com
our effort to protect Earth, it was finite, and one day if humans No one was more aware than Neil how
were to survive, they would have to move on to new worlds. In the important the contingency sample was, and
greatest of reasons, that was what he and Buzz and all those who he told Bruce, “Roger, I’m going to get to that
would follow were here doing walking on the Moon. just as soon as I finish these picture series.”
Neil stopped his thoughts, forced himself out of his introspection. Buzz watched as Neil completed the pho-
He and Buzz had much to do before they could catch a few tographs and walked away to a sunlit area.
hours’ rest, and he turned and began walking farther away from He asked, “Going to get the contingency
the security of Eagle. sample there, Neil?”
In one sense, it was like learning to walk again — shuffling, “Right,” Neil answered.
stiff-legged, yet buoyant — something like wading through chin- “OK. That’s good,” Buzz agreed.
deep water with his feet striking bottom — floating in low gravity Neil quickly reached into a thigh pocket
within his spacesuit. and withdrew a collapsible handle with a bag The Apollo 11
On Earth, his exoskeleton weighed 348 pounds (158 kilograms). on its end. He was in sunlight for the first astronauts set up a
television camera on
Now, on the Moon, it only weighed 58 pounds (26kg), and he told time, and he turned his back on the pene- the Moon’s surface,
Mission Control, “There seems to be no difficulty in moving trating glare. He began digging into the sur- beaming back a feed The flag that the Apollo 11 as-
tronauts planted in the lunar soil
around as we suspected. It’s even perhaps easier than the simula- face. What he found surprised him. There of their activities. was stiffened with wire so it would
With dinner cut short, author Jay Barbree returns to his microphone to
report Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the Moon. NBC/NASA
tions at 1/6-g that we performed. It’s actually no trouble to walk.” was the same soft powder, but then there Here, Neil Armstrong
(left) and Buzz Aldrin not lie limply against its pole on
Neil’s first task was to collect a contingency sample. If they had wasn’t. He met resistance. “This is very inter- stand near the ladder Earth’s airless satellite. NASA
to abort the moonwalk early, a small bag of lunar soil would make esting,” he told Mission Control. “It’s a very that led them to the
Left on the Eagle lander on the
sides of my boots. I only go in a small fraction of an inch, maybe an scientists happy. But he told himself he should do that in sunlight, soft surface, but here and there where I plug lunar surface. NASA Moon’s surface, this plaque reads,
eighth of an inch, but I can see the footprints of my boots and the and for now he needed the camera. He needed to take pictures with the contingency sample collector, I run “Here men from the planet Earth
treads in the fine sandy particles.” while his eyes were still adapted to the shadows. into a very hard surface. It appears to be very cohesive material of first set foot upon the Moon July
He stood there rock-solid, boots braced for balance, enclosed in “OK, Buzz,” he asked his partner, “we ready to bring down the the same sort.” He scooped up enough lunar soil to fill the bag and 1969, a.d. We came in peace for all
mankind.” NASA
the elaborate pressurized exoskeleton that sustained his life on this camera?” told them, “I’ll try to get a rock in here, just a couple.”
inhospitable place. It was filled with energy, with supplies of heat “I’m all ready,” Buzz told him. “I think it’s been all squared away “That looks beautiful from here, Neil,” Buzz told him, talking
and cooling, water, oxygen pressure — a capsule of life created by and in good shape, but you’ll have to play out all the LEC [Lunar about the sample, but Neil took Buzz’s comment to mean the “Beautiful view,” Buzz grinned.
his Apollo colleagues, and Neil Armstrong stood looking long and Equipment Conveyor]. It looks like it’s coming out nice and evenly.” Moon. “It has a beauty of its own. It’s like much of the high desert “Isn’t that something?” Neil agreed.
hard at this small, untouched world. Neil mounted the camera on a bracket on his chest and stepped of the United States. It’s different, but it’s very pretty out here.”
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He was overwhelmed. His sense and his thoughts set afire with forward to take the number one photograph. It was to have been Pointing down from Eagle was a 16mm movie camera loaded
the miracle of being on the lunar surface. He believed that he and his first footprint on the Moon, but no sooner than he looked for it with color film. It was there to film the actions of the two astro- “MAGNIFICENT DESOLATION,” Buzz spoke with feeling as he
Buzz and those who would follow were there for far more than by the footpad, he was ready to kick himself. In his movements to nauts on the Moon, and Buzz told Neil, “OK. I have got the camera stared at a sky that was the darkest of black. No blue. No birds. No
walking through lunar dust and measuring solar winds, magnetic check out Eagle’s stance and operate the conveyor line to bring the on at one frame a second.” green below. There were many shades of gray on the surface and
fields, radiation levels — all that was window dressing for their real camera down, he had walked over it. It was obvious his later steps “OK.” areas of utter black where rocks cast their shadows from an unfil-
purpose for coming. had blotted out his first. “Are you ready for me to come out?” asked Buzz. tered Sun, but no real color. Possibly tan under certain lighting.
