Apollo: Missions to the Moon (2019) Movie Script

Apollo Missions to the Moon
[ 2019 ]
CRONKITE (off screen):
It's 3 hours and 32 minutes
until man begins the greatest
adventure in his history.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Five minutes, Gino, and
you're go down here,
you're looking great.
Comm Manager and Attitude.
MAN (over radio):
Comm Manager...
CRONKITE (off screen): Man
is about to launch himself
on a trip to the Moon with the
expectation of landing there.
KENNEDY: 240,000 miles
away from the control
station in Houston...
KENNEDY (off screen):
A giant rocket more than
300 feet tall,
reentering the atmosphere
at speeds of over
25,000 miles per hour.
HYDE (off screen):
You well may be the
first man on the Moon.
How do you personally
feel about it?
LOVELL (off screen):
Well I have the same desire
as all the astronauts.
We'd all like to
make that trip.
MAN (over radio):
Verified, go for launch.
PA OFFICER (over radio):
All still, "go" at this time.
MAN (over radio):
Four, three, two, one.
Roger T minus zero.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Liftoff. Liftoff.
Roger liftoff.
REPORTER (over radio):
And we have liftoff!
She's lifting up,
we have, "Tower Clear."
PA OFFICER (over radio):
Tower clear!
REPORTER (over radio):
We have tower clear.
We're beginning to feel
the first thunderous roar!
BERGMAN (off screen):
You claim that morale hasn't
sagged here with the cutbacks
in the space program.
Are you concerned that
some step in check out
may be missed that might
cause a mechanical failure?
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Seventy.
ALDRIN (over radio):
Thirty feet, two
and a half down.
ALDRIN (over radio):
20 feet, down a half.
Moving forward just a
little bit, all right.
Right.
KRANZ (over radio): Okay,
T1 stay, no stay, Retro?
MAN (over radio): Stay.
KRANZ (over radio): Fido?
MAN (over radio): Stay.
KRANZ (over radio): Guidance?
GUIDANCE (over radio): Stay.
KRANZ (over radio): Control?
CONTROL (over radio): Stay.
CAPCOM (over radio):
No PDI plus 12.
LOVELL (over radio): Ah,
Houston we've had a problem.
MAN (over radio): We've
got more than a problem.
LUNNEY (over radio): Okay,
listen, listen you guys.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
We lost O2 tank 2 pressure.
GNC, Flight.
LUNNEY (over radio):
What do you want on the
heater circuit breaker?
AARON (over radio):
We ought to get off entry
battery and do it with a
flashlight through the LM.
PA OFFICER (over radio):
Less than seven minutes
now from time of entry into
the Earth's atmosphere.
REPORTER (over radio):
There it is, it's coming
out of the cloud level now.
1,000 feet to go!

LOVELL (over radio):
Welcome from the Moon, Houston.
DISNEY: At Disneyland Park,
the ground devoted
to things of the future
is called, "Tomorrowland."
DISNEY (off screen): One of
the popular attractions here
is our simulated rocket trip
around the Moon.
After entering the Disneyland
Spaceport, visitors may
experience the thrills that
space travelers of the
future will encounter when
rocket trips to the Moon
become a daily routine.
KIMBALL: When we hear
the exciting news of how the
rocket scientists of today are
preparing for tomorrow's
trip to the Moon, we must
remember that such a trip
has long been the dream of
many men since history began.
KIMBALL (off screen): Roll
the moon sequence, please.
BRAUN (off screen):
Since ancient times,
since the beginning of man's
ability to think,
he has gazed at the
heavens and dreamed that
someday he would
travel through space,
to explore the Moon and planets,
which have
eternally captivated
his imagination.
DISNEY (off screen): However,
scientists tell us it will
be many years before space
travel becomes a reality.
REPORTER (off screen):
President Eisenhower and other
spokesmen of the
administration have
been attempting to relieve the
fears and anxieties caused
by Russia's spectacular
breakthrough in the Earth
satellite and intercontinental
ballistic missile field.
REPORTER 2 (off screen):
The rise of Sputnik-1 and
the traumatic reaction
of the world's peoples.
Thrust before all Americans,
problems wholly new.
REPORTER 3 (off screen):
The space age has become the
new frontier in the Cold War.
GLENNAN: We have one of
the most challenging
assignments that has ever
been given to modern man.
Expansion of human
knowledge about space,
development and operation
of vehicles capable of
carrying instruments
and man through space,
preservation of the role of
the United States as a leader
in aeronautical and space
science and technology.
REPORTER (off screen):
It was expected for months
the first man in space
would be a Russian.
But still, the news was
not welcome in Washington.
REPORTER 2 (off screen):
The United States man in
space program is at least
eight months behind
that of the Soviet Union.
KENNEDY: Now it is time
to take longer strides.
Time for a great new
American enterprise.
Time for this nation
to take a clearly leading
role in space achievement,
which in many ways,
may hold the key to
our future on Earth.
I believe that this
nation should commit itself
to achieving the goal
before this decade is out
of landing a man on
the Moon and returning
him safely to the Earth.
REPORTER (over TV):
America's team of
astronauts was increased
to 16 today with the
addition of nine new members.
It was specified that
they will be trained
for trips to the Moon.

REPORTER (over TV):
As more and more
scientific instruments marked,
"Made in America"
begin to show up in the
space around the Earth,
a wave of business-like
optimism is being felt among
American space officials.
In both the House and
Senate Space Committees,
the committee men have been
pleading with an official of
the space administration to
tell them that he needs more
money, and he's been
saying "No, he doesn't.
His space work
has been going fine
on its current budget."
That official is
Wernher Von Braun,
head of the famous
Army rocket team which is
now in the process of being
transferred to
the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration,
known from
its initials as NASA.
BRAUN: I'm often asked
just what reason there is
for man's going into space.
It seems the notion
is popular in this
age of electronic and
mechanical miracles
that man is rapidly
becoming obsolete.
Men in space,
some people say is a
liability and a nuisance.
Equipment can be
designed to react to many
known and fewer anticipated
situations or events.
But men can observe
and correlate facts and
respond to the unexpected.
MAN (off screen):
This spacecraft built by
American Industry for the
National Aeronautics
and Space Administration
will be launched into
space from Cape Kennedy
in a few days.
It will carry no astronauts,
yet this mission
is one of the most
important space flights
to date for this is Apollo,
the first of a family
of spacecraft designed to
transport Americans to
the Moon before 1970.
Many of its complex
systems will fly in
space for the first time
aboard this spacecraft.
SHEA: After the
launch vehicle has placed
us at the proper velocity,
the Command Module and
the Service Module separate
from the launch vehicle.
They've been pitched down at
an attitude roughly like this.
This engine, which we will
ultimately use to return the
astronauts from Earth's orbit
to the Earth's surface
and also in later missions to
put the astronauts into lunar
orbit and bring them
back home from lunar orbit,
will then have
its first flight test.
MAN (off screen):
From the Mission Control
Center in Houston,
Glynn Lunney will
direct the flight.
LUNNEY: We are conducting the
first Apollo spacecraft test,
Apollo-Saturn 201,
from this control center
in the Mission
Control Center
in Houston, Texas.
From now on, the Apollo
flights after liftoff
will be directed from
this Control Center.
We've been exercising
the Control Center for
the last couple of months,
and we are ready
to start flying.
REPORTER (over radio):
Astronauts preparing for
America's first lunar mission
follow a complex
training program.
Designed to provide
them with knowledge about
the conditions they will face
during their
mission to the Moon.
BURKE (over TV):
There's one way on
Earth that you can
reproduce the weightlessness
experienced in space,
and that's in this plane.
I don't know if
I'm talking clearly,
but pretty soon we'll go
up over the top and when we
do I'm supposed to float,
and, and,
I'm going. I'm going.
It's fantastic.
It's unbelievable!
It's the most
extraordinary feeling.
I can't, I can't
really control myself.
All the dust is
flying with me.
I'm up, I can't
control myself at all.
CRONKITE (over TV):
Two years, really,
of day and night work
and months away from home.
It's a big
job these men have.
There's nothing
simple about it.
REPORTER (over TV):
The question everybody
wants to ask,
what do the wives
and children of
these men think of their
ambitions to go into space?
GLENN: My wife's attitude
towards this has been the
same as it has been all along
through all my flying
that if it's what I want
to do and she's behind it
and the kids are too, 100%.
GRISSOM: Well, my wife
feels the same way or of
course I couldn't be here.
She's with me all the way,
and the boys are too little to
realize what's going on yet,
but I'm sure they
feel the same way.
REPORTER (off screen):
Mrs. Grissom, do you hope that
he is the fellow who makes it?
BETTY: Well, I don't know.
How would you
feel if your wife,
I still want one of you
guys to answer that for me.
REPORTER (off screen):
Answer what?
BETTY: Just how would you
feel it was vice versa,
if it was your wife
going to outer space.
Now, just how would
you feel about it?
MAN (off screen): The Moon
is a necessary first step for
exploration of the planets.
To fly men there
and return them safely
in this decade is the goal
of NASA's project Apollo.
The early missions of
Mercury and the experience
from Gemini have brought
this country to
the next major milestone,
the first Apollo
three-man space flight.
These are the men
to fly that mission.
Command pilot Virgil Grissom.
Mercury, Gemini,
and now Apollo.
His third time into space.
One of the original
seven astronauts.
The senior pilot,
Edward White.
He will be remembered
for his spacewalk
during Gemini four.
White has been specializing
in the computers and training
for the upcoming mission.
Astronaut Roger Chaffee will
man the third Apollo seat.
He has been
concentrating on the flight
plan and experiments.
CHAFFEE: I think everybody
in the space program has
been asked this 50 times and
it's probably the toughest
question to answer and not
sound, shall we say corny,
with the answer.
It's a new phase
of exploration.
It's, you might say and sound
a little trite, it's there.
We'd be neglecting
our duties as people,
as human beings if we
didn't try to investigate it.
CHAFFEE (off screen):
We're improving our
engineering capability.
We're building new
equipment that has an untold
number of uses in fields that
we can't even
conceive of today.
The scientific aspect,
I don't think anybody can
predict what it's going to be.
Things that we'll find there,
some of the basic geologic
things that we might find
there that have long since
been destroyed by weather
on Earth, might give us more
insight into the birth
of our universe, or birth
of our solar system.
REPORTER (off screen):
You flew on Mercury,
you flew on Gemini,
now you're flying on Apollo.
Is the law of averages so
far as the possibility of a
catastrophic failure bother
you at all, sir?
GRISSOM: No, you sort of have
to put that out of your mind.
There's always
a possibility that you
can have a catastrophic
failure of course.
It's going to happen
on any flight.
It can happen on the last
one as well as the first one,
so you just
plan as best you can
to take care of all of
these eventualities.
And you get a well-trained
crew and you go fly.


