From the Earth to the Moon (1998) s01e07 Episode Script
That's All There Is
We choose to go to the moon.
We choose to go to the moon.
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.
- Look at that.
- That's beautiful.
It's got to be one of the most proud moments of my life, I guarantee you.
The great adventure of going to the moon may never happen again in our lifetime.
Manned space flight will continue and there is adventure to be found in high Earth orbit.
Robots have already gone to other worlds - the valleys of Mars, the clouds and moons of Jupiter.
And there is a brand of adventure to be had in such a long-distance mode of human participation.
But the satisfaction and the sudden emptiness of an adventure completed are intangible human concepts.
And the argument can be made that mankind cannot bear witness to an event unless one of mankind has experienced the adventure first-hand.
Not necessarily first, mind you, just first-hand.
It is certainly not necessary to be Neil Armstrong to have experienced the great adventure found in a voyage from the Earth to the moon.
Hey, Beano, turn around and give me a big smile! My name is Al Bean.
That's me, standing at the Ocean of Storms on November 21, 1 969.
There I am again, five very heady days later aboard our recovery ship where they set up a quarantine trailer for me and my two crew mates - Pete Conrad, my skipper, and Dick Gordon, our command module pilot.
They were Gemini veterans who were about as cool as they come.
Everyone knew they'd be going to the moon, unlike me.
This was my first space flight.
Now I would be forever known as the fourth man to set foot on the lunar surface.
Pete and Dick wanted to be on the first landing but me well, I'd have been happy to be on the 93rd.
Funny, Beano.
You're a dead man! I had the President of the United States calling me on the phone.
Morning, Mr President.
Me, Al Bean.
Last guy in his astronaut group to even fly.
We take our jobs very seriously.
Commander-in-Chief promoted all of us to Navy captains.
Thank you very much, sir.
Thank you.
Yes, sir.
Congratulations, Captain Bean.
Captain Gordon.
- Captain Conrad.
Captain Bean.
- Captain Conrad, sir.
People treated me with care, making sure we hadn't come home with any alien diseases.
Careful not to puncture his brain, Doc.
That is very funny, Dick.
You're a very funny We hadn't, but one of the cameras did conk me pretty good during splashdown.
It was my own damn fault.
I was supposed to remove it and put it under my seat like it said on the checklist.
I guess I was so happy the parachutes had worked that I said, "I'll just leave it there on its window mount.
" Now, that is stupid.
If it had hit me in the centre of the forehead, it could have killed me, which would have been a really sad situation.
- Beano, hit the breakers.
- I'm doing it.
I'm doing it.
Al.
- What? - Are you OK, Al? Yeah.
Yeah, I think so.
I'm fine.
What? Did you get knocked out? What? Actually, I had, but I didn't realise it until later.
Hell, the whole trip I didn't have too much luck with cameras.
Well, I'll explain that later.
Still, bump or not, I was alive and well.
So were my friends.
We made it and we made it well.
Let me disinfect that for you.
Maybe we weren't dignified enough to be heroes.
It wouldn't matter.
Cos we were the second mission to land on the moon, history's ultimate anticlimax.
Somehow, I fit right in.
In fact, flying with Pete and Dick was the sweetest thing about the mission for me.
We were a true team.
And at one point, I even kind of saved the day.
CMP, S TC.
Verify panel two DSKY programme.
I didn't know what to expect.
I was a complete rookie.
We'd done countless simulated launches, so I did the same things I did during all of those.
Roger, STC.
Main bus tie bat B/C switch, on, up.
I kept busy checking the console, making sure my end of our command module, Yankee Clipper, was ready to go.
This launch is gonna be a wet one.
No big deal for an all-Navy crew.
We can handle it.
The rain was a bother, but nothing to worry about.
Apollo 1 2, you are go for launch.
- Roger, STC.
Go for launch.
- Just past the 25 Me and my best buddies were ready for the adventure of a lifetime.
- Al Bean, you are going to the moon.
- Y'all can come along if you like.
Thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten, nine.
We have ignition sequence start.
The engines are on.
Four, three, two, one, zero.
The first few moments after liftoff, you're vibrating pretty good.
The clock is running.
Then you really start to move.
- Clear the tower.
- Roger.
Clear the tower.
I got a pitch-and-roll programme and this baby is really going.
Roll complete.
- Mark one bravo.
- Got you on that.
- This thing moves, doesn't it? - Baby! We had just over half a minute of trouble-free launch, and then all hell busted loose.
- What was that? - I just lost a bunch of stuff.
We just had a whole bunch of buses drop out.
What have we got here? A/C bus 1 light, all the fuel cells.
OK, Houston we just lost the platform here, gang.
I don't know what happened here.
We had everything drop out.
Three fuel cell lights, A/C bus light, a fuel cell disconnect, A/C bus overload 1 and 2, main bus A and B out.
We had some big glitch here.
- I got A/C.
- You got A/C? Maybe it's the indicator.
- What you got on the main bus? - 24 volts.
That's low.
We've got a short of some kind but I can't believe that's accurate.
- Flight, EE COM.
- Go, EE COM.
I think it's a fuel cell bus failure.
They've been thrown off-line.
That must be why we're getting garbage here.
Can they try SCE to aux? Gerry Griffin had never heard that command before.
I'm sure most of the people in Mission Control hadn't.
Tell them.
Apollo 12, Houston.
Try SCE to auxiliary.
Over.
FCE to auxiliary? What the hell is that? I'm not sure even Pete knew what that was but one person did.
I know what that is.
SCE to aux.
We're getting good telemetry again.
Try to reset your fuel cells.
- Reset fuel cells.
- Wait for staging.
Wait for staging, yes.
Hang on.
OK, Houston.
GDC is good.
We got a good S-ll, gang.
We copy that.
You're looking good.
Poor Gerry Griffin.
We were his first mission as flight director, and he had dealt with a longer list of malfunctions than anybody had ever seen.
OK, now we'll straighten out our problems here.
I don't know what happened.
I'm not sure we didn't get hit by lightning.
That's exactly what happened.
Before our first stage had finished doing its job, observers back on the ground later reported that not just one, but two bolts of lightning rode our exhaust contrail all the way back down to the pad and hit the tower.
That was a hell of a simulation you guys gave us.
I think we gotta put this through a little more all-weather testing.
Al's got all the buses back on-line and we'll square up our platform when we get into orbit.
So I had done my part to help out in a crisis.
Of course, that EE COM fella, John Aaron, well, we owe a lot to him.
But to me, the real hero was Pete Conrad.
He kept his hand on the abort handle the entire time.
But he kept his cool and he never used it.
Once I got into Earth's orbit, I found space flight was everything it was supposed to be.
Hey, Pete.
Take a look at this.
Those are campfires down there.
- That's something, isn't it? - Yes, yes.
Beautiful.
Down there, people were gathered around man's most primitive discovery.
