Days That Shook the World (2003) s01e01 Episode Script

1
IAN HOLM: the dream of flight
is one of mankind's most enduring.
Two days stand out above all others
in the history of aviation:
the first powered flight
by the wright brothers,
and the journey that took man
to the surface of the moon.
Extraordinary moments
separated by Just 66 years.
This is a dramatisation
of events, as they happened,
on two days that shook the world.
It is December 17th, 1903,
Henry Ford has launched
his motorcar company.
Marie Curie has just received the
Nobel Prize for her work into radiation.
Emmeline Pankhurst is campaigning
for women to have the vote.
And in Kitty Hawk, North America,
two brothers are about to put
four years of work to the ultimate test
Dawn. The Outer Banks.
One hundred and thirty miles of
saltwater marsh and desolate sand dune,
home for the last three months
for two brothers from Dayton, Ohio.
Impatient to get on with the day,
Orville Wright is already
up and out on the dunes.
Before he and his brother
can test their new machine,
Orville has to make one vital check.
ORVILLE: We certainly shouldn't
complain of the place.
We came down here for wind and sand
and we have got them.
HOLM: Orville's older brother, Wilbur,
is making breakfast
in the wooden shed they've called home
for the last few months.
It's the same breakfast he's made
every morning:
Eggs, dried ham and hard biscuit.
And he sincerely hopes
that this is one of
the last times he'll have to endure it
Both bachelors, Orville and Wilbur run
a successful bicycle business back home.
Now they have finally completed work
on a revolutionary new flying machine.
Today, they plan to put it to the test
One mile away, the local lifeboat men
have also got their eye on the weather.
Nicknamed the
"Graveyard of the Atlantic”,
the banks are notoriously treacherous
and winter is the worst time of year.
Over the last few months,
the Wright Brothers have regularly
called on the locals for help.
Last night, Wilbur warned them to
be ready to help again today.
Orville is worried.
The wind is 27 miles an hour.
The last thing he and Wilbur want today
is a gale.
Will their machine work in such weather?
And will whoever tests it survive?
Time is running out
The brothers are frustrated.
Having spent the last four years
working on the problem of flight,
they're desperate to see
if their new machine works.
But they also made a solemn promise
to their father, Milton,
a bishop in the Church
of United Brethren of Christ,
before coming out here.
They said they would be home
in time for Christmas.
The journey from Kitty Hawk
to Dayton, Ohio
takes three days, at the best of times.
Today's already the 17th of December.
All they can do is wait
and pray that the wind dies down.
Impatient with the enforced delay,
Wilbur decides to
take a look at conditions himself.
WILBUR: For some years,
1 have been afflicted by the belief
that flight is possible for man.
My disease has increased in severity,
and I fear that it will soon cost me
an increased amount of money,
if not my life.
HOLM: Wilbur's fear, this morning,
is all too real
He has only to remember
the fate of the man
who inspired his obsession
in the first place,
Otto Lilienthal, the birdman of Europe,
a German civil engineer who had
covered distances of up to 800 feet
in elegant gliders made of willow
and waxed cotton.
Lilienthal believed man would have to
master control of a flying machine,
if he was to successfully
conquer the skies.
Alas, Lilienthal's own mastery
fell short of the mark.
In 1896, he plunged headfirst
into the ground and broke his neck.
Still, even in death,
Lilienthal had been a source
of inspiration to the Wright Brothers.
Building a flying machine
was the easy part.
It was learning how to fly it
that killed most early aviators.
Outer Banks lifeboat man
John T. Daniels is on patrol
There are some
on the Outer Banks who hold
that if the Lord had meant man to fly,
he'd have grown him wings.
But not Daniels.
He's watched the wright brothers
with fascination
and was expecting to help them
with their new machine today.
So far, there's no sign of activity
from the brothers' camp.
9:15. Still there's no respite.
Of course, when Wilbur
first came to Kitty Hawk,
it was the wind he was interested in.
WILBUR: I chose Kitty Hawk because
there are neither hills nor trees,
so that it is safe for practice
and the wind is stronger
than any place near home.
HOLM: Kitty Hawk provided the brothers
with a secret testing ground
for their own theories of flight.