MAN (over radio):
Go ahead...
CONTROL (over radio):
Okay, have we got all
three astronauts patched
S-Band into Black 3?
MAN (over radio): Ah, yep.
CONTROL (over radio):
Say again?
CREW (over radio): How
are we going to get to
the Moon if we can't talk
between three buildings?
MAN (over radio):
They can't hear a
thing you're saying.
CREW (over radio): Again,
this is the Command Pilot.
One, two, three, four, five.
Five, four, three, two, one.
CONTROL (over radio):
Can we get a verification
that all three of you are
in the S-Band mode?
(radio static)
CREW (over radio): Flames!
CREW (over radio):
We're having a bad fire!
We're burning up!
CONTROL (over radio):
Hey, crew, can you
egress at this time?
Confirm it?
Pad leader, get in
there and help them.
Pad leader, were
you able to hear them?
All right, crew,
we get verification?
Gus, can you read us?
CONTROL (over radio):
Pad leader?
REPORTER (over radio): 7:12.
Just handed to us from
WCCO Radio News now.
An accidental fire
has broken out on the Apollo
launch pad at Cape Kennedy,
killing at least one person.
Now, here's more news on that.
RYAN: Good evening.
Astronauts Virgil Grissom,
Edward White, and Roger Chaffee
have been killed
in a flash fire during a
rehearsal of the countdown and
launch of the Apollo flight
they were to have made
on the 21st of next month.
EDWARDS (over radio):
Details are sparse,
but killed were Air Force
Lieutenant Colonel
Virgil Grissom, who
was one of the seven
original Mercury astronauts.
Very well known, indeed.
Air Force Lieutenant
Colonel Edward White II,
who was the first
American to walk in space,
and Navy Lieutenant
Commander Roger Chaffee,
a rookie awaiting his first
flight in space.
REPORTER (over radio):
The spacecraft was located
218 feet above the launch
pad and was mated
to the uprated Saturn
1B launch vehicle.
Hatches on the
spacecraft were closed.
Emergency crews were
hampered by dense smoke
in removing the hatches.
HARTZ (off screen):
Within a few hours, an official
investigation was underway.
Tapes containing telemetry
records were impounded.
Photographs showing
the position of every
switch and valve inside
the cabin were made.
Eyewitnesses were
asked to tell their story
while it was fresh and then,
shortly before
2:00 this morning,
the bodies of Grissom,
White, and Chaffee were
removed and brought down.
BROOKS (over radio): With
the Moon visible overhead and
a blue sky traced with clouds,
the same Moon he had
hoped someday to land on,
the stage is
set for the burial of
Virgil Gus Grissom here
at Arlington National
Cemetery this morning.
The mourners
taking their place.
The families,
still off on the side.
Mrs. Grissom
and the two sons.
CLAPPER (over radio):
President Johnson said in
a statement, "Three valiant
young men have given their
lives in the nation's service.
We mourn this great
loss and our hearts go
out to their families."
Space officials say
that because of the tragedy,
the Apollo 1 flight has now
been postponed indefinitely.
GUIDE (over speaker):
The national space
program began in 1958 under
President Dwight Eisenhower.
NASA's primary purpose is
to acquire new knowledge about
the universe in which we live.
We're now approaching
the industrial area of
the Kennedy Space Center.
That first large
building over there
is known as the CIF,
which means Central
Instrumentation Facility.

CRONKITE (off screen): Good
evening, tonight we're on the
eve of the resumption of this
country's push to the Moon.
A push halted by that
disaster on Pad 34
almost two years ago.
CRONKITE (off screen):
The entire Apollo program
has been reexamined;
the spacecraft re-designed.
With the work done, the
attempt to reach the Moon,
and to get there before the
Russians resumes
tomorrow morning with
the launch of Apollo 7.
MAN (over radio):
Twelve, eleven, ten, nine,
ignition sequence start.
Five, four, we have
ignition we have liftoff,
we have liftoff.
CRONKITE (off screen):
The flight will be exotic
only in that it is a
first test flight.
It is planned as
an endurance test.
Ten days and nineteen hours
in orbit during which the
crew will test Apollo 7.
Wring it out as thoroughly
as possible to make
sure it is ready for the
more demanding flights to come.
REPORTER (off screen):
I understand, Mr. Tinnen,
that among the sophisticated
equipment on board the craft
will be live TV cameras.
Will you tell us about that?
TINNEN: Yes, this
will be a first.
There will be a small,
portable camera on board.
And about five or six times
during the mission at the
discretion of Captain Schirra,
it will be used to view
the astronauts at work,
in the spacecraft.
CAPCOM (over radio):
Here comes a picture,
and it's white.
We look at Eisele.
Uh, a nice shot, it looks
straight up and he's moving
and he's really quite clear.
Let's all have a look at it.
REPORTER (off screen):
That's Donn Eisele talking,
now he's holding up a sign.
CAPCOM (over radio):
I can read it,
now just a minute.
CAPCOM (over radio):
The lovely Apollo room
high atop everything.
SCHIRRA (over radio):
That's right.
EISELE (over radio):
And there we have him.
You can see he has
been working very hard.
Wally has been
drilling his troops.
SCHIRRA (over radio):
As you can see, we have
our lighter moments.
You may note from this that we
even have our ups and downs.
SCHIRRA (over radio):
Next time, we will have to
get better material
or better writers.
HOPE: Gentlemen, you
all know why we're here.
NASA wasn't too happy with
your TV shows from space.
SCHIRRA: I thought
we were pretty funny.
HOPE: Are you kidding?
You're lucky you weren't
canceled in mid-flight.
EISELE: But sir, we
accomplished our mission.
It was successful.
HOPE: Successful?
Did you see your ratings?
It won't do gentlemen.
You've gotta give the people
a show, excitement, laughs.
Believe me, I know.
Why do you think I've
been a star for 25 years?
SCHIRRA: Luck?
(laughter and applause)
HOPE: Watch it, nobody
likes a smart astronaut.
REPORTER: Mr. Schneider,
will you detail the milestones
of the Apollo 8 mission?
SCHNEIDER: Well,
on December 21st,
the Saturn Five will
place the spacecraft into a
100-mile orbit
around the Earth.
Roughly two orbits later,
that is about two hours
and fifty minutes later,
the last stage of the
Saturn Five will re-ignite,
placing the spacecraft
on a trajectory
that will lead it
out to the Moon.
SCHNEIDER (off screen): At
the back side of the moon,
if things are as we expect,
the crew will ignite the
Service Propulsion
System on the spacecraft
and place themselves into
an elliptical
60-mile by 170-mile
orbit around the Moon.
LOVELL: You know we've
been planning this flight for
years and years, and sometimes,
when you read
about it or hear it for
so long you think that the
goal is academic, you know.
You don't really, finally
understand that you're really
gonna try something like this
and now it's getting closer,
and we're not just talking
about something in the future,
we're talking about
something right now.
HYDE: You well may be
the first man on the moon.
How do you personally
feel about it?
LOVELL (off screen):
Well I have the same desire
as all the astronauts.
We'd all like to
make that trip.
But I think that
the way the trip will be
accomplished is by teamwork.
Whether we're back here
on Earth, or we're in the
capsule, or actually getting
off on the, onto
the Moon's surface.
Teamwork is the
most important part.
JIM: Frank, the Russians
have indicated that some
lifeforms they had aboard
Zond 5 underwent some
major changes, and I was
wondering if because of this
you're going to take any
extra precautions in
radiation detection?
BORMAN: Well Jim, we
have fortunately, I have,
Jim has liver trouble,
and Bill Anders
is a radiation expert so I can
pass the question off to them.
ANDERS: Well, I haven't
heard about what the
Russians are flying.
REPORTER: Turtles.
ANDERS:
Well, we've had trouble
with turtles in flight, too.
REPORTER (off screen): We
had them there first, too.
ANDERS: Our, the analysis
that I'm familiar with about
radiation in and around the
moon, to my knowledge, will
present a negligible problem.
MURPHY (off screen):
There is a feeling of
self-assuredness here,
a feeling that everything's
going to go all right.
But beneath the calm
exterior, there is concern.
Few here would agree
with an official who said
yesterday that this mission
had no special significance.
It does.
Man is about to leave his
planet for the first time.
Odds are against a major
systems failure, but if one
occurred, the men could be
lost, and that would
be a disaster for the
American space program.
On the other hand, if the
mission is successful, it
would be dramatic proof that
we are ahead of the
Russians in the race to
put a man on the Moon.
It could mean a lot more
money for the space program.
Everyone here knows that,
but as I said everyone is
calm, cool, and confident,
also concerned.