And here the three of us were, riding 250,000 miles into space on a flame.
Man, that sky is black.
Yes, it is.
How we looking, Dickie? You all finished realigning the platform? - I is finished.
- Outstanding.
That will give them something to write about.
I bet all our wives fainted.
I'll bet they did when they heard you call about 18 lights.
Every time I close my eyes, all I see are those lights.
- What a way to start.
- Terrible way to break Al Bean into space.
That's OK.
I don't mind.
Of course, not everybody was thinking about how Al Bean was enjoying the mission.
In Houston, unbeknownst to us, there was serious concern that the lightning had damaged our pyrotechnic system that would deploy our parachutes.
If we run the TEI checklist, we test everything they need to get home, except one big item - deployment of the chutes.
But if the barometric switches and timers have failed, the crew can deploy the chutes manually.
But if the pyros had already been fired, once they're gone, pushing the main chute deploy button won't do anything at all.
- Is there any way to check the pyros? - Only visual inspection from the outside.
All right, guys, I'll let you know.
They finally decided that if it had, we'd be just as dead splashing down now as ten days from now, so they might as well send us to the moon.
Come on now! - Honey? - Yeah.
Damn it! I wish I could shit.
I don't have the inclination, but I know what will happen.
It's gonna be the first shit on the lunar surface.
- OK, Al, your turn.
- Excuse me? I don't want to take any time out on the moon.
Go down there and try and make a poop.
What are you laughing at? You're next.
I didn't know that as commander you had that kind of authority.
He thinks he can control our bowels.
On family trips, didn't your mom make you go before you left? This is the longest vacation you boys have ever been on and in this vehicle I am your mother.
I want you to work at it.
I'm serious.
OK, Pete.
- I'm serious.
- I'll see what I can do.
Fortunately, at this point, we had time to debate such issues, and I'm sure you're dying to know how it all turned out.
Once again, this is Emmett Seaborn.
Those of you who have been with us all night are going to see quite a treat.
No, they didn't broadcast my bowel movement around the world.
In fact, they didn't broadcast much at all.
Here's where my bad luck with the TV cameras comes in.
The colour camera aboard Apollo 12 is a substantial improvement over the black-and-white unit Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had at the Sea of Tranquility.
Conrad and Bean are setting up now.
Oh, boy.
Look at that.
I was in charge of setting up the TV camera on the tripod, so that the world, or at least those people that stayed up all night to see a rerun, could watch us on the moon.
Which would have worked out great had I not accidentally done something that I wasn't supposed to do.
In all our months of training, we never had the actual camera.
Actually, all we had was a block of wood.
This procedure needs to be completed in four minutes.
I knew where I was supposed to put it and where the sun would be in the sky.
And someone probably told me to keep the lens shaded or something.
Don't point it at the sun.
Set the focus at infinity.
But there are so many things to digest in training to walk on the moon, I just forgot it.
We have a pretty bright image on the TV.
Can you either move it or stop it down? OK, I'm gonna stop it down.
That's as far as it goes, Houston.
How does it look to you? Still looks the same, Al.
Why don't you try shifting the scene? - How's that? - Still looks the same, Al.
We have a bright image at the top and the blacked out about 80% at the bottom.
That's coming in better there, Al.
What change did you make? I hit it on the top with my hammer.
I figured we didn't have a thing to lose.
- Skilful fix.
- Yeah.
I hit it with this hammer.
That's skilled craftsmanship.
Let me try it again.
We're still not getting a good picture and you're running a tad behind.
Press on and we'll try to get back to it later if we have time.
I'll tell you what, Houston, let me move it so the back is to the sun.
Maybe that will help.
When all was said and done, nothing happened.
It's hard to get a TV repairman to make a house call in Anytown, USA, and impossible, of course, on the moon.
The vidicon tube was fried beyond repair, so that was the end of colour TV from the Ocean of Storms.
They probably knew on the ground exactly what I had done wrong but nobody wanted to say anything.
From Houston, this is Emmett Seaborn.
I just hope I didn't disappoint anyone.
What the fuck happened up there? Hey, Al.
Come on.
Forget it.
Let's go.
What happened was I had screwed up.
No one would ever get to see any more of us walking on the moon.
Not even Dick, who was stuck in orbit while we explored the surface.
I felt bad about that, but flying solo in Yankee Clipper was considered more important than being the commander's sidekick on the moon.
Got it.
Lock inner mast.
Lock outer mast.
Extend locked legs.
We've done that.
I clearly remember the last few moments we spent before we separated.
We could have never gotten down there or home again if it weren't for that man.
In all the time we trained together, Dick Gordon never once showed resentment when people would introduce me as "the guy who was going to the moon with Pete Conrad.
" Never a trace of sarcasm.
Never an ironic remark.
He was in line for a command of his own.
He was holding out to walk on the moon on Apollo 1 8.
Unfortunately, there never was an Apollo 1 8, so this was as close as he ever got.
Well, I guess we gotta close her up now.
I wish this son of a bitch fit three people.
At that moment, with all the challenges ahead of us, all I could think was one thought Sure hope I see you again.
Of course, I never said it out loud.
Nervous? How did we ever get way out here anyway? I just hope I can find a place to land.
And I hope I can set it down all right.
You'll do fine.
You'll do just fine.
Just don't bring her in too low, too fast.
- Thanks, Al.
Thanks a lot.
- That's all right.
- I'm just trying to help.
- Thanks.
- You know I'm here for you.
- I know you are.
Big help.
Unlike Neil and Buzz, our mission called for us not just to land wherever the ground looked good.
They were lucky to put it down almost three miles from where they had planned.
But we had a target which had been waiting for us in the Ocean of Storms for two years an unmanned probe named Surveyor 3.
If future missions were gonna truly explore the moon in depth, Apollo 1 2 would have to demonstrate that a precise touchdown was possible.
Forty-two feet.
Coming down at three.
Start the clock.
40.
Coming down at two.
Looking good.
30 feet.
Down at two.
Plenty of gas, plenty of gas, babe.
Hang in there.
18 feet.
Coming down at two.
He's got it made.
Come on in there.
24 feet.
Contact light.
Shit.
- Pro! - Yeah! Pro.
OK, engine arm off.
OK.
You got your - Got your commander light off? - Yep.
I'll cycle the main shutoff valve.
Good landing, Pete.
That was incredible.
Outstanding! Houston, we're in real good shape.
You guys did outstanding targeting.
That thing was right down the middle.
Beautiful! It was a real pleasure riding with a number one aviator.
Way to go, Pete.
- Look.
Isn't it beautiful? - That's beautiful.
That is something else.
That is amazing.
- Unbelievable.
- Oh, my God.
- You want to ask them? - Oh, yeah.
All right.
Houston, Intrepid.
Go, Intrepid.
Where are we? By all the numbers and delta vectors and craters, it looked like we were right where we wanted to be.