The Outer Banks also gave Wilbur
the opportunity
to study the natural masters of the art.
WILBUR: We could not understand
that there was anything about a bird
that would enable it to fly
that could not be built
on a larger scale and used by man.
HOLM: Wilbur saw that the secret
of control lay in the way
birds made minute adjustments to the
shape of their wings, while in flight.
WILBUR: If a bird's wings could
sustain it in the air
without the use of any muscular effort,
we did not see why man could not
be sustained by the same means.
HOLM: Rather than making
a large pair of wings
and leaping off the nearest cliff,
the brothers started with their feet
on the ground, with a kite.
By twisting the angle
of the wings of their kite,
they were soon able to control
its movement in the air.
Wing warping. as they called it
would be succeeded by flaps
in rigid-winged aircraft
But it was this breakthrough
that laid the foundation
for the Wrights' next step.
After testing their wing warping theory
on kites, they moved on to gliders.
Throughout the autumn of 1902,
they were a regular sight at Kitty Hawk,
the wind providing the power for their
willow and waxed-cotton machines.
ORVILLE:
In two days, we made over 250 glides.
We have gained considerable proficiency
in the handling of the machine,
so that we are able to take it out
in any kind of weather.
HOLM: while the sand forgave
the occasional error.
Today is the result of three years
building gliders,
thousands of hours flying above the sand
at Kitty Hawk.
But their new machine has
one major difference: It has an engine.
Other attempts at powered flight
had used brute force,
which meant the machines
were simply too heavy to fly.
Calculating that they needed just
eight horsepower to fly their machine,
the Wrights have designed and built
their own lightweight engine.
They hope that the wings and their own
propeller design will do the rest.
At Just after 10:00,
Wilbur and Orville decide to go outside
to check over their machine.
They've made every single bit of it
Their two propellers are linked
by bicycle drive chains
to their lightweight petrol engine.
The cotton and willow wings, which warp,
and a rudder at the rear,
control the machine in the air.
The hand-operated rudder at the front is
designed to control ascent and descent.
ORVILLE: Isn't it astonishing that
all these secrets have been preserved
for so many years,
Just so that we could discover them?
HOLM: while Orville's confidence
in their genius is impressive,
the brothers are only too aware
that their machine is utterly untried.
Testing any machine is risky.
In a 27-mile-an-hour wind,
the brothers are risking their lives.
The wind is still too strong.
The frustration is becoming unbearable.
They tried to fly three days ago, but
Wilbur, unfamiliar with the controls,
succeeded only in smashing
the front rudder.
Repairs took two days,
with no work on the Sabbath,
out of respect for their father.
Now they are ready to try again,
but cannot afford any more accidents.
Time is running out
WILBUR: The conditions were
very unfavourable,
as we had a cold north wind blowing,
almost a gale.
Nevertheless, as we had set our minds
on being home by Christmas,
we determined to go ahead.
HOLM: Orville reluctantly raises
the flag to summon the lifeboat men.
The men set off from
the lifeboat station,
along with a boy, Johnny Moore,
from the nearby resort of Nags Head.
The new machine is their largest yet.
With a span of over 40 feet,
the upper and lower wings
are over six feet apart.
They called it The Flyer.
Now, they want it to live up to
the promise of its name.
Since their very first experiments
in flight,
the brothers have used photography
to document their exploits.
Today is no exception.
Orville sets the camera
and calls Daniels over.
Daniels has never taken
a photograph before in his life,
but Orville lines up the shot
and tells the fisherman
to operate the shutter when
their machine is in front of the camera.
Orville takes up position
on the machine.
Behind him,
Wilbur is ready to crank the propeller
and start up the engine.
ORVILLE: I found the control
of the front rudder quite difficult
on account of it being balanced
too near the centre.
As a result, the machine would
rise suddenly to about 10 feet,
and then, on turning the rudder,
dart for the ground.
HOLM: Orville Wright's first flight.
It lasts just 12 seconds.
Wilbur is so amazed
that he forgets to stop the watch.
Orville is so surprised that he forgets
to throw the engine switch
to stop the propellers.
But Daniels keeps his head.
The first photograph he's ever taken.