It all condensed into every view they had of their fragile, beau- Then Bruce McCandless called, “We see you getting some pic- “Yes,” Neil said, and Buzz followed his instructions, asking, The land curved gently but noticeably away — all the way out to
tiful Earth. tures and the contingency sample, Neil.” “How far are my feet from the edge?” the horizon that was only half the distance Buzz and Neil were
It was suddenly clear to this son of the land once walked by Neil didn’t move. He stood there disappointed with the loss “You’re right at the edge of the porch.” used to seeing on Earth. But there on the Moon, they could actually
Orville and Wilbur Wright that he was on the of the first footprint, and McCandless “OK. Now I want to back up and partially close the hatch,” Buzz see they were standing on a sphere, and when they walked and
Moon to look back — to give every single asked again, “Neil, this is Houston. Did reported, quickly adding, “making sure not to lock it on my way out.” looked down, their motion fascinated them. Each time they took
human a clear look at spaceship Earth carry- you copy about the contingency sam- “A very good thought,” Neil agreed, as a wave of laughter rolled one of their half-walking and half-floating steps, their boots set in
ing the miracle. In this neighborhood of the ple, over?” through Mission Control. motion a spray of lunar soil sailing outward and upward sharply
universe, it was life’s only world. It was and quickly without the hindrance of an atmosphere, and they
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encased in diamond-hard blackness, and even tried running and leaping strides that were impossible to do
Neil recognized it mattered little if we were BUZZ MOVED SLOWLY DOWN and then said, “OK, I’m on the on Earth. But when they tried to sustain a jog, the mass and veloc-
Republican, Democrat, Independent, apoliti- top step, and I can look down over the landing gear pads. It’s a very ity created kinetic energy, and stopping quickly was impossible.
cal, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, or Bud- simple matter to hop down from one step to the next.” It was as if they had found a new playground after school, and
dhist, or who the hell we liked or disliked. We “Yes, I found I could be very comfortable, and walking is also they even tried bunny hopping, an assortment of moves, and they
live on a vulnerable world where we must very comfortable,” Neil agreed, pausing long enough to recheck wished they could stay on their new playground until they had
take care of its very finite resources — on a Neil Armstrong gets the con- Buzz’s progress. “You’ve got three more steps and then a long one.” explored every nook, every cranny, so much to see and do and so
world where we all would suffer terrifying tingency sample and makes sure “OK. I’m going to leave that one foot up there and both hands little time.
consequences if we drained it of its ability to all is well for Buzz Aldrin to join down to about the fourth rung up.” But despite their wish to drink in this new and strange and
sustain us — its ability to foster and nurture him on the lunar surface. NASA “There you go.” beautiful and wonderful place, Neil and Buzz had to move on to
the very life we now threaten to contaminate. After Neil Armstrong stepped “OK. Now I think I’ll do the same.” their chores.
Neil knew no matter how diligent, how great from the Apollo 11 lunar module “A little more,” Neil suggested, “about another inch.” There was First, they reset their television camera’s location 60 feet (18m)
onto the Moon’s surface, he a pause, and then Neil shouted, “There, you got it!” from Eagle. This would help earthlings see some of the things they
watched Buzz Aldrin descend
Jay Barbree is the author of Neil Armstrong: A Eagle’s ladder and land for the
A second human was on the Moon, and Neil greeted Buzz at were seeing.
Life of Flight (Thomas Dunne Books, 2014), from first time on nonterrestrial ter- the bottom of the stairs as they again heard cheering in Mission Next on their list of duties was to plant the American flag. By
which this article is an excerpt. ritory. NASA Control. international agreement, no country could claim the Moon, even
Jim Lovell
its surface has some
amazing stories to
tell. by Richard Talcott
ASTRONOMY: Thanks, Captain Lovell, we Apollo 11 lift off, he said, “You know, had to be repaired before he could fly, so
certainly appreciate your being here today Apollo 8 was almost like my flight across I replaced Mike on Apollo 8, and he took
and having this interview with us. Apollo 8 the Atlantic [because of] the long distance my spot on Apollo 11.
was the first of many missions that went — all Apollo 11 had to do was land.”
to the Moon, and you did a lot of things for ASTRONOMY: I take it you weren’t neces-
the first time. Did it help with your comfort ASTRONOMY: Your Apollo mission origi- sarily disappointed with that?
level to have Frank Borman with you, since nally was planned to test the lunar module LOVELL: No, that’s exactly right. Because
you had flown with him earlier? in Earth orbit, but delays in the lunar mod- on Apollo 11, I would have been the com
LOVELL: Yes, Frank and I flew for two ule program changed those plans. How mand module pilot, orbiting again. Being
weeks on Gemini 7, in a small little con lucky did you feel that the mission order the first to go to the Moon on Apollo 8,
tainer called the Gemini. Some people call changed so that you were able to be on that was something I really enjoyed.
it two weeks in the men’s room. I was par the first flight to the Moon?
ticularly happy to be on [Apollo 8] because LOVELL: Well, I was pretty happy. I had ASTRONOMY: What were your thoughts
it was the first time that we’d navigated already been up twice, and this would have when you became the first people to leave
the entire 240,000 miles [385,000 kilo been three times to go around again doing Earth’s gravity behind? The crew of Apollo 8
meters] to the Moon. When I was with about the same thing. I was the command LOVELL: It was a unique feeling in many — (left to right) Jim
Charles Lindbergh on the beach watching module pilot, so I would have been in the respects. First of all, we were like three Lovell, Bill Anders, and
command module, not in the lunar mod school kids looking down on the farside Frank Borman — pose on
a simulator at Kennedy
Senior Editor Richard Talcott watched with ule. As a matter of fact, I started out being of the Moon when we first went around Space Center just a month
rapt attention as Jim Lovell twice journeyed to on the Apollo 11 flight and Mike Collins there. The ground was tracking us at this before they took off for
the Moon and back during the Apollo program. was on Apollo 8. He had a neck injury that time, and they said that at such and such the Moon. NASA
8 A ST R O N O M Y • PROJECT APOLLO: Reaching for the Moon © 2018 Kalmbach Media Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form
without permission from the publisher. www.Astronomy.com
of December, we would be orbiting the
THE CASE
“Boy, how Moon on Christmas Eve. We decided, gee,
it’s going to be Christmas, what can we FOR MOUNT
fortunate say? We’ve got to think about something
to say. So we thought, well how about
MARILYN
we all are to changing the words to “The Night Before
Christmas”? That didn’t sound too good.