But it wasn't until Dick made a flyover pass that we found out just how good a job Pete had done bringing us down.
Houston, I have Snowman.
And I believe I have the LEM on the northwest corner of I have Intrepid.
I have Intrepid.
I'll tell you, he's the only thing that casts a shadow down there.
He's on the Surveyor crater, about a third of the way on the Surveyor crater to the head of the snowman.
And I have Surveyor.
I have Surveyor.
Roger, Clipper.
Good eyeball.
Well done.
Hey, Ed, it's almost as good as being there.
Almost.
So Pete had done it.
With the help of the targeting people on the ground, he had proven that pinpoint accuracy was possible when landing on the moon.
He had set down our lunar module a stone's throw away from our primary mission objective, a short moon walk of about 200 yards, just like he said he would.
Not long after that, sometime very early in the morning back in Houston, Pete Conrad proved something else.
He proved to me and to the world just how eloquent a man he can be.
Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr.
Only the third human being to set foot on the moon.
Who can forget Neil Armstrong's immortal words? Let's watch and listen to the words Conrad has chosen to mark this moment in history.
Whoopee! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but it's a long one for me.
Well There you have it.
"Whoopee!" After training with him for months, we'd all become accustomed to Pete's colourful use of language.
You stupid son This thing's about to start pissing me off.
I finally get the cocksucker turning, then it locks up again.
I'm spending more time trying to turn these frigging bolts than any goddamn else thing.
Goddamn.
Son of a Cocksucker.
God damn it.
Hey, Beano.
Turn around and give me a big smile.
I had a special moment for myself to mark my getting to the moon.
When you are selected to become a member of the astronaut corps, you wear a special silver pin.
It gets replaced by a gold pin when you actually fly a mission.
I had worn my silver pin for six years.
Being selected for Apollo 1 2, I wasn't going to be needing it any more.
I wanted to put it in a special place where it would rest forever.
What better place than in the Ocean of Storms? I joined NASA in the third group of 1 4 astronauts in 1 963.
So did Dick Gordon who flew with Pete in Gemini 1 1.
While he and the rest of the group were jockeying for seats on lunar landing flights, I was assigned to the Apollo Applications Program, the space station which came to be known as Skylab.
Pete called it "Tomorrowland".
Planning things so far in the future, who knew if they'd ever become a reality or not? While I was tucked away in some far-off corner it seemed everyone else was assigned mission after mission.
I sort of felt like the forgotten man.
But I kept an eye on what my peers were doing, all the guys I used to commiserate with about not getting to fly.
Walt Cunningham made the crew of Apollo 7.
Bill Anders, Apollo 8.
Rusty Schweickart, Apollo 9.
That left just me.
But there were others from our group that were not so fortunate.
Ted Freeman was flying his T-38 at a couple hundred miles per hour when a goose smashed in the Plexiglas of his cockpit - he was killed.
Charlie Bassett died along with Elliot See when Elliot crashed into a building at the McDonnell plant in St Louis.
Roger Chaffee was on the crew of Apollo 1, killed in the fire with Gus Grissom and Ed White.
And then there was CC Williams.
He was supposed to be the original lunar module pilot on Apollo 1 2 along with Pete and Dick.
He had spent the night before our astronaut physicals jumping up and down to compress his spine because there was a six-foot height limit, and CC was a shade over six feet even.
He was a superb astronaut who impressed everyone he came into contact with, but CC was killed when his T-38 went into a spin over the swamps of Tallahassee.
He had been cruising at 24,000 feet when his controls locked and the plane went into a steep dive.
He didn't have time to bail out.
At that point, I wasn't even hoping to fly Apollo any more.
It just hurt too much to think about it.
But I guess somebody was looking out for me.
Somebody named Pete Conrad.
Al, you got a minute? Hey there, Pete.
Sure.
What can I do for you? Well, I just talked to Deke.
How'd you like to go to the moon with Dick and me? Do you think you can give up all this excitement? Al? You OK, Al? OK.
You're on board.
It was such a shock.
It took some time to really sink in.
Of course, once on the moon, I had little time to think about such things.
I heard once the real cost of us being there was about a million dollars for each minute.
Pete and I did our best to stretch every penny of America's money.
We're not just astronauts.
Suddenly we're meteorologists, seismologists, geologists, geochemists, you name it.
Pete and Al, Houston.
Looks like you did it, we're getting data back.
Houston, you don't know how happy I am.
We're picking up your heavy footsteps going by the seismometer.
It's great.
Our bosses couldn't see us but now they knew how fast we were working.
Man, are you dirty.
This is dirt dirt.
Remember these experiments in training? You had to have gloves to touch them.
Tell them it's important to keep the connectors and experiments free of dust.
Dr Wilson asks you guys not to forget to try and keep the connectors and experiments free of dust.
Roger.
Dirt or no dirt, everything worked fine.
While we were laughing and chatting away, poor Dick was trying to get work done.
OK, Clipper.
You did not copy all of that PAD.
Is that affirm? Ed, if you want to talk to me, you'll have to take it off relay so Pete and Al won't cut you out.
It's impossible to hear anything with those guys yakking.
There were so many things for us to remember to do on the moon, that we needed some kind of cheat sheet that would always be within reach.
Both of us had drafted a checklist to wear on our sleeves.
But the actual flight item was made up by the ground crew just before launch and put in our suits without our even seeing them until we were on the moon.
Thanks to Dave Scott and the rest of our backup crew, we had a little extra reading to do.
Beano! Beano! Look at your checklist.
Beano! That's the terrain for me! With a 30-minute extension to our EVA, I was able to get the core sample tube in and out of the ground.
Pete and I got up our first load of moon rocks.
Then we dusted each other off as much as possible, then I started back up the ladder.
Just like that, the first of my two four-hour moon walks was over.
It's impossible to truly appreciate something as it's happening.
I suppose I had flashes of thought like, "How did I get to the moon?" But if you put yourself in my place, your head would be filled with so many checklists that all you could do, really, was look at the panel read-outs upon which your life depends, feeling bad about that lost TV camera.
It wasn't the reason we came to the moon, I know we're all human and we mess up, but I sure felt bad about it.
As usual, I seem to be a bit more sensitive about such things than my colleagues.
I guess Pete and Dick are more typical of the astronaut personality - unflappable, confident, fun-loving.
As for me, well, one out of three ain't bad.
We did have fun together.
We were the most close-knit of any crew that ever flew.
Pete even got us matching gold Corvettes customized for our positions on the crew: CDR for commander, CMP for command module pilot, and LMP for me, the lunar module pilot.
Those men were then and still are my best friends.
We thought if you're gonna do all this work to get to the moon, it might as well be fun.
I probably should have taken a sleeping pill, but that wasn't manly.
Finally, I was able to put work aside, allow myself a moment of peace, a moment of calm.
Finally, I got to sleep.
That doesn't sound right.