It will become one of the most famous
in the history of aviation.
The Wright brothers' machine has flown,
but only for 12 seconds.
Despite the excitement
of what they've witnessed,
the December wind has
got the better of everyone.
The brothers make coffee
for the lifeboat men.
But Wilbur is impatient to press on.
Their machine flew, but its brief flight
covered a meagre 120 feet.
Wilbur is far from satisfied.
So, it's into the cold
for another attempt
It's Wilbur's furn.
He makes the second flight of the day.
ORVILLE: The distance covered,
about 175 feet.
HOLM: Orville makes
the third test flight
Time: 15 seconds.
Distance: Just over 200 feet
Each attempt pushes their machine
a little further.
At Just after midday,
Wilbur is ready to make the fourth
and, what will be,
his last flight in the machine.
By the time he has gone over 300 feel,
he is starting to fly
in a fairly straight line.
But suddenly, he loses control
The machine pitches forward
and crashes into the sand.
The front rudder is smashed to pieces,
The Flyer ls damaged beyond repair,
but Wilbur is unharmed.
The brothers are delighted.
Traveling a distance of 852 feet
in 59 seconds,
Orville and Wilbur Wright have made
the world's first powered flight.
And the only witnesses
to this momentous event
are four lifeboat men and a little boy.
1:00, the brothers take lunch.
Eggs, ham and biscuit, again.
They are eager to tell their father
that they will be home for Christmas
and they want to let the world know
of their triumph.
Ninety six miles away,
in Norfolk, Virginia,
H.P. Moore is at work in the circulation
department of The Virginian-Pilot.
He's desperate to break into reporting,
but has never been able to persuade
his editor he has what it takes.
This afternoon, one of
the biggest stories of the century
is about to land in his lap.
The brothers set off
to the Kitty Hawk weather bureau
to send a telegram to their father.
ORVILLE: Success! Four flights, Thursday
morning, all against 21-mile wind.
Started from level
with engine power alone.
Average speed through air, 31 miles.
Longest, 59 seconds.
Inform press. Home Christmas. Orville.
HOLM: The telegram operator in Norfolk
asks if he can pass the news on
to his friend,
who works on the local paper.
The Wright brothers say,
"Absolutely not."
They want the news
of their amazing flight
to come from their hometown, Dayton.
But the telegram operator ignores them.
(PHONE RINGS)
MOORE: H.P. Uh-huh.
When he gets the call
from his friend at the telegram office,
HP. Moore cannot believe his luck.
What?
This is the story
that will make his career.
MOORE: Give it to me.
But he needs more facts
from the eyewitness.
MOORE: A big thanks.
He wants to get a quote from
the Mr wright, mentioned by his friend.
But the line to Kitty Hawk is dead.
The ambitious hack goes ahead anyway
and writes up the story
based on what his friend, the operator,
has Just told him,
with a few embellishments of his own.
MOORE: The machine flew
above the sea for three miles
and gracefully descended to the Earth.
It had one six-blade propeller
beneath it to elevate I,
and another propeller at the rear
to shove it forward.
HOLM: Moore concludes by writing
that when Wilbur and Orville celebrated
their success,
they ran around
MOORE: shouting, "Eureka!"
HOLM: His story is 99% inaccurate.
Kitty Hawk. Wilbur and Orville are
preparing for
the three-day Journey home.
They can only imagine how the world is
reacting to the news of their triumph.
Seven hundred and twenty miles away,
and Orville's telegram reaches
his father in Dayton, Ohio.
MILTON: “Success/
Four flights, Thursday morning
"all against 21-mile wind. Started
from level, with engine power alone.
"Average speed through air, 31 miles.
Longest, 59 seconds.
"Inform press."
HOLM: The telegram has spelt
his son's name wrong,
but Bishop Wright is overjoyed.
Acting on instruction,
he immediately sends his son's telegram
to the office of the local newspaper.
Frank Tunison is on duty in the newsroom
of the Dayton Journal
As a journalist he prides himself
on his exacting professionalism.
Bishop wright's boys may well
have made a flying machine,
but a 57-second flight is not news
for Tunison.