ASTRONOMY: Jim, if you
have a spot
would, tell us a little bit
Or how about “Jingle Bells”? No, that was about the intriguing story
back to, and newspaper reporter, and they usually have ning to go to the Moon on
Apollo 8, we were looking at
a gift of gab about writing things like this.
hopefully, we
lunar charts. And we saw
I’ll ask him.” The story I got was that he
some of the nearside features
spent one night trying to figure out what
can make it
— the area that we were The triangular-shaped “Mount Marilyn” served as a point of refer-
these three people should say. Around going to fly over. And there ence for astronauts on both Apollo 10 and 11. The Apollo 10 crew
midnight, his wife came down the stairs
back home.”
was a little triangular moun- snapped this oblique view during its May 1969 mission. NASA
and said, “What are you doing?” And he tain down there just on the
told her the story that he was writing this shore of the Sea of Tranquillity, would be following] the same people who were in the pro-
thing for the Apollo 8 crew, but he hadn’t and I looked at it and I looked trajectory, and they said “Yes, gram. But on the nearside,
really come up with anything yet. And she it up to see if it had a name to that’s a good spot. We’ll use after six landings, there’s noth-
said, “That’s simple — why don’t they read it. It had no name to it. The that as an initial point.” ing. So why don’t we officially
crater [abutting it] had a name; So it’s in the [communica- look at Mount Marilyn as the
from the Old Testament, the first 10 verses
it was called Secchi Theta. But tions on] both of their flights, one thing that we can see from
of Genesis? I mean, it’s an emotional time,
the mountain itself had no and then we sort of forgot the Earth with a regular old
sort of a holy time, but the first 10 verses Jim Lovell poses for his formal Apollo 13 por- name. And so I said to Bill and about it for a long time. I kept telescope as the initial point
of Genesis is the structure of most of the trait four months before the April 1970 mission. to Frank: “I think I’m going to referencing it sometimes, and for the first landing? I tried to
world’s religions.” So that’s what we did. The mission’s destination target — the lunar
name this Mount Marilyn, Mount Marilyn got into the lit- get a little program going, and
crater Fra Mauro — sits near the center of the
Wrote it down and put it on fireproof Moon globe. NASA [after my wife].” And we can erature a little bit. It was in the there were lots of people that
paper, and it was put in the back of the use it as sort of an initial point movie Apollo 13. And finally, I were very interested. But the
flight manual. That original flight manual [a landmark that future crews thought to myself, we’ve made IAU, of course, says “No.”
and those words are now down at the Adler LOVELL: When the Earth drifted over could use as they began their six landings on the nearside of
Planetarium [in Chicago]. to my window and I looked at it — Bill final approaches] for our flight the Moon, but there’s nothing ASTRONOMY: This name has
to see if it would be good for there to look at to represent been used systematically for
[Anders] was the photographer — and saw
Earth rises over the Moon’s limb as Apollo 8 comes out from behind the Moon on its fourth orbit. The Apollo 10 and Apollo 11. And those landings. Now [more decades now. It’s high time
ASTRONOMY: When you were on the the composition of the Earth with respect
lunar horizon lay approximately 485 miles (780 kilometers) from the spacecraft when Bill Anders on the flight, we found out recently], we have good pho- to make it official.
captured this iconic scene. NASA farside of the Moon and getting ready to to the lunar horizon, I said, “Bill, this is that it was very good. We saw tography on the farside, so LOVELL: I hope so, and I
come back, did you have any concerns it. This is the picture.” He had a telephoto it down there and mentioned the IAU [the International hope the IAU reconsiders our
about the rocket firing? lens on the camera, so that brought the it on Apollo 8. When we got Astronomical Union — the request to do something for
a time, down to the second, you’ll lose you can completely hide behind your LOVELL: I don’t think anyone who Earth closer, where it was more pro back, we talked to the crews official arbiter in naming solar this thing that represents all
communication with us. By gosh, right on thumb. You’re only 240,000 miles away, but makes these Apollo flights thinks about nounced and made it actually a much bet that were going to be on system features] made a lot the people and our efforts to
the second, we whipped around the far everything that you have ever known is that rocket not firing. Of course, we were ter composition, I think. We took lots of Apollo 10 and 11, [which of new crater names of the land on the Moon.
side and lost communication. You know behind your thumb — all the history of the the first ones there. On the ninth orbit, pictures, and we didn’t know what picture
the Moon has three different shades. In Earth and all the people you knew and all we did Genesis and things like that and NASA would actually release — whether
sunlight, it’s quite bright; in earthshine, it the problems. It is merely a small body talked about the Moon. But on the 10th the pictures of the Moon on the farside or all really to prove the technology of going valves opened up and the fuel started
looks like snow outside at nighttime here that’s orbiting a rather normal star, and it one, we wanted to make sure everything the Earth in various places. It turns out to the Moon and coming back. running down toward the main engine,
on Earth; and then there’s the part that just happens to be at the proper distance was ready. We called back [to Houston that [“Earthrise”] was a great picture. By the time Apollo 13 came around, you could hear that rumble. I was very
has no earthshine, no sunshine — you with proper mass to support life. and asked for] some good words about we realized that we better start looking comfortable on 13 because I knew what to
don’t see a thing. And that’s the only time And then I thought how insignificant what they thought we should put in the ASTRONOMY: Now we’ll switch gears and at getting the science in the Apollo pro expect, up until the second stage engine
when all the stars came out. we really all are. The Sun itself is tucked computer, exactly when we should fire the discuss your next mission. Could you talk gram. We were designated to land around shut down [about two minutes early]. We
away in the outer edge of a galaxy called rocket, and the whole thing. And when about how the objectives of Apollo 13 dif- a crater called Fra Mauro because [lunar wondered whether we had enough fuel to
ASTRONOMY: How were your prepara- the Milky Way, and that’s only one of we were on the farside, Mission Control fered from those of Apollo 11? scientists] thought that maybe there’s ejecta go all the way to the Moon, but we did.