No, it's OK.
No warning lights.
- Cabin pressure OK.
- It's the cooling pump.
Helium regulator's nominal.
It's not the burst disk.
Al, it's the cooling pump.
It's OK.
Cooling pump? Yeah.
I guess you're right.
I am.
OK.
Back to sleep.
- But Al, since you're up - What? - I've been awake for a while.
- You have? Why didn't you say? This neck ring is cutting into my neck.
The cocksucker is killing me.
They snugged up my boot too tight and it's pulling on the one side.
I think we'll have to re-lace it.
OK.
Now that we were up, I started thinking about the EVA to come - our second and last.
We were planning to take a historic photo using a special timer we had snuck on board.
- Hurry up, Beano.
- Let's go.
- Come on.
Sit down.
Sit down.
- You got it set up? All the photographs from Apollo 1 1 were of Buzz taken by Neil, one astronaut with maybe the other guy reflected in his visor.
We had the idea to set up the camera with this timer and get both me and Pete in the picture, and not tell anyone about it until the film was developed.
- It was a great idea.
- Electric man.
The trick was finding the right moment to do it so Houston wouldn't catch on.
By the time we made it to the Surveyor, Pete and I had less than an hour left outside in the Ocean of Storms.
Our first order of business was that secret photo.
I had practiced finding the timer plenty of times and never had any trouble getting it.
I had the whole procedure down to just a few seconds.
The result would have been magnificent had I been able to find the damn thing.
I'll be darned.
- It is in there, isn't it? - Let me look one more time.
Wait.
What's in your bag here? - It's just a film magazine.
- I'll try at this end.
I knew that I was wasting precious time.
If it didn't turn up quick, it would be criminal to continue the search.
So I've had it.
- Forget it.
- All right, I'll tell you what Why don't we mosey down there and grab us what we came here for? In 1 967, Surveyor's TV camera had broadcast the first ever television pictures from the surface of the moon.
Now, we aimed to take that camera home so they could study the long-term effects of the moon on man-made machines.
Getting it would mean we had completed every one of our mission objectives.
We got her.
I got it.
Hey, Al.
Got something for you.
After more than three hours of hard work on the moon, I probably wasn't the most imaginative person.
Had I been thinking fully, that's when we'd have taken the picture with that timer.
We could have shook hands at the end of our EVA, standing in front of Intrepid.
It would have been a great picture but I didn't think of it.
There was just one last thing to do.
None of us had forgotten the reason I was privileged enough to be there.
We made it, CC.
We left CC's wings on the lunar surface.
He's the reason there's four stars on our mission patch, not just three.
Then that was it.
Our walk on the moon was officially over.
I had spent a total of seven hours and 45 minutes walking on the moon.
In a person's lifetime, that's nothing but a blink.
But what my eyes witnessed there at the Ocean of Storms still fills me still fills me with a sense of wonder that is hard to put into words.
What a neat ride! Ascent's OK.
So is the flag.
Neil and Buzz's ascent had knocked the crap out of their flag.
They could send a man to the moon but they couldn't think to place the flag away from a rocket so it wouldn't get blown over.
- Check our range and range rate.
- OK.
Intrepid, Houston.
You are ten seconds to LOS.
We'll pick you up again at 1 42:21:31 through honeysuckle.
Roger, roger, Houston.
We'll see you on the other side.
What do you say, Al? Want to take a minute and fly this vehicle? Even though I was called the lunar module pilot, the only way I'm supposed to get to fly the LEM is in the case of an emergency.
- You got it.
- I got it.
Some people might want the commander to fly all the time.
Some commanders might do just that.
- How's it feel? - It feels real good.
- Man.
It's better than the sim.
- A lot better than the sim.
Yeah.
Man, it really feels great.
It's unbelievable.
Man.
I don't know if anyone in Houston would have criticized Pete, but we were on the far side of the moon and they had no way of knowing.
So, for a few moments on Apollo 1 2, the lunar module pilot actually piloted the lunar module, thanks to my good friend, Pete Conrad.
- Howdy, fellas! - Hey, Dick.
Jesus! Did you have to bring back half the moon with you? You ain't gonna mess up my nice clean spacecraft.
You strip down and wipe yourselves off before you come in here.
I mean it.
Go.
He's right.
You're filthy.
Welcome home, fellas.
Can I get you anything to drink? Water? Any beverage at all? - Beano.
- Hey there, Dick.
Careful not to flip any breakers with anything hanging out.
Attitude, dead minimum.
When we were out of our suits, we had to strap in and jettison the lunar module.
- Spacecraft control SCS.
- All right.
We're all set to jettison the LEM in about a minute.
You know, if if we were to lose the hatch when we blow the LEM, and one day someone was to find us floating around up here like this, they might be pretty confused.
At least we'll go out of this world the same way we came in.
Well, you two.
You didn't come into the world in that suit? - Man, I hope not.
- At least for your mother.
After a day of lunar orbit photography getting stereo photos of possible landing sights for Apollo 1 3 and 1 4, and when every piece of equipment was stowed and checked off the flight plan, we prepared for the big burn that would take us home.
HRB forward, check.
All right.
We're just waiting for the DSKY.
You know, I feel sort of like that song, Is That All There Is? Al Bean I was just thinking the exact same thing.
Not that it wasn't amazing.
Just that the whole experience didn't feel like a headline.
It was real, and I had lived it.
Falling through the sky after a trip to the moon is no more surreal an experience than getting there in the first place, or walking on its surface.
It's just one more step, one more planned event that comes about because of science and imagination and effort.
You can go through all the manuals, all the procedures and checklists, all the graphs and blueprints that show you how it is possible to do what we did, to go where we had gone.
You might be impressed that such a complicated thing was even attempted.
So impressed even that you wouldn't realise that the three people who made the journey and undertook all the challenges contained within it were, in essence, not that much different from yourself.
- Damn, that shower feels good.
- The first time it doesn't feel that good is when you'll know you're officially home from the moon.
They should let us outta here.
I don't have any diseases.
Me neither.
I just want to grab me some Cajun food and a couple of beers.
How about you, Al? You back from the moon yet? Yeah, I'm back.
I'm back from the moon.
- What are you laughing at? - Yeah.
What's so funny? I don't think I'll ever forget when all that good stuff was lighting up and then CAPCOM called up SCE to auxiliary.
I didn't know what the hell that meant, and you were awfully quiet, I might add.
All I hear is Al's voice, two octaves higher than it ought to be saying, "I know what it is.
" The best record of what it was like to have gone to the moon and return is not in the tangible evidence of the endeavor.
It's not in the things we took with us or brought back.
And it wouldn't have been in the TV footage we never got, which I beat myself up over for half the mission.
It's in the individual consciousness and vision, of the human beings who made the trip.
People like Dick Gordon, Pete Conrad and even me.
My, that sun is bright.
It feels good.
- Let's go.