MICHELMORE (off screen):
In 1961, President John
F. Kennedy committed,
as far as anyone could commit,
the Americans to having a
man on the Moon by 1970.
Today, from Cape Kennedy,
a vital step is being made to
the realization of that goal.
The plan today is
to put three men in orbit
around the Moon 10 times.
They will see that 40%
of the Moon that man has
never set eyes on before.
LOVELL: Once you're in the
spacecraft, once the hatch
is closed and the engines
start up and those
retaining arms go down,
then it's either gonna go,
or it's not gonna go.
KING (over radio): T-Minus
15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10.
9, we have ignition
sequence start.
The engines are armed.
Four, three, two, one, zero.
CRIM: And there's the
flames from those five
first stage engines.
What a tremendous sight,
there's brilliant orange
flames blowing out in all
directions from
underneath that rocket,
and we have liftoff.
Moving very, very slowly now
as the base of that rocket
burning brilliantly against
the Florida sky moves
up past the tower.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Liftoff. The clock is running.
CRIM (off screen): The rocket
has cleared the tower and
there she goes on
her way to the Moon.
There goes the Saturn V rocket
taking man on his first visit
to the vicinity of the Moon.
Roll 6 program.
REPORTER (off screen):
Mrs. Lovell, after watching
the last two launches involving
your husband from
your home in Houston,
why did you decide this
time to come to the Cape?
MARILYN: Well, I just felt
like it was an experience that
we should share as a family,
and Jim wanted us down here.
REPORTER (off screen): Was it
different than the first time?
MARILYN: Yes. It was.
REPORTER (off screen):
In what way?
MARILYN: Well, I, I don't
know how to explain it.
I guess because I was
here to see it with a naked
eye, maybe that's the reason
why I feel
that it was different.
REPORTER (off screen): Are the
children gonna wait for their
presents until he gets back?
MARILYN (off screen): No.
We're going to have a normal
Christmas with the children
on Christmas day.
BURKE: This mission
is loaded with what's called
"Life Critical Points."
Those are the points
during the mission when
if anything goes wrong,
a rocket fires,
or fails to fire,
or misfires, then the
life of the astronauts
is put in danger.
The first one of
course is on launch.
The second one is after
two orbits of the Earth,
round here over the Pacific,
when they decide to
go for what's called
Translunar Insertion,
that is to begin
the trip to the Moon.
When Saturn IV B, that's
the third stage of the giant
booster, fires for a second
time to put them into space.
Now that Saturn IV B rocket
has never fired twice in space
before with men on board.
If it over-fires,
it will put them into
a wild trajectory out here,
from which they could
possibly not return.
REPORTER (off screen):
Do they understand anything
about what's going on,
the youngest ones?
VALERIE (off screen):
A surprising amount.
In fact, my four-year-old
said to me, "Is he going
around the Moon ten times,"
which nearly floored me.
I had no idea that he, that
he really grasped that much.
And then yesterday,
he heard a newscast
and he said,
"Mommy, is it dangerous?"
REPORTER (off screen):
What'd you tell him?
VALERIE:
I said, "No, daddy's
gonna be fine, Eric."
What else?
REPORTER (over radio):
The manned Spacecraft Center
in Houston says all is ready
for a translunar
injection of Apollo 8.
In a matter
of a few minutes,
near the end of
the second revolution,
the J2 engine of the
third stage of the mighty
Saturn V will be reignited
for about five minutes.
This will inject the
vehicle and spacecraft into
a translunar trajectory.
COLLINS (over radio):
Apollo 8. Houston. Over.
HANEY (over radio):
Apollo 8 has been advised
once again that they look
good for the burn.
COLLINS (over radio): Roger,
we are gonna rewind your tape
recorder and we have the TLI.
HANEY (over radio):
About every minute, the
flight director has pulsed,
the booster man,
in this control center,
to get his status.
MAN (over radio):
Um, the weight will be.
HANEY (over radio):
Thirty seconds to TLI.
COLLINS (over radio):
Apollo 8, coming up on
20 seconds to ignition.
Mark it and you're
looking very good.
HANEY (over radio):
And Mike Collins gives them a
mark, 20 seconds to ignition.
BORMAN (over radio):
Roger.
HANEY (over radio): And
he's counting, four, two...
LOVELL (over radio):
Ignition.
COLLINS (over radio):
Roger, ignition.
HANEY (over radio):
We see ignition.
COLLINS (over radio):
Apollo 8, Houston.
You're looking good.
PA OFFICER (over radio):
This climb translates
out to approximately
150 miles a minute.
HANEY (over radio):
These three crew members
are traveling faster than
man has ever flown before.
COLLINS (over radio):
Apollo 8, Houston.
Trajectory and
guidance look good, over.
REPORTER (off screen):
Hold your breath just a
little bit longer.
This rocket has just
a little longer to go.
The rocket's obviously
riding very smoothly for them
and thrusting at full value.
HANEY (over radio):
Flight dynamics says
we're exactly nominal.
REPORTER (off screen):
Right on the button.
HANEY (over radio):
Flight dynamics says
we look good, flight.
They're watching
the thrust build.
COLLINS (over radio):
Apollo 8, Houston,
you're looking good here,
right down the centerline.
BORMAN (over radio):
Roger. Apollo 8.
HANEY (over radio):
Trajectory, guidance,
flight dynamics.
Everybody in the front
trench of this control
center, says they're happy.
That includes the Booster.
REPORTER (off screen):
There you have it.
They are on their
way to the Moon.
One of the most
critical points on this
flight is now over.
SCHOUMACHER (over TV):
The spacecraft is well over
70,000 miles right on course
to the Moon.
It is rolling very slowly to
distribute the heat of the Sun
over the skin of the capsule.
Ground computers calculate
that Apollo 8 will arrive
in the vicinity of the Moon
within 3 minutes of the
pre-launch schedule.
REPORTER (over radio):
You've just been listening
to a broadcast of history.
We have men on their way
to the Moon solidly, and
at this point, very safely.
MUELLER (over radio):
Apollo 8 will be doing
only about 2,700 miles an hour
when the Moon's gravity
grabs it on Christmas Eve
and draws Apollo 8
toward mankind's first
historic rendezvous with
another celestial body.
BORMAN: Oh my God!
Look at that picture
over there.
Here's the Earth coming up.
Wow is that pretty.
ANDERS: Hand me that roll
of color quick, will you?
LOVELL (over radio):
Oh man, that's great.
Where is it?
ANDERS: Quick.
ANDERS: Just grab me a color.
That color exterior.
LOVELL (over radio):
Mike, what I keep
imagining is, if I'm a-
some lonely traveler
from another planet,
what I would think about
the Earth at this altitude
whether I think it'd
be inhabited or not.
CAPCOM (over radio):
Don't see anybody waving,
is that what you're saying?
LOVELL (over radio): I was
just kind of curious whether I
would land on the blue or the
brown part of the Earth.
ANDERS (over radio):
You better hope that we
land on the blue part.
DOWNS (over TV):
We're back now 30 minutes
after the hour on this Today,
December 24th, and
it's a rather unusual
Christmas Eve,
I think, for the,
for the nation and the world.
It's the first,
not only Christmas Eve,
but the first day at all
that we've had human
beings circling the Moon.
REYNOLDS (over TV):
And tonight, the crew
of Apollo 8 presents a
Christmas Eve program
from the heavens.
CAPCOM (over radio):
Apollo 8, Houston, Over.
ANDERS (over radio):
Houston, this is Apollo 8
with the TV going. Over.
LOVELL (over radio):
Welcome from the Moon, Houston.
LOVELL (over radio): What
we've noticed especially that
you cannot see from Earth,
are the small bright
impact craters
that dominate
the lunar surface.
(camera shutter clicking)
BORMAN (over radio):
The Moon is a different
thing to each one of us.
BORMAN (over radio): I
know my own impression is
that it's a vast,
lonely, forbidding-type
existence.
ANDERS (over radio): We are
now approaching lunar sunrise
and for all the
people back on Earth,
the crew of Apollo 8
has a message that we
would like to send to you.
ANDERS (over radio): In
the beginning, God created
the Heaven and the Earth.
And God said,
"Let there be light."
And there was light.
And God divided the
light from the darkness
LOVELL (over radio): And God
called the light Day
and the darkness
he called Night.
BORMAN (over radio): And God
said, "Let the waters under
the heaven be gathered
together unto one place.
And let the dry land appear."
And it was so.
And God called
the dry land Earth.
BORMAN (over radio):
And from the crew of
Apollo 8,
we close with good night
good luck
a merry Christmas and
God bless all of you
all of you on the good Earth.
LAZAR: This is Sidney
Lazar in the Rockefeller
Center New York.
We stopped some passersby on
their way home this Christmas
Eve to ask them how they felt
about America's most recent
accomplishment in space.
Sir, how did you feel when
you first learned that we
had men circling the Moon?
MAN: Well I thought it was
a wonderful accomplishment.
I don't think there was any
alternative to our attempting
to do it before the Russians
did both from a propaganda
purpose and also to prevent
them from using it
as a power base in the future.
LAZAR: A lot of
people sir, say that this
effort has cost too much.
That the money would have been
better spent here on Earth.
What do you think about that?
MAN: Definitely not.
I think it's the greatest
accomplishment that man
has ever reached so far.
CRONKITE: There is one
positive result already from
the flight of Apollo 8, and we
should report it to you, I
think, to keep all of history
recorded this morning.
In London, Britain's Flat
Earth society admits now that
it's going to have to take a
new look at things.
BUNCHE (over TV):
The epic flight of Apollo 8
in cracking the Moon barrier
demonstrates that man
now has the capability to
soar as high and as far as
his dreams may project.