tions for Apollo 8? Did they prepare you millions of galaxies in the universe. And never knew if it fired or didn’t fire until LOVELL: Apollo 13 was actually going [there that was dug out by big meteorite
for what you actually saw at the Moon, here’s this little body sitting out there we got around to the nearside. Of course, to be the first scientific Apollo flight. If impacts]. We did a lot of geology fieldwork, ASTRONOMY: This was your second trip
or was it totally different from what you 240,000 miles away, and I thought, “Boy, if it didn’t fire, we’d still be in lunar orbit. you remember, there was a great space and, if you look at the insignia of Apollo 13, to the Moon, your fourth flight into space
were expecting? how fortunate we all are to have a spot like It fired absolutely perfectly, right where race between the Russians and ourselves. it says “Ex Luna, Scientia” [From the Moon, overall. Were you used to the sights, the
LOVELL: Well, when we got word that we that to go back to, and hopefully, we can it should. And I said to Mission Control: It started out in 1961 when Kennedy said knowledge] — that was the whole point sounds, the smells, and how the stars
weren’t going to do Earth orbit on Apollo 8 make it back home.” “Houston, please be informed — there is we’d put a man on the Moon. This was of that mission. appeared? Was it a familiar experience
but go to the Moon, we had to change a lot a Santa Claus.” a technical challenge, not so much of a for you?
of things — navigation was the big thing. ASTRONOMY: When you read from the scientific expedition. So 11 was success ASTRONOMY: Can you describe the liftoff LOVELL: Yeah, to me, it was very famil
The training was very good; there was book of Genesis on Christmas Eve, was that ASTRONOMY: You mentioned a little bit ful. And just to prove that we could do it, of Apollo 13, and how did you feel heading iar. They all came back, even the smells.
nothing, I would say, that was a complete a joint decision among all three of you, or earlier about seeing Earth rise as you were because there were a lot of people in this to the Moon for a second time? There was no problem. Of course, when
surprise to us. did one of you come up with that idea? going around the Moon. Did you have any country after Apollo 11 landed that said LOVELL: I was a lot more comfortable for we got off the free-return course [a mid
The big surprise is the Earth — it’s not a LOVELL: That’s kind of interesting. When idea after you got back how iconic that we faked it in West Texas someplace, we the liftoff on 13. I had two rookies with course correction required to change the
surprise that we thought we’re going to see we were planning our trajectory, all of image would become and that it’s been did Apollo 12. And it was successful — me; this was their first time. Occasionally, trajectory for the upcoming lunar land
something else — but just suddenly look a sudden it dawned on us that the day called one of the great images in the his- they landed within walking distance of they would look at me, and I would tell ing], that kind of worried us a little bit
ing at it and seeing it as a small body that we were shooting to take off, on the 21st tory of mankind? the Surveyor [3] spacecraft. So these were them what that noise was — when the because that put us in a position whereby
“repress valve” all the time, and it had a relieved to think LOVELL: About the time we were
approaching the Moon, they wanted
ASTRONOMY: What were the thoughts
you had once you splashed down? You
that we got back.”
bang to it. I thought he was just trying to
scare us, but he didn’t do that. I wasn’t to take a picture of the farside. And, of must have been incredibly relieved Jim Lovell reads a newspaper account of the
too concerned at that time. I saw that we course, I was waiting to get the instruc and happy. Apollo 13 recovery efforts on board the USS
had an electrical problem at first, and tions on how to start the engine and all LOVELL: Yeah, I was incredibly relieved Iwo Jima. NASA
I thought it might have been one of the that. In case I missed something, I was to think that we got back. And then I
batteries that we heard through the lunar hoping that they would pick it up. And thought to myself as I was bobbing around
module. But it turned out when we saw I said, essentially, “If we don’t get home, and before I got out of the spacecraft ASTRONOMY: One final question I have
the oxygen escaping, that told us we were you won’t get those pictures developed.” — you know we are kind of fortunate on a somewhat lighter note. What was
in serious trouble. And they said, “Well, you’ve been here because if that explosion had occurred the experience like of being in the film
before, and we haven’t.” So they wanted just after we committed ourselves to that Apollo 13 and appearing in it, as well as your
ASTRONOMY: How did you hold your to get pictures. high velocity to go to the Moon, we would association with the making of the film?
composure in such an extraordinary and never have had enough electrical power LOVELL: With respect to the movie, I
unprecedented moment of crisis? ASTRONOMY: What was the feeling of to get all the way home again. We would enjoyed being in it. It was a cameo spot.
LOVELL: Well, if you want to get in this reentry through Earth’s atmosphere like? have been out of electrical power. And if Actually, [the director] Ron Howard came
business, you better be optimistic. I was LOVELL: Well, as far as the spacecraft that explosion had occurred after we got up to me and said, “Would you want to
a test pilot, and I had problems with air performing, it appeared just like it should into lunar orbit or Fred and I were on the be the admiral?” There was an admiral
planes before where I had to suddenly because we managed to get all the power lunar surface and came up, we’d never on board the regular ship. I said, “No, I
figure out what to do. I wasn’t too sure at up on the command module again and have enough fuel to get out of lunar orbit retired as a captain — I’ll dig out my old
the time of the explosion that we were in with that we got the guidance system and to get back home again. So if we had uniform, and I’ll look at the ribbons that
danger until we saw the oxygen leaking. back up again. We realigned the guidance to have an explosion on the way to the he had, and I’ll put those on.” So it dupli
Then, we just had to figure out what to do. system — something which we learned Moon, that was the time to have it. cated him, and that’s the way we’ll go.