- Yeah.
In the end, what I have left from my walk in the Ocean of Storms are memories.
Almost like it was a trip to the seashore, or a drive in the country.
They mix together in a constant stream of thoughts and images that come and go, like all memories do.
The most precious things I brought back with me were the same things I left with - my two best friends.
I realise when you go through any endeavor, any journey, whether across town or to the moon and back, all that matters is that you share the experience with people that you love.
That's what makes life special.
Because, ultimately, that's all there is.
That's really all there is.
We choose to go to the moon.
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.
- Look at that.
- That's beautiful.
It's got to be one of the most proud moments of my life, I guarantee you.
The great adventure of going to the moon may never happen again in our lifetime.
Manned space flight will continue and there is adventure to be found in high Earth orbit.
Robots have already gone to other worlds - the valleys of Mars, the clouds and moons of Jupiter.
And there is a brand of adventure to be had in such a long-distance mode of human participation.
But the satisfaction and the sudden emptiness of an adventure completed are intangible human concepts.
And the argument can be made that mankind cannot bear witness to an event unless one of mankind has experienced the adventure first-hand.
Not necessarily first, mind you, just first-hand.
It is certainly not necessary to be Neil Armstrong to have experienced the great adventure found in a voyage from the Earth to the moon.
Hey, Beano, turn around and give me a big smile! My name is Al Bean.
That's me, standing at the Ocean of Storms on November 21, 1 969.
There I am again, five very heady days later aboard our recovery ship where they set up a quarantine trailer for me and my two crew mates - Pete Conrad, my skipper, and Dick Gordon, our command module pilot.
They were Gemini veterans who were about as cool as they come.
Everyone knew they'd be going to the moon, unlike me.
This was my first space flight.
Now I would be forever known as the fourth man to set foot on the lunar surface.
Pete and Dick wanted to be on the first landing but me well, I'd have been happy to be on the 93rd.
Funny, Beano.
You're a dead man! I had the President of the United States calling me on the phone.
Morning, Mr President.
Me, Al Bean.
Last guy in his astronaut group to even fly.
We take our jobs very seriously.
Commander-in-Chief promoted all of us to Navy captains.
Thank you very much, sir.
Thank you.
Yes, sir.
Congratulations, Captain Bean.
Captain Gordon.
- Captain Conrad.
Captain Bean.
- Captain Conrad, sir.
People treated me with care, making sure we hadn't come home with any alien diseases.
Careful not to puncture his brain, Doc.
That is very funny, Dick.
You're a very funny We hadn't, but one of the cameras did conk me pretty good during splashdown.
It was my own damn fault.
I was supposed to remove it and put it under my seat like it said on the checklist.
I guess I was so happy the parachutes had worked that I said, "I'll just leave it there on its window mount.
" Now, that is stupid.
If it had hit me in the centre of the forehead, it could have killed me, which would have been a really sad situation.
- Beano, hit the breakers.
- I'm doing it.
I'm doing it.
Al.
- What? - Are you OK, Al? Yeah.
Yeah, I think so.
I'm fine.
What? Did you get knocked out? What? Actually, I had, but I didn't realise it until later.
Hell, the whole trip I didn't have too much luck with cameras.
Well, I'll explain that later.
Still, bump or not, I was alive and well.
So were my friends.
We made it and we made it well.
Let me disinfect that for you.
Maybe we weren't dignified enough to be heroes.
It wouldn't matter.
Cos we were the second mission to land on the moon, history's ultimate anticlimax.
Somehow, I fit right in.
In fact, flying with Pete and Dick was the sweetest thing about the mission for me.
We were a true team.
And at one point, I even kind of saved the day.
CMP, S TC.
Verify panel two DSKY programme.
I didn't know what to expect.
I was a complete rookie.
We'd done countless simulated launches, so I did the same things I did during all of those.
Roger, STC.
Main bus tie bat B/C switch, on, up.
I kept busy checking the console, making sure my end of our command module, Yankee Clipper, was ready to go.
This launch is gonna be a wet one.
No big deal for an all-Navy crew.
We can handle it.
The rain was a bother, but nothing to worry about.
Apollo 1 2, you are go for launch.
- Roger, STC.
Go for launch.
- Just past the 25 Me and my best buddies were ready for the adventure of a lifetime.
- Al Bean, you are going to the moon.
- Y'all can come along if you like.
Thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten, nine.
We have ignition sequence start.
The engines are on.
Four, three, two, one, zero.
The first few moments after liftoff, you're vibrating pretty good.
The clock is running.
Then you really start to move.
- Clear the tower.
- Roger.
Clear the tower.
I got a pitch-and-roll programme and this baby is really going.
Roll complete.
- Mark one bravo.
- Got you on that.
- This thing moves, doesn't it? - Baby! We had just over half a minute of trouble-free launch, and then all hell busted loose.
- What was that? - I just lost a bunch of stuff.
We just had a whole bunch of buses drop out.
What have we got here? A/C bus 1 light, all the fuel cells.
OK, Houston we just lost the platform here, gang.
I don't know what happened here.
We had everything drop out.
Three fuel cell lights, A/C bus light, a fuel cell disconnect, A/C bus overload 1 and 2, main bus A and B out.
We had some big glitch here.
- I got A/C.
- You got A/C? Maybe it's the indicator.
- What you got on the main bus? - 24 volts.
That's low.
We've got a short of some kind but I can't believe that's accurate.
- Flight, EE COM.
- Go, EE COM.
I think it's a fuel cell bus failure.
They've been thrown off-line.
That must be why we're getting garbage here.
Can they try SCE to aux? Gerry Griffin had never heard that command before.
I'm sure most of the people in Mission Control hadn't.
Tell them.
Apollo 12, Houston.
Try SCE to auxiliary.
Over.
FCE to auxiliary? What the hell is that? I'm not sure even Pete knew what that was but one person did.
I know what that is.
SCE to aux.
We're getting good telemetry again.
Try to reset your fuel cells.
- Reset fuel cells.
- Wait for staging.
Wait for staging, yes.
Hang on.
OK, Houston.
GDC is good.
We got a good S-ll, gang.
We copy that.
You're looking good.
Poor Gerry Griffin.
We were his first mission as flight director, and he had dealt with a longer list of malfunctions than anybody had ever seen.
OK, now we'll straighten out our problems here.
I don't know what happened.
I'm not sure we didn't get hit by lightning.
That's exactly what happened.
Before our first stage had finished doing its job, observers back on the ground later reported that not just one, but two bolts of lightning rode our exhaust contrail all the way back down to the pad and hit the tower.
That was a hell of a simulation you guys gave us.
I think we gotta put this through a little more all-weather testing.
Al's got all the buses back on-line and we'll square up our platform when we get into orbit.
So I had done my part to help out in a crisis.
Of course, that EE COM fella, John Aaron, well, we owe a lot to him.