CRONKITE (over TV): In space,
Apollo 9 and 10 tested the
manned operation of the
entire Apollo spacecraft.
Nine, an Earth
orbital flight,
and ten in lunar
orbit, with the LEM
descending to within
10 miles of the lunar surface.
We are now ready to
challenge our own technology
and land a man on the Moon.
ROGGE: Would you like
to live on the Moon?
BOY: Yes, I would.
ROGGE: You would,
you'd like to be one of
the first people to go?
BOY: Yes.
ROGGE: How about Wade over
there, what are your comments?
WADE: Well, I'd like to be one
of the first ones to go too.
ROGGE: Mrs. Hubbard, I'd
like to ask you, uh, do you
think many people will be
interested, you know, in,
being on the first colony?
HUBBARD: I'm sure of it.
In fact I read in the paper
today that 90,000 people have
signed up with Pan Am for the
first flight to the
Moon whenever it comes
and it's going to cost
$28,000 a flight.
And 90,000 people
unsolicited have signed up.

REPORTER (off screen:
Dr. Wernher Von Braun
says the Russians will land
their Luna 15
on the Moon by tomorrow.
He also says it's a good
bet that there's nobody
inside the Luna 15.
He says it could have
the ability to bring back some
Moon soil to Earth, but nobody
knows anything about it.
CLARK (of screen): If
the Russians scoop some
of this up automatically
and brought it back,
so that they retrieved
the first samples of the Moon,
would you feel
a disappointment?
ALDRIN:
I'm sure that all of us would.
We'd like to return with
everything that we've set
out to do on this flight.
SHURKIN: This is
for Mr. Armstrong.
There's been speculation
about what the first
man on the Moon will say
when he gets there.
Will you prepare something
ahead of time, or will
it be prepared for you,
or can we expect a
spontaneous exclamation?
ARMSTRONG: Our attention
during the training period and
up until now has been focused
on how to do the
job and how to do it best,
and not so much
with what might be the
emotions of the moment.
ARMSTRONG (off screen):
I think that would be
impossible to predict.
REYNOLDS: The American
space engineers and
scientists designed the lunar
module for the most delicate
part of this or any mission:
setting men down safely
on another planet.
REYNOLDS( off screen):
It's just under 23 feet
tall and it is beautifully
constructed for its purpose:
to land softly on the Moon.
ARMSTRONG (off screen):
The question was how does
the machine fly?
And I think it does an
excellent job of actually
capturing the handling
characteristics of the lunar
module in landing maneuver.
LOY: If you've been
considering coming to the
Kennedy Space Center to watch
the historic flight of
Apollo 11, you might think
twice before you leave your
comfortable living room and
your nice television set.
Soon hundreds of thousands
of people will jam the
Titusville, Cocoa Beach area
to watch this historic flight.
CRONKITE (off screen):
Good morning!
It's three hours and
thirty-two minutes till man
begins the greatest adventure
in his history.
All of that long
billion years or so.
CRONKITE (off screen):
Because at 9:32am,
three hours
and thirty-two minutes from
now, here, in Florida,
the Kennedy Space Center,
man is about to launch himself
on a trip to the Moon with the
expectation of landing there.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Comm Manager and Attitude.
MAN (over radio):
Comm Manager.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
We got your Auto-patterns.
MAN (over radio):
Roger, thank you.
Have you got both
computers operating?
Verify, go for launch.
FRO verify, go for launch?
FRO verify, go for launch.
KING (off screen): The
estimate is more than a
million persons are in the
immediate area in
Brevard County
to watch the launch.
All still go at this time.
Neil Armstrong
reported back when he
received the good wishes,
"Thank you very much. We
know it will be a good flight."
MAN (over radio):
Verify, go for launch.
Verify, go for launch.
Verify, go for launch.
SRO verified, go for launch.
FRO verified, go for launch?
LOM verified, go for launch.
REPORTER (over radio):
We're down to 12, 11, 10, 9,
ignition sequence start,
we should see fire.
Four, three, two, one.
MAN (over radio):
Roger, team liftoff.
Liftoff. Roger liftoff.
REPORTER (over radio):
And we have liftoff!
Now the huge tail is
passing the tower!
She's rising!
She's yawing now to clear
the tower, that slight yaw.
She's lifting up.
We have tower clear.
We have tower clear.
We're beginning to feel
the first thunderous roar!
I can see her rising now,
as she's going up straight
into the roll program,
which she should be completing.
We should expect to hear
from the astronauts as this
spit of land is beginning
to shake with the power of it.
The power of it as it goes
and splits the clouds.
ARMSTRONG (over radio):
We've got skirt SEP.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Roger, we confirm skirt SEP.
REPORTER (over radio):
Those are the men in
space, bound for the Moon.
COLLINS (over radio):
Houston. Apollo 11.
The Saturn gave us
a magnificent ride.
CAPCOM (over radio):
Roger, 11.
We'll pass that on and
certainly looks like you're
well on your way now.
ARMSTRONG (over radio):
Well, we didn't have much time,
Houston, to talk to
you about our views out
the window when we were
preparing for LEM injection.
But up to that time, we had
the entire northern part
of the lighted hemisphere
visible, including North
America, North Atlantic, and
Europe and Northern Africa.
Most of the
United States was clear.
REPORTER: Now, I understand
that Neil, umpteen miles away,
predicted that our showers
here would end in
just a short while.
What'd you think of that?
JAN: I'd say that was
about normal for him.
REPORTER (off screen): Normal?
JAN: That's correct.
REPORTER (off screen):
You mean, he always does
something like this?
JAN: Yes. He usually wins.
REPORTER (off screen):
What kind of plans do you have
for Neil when he gets back?
A quiet outing or what?
JAN: We haven't
made any plans yet.
JAN (off screen):
They have to get back.
CAPCOM (over radio):
Apollo 11, this is Houston.
If you're interested
in the morning news,
I've got a summary here.
Britain's big Jordel Bank
radio telescope
stopped receiving signals from
the Soviet Union's
unmanned Moon shot
at 5:49 EDT today.
A spokesman said that it
appeared that the
Luna 15 space ship, quote,
"has gone beyond the Moon,"
unquote.
PARK: Tell me.
What do you think about
the space program?
GIRL: Well, I'm real
excited about it and I think
I can speak for most teenagers
in saying that we are
all excited about it,
'cause just about everyone
I've talked to is excited.
Just the other day, Judy
and I were talking to two
boys, and they said what did
they think we'd probably
do when we actually saw
someone walking on the moon?
And I said, "I don't know.
Maybe I, maybe we'll get
up and just scream or maybe
just it'll be so exciting,
or maybe we'll just cry."
PA OFFICER (over radio):
This is Apollo control.
We're now six minutes,
eight seconds from ignition.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Houston,
you're looking
good for separation.
You're a go for separation,
Columbia. Over.
COLLINS (over radio):
You cats take it easy
on the lunar surface
If I hear you huffing and
puffing I'm going to start
bitching at you.
ALDRIN (over radio):
Okay Mike.
WARD (over radio):
It's grown quite quiet
here in mission control.
A few moments ago,
flight director
Gene Kranz requested
that everyone sit down,
get prepared for events
that are coming, and
he closed with the remark,
"Good luck to all of you."
DUKE (over radio):
4-0-0-0-0-0-1.
0-7-1-1-3-0-0-0.
No PDI plus 12.
ALDRIN (over radio):
Got the Earth straight
out our front window.
(alarm)
ARMSTRONG (over radio):
Program alarm.
Houston, you're
looking at our Delta-H.
1202; 1202.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
12, 1202 alarm.
1202. Standby.
1202, 1202 alarm.
Looks like it's converging.
1202. What's that?
12, 1202 alarm.
ARMSTRONG (over radio):
Give us a reading on the
1202 program alarm.
HOUSTON (over radio):
It's executive overflow.
If it does not occur again,
we're fine.
MAN (over radio): Yeah,
it's the same thing we had.
It had not occurred again.
Okay. We're go.
REID (off screen):
They got a momentary
alarm on their system.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
We're go on that alarm.
We're go.
Same type. We're go.
We're go on that, Flight.
KRANZ (over radio):
We're go on that alarm?
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
It's, if it doesn't
reoccur we'll be go.
He's taking it to Delta-H now.
DUKE (over radio):
Eagle, Houston you are
Go for landing, over.
ALDRIN (over radio):
Roger, understand.
Go for landing. 3,000 feet.
ROWAN (off screen):
Coming up on a point,
which is called appropriately
enough "last ridge,"
a 300-foot high ridge
directly beneath them.
BERGMAN (over TV):
There are reasons
to be conservative
there are many,