(GUFFAWS)
If they'd flown 57 minutes,
then it might have made it
into the Dayton Journal
But the Wright brothers' first flight
makes the front page
of The Virginian-Pilot.
The next morning, H.P. Moore's story
is splashed over all five columns.
Last night, he'd offered it
to other newspapers, but none ran it,
except for his own.
The role of the four lifeboat men,
who made the events on that
cold, winter day in Kitty Hawk possible,
was never mentioned.
But the Wright brothers' reputation
as the fathers of modern aviation
was sealed today,
on December 17th, 1903.
Only 66 years later,
a piece of their historic plane
will make the ultimate flight
and accompany three astronauts
on a journey to the moon.
It is the 20th of July, 1965.
Yasser Arafat is
the newly-elected leader of the PLO.
James Earl Ray has Just been jailed
for the murder of Martin Luther King.
In war-torn Biafra,
4 million people are facing starvation.
And floating a quarter
of a million miles away in space,
three astronauts are about to make
the greatest technological endeavor
of all time.
Houston, Texas.
NASA flight director Eugene F. Kranz
is awake early.
A Korean War air force veteran,
he is a patriot and a devout Catholic.
Last night,
he attended mass at his church,
the Shrine of the True Gross.
But beyond his religious faith, is
Kranz's belief in the space programme.
Not just a part of his life,
it is his life.
When he is at work in Mission Control,
he always wears a waistcoat
made for him by his wife, Marta.
Today is no exception.
But this waistcoat will be worn for
what will be the most
exceptional shift of his career.
Two hundred and thirty nine thousand
miles above Houston,
the three astronauts
of the eleventh Apollo mission
are still asleep
in the Command Module Columbia.
For the last 17 hours,
they've been in orbit around the moon.
Thirty-eight-year-old Neil Armstrong
from Ohio is in charge of the mission.
With him are astronauts
Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins.
Last night, Collins volunteered
to keep watch
while the other two astronauts
got some rest.
He's to stay in orbit
in the Command Module
while Armstrong and Aldrin attempt to
land on the moon
in the Lunar Module Eagle.
In 23 minutes' time, they will wake
to begin their journey into the unknown.
Steve Bales spent the night
in the Mission Control bunkhouse.
Never particularly good
at waking up in the morning,
this is one day on which
he couldn't afford to oversleep.
It is his first fob
since leaving college,
but, at just 26 years old,
he is already
a Space Centre veteran of five years.
He doesn't know it, but later today,
the whole of the Apollo mission
will rest on his shoulders.
As flight director, Kranz has overall
responsibility for the lunar landing.
Around the world, millions of people
will be watching live
as America attempts to do something
that has never been done before.
For Kranz, and the 400,000 people
who have worked on the Apollo programme,
the stakes are high.
The potential for failure is infinite,
but if they succeed,
it will be a dramatic climax to a race
that began eight years earlier.
On May 25th, 1961,
at the height of the Cold War,
John F. Kennedy made what would be
one of the most important speeches
of his brief presidency.
KENNEDY: 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.
We choose to go to the moon
in this decade and do the other things
not because they are easy,
but because they are hard.
HOLM: Kennedy took the Cold War
into space.
The mission, to put a man on the moon
before the Russians,
was the most costly project
ever undertaken.
Kranz had been there
since the beginning.
Joining NASA in 1966,
he'd flight-controlled on both
the Mercury and Gemini projects.
But Apollo was different
its mighty Saturn V rocket engine
had finally given man the power
to break free of the Earth's gravity.
Kranz flight-directed
missions 5, 8 and 9.
He'd been there through each success
and every setback,
including the launch-pad fire
that killed an entire crew.
Apollo 11 had successfully taken off
four days ago.
It was 2,974 days
after John F. Kennedy's speech,
almost six years
after his assassination.
MAN ON PA:
Ten, nine, ignition sequence start.
HOLM: After orbiting the Earth
one-and-a-half times,
the third-stage engine
boosted Apollo 11 out of Earth's orbit
and on to a lunar trajectory.
Traveling at an initial speed
of 24,200 miles an hour,
the three-day journey to the moon
was relatively quiet.
ASTRONAUT: The zero g's very
comfortable, but after a while
HOLM:
It had been accomplished twice before.