I thought our chances were probably pret Apollo 13 astronaut Jack Swigert sits in a rescue net as Navy personnel hoist him to a hovering heli-
ty low at that time of getting back because copter. Commander Jim Lovell remains by the command module awaiting his turn. NASA TO SEE AN EXTENDED VIDEO OF ASTRONOMY’S INTERVIEW WITH JIM LOVELL, VISIT www.Astronomy.com
Fighting
enough to touch. For many, space was a tantalizing promise of a wonderful
future, beyond the strife of an increasingly divided Earth. For others, supremacy
in space was the answer to the Cold War. And for yet others, space was a sign of
profligate spending of time and energy on dreams, when
reality desperately needed America’s attention.
Visibility
out of men and women who dared to toric suborbital flight, Johnson volun-
push harder, dream bigger, and be teered. She told the men she worked
smarter than anyone before them. with exactly where and how to shoot
Those moments created titans in Shepard into the sky so he would
American history, such as rocket pio- splash down safely in range of watchful
neers Robert Goddard and Wernher Navy ships. By the time Glenn orbited
Von Braun, or astronaut adventurers Earth, mechanical computers were
John Glenn and Neil Armstrong. beginning to replace humans. But
But many of the actors in this play Glenn, fearless as he was, wanted his
From pre-NASA remain hidden in the wings. Now, path checked and his life in the hands
decades after the work that should of someone he could look in the eye,
days to Apollo, the have made them legendary, the black not an unfeeling machine. Johnson
women who helped put the United was that person, matching the com-
struggles of black States in space are finally having their puter decimal for decimal. And when
stories told. Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and
women in the early These women, though not the faces Michael Collins left Earth for the
memorialized in crowded mission-con- Moon, Johnson used the powerful new
space program trol room photos or seen waving from computers to calculate their trajectory
catwalks before launching beyond as well. By the time she retired in 1986, Women who showed particular skill
rarely came to Earth’s grip, were nonetheless stars in she had left her fingerprints on NASA and interest moved out of the comput-
their own right. And one of the bright- missions from the agency’s first forays ing pool to work directly with specific
light. Until now. est was Katherine Johnson. beyond Earth into the space shuttle era. engineering groups. This allowed
Johnson and her colleagues, Johnson and others to break free of the
by Korey Haynes A HUMAN Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, physical walls segregating them by race
COMPUTER feature prominently in the new book and gender from the rest of the NASA
Born in 1918 in White Sulphur Springs, Hidden Figures, by Margot Shetterly. team. Her work earned her NASA
Virginia, Johnson loved numbers as The book, which came out in September achievement awards and landed her in
a child. She started college at West 2016, is about to hit the big screen as a lists of both women’s and African-
Virginia State University at age 15 and major motion picture. Johnson is the Americans’ success stories. But her
blew through the school catalog’s listed lead character, played by Taraji P. work also landed men on the Moon,
courses; her professor created new ones Henson of the Fox television show and she deserves — and is finally get-
just for her. By 18, she had graduated Empire; Octavia Spencer and Janelle ting — recognition beyond these lesser-
Top to bottom:
Katherine Johnson, summa cum laude with degrees in math Monáe round out the cast as Vaughan known lists. So why are we only
Mary Jackson, and and French. But career paths for black and Jackson, respectively. hearing her story now?
Dorothy Vaughan, women were stark in the 1940s, even Johnson is arguably the most famous “She’s almost 98, and she’s still alive
three of the “human
with a mind as sharp as Johnson’s. She of a group of black women Langley and able to tell her own story,”
computers” who
helped usher in taught school for more than a decade Research Center hired to perform calcu- Shetterly says. “A lot of people have
human spaceflight before joining the space race as one of lations during World War II. They were passed away, and so she’s around in a
for NASA, and whose the women, black and white, whom known as the West Computers because moment when we’re looking for people
story is just now
being told in the NASA (and its predecessor, the National they worked in the segregated West like her. You open the news, and there
book and film Hidden Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, or Area of Langley. Toiling as brainy beasts are a lot of really depressing stories out
Figures. NASA NACA) hired as “computers”— people of burden, these women — and their there. And this is a positive African-
to do the math that kept NASA running. white counterparts in the East wing — American story, it’s a positive female
took math problems parceled out by story, it’s a positive American story, it’s
Korey Haynes is a contributing editor to engineers and solved them with light- a great space story.”
Astronomy. ning speed and meticulous accuracy. Johnson’s story, in fact, seems
14 A ST R O N O M Y • PROJECT APOLLO: Reaching for the Moon © 2018 Kalmbach Media Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form W W W.A S TR O N O MY.CO M 15
without permission from the publisher. www.Astronomy.com
role in history — that a switch flipped “There’s always a balancing act,” says
in her mind. She began asking around Bill Barry, a NASA historian who
for the women’s stories and realized worked as a consultant for the film. His
there were easily enough to fill a book. team delighted in replicating the halls of
She hadn’t even finished writing Virginia’s Langley Research Laboratory
that book when film producer Donna in a disused hospital in Atlanta, right
Giglotti optioned the rights for a down to the art on the walls. But they
movie, based on only Shetterly’s were also patient with certain necessary
50-page book proposal. Screenwriter adjustments made in order for the film
Allison Schroeder took the proposal to tell a cohesive story out of the jumble
and many of Shetterly’s primary source of real people’s lives.