very many new things that
are happening in this flight.
Very many new things that have
never been attempted before.
The descent, the landing.
There are big dangers
involved despite the best
our technology can do and our
technology does do very well.
ROWAN: They have 70 seconds
in which to re-designate
the landing site.
So, take a good look at it
now if they want to change it.
ALDRIN (over radio):
Alpha says we're go.
Altitude 9,200 feet.
MISSION CONTROL
8-30. You're looking great.
ALDRIN (over radio): We're
now in the approach phase.
Everything looking good.
REPORTER (off screen):
Just a little more than 100
miles per hour descent rate.
They should be within five
miles of their landing point.
They should be getting
a good look at it now.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
We're descending at
27 feet per second,
25 feet per second.
ALDRIN (over radio):
2,000 feet. Into the AGS.
47 degrees.
MISSION CONTROL
(over radio): Roger.
ALDRIN (over radio):
2,000 feet, 47 degrees.
ALDRIN (over radio):
13 forward.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Ten minutes, thirty seconds,
we are down
to 9 feet per second.
Vertical velocity, 359 feet.
KRANZ (over radio): Okay.
The only caveat from
now on will be fuel.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Low level.
KRANZ (over radio): Low level.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
And on for 60.
KRANZ (over radio): Rog.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
KRANZ (over radio): 60 seconds.
ALDRIN (over radio):
11 forward, coming down
nicely. 200 feet.
4 1/2 down. 5 1/2 down.
ALDRIN (over radio):
160 feet. 6 1/2 down.
5 1/2 down.
9 forward.
KRANZ (over radio):75 feet
looking good down a half.
KRANZ (over radio):
How's our margin looking, Bob?
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
It looks okay,
we've got 4-1/2.
KRANZ (over radio): Rog.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
285 feet descending at
one foot per second.
ARMSTRONG (over radio):
Okay, how's the fuel?
ALDRIN (over radio):
Wait just a minute.
ARMSTRONG (over radio):
Okay. Here's a...
Looks like a good area here.
ALDRIN (over radio): I
got the shadow out there.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Standby for 30.
ALDRIN (over radio):
Forward. Forward.
KRANZ (over radio):
30, 30 seconds.
ALDRIN (over radio): Good.
40 feet down, 2 1/2.
Picking up some dust.
30 feet, 2 1/2 down.
Faint shadow.
ALDRIN (over radio):
4 forward. 4 forward.
Drifting to the
right a little.
20 feet, down a half;
Drifting forward
just a little bit.
That's good. Okay.
ALDRIN (over radio):
Contact light.
ARMSTRONG (over radio):
Shutdown.
ALDRIN (over radio):
Okay. Engine stop.
ACA out of Detent.
ALDRIN (over radio):
Mode control, both auto.
Descent Engine
Command Override, off.
Engine arm, off.
413 is in.
DUKE (over radio):
We've had shut down.
We copy you down, Eagle.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Okay, keep the chatter
down in this room!
ARMSTRONG (over radio):
Houston.
Tranquility Base here.
The eagle has landed.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Roger, Tranquility.
We copy you on the ground.
You've got a bunch of
guys about to turn blue.
We're breathing again.
Thanks a lot.
ALDRIN(over radio):
Thank you.
(applause)
CRONKITE (off screen):
Wally, say something.
I'm speechless.
SCHIRRA (off screen):
I'm just trying to
hold on to my breath.
That is really something.
CRONKITE: Phew, boy.
ARMSTRONG (over radio):
Okay, we're going to
be busy for a minute.
(radio chatter)
BERGMAN (off screen):
Everyone wondered what
Neil Armstrong's
first words would be:
"This is Tranquility Base."
ALDRIN( over radio):
Very smooth touchdown.
REPORTER (off screen):
Very smooth touchdown.
I don't believe it yet.
Tranquility base.
And the Eagle has landed.
ALDRIN (over radio):
Master arm. On.
Take care of the descent vent.
ARMSTRONG (over radio):
Master arm coming on.
ALDRIN (over radio):
I'll get the pressure check.
ARMSTRONG (over radio):
Okay.
REPORTER (off screen):
They have just a very few
seconds here to decide whether
they want to stay or whether
they want to leave right away.
KRANZ (over radio): Okay, T-1.
Stay, no stay. Retro.
MAN (over radio): Stay!
KRANZ (over radio): Fido.
MAN (over radio): Stay!
KRANZ (over radio): Guidance.
GUIDANCE (over radio): Stay!
KRANZ (over radio): Control.
CONTROL (over radio): Stay!
KRANZ (over radio): Tel-com.
MAN (over radio): Stay!
KRANZ (over radio): Gen-C.
MAN (over radio): Stay!
KRANZ (over radio): E-Com.
MAN (over radio): Stay!
KRANZ (over radio): Surgeon.
SURGEON (over radio): Stay!
KRANZ (over radio):
Capcom, we're stay for T-1.
STRAWSER (off screen): We
are now 106 hours, 27 minutes
into the mission of Apollo 11.
And some 15 minutes
ago from Tranquility Base,
the lunar module resting
on the Moon's surface,
Commander Neil Armstrong
radioed he was beginning
preparations for EVA.
EVA standing
for Extravehicular Activity,
or to put it more simply,
the moonwalk.
REPORTER (off screen):
Southern Californians do just
about everything in their
automobiles,
even go to church,
park in the parking lot,
and listen to the sermon
sitting in their car.
This is Southern California's
first drive-in church.
MINISTER: This is a
very special day for you
and for all of mankind.
For you are permitting
man to conquer space and
on this very day, to plant
his footsteps on the Moon.
REYNOLDS (over TV):
Just about everybody in the
world you might think is
watching this
event on television.
It is believed that half
a billion have watched the
touchdown of the men on the
Moon, and at least
that many of course will be
around to see this moonwalk.
Here is Central Park
in New York where it's
raining on the people who
have assembled for,
well, I guess you
would call it a Moon-in.
Everybody gathers there and
just looks up at the moon.
And in perhaps
less than an hour or so,
they might actually see
the men walking on the Moon
they're looking at.
REPORTER (off screen):
Strange.
All of this, this lack
of sound is almost
dramatic, too, Steve.
MAN (over radio):
Cabin pressure at point two.
ARMSTRONG (over radio):
The hatch is coming open.
ALDRIN (over radio): Okay,
you're not quite squared away.
Hold her.
Pull right a little.
CRONKITE (off screen):
Now, Aldrin's directing him
through the hatch opening.
He can't see where he's going.
He's backing out of the hatch.
BURKE (over TV): Armstrong
is out on the porch.
Any minute now, he should
release the controls that
turns on the television.
BURKE (over TV):
Any minute now, we
should see pictures.
ARMSTRONG (over radio):
Did you get some...
ALDRIN (over radio):
I'm going to pull it now.
BURKE (over TV): Here it goes.
Here goes the mission with
the television camera on it.
ALDRIN (over radio): Roger.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
We're getting a picture on
the TV.
(cheering and applause)
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
There's a great deal of
contrast in it and
currently it's
upside down on our monitor,
but we can make
out a fair amount of detail.
BURKE (off screen):
There is Armstrong.
You can see him moving.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Okay, Neil.
We can see you coming
down the ladder now.
SCHIRRA (off screen):
There's a foot going down.
CRONKITE (off screen):
There he is. There's a foot
coming down the steps.
ARMSTRONG (over radio):
Okay, I just checked
getting back up to that
first step Buzz. It's...
The strut isn't
collapsed too far, but
it's adequate to get back up.
I'm going to
step off the LM now.

ARMSTRONG (over radio):
That's one small step
for man...
one giant leap for mankind.
CRONKITE (off screen):
Armstrong is standing on
the surface of the moon.
38-year-old American
on this July 20th, 1969.
(cheering and applause)
WOMAN (off screen):
He's on the Moon!
Look at him walking around.
PA OFFICER (over radio):
Unofficial time on the
first step: 1:09:24:20.
ARMSTRONG (over radio):
There seems to be no
difficulty in moving around
as we suspected.
It's even perhaps
easier than the
simulations of one-sixth G
that we
performed in the various
simulations on the ground.
ARMSTRONG (over radio):
I'll step out and take some of
my first pictures here.
It has a stark
beauty all its own.
It's like much of the high
desert of the United States.
It's different, but
it's very pretty out here.
ALDRIN (over radio):
Oh, that looks beautiful
from here, Neil.
ALDRIN (over radio):
Okay. Are you ready
for me to come out?
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
He's running about 1400-BTU.
Clear?
ALDRIN (over radio):
Are you ready?
ARMSTRONG (over radio):
All set.
Your toes are about
to come over the sill.
Okay. Now drop your
PLSS down.
There you go;
you're clear.
You've got three more
steps and then a long one.
ALDRIN (over radio):
Okay. I'm going to leave
the one foot up there and...
both hands down to
about the fourth rung up.