The sight of men in space
was no longer startling.
ASTRONAUT: You tend to find a little
corner somewhere and put your knees up,
or something like that,
to wedge yourself in.
HOLM: But Apollo 11 had
one major difference.
Apollo 11 was going to land on the moon.
8:00, Kranz arrives at Mission Control
and takes over
the Flight Director's chair.
MAN ON PA: Apollo 11, Houston.
Now he's coming in.
Can't quite make out who that is.
That's big Mike Collins there.
COLLINS: Buzz, you got
a little bit of
Yeah, hello there, sports fans.
You got a little bit of me,
plus Neil is in the centre couch,
and Buzz is doing the camera work
this time.
HOLM: They are about to embark
on the most risky phase of the mission.
The descent to the surface of the moon.
In orbit above the moon,
Buzz Aldrin crawls through the hatch
into the Lunar Module.
He starts checking the systems
in preparation for the powered descent
Kranz makes his first entry
in the Flight Log.
KRANZ: 95 hours and 41 minutes
mission elapsed time.
White team descent
Crew in Lunar Module pressurizing preps.
All looks good.
HOLM: He looks over the first row
of flight controllers
in a place they call the "Trench".
The controllers have a nickname
for Kranz, "General Savage".
There is the Communications Officer.
His fob is to ensure Eagle maintains
a strong radio signal with Houston
so the controllers have good data
and can communicate with the spacecraft
The flight surgeon will be monitoring
the health of the astronauts
through individual
electrocardiogram read-outs.
There is Guidance Officer Steve Bales.
His job is to oversee the computerized
flight control system
that will take Eagle down to the moon.
And directly in front of Kranz
is astronaut Charlie Duke, Cap Comm,
the Capsule Communicator.
He's the point of contact between
Kranz's team and the Apollo mission.
DUKE: So, Apollo 11, Houston,
did you copy? Over.
HOLM: It's his voice that the astronauts
and the world will hear.
Orbiting the dark side of the moon,
Eagle and Columbia are out of
radio contact with Houston.
With Armstrong and Aldrin
in the Lunar Module,
Collins is ready to separate Columbia
from Eagle.
Collins releases the spring-loaded bolts
of the docking mechanism,
and Eagle drifts gently away.
Armstrong fires small bursts
of Eagle's thruster rocket,
turning the Lunar Module on its head,
in preparation for the descent
to the moon's surface.
Nicknamed the "Flying Bedstead™
by astronauts in training,
Eagle's balance is maintained
by its on board computer.
The peak of 1969 technology,
Hts 74-kilobyte memory
is less than a modern mobile phone.
Collins starts his vigil
orbiting the moon in Columbia.
Privately, he has given some thought
to the odds of them
safely accomplishing this mission.
He estimates a 50/50 chance of success.
If things go according to plan,
he won't see Armstrong and Aldrin
for at least 22 hours.
If something goes wrong down there, it's
unlikely he will ever see them again.
Mission Control still has
a half-hour wait
before the spacecraft come back
into radio contact.
Kranz tells his flight controllers
to be back at their posts in 15 minutes.
KRANZ ON PA: Procedures from flight,
will you make sure
the doors get secured now, please.
HOLM: Kranz orders security to
lock the doors to Mission Control
and switches to a private
communication mode.
KRANZ: Will you secure the doors?
MAN: Pleasure.
HOLM: Then, after reviewing
operational procedures,
he gives the pep talk of his life.
KRANZ: This is the best team
I've ever worked with.
I have ultimate confidence
in you people.
What we're about to do now,
it’s Just like we do it in training.
And after we finish the son-of-a-gun,
we're gonna go out and have a beer
and say, "Damn lit,
we really did something.”
HOLM: Collins clears the moon
two minutes before Eagle,
and establishes contact with Houston.
COLLINS: Columbia, Houston.
We're standing by. Over.
COLLINS: Houston, Columbia. Reading you
loud and clear. How me?
DUKE: Roger. Fine, Mike.
How did it go? Over.
COLLINS: Listen, everything's
going Just swimmingly. Beautiful
DUKE: Great.
We're standing by for Eagle.