materials and got to work. She focused While the film was never meant to
on three of the women who shine par- be a documentary, Barry is satisfied
ticularly brightly in Shetterly’s that the film will bring the key players
research: Johnson, who was central to and events to life.
the leading missions of NASA’s heyday
of space flight; Jackson, an energetic A QUESTION OF
Katherine Johnson sits at her desk,
performing the sorts of calculations that young woman who smashed barriers in HISTORY
eventually led to the Moon landing. NASA her advance from computer to engi- Another part of the balancing act, not
neer; and Vaughan, one of NASA’s first so dissimilar from the question the
Left to right: Janelle Monáe as Mary Jackson, Taraji P. Henson as Katherine Johnson, and Octavia Spencer
black managers, who ran the segre- women themselves contemplated, is as Dorothy Vaughan in the film Hidden Figures, based on the works of the women and their colleagues in
victorious return to Earth, but that gated West Area Computing Division. how much to talk about the challenges the early space program. 20TH CENTURY FOX
milestone is only one small piece of the Schroeder was excited to tell the facing three black women in the ’60s,
puzzle of “why now?” story of these women against the back- racing for the Moon when so much
“There’s some kind of magic other drop of the most exciting science pro- stood in their way down on Earth. Duchess Harris, a professor of to extend their already advanced techni-
thing,” Shetterly admits. “I have no gram in U.S. history. With “We really don’t even deal with American studies at Macalester cal knowledge, but African-Americans
idea, but it just is happening of its own grandparents who worked for NASA, race,” observes Henson, who plays College, argues, “That’s not meritoc- were forbidden from many of the local
accord.” and a love of numbers and strong Johnson in the movie. “Because you racy.” Harris has written her own book colleges because of segregation laws. The
women all her own, Schroeder prom- know what was going on in the ’60s. . . . about the West Area computers, nearby Hampden Institute, a well-
THE SILVER ises, “I was born to write this.” We deal with how to rise above it. At Hidden Human Computers. Like respected black university, supplied
SCREEN TOUCH But she had her work cut out for the end of the day, how do we get this Shetterly, she has a personal connection much of the desired coursework.
Shetterly is one of the people who has her. Unlike the popular Apollo 13 film man on the Moon?” to these women: Miriam Daniel Mann, Compounding the problem, NASA’s
long known not only Johnson’s name, — which relied on hours of recorded Barry agrees. “They were focused one of the Langley computers, was her standard position for hiring women was
but many women like her. Shetterly conversations and minute-by-minute on the mission,” he says. “So if you had grandmother. She points out that the as a computer — a subprofessional posi-
grew up in Hampton, Virginia, in accounts of the event for screenwriters the skill set to do the mission, they put land Langley stands on was, until 1950, tion that paid half an engineer’s salary,
Langley’s backyard. Her father worked to insert directly into the movie you to work, and who cares about the a plantation. While NASA extended even for men and women with identical
at Langley as a research scien- about a single, compact rules.” But Barry also admits there science jobs to black employees, the degrees. While NASA gave a few black
Katherine Johnson receives the Presidential
Medal of Freedom for her work ushering in tist. If anything, it took event — scant evidence were rules even NASA wouldn’t break, segregation of the times meant race was women an important foothold, the deck
the age of human spaceflight. NASA / BILL INGALLS her this long to tell While existed from which such as segregated restrooms and a still a constant presence in their lives. was very much stacked against them.
the women’s story Hidden Figures designated cafeteria area. Many NASA employees took classes But Henson is convinced that the
because for many the film was could draw. film doesn’t need to discuss race — or
almost tailor-made for the big screen. years, their work never meant to be While Johnson’s gender — to make powerful statements
The roots of her computing legacy didn’t seem like work is well pre- about representation. “As I’m doing my
reach from World War II through the much of a feat.
a documentary, Barry research,” she recalls, “I see all of this
served in his-
looming threat of the Cold War and the “I feel like it is satisfied that the tory, she recalls NASA footage, and I don’t see any
strife and successes of the civil rights was probably one film will bring the her day-to-day women, not even white women. There
movement, hurtling through all of it in of the greatest gifts interactions only was a west wing of computing and an
the pursuit of space dreams. She was a in my life just grow-
key players and by memory. And east wing of computing, and they’re
natural fit in an agency that broke sci- ing up thinking this events to life. in a story that spans just erased from history. . . . It blows my
entific barriers and never stopped ask- was normal,” she says. decades — Shetterly’s mind that little girls don’t know that
ing questions — except that Johnson “There was nothing to me book opens in the height they can do this.”
and her fellow computers were breaking that was out of the ordinary about of World War II and follows
racial as well as scientific ground. either living in a community with a lot Johnson until her retirement — the THE SPACE WOMEN
In 2015, President Barack Obama of scientists or living in a community movie is obliged to condense multiple OF TOMORROW
awarded the real Katherine Johnson with a lot of African-American scien- historical people into a few characters, Spreading the women’s message is both
the Presidential Medal of Freedom. tists or living in a community with a the better for the audience to track and an important first step, and an incred-
And in May 2016, Langley, where lot of female scientists and engineers connect with. For instance, Kevin ibly rewarding one. Many hope that
Johnson spent her NASA career, dedi- and such. It seemed totally normal.” Costner plays a character stitched seeing Johnson on the big screen will
cated a building in her name. NASA It wasn’t until Shetterly explained together out of real-life details from trumpet her name far beyond NASA
dedicated the new research facility on the West Computers to her husband multiple flight directors and adminis- In another still from the film Hidden Figures, the human computers gather around a screen write-ups and awards.
the 55th anniversary of Glenn’s — and witnessed his wonder at their trators in NASA’s history. during an important space launch. 20TH CENTURY FOX But the Hollywood story, and even
Dorothy Vaughan sits with Leslie Hunter and Vivian Adair (left to right); all three women worked as Melba Roy Mouton, pictured next to an electronic computer, was the leader of a group of human computers who helped track Echo satellites
human computers. NASA in the early 1960s. NASA
Miriam Daniels Mann was hired at the
work with another woman on a project. FOR THE
same time as Dorothy Vaughan, in 1943.