ALDRIN (over radio):
Beautiful view!
ARMSTRONG (over radio):
Isn't that something?
Magnificent sight out here.
ALDRIN (over radio):
Magnificent desolation.
Neil is now
unveiling the plaque.
ARMSTRONG (over radio):
Tell me if you've got a
picture Houston.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
We've got a beautiful picture,
Neil, beautiful.
ARMSTRONG (over radio):
Underneath it says:
"Here men from planet Earth
first set foot upon the Moon,
July 1969, A.D.
We came in peace
for all mankind."
It has the crew
members' signatures
and the signature of the
President of
the United States.
CAPCOM (over radio):
Tranquility Base,
this is Houston.
Could we get both
of you on the camera
for a minute, please?
SECRETARY (over phone):
Hello?
They're on there now?
MAN (over phone):
They're on the line right now.
SECRETARY (over phone):
Okay, I'll put the
President right on.
MAN (over phone): Alright.
Gentlemen, he's
coming on the line.
CAPCOM (over radio):
Neil and Buzz...
The President of the United
States is in his office now
and would like to say a few
words to you. Over.
ARMSTRONG (over radio):
That would bean honor.
(ringing)
NIXON (over phone): Hello?
SECRETARY (over phone):
We're ready with
the astronauts, sir.
NIXON (over phone): Yes.
SECRETARY (over phone):
There you are.
NIXON (over phone):
Hello, Neil and Buzz.
I'm talking to you by
telephone from the Oval
Room at the White House.
I just can't tell you how proud
we all are of what you,
for every American
this has to be the proudest
day of our lives.
For one priceless moment,
in the whole history of
man, all the people on
this Earth are truly one,
one in their pride in what
you have done, and one in
our prayers that you will
return safely to Earth.

DRUMMOND (over radio):
Earlier this afternoon
here in Chicago,
the astronauts were made
honorary citizens of Chicago.
There's no question about it,
Chicago went all out for the
Apollo 11 astronauts.
Veterans here in
the city have seen many
parades, many occasions.
They say that the enthusiasm
that was shown by the public
on this occasion was by far
the most that they
have seen in years.
DANCY (over TV): The
Moon rocks, the most
valuable cargo in history,
arrived under heavy guard.
NASA officials were hard
pressed to put a price on
them and finally just
said they were priceless.
For three months, 142
investigators all over the
world will study the rocks.
There has never been
another event like it in
the history of science.
BEUTEL (over TV):
Like so many people
around the world,
there is enthusiasm for
the most important feat
of exploration in the
history of the world.
A feat of exploration
that even five years ago
was almost inconceivable.
On the other hand, there's
the question that everyone
asks and nobody, so far,
is able to answer.
Is it worth it all?
Could it all have been
spent a little bit
better here on Earth?
ROGGE: This is Bette Rogge
recording for Channel 7's
total news at the Apollo news
center in Cocoa
Beach, Florida.
I'd like for you to meet
one of the ladies involved
in the space program,
Mrs. Mary Driver.
She's in personnel.
Mary tell us, how important
are the women in this program?
DRIVER: I think the
women are very important
in the space program.
They're involved in almost
all phases from the clerical,
professional administrative.
We even have quite a
few women engineers.
NORTHCUTT:
I think the first mission
that I worked on, Apollo 8,
I got a little nervous.
Mainly it was being keyed up.
You were excited.
And everyone was very excited.
But I think that, uh, you
are capable of functioning,
we practice so much, so many
times that the real missions
almost seem easy compared
to some of the simulations.
REPORTER (off screen):
How does it feel to work
among so many men in a world
that is dominated
by men, isn't it?
NORTHCUTT:
Well, it's actually
dominated by computers,
and by machinery as a whole.
KING (off screen): 10, 9,
8 ignition sequence start,
6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.
All engines running.
Commence liftoff.
We have liftoff.
11:22 AM Eastern
Standard Time.
REPORTER (over radio):
It's all happened before,
so why get
excited this time?
For Apollo 11,
everything stopped.
Apollo 12, far less interest.
So easily does the human
mind accept the impossible,
a man on the Moon.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
TV's starting to come in.
BURKE (over TV):
The flight plan calls for
Al Bean to actually start
getting the camera away,
pulling it out to a point where
we can see better pictures.
And there, there he
goes he's doing it now.
CONRAD (over radio):
Where, oh where, is Earth?
Pointing toward the Sun.
That's bad.
Point it here a minute.
CAPCOM (over radio):
Al, we have a pretty
bright image on that TV.
Could you either
move or stop it down?
BEAN (over radio):
That may do it
right there, Houston.
CAPCOM (over radio):
Al, we haven't seen
any change at all.
Why don't you go
ahead and take and put your
glove in front of the lens,
but not over it,
to see whether we can
get any change at all?
REPORTER: But for how well
things went this morning,
there are a few too-bads.
Too bad, for instance, that
the television camera wasn't
working, particularly since
the engineers have
now figured out a way that
it could have been repaired,
at least partially.
HOPE: It's too bad, really,
about that TV camera
conking out on the Moon,
but it's going
to work out alright.
It's still under warranty.
And there was nothing
NASA could do about it,
that time at night it's
hard to find a TV
repairman who makes house calls.
BRINKLEY (over TV):
Unemployment rose in March
faster than any time in
10 years, and
now 4.4% of the country's
workforce is out of work.
Some of the new unemployment
is in the automobile industry,
because the cars aren't
selling too well and
in the space industries,
because after the
first Moon landing,
the money was cut back.
GUIDE: Over towards your left
you'll notice two of these.
REPORTER (off screen): Guided
tours of the Michoud rocket
assembly plant in New Orleans
may soon come to an end.
Because of the big cutback
in the space program,
the plant is almost
out of business.
GUIDE (off screen):
During 1965, our total
employment was 12,000.
We are presently
working with 2,600.
CHANCELLOR (off screen):
You've now been in the space
program for some time.
Do you think that there's as
much popular support for the
space program in the country
today as there was, say,
just a few years ago?
LOVELL: Certainly, with the
goal of landing on the Moon
being so prominent in people's
minds, they tended to focus
the Space program towards that
area, but right now I think
that the country is realizing
the broad implications of what
can really be accomplished by
a diversified,
well-organized space program.
WOMAN: I think
it's ridiculous!
REPORTER (off screen):
Why's that?
WOMAN: Spending
all that money.
Here are all these poor
people out of jobs, don't have
enough to feed their children.
They're sending someone to
the moon instead of helping
the people here get jobs and
live like human beings.
REPORTER (off screen):
The public interest in space
flight seems to have waned and
proving that out is CBS
news correspondent Bruce Morton
in Houston.
MORTON (over TV): The space
agency's budget has shrunk,
the number of people
employed here has shrunk,
the number of contractors
with people here has
shrunk and public interest,
at least as reflected
in news media attention
has shrunk, too.