But to me, the real hero was Pete Conrad.
He kept his hand on the abort handle the entire time.
But he kept his cool and he never used it.
Once I got into Earth's orbit, I found space flight was everything it was supposed to be.
Hey, Pete.
Take a look at this.
Those are campfires down there.
- That's something, isn't it? - Yes, yes.
Beautiful.
Down there, people were gathered around man's most primitive discovery.
And here the three of us were, riding 250,000 miles into space on a flame.
Man, that sky is black.
Yes, it is.
How we looking, Dickie? You all finished realigning the platform? - I is finished.
- Outstanding.
That will give them something to write about.
I bet all our wives fainted.
I'll bet they did when they heard you call about 18 lights.
Every time I close my eyes, all I see are those lights.
- What a way to start.
- Terrible way to break Al Bean into space.
That's OK.
I don't mind.
Of course, not everybody was thinking about how Al Bean was enjoying the mission.
In Houston, unbeknownst to us, there was serious concern that the lightning had damaged our pyrotechnic system that would deploy our parachutes.
If we run the TEI checklist, we test everything they need to get home, except one big item - deployment of the chutes.
But if the barometric switches and timers have failed, the crew can deploy the chutes manually.
But if the pyros had already been fired, once they're gone, pushing the main chute deploy button won't do anything at all.
- Is there any way to check the pyros? - Only visual inspection from the outside.
All right, guys, I'll let you know.
They finally decided that if it had, we'd be just as dead splashing down now as ten days from now, so they might as well send us to the moon.
Come on now! - Honey? - Yeah.
Damn it! I wish I could shit.
I don't have the inclination, but I know what will happen.
It's gonna be the first shit on the lunar surface.
- OK, Al, your turn.
- Excuse me? I don't want to take any time out on the moon.
Go down there and try and make a poop.
What are you laughing at? You're next.
I didn't know that as commander you had that kind of authority.
He thinks he can control our bowels.
On family trips, didn't your mom make you go before you left? This is the longest vacation you boys have ever been on and in this vehicle I am your mother.
I want you to work at it.
I'm serious.
OK, Pete.
- I'm serious.
- I'll see what I can do.
Fortunately, at this point, we had time to debate such issues, and I'm sure you're dying to know how it all turned out.
Once again, this is Emmett Seaborn.
Those of you who have been with us all night are going to see quite a treat.
No, they didn't broadcast my bowel movement around the world.
In fact, they didn't broadcast much at all.
Here's where my bad luck with the TV cameras comes in.
The colour camera aboard Apollo 12 is a substantial improvement over the black-and-white unit Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had at the Sea of Tranquility.
Conrad and Bean are setting up now.
Oh, boy.
Look at that.
I was in charge of setting up the TV camera on the tripod, so that the world, or at least those people that stayed up all night to see a rerun, could watch us on the moon.
Which would have worked out great had I not accidentally done something that I wasn't supposed to do.
In all our months of training, we never had the actual camera.
Actually, all we had was a block of wood.
This procedure needs to be completed in four minutes.
I knew where I was supposed to put it and where the sun would be in the sky.
And someone probably told me to keep the lens shaded or something.
Don't point it at the sun.
Set the focus at infinity.
But there are so many things to digest in training to walk on the moon, I just forgot it.
We have a pretty bright image on the TV.
Can you either move it or stop it down? OK, I'm gonna stop it down.
That's as far as it goes, Houston.
How does it look to you? Still looks the same, Al.
Why don't you try shifting the scene? - How's that? - Still looks the same, Al.
We have a bright image at the top and the blacked out about 80% at the bottom.
That's coming in better there, Al.
What change did you make? I hit it on the top with my hammer.
I figured we didn't have a thing to lose.
- Skilful fix.
- Yeah.
I hit it with this hammer.
That's skilled craftsmanship.
Let me try it again.
We're still not getting a good picture and you're running a tad behind.
Press on and we'll try to get back to it later if we have time.
I'll tell you what, Houston, let me move it so the back is to the sun.
Maybe that will help.
When all was said and done, nothing happened.
It's hard to get a TV repairman to make a house call in Anytown, USA, and impossible, of course, on the moon.
The vidicon tube was fried beyond repair, so that was the end of colour TV from the Ocean of Storms.
They probably knew on the ground exactly what I had done wrong but nobody wanted to say anything.
From Houston, this is Emmett Seaborn.
I just hope I didn't disappoint anyone.
What the fuck happened up there? Hey, Al.
Come on.
Forget it.
Let's go.
What happened was I had screwed up.
No one would ever get to see any more of us walking on the moon.
Not even Dick, who was stuck in orbit while we explored the surface.
I felt bad about that, but flying solo in Yankee Clipper was considered more important than being the commander's sidekick on the moon.
Got it.
Lock inner mast.
Lock outer mast.
Extend locked legs.
We've done that.
I clearly remember the last few moments we spent before we separated.
We could have never gotten down there or home again if it weren't for that man.
In all the time we trained together, Dick Gordon never once showed resentment when people would introduce me as "the guy who was going to the moon with Pete Conrad.
" Never a trace of sarcasm.
Never an ironic remark.
He was in line for a command of his own.
He was holding out to walk on the moon on Apollo 1 8.
Unfortunately, there never was an Apollo 1 8, so this was as close as he ever got.
Well, I guess we gotta close her up now.
I wish this son of a bitch fit three people.
At that moment, with all the challenges ahead of us, all I could think was one thought Sure hope I see you again.
Of course, I never said it out loud.
Nervous? How did we ever get way out here anyway? I just hope I can find a place to land.
And I hope I can set it down all right.
You'll do fine.
You'll do just fine.
Just don't bring her in too low, too fast.
- Thanks, Al.
Thanks a lot.
- That's all right.
- I'm just trying to help.
- Thanks.
- You know I'm here for you.
- I know you are.
Big help.
Unlike Neil and Buzz, our mission called for us not just to land wherever the ground looked good.
They were lucky to put it down almost three miles from where they had planned.
But we had a target which had been waiting for us in the Ocean of Storms for two years an unmanned probe named Surveyor 3.
If future missions were gonna truly explore the moon in depth, Apollo 1 2 would have to demonstrate that a precise touchdown was possible.
Forty-two feet.
Coming down at three.
Start the clock.
40.
Coming down at two.
Looking good.
30 feet.
Down at two.
Plenty of gas, plenty of gas, babe.
Hang in there.
18 feet.
Coming down at two.
He's got it made.
Come on in there.
24 feet.
Contact light.
Shit.
- Pro! - Yeah! Pro.
OK, engine arm off.
OK.
You got your - Got your commander light off? - Yep.
I'll cycle the main shutoff valve.
Good landing, Pete.
That was incredible.
Outstanding! Houston, we're in real good shape.
You guys did outstanding targeting.
That thing was right down the middle.
Beautiful! It was a real pleasure riding with a number one aviator.