Refusing the indignity of segregation in Shetterly’s more in-depth book, are only bulky calculator to computer punch cards decades traveling to classrooms and
her supposedly enlightened workplace, narrow peeks into the rich history of the — women’s participation in computing “This film offers us an opportunity GREATER GOOD meeting school groups, encouraging
Mann stole the signs marking the women who provided the bedrock of fields flagged as the field advanced. And to really reflect on how science was done It’s also noteworthy that the human more women to follow in her
“colored” section of the cafeteria for NASA’s endeavors. Last year, Nathalia Holt less than a hundred African-American then, and why community took the computers’ stories center not on one footsteps.
years. Her granddaughter, Duchess
Harris, is now researching the stories released Rise of the Rocket Girls, about the women have earned Ph.D.s in physics. structure it did, including the fact that lone genius, but on brilliant women “She would always include other
of all the West Computers. DEWITT WALLACE women of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Ever. because of segregation, sometimes it was who were part of a team. Science is people,” says Henson, who has come
LIBRARY AT MACCALASTER COLLEGE
whose calculations guaranteed the success The reasons for this are manifold and easier for people to create community often seen as a lone wolf endeavor, ide- not only to admire, but to adore the
of rocket flights and planetary missions. complex, but it is a self-perpetuating prob- because they were forced into it,” she alizing individuals like Albert Einstein woman she portrays. “Because she
Holt credits their legacy to JPL’s retaining lem. With so few black women in these says. “Now the segregation is less visible or Stephen Hawking. But NASA knows it’s teamwork. But it was her
more women-powered space teams than fields, even those who complete advanced or less present, but I think a lot of times has always been about team efforts. calculations.”
elsewhere in the NASA family, where degrees can feel unwelcome at their work just less visible, and it can be Studies show that women are “If you’ve done an answer to a prob-
female team leads are hard to come by. But and find themselves treading ground not harder for people to find drawn to jobs that fos- lem . . . yours is the answer,” Johnson
her book tells the story of only one center so dissimilar from Johnson’s days, the community.” ter cooperation and said in her dedication ceremony. And
and its largely white team. Elsewhere, black social barriers less visible but still extant. Studies show that
“Our have a clear impact, she is proud of her years of service:
women struggled up a steeper hill. And seeing few black women in those as early as middle institutional and that physics’ “When they pulled out a few notes to
Harris continues her own study of the workspaces can discourage young potential school, girls and bias against black reputation for cold write down what I had worked on, the
women of Langley, her research finding a scientists, who see no one like themselves minorities are calculation turns guy had 20 pages.”
home in museums and classrooms instead to whom they can aspire. opting out of women scientists is many of them off Johnson said she was pleased to see
of in popular media. She hopes targeting Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, a professor science not so strong that it is at young ages. the emerging pattern of recognizing
children with these women’s stories will of physics at the University of Washington, because they It is not just women’s work, something she says men
provide role models for kids who often counts herself among the few black women enjoy it less or
literally hard for the faces of have long gotten credit for.
don’t see scientists who look like them. with physics Ph.D.s. “Our institutional bias even see them- people to imagine Langley’s human Prescod-Weinstein anticipates the
One of the younger computers,
Christine Darden began working at
Speaking for NASA, Barry agrees. “We against black women scientists is so strong selves as less capa- I exist.” computers that are film as “an opportunity to write history
hope [the Hidden Figures film] encourages that it is literally hard for people to imagine ble, but because they important, but the correctly, finally, about what has been
NASA in 1967. She rose to the title of
engineer in 1973, one of the few women more young people to go into the field. I exist,” she says. “I overcame it. The people don’t see science as some- ways in which they did the nature of black contributions to
of any color at the time to hold that From our perspective, there’s lots of fallout who hired me overcame it.” thing that is for them. their jobs. American intellectual history.”
position. Since then, she has published benefits from telling this kind of story.” She points to the “nonlinearity” of prog- Understanding that not only can “Somebody wants to know some- For many reasons, the West
more than 50 papers and is recognized
as a world expert in sonic booms. NASA Those benefits are desperately needed. ress in STEM diversity. (STEM refers to the black women excel in space science, but thing,” said the 98-year-old Johnson, Computers’ names are never likely to
The space science fields, engineering in disciplines in science, technology, engineer- they have been doing so all along, could explaining her math skills in a speech rise to the level of Neil Armstrong’s or
particular, suffer acutely from a lack of ing, and math.) While Johnson and the make a huge impact on the next genera- at her own Langley dedication cer- Jim Webb’s renown. But the solutions
women and minorities. While the earliest other Hidden Figures characters worked in tion of scientists. “It really highlights emony. “Help them. Help anybody you were theirs.
computer programmers were exactly these a team with other black women, Prescod- the importance of not separating the can help.” She saw her love of math as Women like Katherine Johnson have
human computers of NASA — adapting Weinstein says that she was 13 years into science from the history of how it was a way to further America’s dreams. always been part of the story. It’s high
their math from pencil and paper and her research before she found the chance to produced,” Prescod-Weinstein says. After her retirement, she spent time we told it.
T
Bean served as the lunar module pilot on way experience the worlds that I have been fortu- after his retirement.