CAPCOM (over radio):
Okay 13, we've
got Freddo on TV.
HAISE (over radio):
Right under Jim, now he's
actually standing on a
what looks to be a can here.
Housed inside this can
is the LM ascent engine.
Here, hopefully you can
see my hand resting on
top of right now...
the engine that we use
to get off of the Moon.
CAPCOM (over radio): Okay,
it's been a real good TV show,
we think we ought to
conclude it from here now.
What do you think?
LOVELL (over radio):
Roger, sounds good.
This is the crew
of Apollo 13 wishing
everybody there a nice evening,
and we're just about ready to
close out our inspection
of Aquarius and get back for a
pleasant evening in Odyssey.
Good night.
KRANZ (over radio):
Okay, GNC, you got any
configuration items now?
MAN (over radio):
Negative, flight.
KRANZ (over radio):
Capcom, it looks like the
last item we need here is a
stir on the H2 and
O2 at their convenience.
CAPCOM (over radio): Okay.
13, we've got
one more item for you,
when you get a chance.
We'd like you to stir
up your cryo-tanks.
SWIGERT (over radio):
Okay. Stand by.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
You guys, look at your
O2 quantities to see if you
see a big change.
(explosion)
SWIGERT (over radio):
Okay, Houston, we've
had a problem here.
CAPCOM (over radio):
This is Houston.
Say again, please.
LOVELL (over radio): Uh,
Houston, we've had a problem.
We've had a
Main B Bus Undervolt.
LIEBERGOT (over radio):
We've got more than a
problem here.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Okay, listen, listen,
you guys.
We've lost fuel cell 1,
N2 pressure.
CAPCOM (over radio):
Okay, standby, 13.
We're looking at it.
HAISE (over radio):
We had a pretty large
bang associated with the
Caution and Warning there.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
We got a Main B Undervolt.
Okay, listen, listen you guys.
We've lost fuel
cell 1 N2 pressure.
ECS, what do you got?
MAN (over radio):
He's flipping the fuel
cells around.
MAN 2 (over radio):
O2 tank one is fluctuating.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Okay, is that pressure
coming down?
MAN (over radio):
373, it hasn't moved.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Is that reflected anywhere?
MAN 2 (over radio):
Negative. Negative.
I want to site job
with those fuel cells.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Yeah, if you believe that N2
pressure we blew a.
MAN (over radio):
Okay. Go ahead.
We're short low engine
pressure on fuel cell one.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
EPS, EECOMM.
Why don't we just try fuel
cell 1 on Main B by itself?
CAPCOM (over radio):
13, Houston.
We'd like you to open
circuit fuel cell one.
Leave two and three as is.
HAISE (over radio): Okay,
I'll get to work on that.
LOVELL (over radio):
And Jack our O2 quantity
number 2 tank is reading zero.
Did you get that?
CAPCOM (over radio): O2
quantity number two is zero.
LOVELL (over radio):
Yes. That's good AC
and it looks to me, looking
out the hatch,
that we are venting something.
We are venting
something out into the-
into space.
CAPCOM (over radio):
Roger, we copy you're venting.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Crew thinks they're venting.
KRANZ (over radio):
Okay, let's everybody
think of the kind of things
we'd be venting.
GNC, you got anything that
looks abnormal in your system?
LOVELL (over radio):
It's a gas of some sort.
PA OFFICER (over radio):
This is Apollo Control at
57 hours, 46 minutes
ground elapsed time.
The Black team of flight
controllers is looking at
possible alternate missions.
As we have an apparent
serious oxygen leak in the
cryogenic oxygen in the
Service Module.
KRANZ (over radio):
Look I'd prefer not make
any unnecessary maneuvers
until we nail down
what our problem is.
ANNOUNCER (over TV): Here is
a special report on Apollo 13.
Here is ABC science
editor, Jules Bergman.
BERGMAN: The Apollo 13
spacecraft has suffered a
major electrical failure.
Seconds after inspecting
the Aquarius lunar module,
Jim Lovell and Fred Haise
had crawled back into their
Command Module, and then
reported hearing a loud bang
followed by a power loss in
two of their three fuel cells.
They also reported seeing
fuel, apparently oxygen and
nitrogen, leaking from the
spacecraft and reported
the gauges for those
gasses were reading zero.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
The pressure in O2 tank one
is all the way down to 297,
we better think about
getting in the LM.
Or using the LM systems.
SWIGERT (over radio):
Okay, Jack.
It looks like O2
tank one pressure is
just a hair over 200.
CAPCOM (over radio):
We confirm that here and the
temperature also confirms it.
SWIGERT (over radio):
Okay, does it look like
it's still going down?
CAPCOM (over radio):
It's slowly going to zero,
and we're starting to think
about the LM lifeboat.
STANLEY (over TV): The
word is from the technicians
at North American Aircraft,
who manufacture
the command module,
that using only one of
the three available fuel cells,
insufficient power
would be available to fire
the booster aboard the command
module to make that
switch in trajectory.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
We're thinking about using
the LM as a lifeboat.
We have some procedures here.
REPORTER (over radio):
So, now a procedure called
LM lifeboat using the booster
engine aboard the LM is
being contemplated.
CAPCOM (over radio):
We figure we've got about
15 minutes worth of power
left in the Command Module,
so we want you
to start getting over
in the LM and getting
some power on that.
BERGMAN: Without all three
fuel cells, any lunar
landing is ruled out,
and the problem then becomes
getting enough electrical
power to fire up the
spacecraft onboard engine
to get them back to Earth.
SCHIRRA: One of
the things that we've seen,
of course now and it's
become almost traditional,
is to show
mission control that
control center room,
where the flight
controllers themselves are.
But there are,
oh I'd say 10 times that
many people around that room
in support rooms.
Probably about, yeah,
I would guess, probably
1,000 people working
directly, right now,
on each facet of this mission.
AARON (over radio): We ought
to get off entry battery and
do it through with voice line,
through the LM.
COMM.
It's going to kill
COMM and everything.
LUNNEY (over radio): Yeah,
you're ready to do that.
Is everybody ready to
kill COMM in the CSM, GNC?
NEAL (off screen): The
center of activity is the
flight director's position,
where at the moment
Glynn Lunney and two other
flight directors, Gerry
Griffin and Milton Windler,
are running the operation,
checking all the points to
see what can be done to best
advantage to correct
situations as they develop.
BURKE (off screen):
At this moment,
about 30,000 miles
out from the Moon and
accelerating fast in
towards it, the crew are
aiming to curve in behind the
Moon and out of contact with
Earth, fire the only engine
they have left, the Lunar
Module's descent engine.
The situation is extremely
critical and we're
monitoring it at all times.
REPORTER (off screen): The
question is, "What happened?"
What was the big
bang which blew out the
fuel cells and wrecked the
command ship's Service Module?
And will we ever find out?
The Service Module is to be
jettisoned and will burn up
in the Earth's atmosphere.
BERGMAN (off screen): Lovell
and Haise had just crawled
back from the Lunar Module.
As they got back in
they heard a loud bang.
It was an explosion.
It happened back here in the
Service Module which contains
their breathing oxygen,
it contains the hydrogen,
the oxygen,
for the fuel cells,
the electrical supply that
powers up this engine that
give them radios, lighting,
everything else they
need to live with inside
the Command Module.
LUNNEY: Let me start
off by saying that we in the
business have probably had
the longest night
we've had in the space
program in a while.
Uh, my team came on duty
last night, we got to the,
we're supposed to come on
about 10 pm, and we got to
the control center as usual,
about an hour ahead of time.
And we had just finished
the television show when we
found out we had a problem.
Now, I wasn't on the
console nor did I hear the
air to ground when we exactly
had the problem.
And let me say that since
that time, my team has been
primarily concerned with not
what happened back there,
but what it is we were
going to do about it.
We're looking to
do a burn at 79 plus 30,
in order to accomplish
a faster return
to Earth with the
Lunar Module engine.
REPORTER (off screen):
Apollo 13 has swung
around the back of the Moon,
hitting its fastest clip since
the disaster aboard the
Service Module last night.
It's back in contact
with Houston getting ready
for the next big step:
A firing of the descent
propulsion engine once again.
This one, a four
minute and twenty second
burn designed to speed the
returning astronauts to
a Friday, midday landing
in the South Pacific
southeast of Samoa.
KRANZ (over radio):
Guidance from Flight.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Go ahead, Flight.
KRANZ (over radio): Roger,
when during this activation
checklist do we want to
collapse D bend
to 1.4 degrees?
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Just prior to the maneuver.
Yeah, we'd like to
probably see it a good
time frame before flight,
let's say 20 minutes or so.
BURKE: Uh, can I borrow that?
Geoffrey, you sit there.
I'll start with the
model and I'll pass it
to you for the theory.
Pass me the model, mate.
That model.
WOMAN (off screen):
30 seconds!
BURKE: Quick, quick.
KRANZ (over radio): Okay,
all Flight Controllers, we're
on page 12 of the activation.
BURKE: Let's look at
why they have to burn the
engine that they have to.
First of all, the only engine
that is working onboard
this entire spacecraft at the
moment is that one there.
The Lunar Module
Descent Engine.
They're only going to
burn this engine for four
minutes and 24 seconds.
That's the engine
they have to use.
This engine here is
absolutely unusable.
They cannot now risk using
this engine, because they
don't know what condition the
controls in here are in.
CAPCOM (over radio): Jim
you are a go for the burn.
LOVELL (over radio):
Roger, I understand.
Go for the burn.
THORSON (over radio):
We have ignition.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Rog. Ground confirms ignition.
BURKE (off screen):
Engines on.
LOVELL (over radio):
We're burning forty percent.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
CO2 is on low bit rate.
How about all the other data?
All the ECS parameters
are on low bit rate.
Oxygen, water, and CO2.
BURKE (off screen):
Under three minutes to go.
KRANZ (over radio):
How you looking, Guidance?
GUIDANCE (over radio):
Looking good.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Rog, Capcom. Looking good here.
KRANZ (over radio):
How you looking, Control?
Is it stable, Control?
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Looks good now, Flight.
Descent reg 1
off in 10 seconds.
KRANZ (over radio): Capcom,
reminder descent reg 1 off.
BURKE: 10 seconds to go.
LOVELL (over radio):
Shutdown.
CAPCOM (over radio):
Roger, shutdown.
MISSION CONTROL (over radio):
Engine off.
KRANZ (over radio):
Rog, engine off.
PA OFFICER (over radio):
That was Commander Jim Lovell,
reporting shutdown,
engine is off.
LOVELL (over radio): I'd
say that was a good burn.
MOORE: All I
can say at the moment is
thank goodness for that,
and I think it bares on
what we said earlier on,
that if anyone can get back,
it's going to be these three.
I think the main danger
now is if something
else goes wrong.
HUNTLEY (off screen):
The House and Senate
passed resolutions calling
on the American
people to pray
tonight for the astronauts.
REID (off screen): Earlier
in the day the men got rid of
the unnecessary equipment.
They jettisoned the damaged
Service Module, photographed
the damage to that.
Then just a short time ago
they got rid of the Aquarius,
the thing that had given them
life through all those
long days and nights coming
down from that disaster
aloft Monday night.
CHANCELLOR (off screen): While
the men in the spacecraft are
still alright and the
ship is on its way home,
Apollo 13 is still walking
a tightrope far out in space.
CRONKITE (off screen):
The Command Module they
believe to be intact,
but there must
be some concern as to
whether that explosion
could have done any damage to
the heat shield in which they
must depend to get through the
5,000 degree heat of re-entry.
BURKE (off screen): And we'll
only known whether or not that
heat shield was damaged by the
explosion three days
ago when they come out
of radio blackout in just
over two minutes.
After a trip that has
included a number of technical
miracles, throwing the flight
book out of the
window, relying totally
on the men on the ground,
flying in a
sense blind up there.
They've come to
within the last few minutes
of being alive and well on
the surface of the Earth.
And they face ahead of them
those last few vital tests.
We tend to get wrapped up
in listening to the crew,
listening to the fact that
these men at certain points
throughout the mission, have
come very close to death.
Now as they come
down to this re-entry back
into the Earth's atmosphere,
it doesn't matter how many
people have done it before you.
When you're in the capsule
and you're coming down it
only matters to you whether
you come out alive.
PA OFFICER (over radio):
One minute to go now from
time of end of blackout.
REID (off screen):
This is Reid Collins,
CBS News Space
Headquarters in New York,
where within the
next 30 seconds we should
restore communications with
the returning Apollo 13,
as it races down through
the Earth's atmosphere,
hopefully slowing
down in the proper fashion.
PA OFFICER (over radio):
Apollo 13 should be out
of blackout at this time.
We're standing by for any
reports of Orion acquisition.
BURKE (off screen):
And they are coming in
faster than predicted.
They're coming in just about
as fast as any spacecraft has
returned from space before.
REID (off screen): They
should just be dipping
into the atmosphere now.
MICHELMORE (off screen):
We're now coming to the moment,
the last moments of Apollo 13
as it comes in, as it
begins its re-entry.
The best thing we can do now
is just to listen and hope.