HOLM: Eagle then clears the moon,
but Mission Control has a problem
receiving their signal
Communications from the spacecraft
have been cutting out
and then returning for brief moments.
DUKE: Apollo 11, this is Houston,
how do you read? Over.
(RADIO STATIC)
DUKE: Apollo 11, Apollo 11,
this is Houston, do you read? Over.
HOLM: Kranz ls nervous.
In only a few minutes,
he will have to give Armstrong and
Aldrin the go-ahead for the mission,
and his controllers need good data.
Charlie Duke suggests that Eagle pitch
10 degrees to improve signal strength.
DUKE: Eagle, Houston,
we recommend you yaw 10 right.
It will help us on
the high gain signal strength. Over.
Eagle, Houston, we have you now,
do you read? Over.
ASTRONAUT: Loud and clear.
KRANZ: Okay, we're off
to a good start Play it cool
HOLM: With an improved signal,
Kranz asks his flight controllers
for a go or a no-go for the descent
KRANZ. Okay, all flight controllers,
I'm going around the horn.
Make your go/no-gos based on the data
you had per an iOS. See we got it back.
Give you another few seconds.
We're yelling fine.
-Okay, Retro.
- FIDO?
- Go.
- Guide? Control?
- Go.?
-Cap Comm?
- GNC?
- Go.
- D-Com? Surgeon?
- Go.
- Go.
- Cap Comm, we're go to continue PDI
DUKE: Roger, you're a go.
You're a go to continue powered descent.
You're a go to continue powered descent.
HOLM: With the Eagle in position,
they are about to start
the part of the mission
that has never been attempted before,
the manned descent
to the surface of the moon.
Only 50,000 feet above the moon,
Armstrong and Aldrin are strapped
to the floor of the Lunar Module.
Their mouths are dry from
the pure oxygen in the capsule.
The computer will take Eagle down
to 500 feet,
then Armstrong will take over control
for the landing.
The descent engine fires,
and the Lunar Module vibrates
with a high-frequency hum.
Eagle ls face-down, traveling towards
the moon at a mile a second.
Armstrong looks out the window
to check for landmarks,
but each checkpoint is appearing
two seconds ahead of schedule.
At their current rate of descent,
they're likely to overshoot
the planned landing site by two miles.
ASTRONAUT: Okay,
so we're gonna make it
DUKE: Roger.
DUKE: He thinks you're
a little bit long downrange.
ARMSTRONG. That's right,
and I think we confirm that.
ALDRIN: We confirm that Roger.
HOLM: Guidance Officer Steve Bales
is worried.
Eagle ls descending too fast
20 miles an hour faster than planned.
If the descent rate increases,
Eagle ls Likely to crash-land.
But the speed is constant
They can overshoot the planned
landing zone,
and Armstrong should be able to find
a new, suitable site.
Eagle furns over onto its back
so that its landing radar
can lock onto the moon.
The radar comes to life,
firing information on speed and
altitude into Eagle's guidance system.
MAN: Okay, we got data back.
COLLINS: Radar flight looks good.
MAN: Rog.
COLLINS: 2,000 feet.
MAN: Rog, 2,000-foot down
HOLM: Aldrin checks
the computer's calculations
against the distance measured
by the radar.
Because of the fast descent rate, the
two are out by several thousand feet
He tries to input the new data
from the radar into the computer.
ALDRIN: A programme alarm.
HOLM: An alarm goes off
on the computer.
ALDRIN: 7202.
DUKE: 7202.
ALDRIN: 7202.
HOLM: Aldrin has never seen this before.
He has no idea what a 1202 alarm means,
or how serious it might be.
Mission Control
and Kranz is under pressure.
With an alarm active, the Lunar Module's
computer is liable to crash.
Kranz has to decide
whether to abort the descent
or override the alarm
and hope for the best
Suddenly, the most important man
in the room is Steve Bales.
Whether the entire mission
is go or no-go
is now down to
the 26-year-old Guidance Officer.
But Bales isn't sure
what the 1202 alarm is either.
During simulated landings, three seconds
was considered a long time.
It takes 15 for Mission Control
to give Neil Armstrong an answer.