Way to go, Pete.
- Look.
Isn't it beautiful? - That's beautiful.
That is something else.
That is amazing.
- Unbelievable.
- Oh, my God.
- You want to ask them? - Oh, yeah.
All right.
Houston, Intrepid.
Go, Intrepid.
Where are we? By all the numbers and delta vectors and craters, it looked like we were right where we wanted to be.
But it wasn't until Dick made a flyover pass that we found out just how good a job Pete had done bringing us down.
Houston, I have Snowman.
And I believe I have the LEM on the northwest corner of I have Intrepid.
I have Intrepid.
I'll tell you, he's the only thing that casts a shadow down there.
He's on the Surveyor crater, about a third of the way on the Surveyor crater to the head of the snowman.
And I have Surveyor.
I have Surveyor.
Roger, Clipper.
Good eyeball.
Well done.
Hey, Ed, it's almost as good as being there.
Almost.
So Pete had done it.
With the help of the targeting people on the ground, he had proven that pinpoint accuracy was possible when landing on the moon.
He had set down our lunar module a stone's throw away from our primary mission objective, a short moon walk of about 200 yards, just like he said he would.
Not long after that, sometime very early in the morning back in Houston, Pete Conrad proved something else.
He proved to me and to the world just how eloquent a man he can be.
Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr.
Only the third human being to set foot on the moon.
Who can forget Neil Armstrong's immortal words? Let's watch and listen to the words Conrad has chosen to mark this moment in history.
Whoopee! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but it's a long one for me.
Well There you have it.
"Whoopee!" After training with him for months, we'd all become accustomed to Pete's colourful use of language.
You stupid son This thing's about to start pissing me off.
I finally get the cocksucker turning, then it locks up again.
I'm spending more time trying to turn these frigging bolts than any goddamn else thing.
Goddamn.
Son of a Cocksucker.
God damn it.
Hey, Beano.
Turn around and give me a big smile.
I had a special moment for myself to mark my getting to the moon.
When you are selected to become a member of the astronaut corps, you wear a special silver pin.
It gets replaced by a gold pin when you actually fly a mission.
I had worn my silver pin for six years.
Being selected for Apollo 1 2, I wasn't going to be needing it any more.
I wanted to put it in a special place where it would rest forever.
What better place than in the Ocean of Storms? I joined NASA in the third group of 1 4 astronauts in 1 963.
So did Dick Gordon who flew with Pete in Gemini 1 1.
While he and the rest of the group were jockeying for seats on lunar landing flights, I was assigned to the Apollo Applications Program, the space station which came to be known as Skylab.
Pete called it "Tomorrowland".
Planning things so far in the future, who knew if they'd ever become a reality or not? While I was tucked away in some far-off corner it seemed everyone else was assigned mission after mission.
I sort of felt like the forgotten man.
But I kept an eye on what my peers were doing, all the guys I used to commiserate with about not getting to fly.
Walt Cunningham made the crew of Apollo 7.
Bill Anders, Apollo 8.
Rusty Schweickart, Apollo 9.
That left just me.
But there were others from our group that were not so fortunate.
Ted Freeman was flying his T-38 at a couple hundred miles per hour when a goose smashed in the Plexiglas of his cockpit - he was killed.
Charlie Bassett died along with Elliot See when Elliot crashed into a building at the McDonnell plant in St Louis.
Roger Chaffee was on the crew of Apollo 1, killed in the fire with Gus Grissom and Ed White.
And then there was CC Williams.
He was supposed to be the original lunar module pilot on Apollo 1 2 along with Pete and Dick.
He had spent the night before our astronaut physicals jumping up and down to compress his spine because there was a six-foot height limit, and CC was a shade over six feet even.
He was a superb astronaut who impressed everyone he came into contact with, but CC was killed when his T-38 went into a spin over the swamps of Tallahassee.
He had been cruising at 24,000 feet when his controls locked and the plane went into a steep dive.
He didn't have time to bail out.
At that point, I wasn't even hoping to fly Apollo any more.
It just hurt too much to think about it.
But I guess somebody was looking out for me.
Somebody named Pete Conrad.
Al, you got a minute? Hey there, Pete.
Sure.
What can I do for you? Well, I just talked to Deke.
How'd you like to go to the moon with Dick and me? Do you think you can give up all this excitement? Al? You OK, Al? OK.
You're on board.
It was such a shock.
It took some time to really sink in.
Of course, once on the moon, I had little time to think about such things.
I heard once the real cost of us being there was about a million dollars for each minute.
Pete and I did our best to stretch every penny of America's money.
We're not just astronauts.
Suddenly we're meteorologists, seismologists, geologists, geochemists, you name it.
Pete and Al, Houston.
Looks like you did it, we're getting data back.
Houston, you don't know how happy I am.
We're picking up your heavy footsteps going by the seismometer.
It's great.
Our bosses couldn't see us but now they knew how fast we were working.
Man, are you dirty.
This is dirt dirt.
Remember these experiments in training? You had to have gloves to touch them.
Tell them it's important to keep the connectors and experiments free of dust.
Dr Wilson asks you guys not to forget to try and keep the connectors and experiments free of dust.
Roger.
Dirt or no dirt, everything worked fine.
While we were laughing and chatting away, poor Dick was trying to get work done.
OK, Clipper.
You did not copy all of that PAD.
Is that affirm? Ed, if you want to talk to me, you'll have to take it off relay so Pete and Al won't cut you out.
It's impossible to hear anything with those guys yakking.
There were so many things for us to remember to do on the moon, that we needed some kind of cheat sheet that would always be within reach.
Both of us had drafted a checklist to wear on our sleeves.
But the actual flight item was made up by the ground crew just before launch and put in our suits without our even seeing them until we were on the moon.
Thanks to Dave Scott and the rest of our backup crew, we had a little extra reading to do.
Beano! Beano! Look at your checklist.
Beano! That's the terrain for me! With a 30-minute extension to our EVA, I was able to get the core sample tube in and out of the ground.
Pete and I got up our first load of moon rocks.
Then we dusted each other off as much as possible, then I started back up the ladder.
Just like that, the first of my two four-hour moon walks was over.
It's impossible to truly appreciate something as it's happening.
I suppose I had flashes of thought like, "How did I get to the moon?" But if you put yourself in my place, your head would be filled with so many checklists that all you could do, really, was look at the panel read-outs upon which your life depends, feeling bad about that lost TV camera.
It wasn't the reason we came to the moon, I know we're all human and we mess up, but I sure felt bad about it.
As usual, I seem to be a bit more sensitive about such things than my colleagues.
I guess Pete and Dick are more typical of the astronaut personality - unflappable, confident, fun-loving.
As for me, well, one out of three ain't bad.
We did have fun together.
We were the most close-knit of any crew that ever flew.