CAPCOM (over radio):
Odyssey, Houston.
Standing by, over.
CAPCOM (over radio):
Odyssey, Houston.
Standing by, over.
SWIGERT (over radio):
Okay Joe.
(cheering)
PA OFFICER (over radio): A
report of two good drogues.
CAPCOM (over radio):
Okay, we read you Jack.
PA OFFICER (over radio):
Coming up now for main chutes.
BURKE (off screen):
There they are!
MICHELMORE (off screen): There
they are. They've made it.
REPORTER (off screen): Now the
three chutes have opened up.
And gliding ever
so quietly down.
Just a beautiful site to see.
RECOVERY (over radio):
Apollo 13 and recovery
passing through 1,000 feet.
Passing 500 feet.
Photo 1 observes
splashdown at this time.
WOMAN: All I can say is
that I'm very relieved that
they're home safe and sound.
Because I know people
all over the world were
very worried about them being
up there and they're
all just as happy
as I am, I'm sure.
MAN: I think it's one
of the most thrilling sites
I have ever seen watching
these men come down
after the experience
they went through.
RECOVERY (over radio):
The dumbwaiter is at
the crew access hatch.
Appears to be getting
ready to open the access hatch.
The first astronaut
is climbing out of the
Command Module and
is in the egress raft.
The first astronaut
is climbing aboard.
Ready for lift.
The first astronaut
is on his way up.
PAINE (over radio):
This is Doctor
Paine speaking.
I'd like to pass
a message to all hands
in mission control,
which has just come in to me,
from the President
of the United States.
He wishes to
tell all of you tremendous
appreciation that he has,
and the entire nation has
for the wonderful
teamwork that you have shown
here in Mission Control,
and to give you
a hearty well done.
(applause)


REPORTER (over radio):
Today is the first
anniversary of man's
landing on the Moon and the
space program has slowed
considerably since then.
REPORTER (over radio):
There is concern among
some astronauts that
Americans have taken
space travel for granted now.
Recent cutbacks of
NASA personnel has left the
feeling here that perhaps
Congress is taking space
travel for granted, too.
CHANCELLOR:
The Apollo 15 astronauts
spent more than six hours
riding and walking
on the moon today in the
most exciting excursion
in the history of Earth's
involvement in space.
When they got there,
they had trouble with the
front wheels of their car,
but the back wheels worked,
and they bumped and
swooped over five miles
on the Moon's surface.
The views were breathtaking.
IRWIN (over radio):
Boy, I can't get over
those lineations,
that layering at Mount Hadley.
SCOTT (over radio):
Boy, I can't either.
that's really spectacular.
IRWIN (over radio):
That's really beautiful.
Talk about organization!
SCOTT (over radio):
Yeah, man.
IRWIN (over radio):
That's the most organized
mountain I've ever seen.
CHANCELLOR (off screen):
Gene Cernan the Commander
of Apollo 17,
the last of the manned
Moon flights, said recently,
"This is not the
end of space flight.
We're just beginning
to understand and
accept the challenge that
the universe has for us."
Yet, even Cernan
admits that his is perhaps
the last Moon flight
of this century.
CERNAN (over radio):
Okay, LRV equipment check.
Blankets are open 100 percent.
TGE - I've got three
measurements complete;
I've got the drill, the bag,
and the neutron flux.
The TV camera - I'm
taking it away from you.
CAPCOM (over radio):
Okay, Roger.
SCHMITT (over radio):
Watch it, Gene.
This is the other chip.
SCHMITT (over radio): Right.
Got it.
SCHMITT (over radio):
Oh, hey!
There is orange soil!
CERNAN (over radio): Well,
don't move it until I see it.
SCHMITT (over radio):
It's all over!
CERNAN (over radio):
Hey, it is!
I can see it from here!
SCHMITT (over radio):
It's orange!
CERNAN (over radio):
How can there be orange
soil on the Moon?
MAN (over radio):
I'll tell you how there can
be, we've got oxidation.
CERNAN (over radio):
It's been oxidized.
Tell Ron to get the
lunar sounder over here.
SCHMITT (over radio):
It looks just like a...
...an oxidized desert soil,
that's exactly right.
CERNAN (over radio):
I'd just like to say that any
part of Apollo 17, or...
any part of Apollo that
has been a success
thus far is probably,
for the most part,
due to the thousands of
people in the
aerospace industry who
have given a great deal,
besides dedication
and besides effort and
besides professionalism
to make it all a reality.
CERNAN (over radio):
Well, we're just two little,
two little sets of
twinkle toes here.
There's a lot that goes
to getting this rover
running out here that we
don't have much to do with.
KRAFT: Like all of us in
the Apollo program, I'm
sure we're very nostalgic
about this being the last
flight to the Moon.
We, I think most of us
realize that it'll probably
be out of our lifetime
before we land on
the Moon again.
CERNAN (over radio):
And as I take man's
last steps from the surface,
we leave as we came and God
willing as we shall return.
With peace and hope
for all mankind.
Engine arm is in.
SCHMITT (over radio):
Okay, I'm going to
get the probe.
99, proceeded.
3, 2, 1. Ignition.
CERNAN: We're on
our way, Houston.
KENNEDY (off camera):
But in a very real sense,
it will not be one man
going to the Moon.
If we make this judgment
affirmatively, it will
be an entire nation.
BRAUN (off screen):
It is no longer a dream,
but a reality.
For at last, man has in
his possession a rocket
powerful enough to
carry him into deep space.
In the near future, an
giant Apollo Saturn V
rockets will thunder from
the Earth to
carry men to the Moon.
CRIM (off screen): There's
the flame from those five
first stage engines.
What a tremendous sight.
The brilliant orange
flame blowing out in all
directions from under.
CHAFFEE: It's a stepping
stone to deeper space, man has
always been plagued with an
intense curiosity and I
think we have to go up there
and look and see what it is.
We need to gather this
information before
we can go any further.
CRONKITE (off screen):
Through all times, the
Moon has endured out there.
Pale and distant,
determining the tides,
tugging of the heart.
A symbol, a beacon, a goal.
ANDERS (off screen):
As we departed from the
Earth on our way to the Moon,
I was particularly
impressed by the relative
insignificance of this
planet that we live on.
We all tend to think that it
is a mammoth place, that it
goes on forever, and here is
this one very small, colorful
body against this black
backdrop that goes on forever.
I think that it impressed
me with the thought that man
should strive very hard to
learn to live with his
brothers, and learn how to
take care of this very small
and fragile planet
that he lives on.
BRINKLEY (off screen):
With this last Moon landing,
the primary job given the
national space agency
is done, and done well.
And now, it has dreamed
up a multi-million dollar
plan for a space shuttle.
A sort of flying
truck to be put in orbit
around the Earth and
kept there for long periods.

BRADBURY (off screen):
At the center of all
our religions,
all of our sciences all of
our thinking over a good period
of years has been
the question of death.
And if we stay here on Earth
we are all of us doomed,
because someday
the Sun will either
explode or go out.
So in order to ensure
the entire race existing
a million years from today,
a billion years from today,
we're going to take
our seed out into space
and we're going to plant
it on other worlds.
CERNAN: This isn't the end.
This is, you know, we've
just begun to crawl
with the Apollo program.
We're just now hoping that
we can learn to begin to walk
and press on to the future.
It's not just the end.
We're not putting our
rockets in a barn and
closing the doors.
We're just beginning
to understand and accept
the challenges that this
universe has for us.
It's not the end but it
truly is a beginning.