The entire mission hangs
on Bales' call
The astronauts need an answer.
ARMSTRONG. Give us a reading
on the 1202 programme alarm.
BALES: Were We're go on that flight
KRANZ: We're go on that alarm?
DUKE: Roger, we got you.
We're go on that alarm.
HOLM: Bales thinks the alarm is
the result of a computer overload,
so it keeps resetting itself
ALDRIN: 7201.
HOLM: Another alarm, this time a 1201.
DUKE: Roger, 1201 alarm.
We're go on that flight
- 1201 alarm.
- Same type. We're go, flight
Okay, we're go.
HOLM: Then another 1202 alarm.
DUKE: Roger, 1202, we copy.
- HOLM: With the alarms now coming
- ALDRIN: Copy.
- Go.
- HOLM: on top of each other,
Bales overrides each one.
Go. Go. Go.
DUKE: We're go. Same type. We're go.
HOLM: Bales' decision allows the
Lunar Module to continue its descent
inside Eagle, Aldrin updates
the computer with the new data.
DUKE: Eagle, looking great, you're go.
HOLM: But the mission is about
to enter its most risky phase.
KRANZ. Okay, all flight controllers,
gonna go for landing. Retro?
- Go. Go.
- Line up?
- Guidance? Control?
- Go.
-Telcom?
- G and C? D-Com?
- Go.
-Surgeon?
KRANZ: Gap Comm, we're go for landing.
DUKE: Houston.
You're go for landing. Over.
ASTRONAUT: Roger, understand,
go for landing, 3,000 feet.
KRANZ. Okay, all flight controllers,
hang tight
Should be throttling down
pretty shortly.
HOLM: Half-way through the powered
descent, Eagle's engine throttles down.
Still under computer control, it pitches
over into its landing position.
Armstrong checks the altitude and speed.
5,000 feet up, 100 feet per second,
Just as expected.
DUKE: Flight plan looking real good.
MAN ON PA: Velocity down now
to 1,200 feet per second.
DUKE: You're looking great to us, Eagle.
MAN ON PA: Control, we look good here,
fine. How about you, Telcom?
- Go.
- Guidance, you happy?
- Go.
- FIDO?
Go.
HOLM: Now, with the moon
only 1,000 feet away,
Armstrong looks out at the window.
He does not like what he sees.
In Mission Control, the flight surgeon
sees Armstrong's heart rate
rise from 77 to 156.
Eagle ls headed straight for a crater
Uttered with boulders.
It's far from ideal as a landing site.
Armstrong initiates altitude hold.
Eagle lurches forward
and is rocked by violent shudders,
as he fires the pitch control rockets.
Just 350 feet above the moon,
Eagle clears the boulder field,
and Armstrong flies on
in search of safer ground.
In Houston, the incoming data tells them
that Armstrong has taken control
of the Lunar Module.
MAN: Low level
MAN 2: Low level
MAN 3: Low level
HOLM: They can also see
that his use of the thruster
has left Eagle dangerously low on fuel
For the first time today,
Kranz and the controllers are powerless.
The whole mission is now down
to just two men.
All they can do ls listen
to Armstrong and Aldrin counting down
the distance to the moon
and hope that the fuel doesn't run out.
ALDRIN: Okay, 75 feet
There's looking good.
- Down to 60.
- DUKE: Rog.
60 seconds.
HOLM: Eagle has only 60 seconds
of fuel remaining.
But Armstrong has found a landing site.
Only 100 feet separate Eagle
from the moon.
They have seconds of fuel left
ALDRIN: Two-and-a-half down,
two-and-a-half.
Thirty feet, two-and-a-half down.
Faint shadow.
Four forward.
HOLM: 20 feet to go.
Armstrong wrestles with the controls.
He has to bring it down level,
otherwise touchdown could shatter
Eagle's lags.
DUKE: Thirty seconds.
ALDRIN: Thirty, thirty seconds.
HOLM: Upon landing, Armstrong is
supposed to shut down the engine,
but he's so absorbed in flying,
he momentarily forgets.
ARMSTRONG: Okay, engine stop.
ACA out of detent.
Auto mode control both auto,
descent engine command override, off.
Engine arm, off.