Alan Bean served ime can be so unkind to astronauts. Apollo 12 the second lunar landing. In November nate to enjoy.” “NASA has a strict policy that everything that
with Pete Conrad and
Richard F. Gordon on
After all, after you have been to 1969, Bean and Pete Conrad landed on the Unfortunately, to see one of Bean’s paintings belongs to NASA stays with NASA, although all
Apollo 12. space, and even walked on the Moon’s Ocean of Storms. They explored the lunar isn’t exactly the same as being there firsthand. of the astronauts have been able to keep a few
Moon, you might enjoy a short surface, deployed several experiments, and “The Moon is the dreariest, most desolate mementos from their work,” he says.
burst of fame — and maybe even installed the first nuclear power generator station place I can think of,” Bean says. “Fortunately, it’s Among the pieces of space memorabilia Bean
a little fortune — then it’s over. Buzz Aldrin’s on the moon as a power source. Bean was also the one thing to paint something as it is, but it’s quite managed to keep were the patches from his
appearance on “Dancing with the Stars” notwith- spacecraft commander of Skylab 3, the second another to paint something from memory and Moon-worn space suit, his boots, and a single
standing, most astronauts retreated to relative manned mission to Skylab, from July 29, 1973, to use it as a tool to teach others.” glove. Needless to say, all of these items have
obscurity after their NASA days were over. Neil September 25, 1973. Bean continues, explaining how he believes his made their way into his paintings, in one form or
Armstrong became a consultant. In 1970, Michael On his next assignment, Bean served as art differs from many other artists: “When I another. And that’s putting it lightly.
Collins took a job with the Department of State backup spacecraft commander of the American started painting, I could have spent my time “As much fun as traipsing around the lunar
for a year, then became director of the National flight crew for the joint American-Russian painting things here on Earth, and I have on a few surface while Pete Conrad and I were doing it,” he
Air and Space Museum, and later undersecretary Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. occasions, but eventually I decided that those recalls, “one little matter that nobody thought of
© 2018 Kalmbach Media Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form
20 A ST R O N O M Y • PROJECT APOLLO: Reaching for the Moon without permission from the publisher. www.Astronomy.com W W W.A S TR O N O MY.CO M 21
creates a nice effect that a lot of people enjoy, and { PHIL HARRINGTON’S BINOCULAR UNIVERSE } BY PHIL HARRINGTON
I enjoy doing it.”
MOONWALKER’S FANTASY
Full Moon that month occurred at 1:04 a.m. crater’s sharply defined walls, catching the ters: Aristillus, Autolycus, and Archimedes.
Alan Bean on the sur- June 1, while the second happened at 1:49 All three will lie near the Moon’s terminator
face of the Moon dur- was the fact that we were filthy when we climbed p.m. June 30. The popular media largely the night after First Quarter.
ing Apollo 12 in 1969. back into the lunar module. We were covered attributed the Blue Moon to May that year, Apollo 16: The craters Theophilus and
Fellow Moonwalker
Pete Conrad is with Moon dust from head to toe, so when I because the June 1 Full Moon actually Cyrillus lie to the east (right) of the
reflected in Bean’s started painting, I decided to make my work spe- occurred at 9:04 p.m. EDT May 31, landing site, while Albategnius is
helmet as he takes cial by including scrapings of my patches in the making it the second that month. about an equal distance to the
the photo.
paint I used to create my Apollo paintings.” Let’s celebrate the 2007 Blue west (left). View these features
Moon (and the Blue Moons Apollo 17 the night before First Quar-
LOOKING CLOSER, BUT NOT that have come after it) with Apollo 15 December 11, 1972 ter. Just west of Albateg-
Mare Serenitatis
TOO CLOSE a tour of our neighbor July 30, 1971
Mare Imbrium
nius, three more craters
Looking at a Bean painting is a pleasure, regard- through binoculars. — Ptolemaeus, Alphon-
less of whether you look at it closely or from far And in anticipation of Apollo 11 sus, and Arzachel —
away. Not only will you see the subjects, whether the 50th anniversary of July 20, 1969 see sunrise the
Mare Tranquillitatis
it’s a Moonwalker or the scenery, but up close, Apollo 11’s Moon landing following evening.
chances are good that you will notice tiny specs in 2019, let’s explore the Apollo 16 Apollo 17: The final
of red, blue, and other colors amongst the paint. regions where each suc- April 21, 1972 Apollo site rests near
These are speckles from the patches that Bean’s cessful mission to our sat- Apollo 12 Apollo 14 Mare Tranquillitatis the Taurus Mountains,
November 19, 1969 February 5, 1971
uniform carried on the lunar surface. ellite touched down. Oceanus Procellarum forming the eastern rim
Fra Mauro
But if you think that the colorful speckles are Apollo 11: The dark of Mare Serenitatis (Sea
the only surprise you will see in a Bean painting, gray outline of Mare Tran- of Serenity). The best time
you’re looking at it too closely, since another treat quilitatis (Sea of Tranquility) to view the range is during
that often makes its way into a painting are boot looks almost perfectly round the waxing crescent phases of
prints from the actual suit that Bean wore on the from our vantage point. The best the month.
surface. These are best viewed from a distance. TWELVE APOLLO ASTRONAUTS left Remember, when it comes to
“I use acrylic paints, for the most part,” Bean their footprints across six landing sites Moon-gazing, two eyes are better
says. “In some of my paintings, I put one of my on the lunar surface. T. A. RECTOR/I. P. DELL’ANTONIO/ than one!
NOAO/AURA/NSF
space boots on and walk across the surface. It
© 2018 Kalmbach Media Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form
22 A ST R O N O M Y • PROJECT APOLLO: Reaching for the Moon without permission from the publisher. www.Astronomy.com W W W.A S TR O N O MY.CO M 23