413 is in.
DUKE: We copy you down, Eagle.
ARMSTRONG: Houston, uh
Tranquility Base here.
The Eagle has landed.
DUKE: Roger, Tranquility,
we copy you on the ground.
You got a bunch of guys
about to turn blue.
We're breathing again. Thanks a lot
ALDRIN: Okay, we're gonna be busy
for a minute.
The whole scene for us, too,
looks beautiful
KRANZ: Okay, keep the chatter down
in this room.
HOLM: Kranz quietens his controllers.
The flight plan calls for
a possible emergency lift-off.
Kranz asks the controllers
if it is stay or no-stay.
KRANZ: Okay, T1, stay/no-stay. Retro?
- Stay.
- FIDO?
- Stay.
- Guidance? Control?
-Telcom?
-D-Com?
-Surgeon?
KRANZ: Gap Comm, we're stay for T1.
DUKE: Roger, Eagle,
You are stay for T1. Over.
Eagle, you are a stay for T1.
HOLM: With a unanimous, "Stay,”
Armstrong and Aldrin power down
most of Eagle's systems.
The flight plan has a four-hour
rest period scheduled,
but there is no reason to wait
Armstrong suggests that the most
dramatic part of the mission
starts ahead of schedule.
With Eagle safely on the moon,
Gene Kranz and his white team
hand over to a new shift
They attend a short press conference
but are keen to get back to
witness the high point of the mission.
Armstrong opens the hatch,
moves through the opening
and out onto the ladder.
He pulls a D-ring on Eagle's side,
and an equipment stowage tray lowers.
MAN: Got a picture on the TV.
MAN 2: photography
on the sequence camera.
HOLM: On the big screen
in Mission Control,
an alien, black-and-white image
flickers into life.
Armstrong reaches the bottom rung
of the ladder.
He pauses.
Then he launches himself
into a slow-motion fall,
landing on the foll-covered footpad.
ARMSTRONG. Very, very fine-grained,
as you get close to it,
It's almost like a powder.
HOLM: Carefully, he raises his
left foot and lowers it onto the dust.
ARMSTRONG:
That's one small step for man,
one giant leap for mankind.
HOLM: With no wind on the lunar surface,
Armstrong's footprint
will remain undisturbed
for millions of years.
DUKE: Columbia, say that again. Over.
COLLINS: Roger, the EVA is
progressing beautifully.
They're setting up the flag now.
HOLM: Later, Armstrong and Aldrin
will unfurl an American flag,
stiffened with wire
so that it will give the impression
of flying in this airless world.
Posing for Armstrong's camera,
Aldrin reads the plague
that will remain on the lunar surface.
ALDRIN: Neil is now unveiling the plague
that is It says:
"Here men from the planet Earth
first set foot upon the moon
“July 1968, AD.
"We came in peace for all mankind.”
HOLM: Around the world,
600 million people,
one fifth of the world's population,
are watching live on television.
It is the largest audience
for any event in history.
NEWS ANCHOR: "One small step for man"
(NEWS ANCHOR 2 SPEAKING IN SPANISH)
NEWS ANCHOR 3:
- ..one giant leap for mankind."
HOLM: After 2 hours
and 31 minutes on the moon,
the two astronauts climb back inside
the Eagle.
When they take off their helmets,
they smell a pungent odour.
It reminds Armstrong of wet ashes
in the fireplace.
It is the smell of moon dust
At last, they prepare for a rest.
They have been up since 5:30,
Houston time.
In a few hours from now, the two
astronauts will blast off from the moon
and rendezvous with Michael Collins
in the Command Module.
A final burn of their rocket
will set the astronauts
on a journey back to Earth
and a hero's welcome.
Neil Armstrong will enter the history
books as the first man on the moon,
Buzz Aldrin as the second
and Mike Collins as the astronaut
who went with them.
Gene Kranz will go on to flight direct
four further Apollo missions.
Steve Bales will be awarded
the Presidential Medal of Honour
for his part in the lunar landing.
Go.
A total of 12 men will ultimately
walk on the moon,
the last on December the 11th, 1972.
The first, today,
on July 20, 1969,
66 years after the wright brothers'
first fight.