Pete even got us matching gold Corvettes customized for our positions on the crew: CDR for commander, CMP for command module pilot, and LMP for me, the lunar module pilot.
Those men were then and still are my best friends.
We thought if you're gonna do all this work to get to the moon, it might as well be fun.
I probably should have taken a sleeping pill, but that wasn't manly.
Finally, I was able to put work aside, allow myself a moment of peace, a moment of calm.
Finally, I got to sleep.
That doesn't sound right.
No, it's OK.
No warning lights.
- Cabin pressure OK.
- It's the cooling pump.
Helium regulator's nominal.
It's not the burst disk.
Al, it's the cooling pump.
It's OK.
Cooling pump? Yeah.
I guess you're right.
I am.
OK.
Back to sleep.
- But Al, since you're up - What? - I've been awake for a while.
- You have? Why didn't you say? This neck ring is cutting into my neck.
The cocksucker is killing me.
They snugged up my boot too tight and it's pulling on the one side.
I think we'll have to re-lace it.
OK.
Now that we were up, I started thinking about the EVA to come - our second and last.
We were planning to take a historic photo using a special timer we had snuck on board.
- Hurry up, Beano.
- Let's go.
- Come on.
Sit down.
Sit down.
- You got it set up? All the photographs from Apollo 1 1 were of Buzz taken by Neil, one astronaut with maybe the other guy reflected in his visor.
We had the idea to set up the camera with this timer and get both me and Pete in the picture, and not tell anyone about it until the film was developed.
- It was a great idea.
- Electric man.
The trick was finding the right moment to do it so Houston wouldn't catch on.
By the time we made it to the Surveyor, Pete and I had less than an hour left outside in the Ocean of Storms.
Our first order of business was that secret photo.
I had practiced finding the timer plenty of times and never had any trouble getting it.
I had the whole procedure down to just a few seconds.
The result would have been magnificent had I been able to find the damn thing.
I'll be darned.
- It is in there, isn't it? - Let me look one more time.
Wait.
What's in your bag here? - It's just a film magazine.
- I'll try at this end.
I knew that I was wasting precious time.
If it didn't turn up quick, it would be criminal to continue the search.
So I've had it.
- Forget it.
- All right, I'll tell you what Why don't we mosey down there and grab us what we came here for? In 1 967, Surveyor's TV camera had broadcast the first ever television pictures from the surface of the moon.
Now, we aimed to take that camera home so they could study the long-term effects of the moon on man-made machines.
Getting it would mean we had completed every one of our mission objectives.
We got her.
I got it.
Hey, Al.
Got something for you.
After more than three hours of hard work on the moon, I probably wasn't the most imaginative person.
Had I been thinking fully, that's when we'd have taken the picture with that timer.
We could have shook hands at the end of our EVA, standing in front of Intrepid.
It would have been a great picture but I didn't think of it.
There was just one last thing to do.
None of us had forgotten the reason I was privileged enough to be there.
We made it, CC.
We left CC's wings on the lunar surface.
He's the reason there's four stars on our mission patch, not just three.
Then that was it.
Our walk on the moon was officially over.
I had spent a total of seven hours and 45 minutes walking on the moon.
In a person's lifetime, that's nothing but a blink.
But what my eyes witnessed there at the Ocean of Storms still fills me still fills me with a sense of wonder that is hard to put into words.
What a neat ride! Ascent's OK.
So is the flag.
Neil and Buzz's ascent had knocked the crap out of their flag.
They could send a man to the moon but they couldn't think to place the flag away from a rocket so it wouldn't get blown over.
- Check our range and range rate.
- OK.
Intrepid, Houston.
You are ten seconds to LOS.
We'll pick you up again at 1 42:21:31 through honeysuckle.
Roger, roger, Houston.
We'll see you on the other side.
What do you say, Al? Want to take a minute and fly this vehicle? Even though I was called the lunar module pilot, the only way I'm supposed to get to fly the LEM is in the case of an emergency.
- You got it.
- I got it.
Some people might want the commander to fly all the time.
Some commanders might do just that.
- How's it feel? - It feels real good.
- Man.
It's better than the sim.
- A lot better than the sim.
Yeah.
Man, it really feels great.
It's unbelievable.
Man.
I don't know if anyone in Houston would have criticized Pete, but we were on the far side of the moon and they had no way of knowing.
So, for a few moments on Apollo 1 2, the lunar module pilot actually piloted the lunar module, thanks to my good friend, Pete Conrad.
- Howdy, fellas! - Hey, Dick.
Jesus! Did you have to bring back half the moon with you? You ain't gonna mess up my nice clean spacecraft.
You strip down and wipe yourselves off before you come in here.
I mean it.
Go.
He's right.
You're filthy.
Welcome home, fellas.
Can I get you anything to drink? Water? Any beverage at all? - Beano.
- Hey there, Dick.
Careful not to flip any breakers with anything hanging out.
Attitude, dead minimum.
When we were out of our suits, we had to strap in and jettison the lunar module.
- Spacecraft control SCS.
- All right.
We're all set to jettison the LEM in about a minute.
You know, if if we were to lose the hatch when we blow the LEM, and one day someone was to find us floating around up here like this, they might be pretty confused.
At least we'll go out of this world the same way we came in.
Well, you two.
You didn't come into the world in that suit? - Man, I hope not.
- At least for your mother.
After a day of lunar orbit photography getting stereo photos of possible landing sights for Apollo 1 3 and 1 4, and when every piece of equipment was stowed and checked off the flight plan, we prepared for the big burn that would take us home.
HRB forward, check.
All right.
We're just waiting for the DSKY.
You know, I feel sort of like that song, Is That All There Is? Al Bean I was just thinking the exact same thing.
Not that it wasn't amazing.
Just that the whole experience didn't feel like a headline.
It was real, and I had lived it.
Falling through the sky after a trip to the moon is no more surreal an experience than getting there in the first place, or walking on its surface.
It's just one more step, one more planned event that comes about because of science and imagination and effort.
You can go through all the manuals, all the procedures and checklists, all the graphs and blueprints that show you how it is possible to do what we did, to go where we had gone.
You might be impressed that such a complicated thing was even attempted.
So impressed even that you wouldn't realise that the three people who made the journey and undertook all the challenges contained within it were, in essence, not that much different from yourself.
- Damn, that shower feels good.
- The first time it doesn't feel that good is when you'll know you're officially home from the moon.
They should let us outta here.
I don't have any diseases.
Me neither.
I just want to grab me some Cajun food and a couple of beers.
How about you, Al? You back from the moon yet? Yeah, I'm back.
I'm back from the moon.
- What are you laughing at? - Yeah.
What's so funny? I don't think I'll ever forget when all that good stuff was lighting up and then CAPCOM called up SCE to auxiliary.
I didn't know what the hell that meant, and you were awfully quiet, I might add.
All I hear is Al's voice, two octaves higher than it ought to be saying, "I know what it is.
" The best record of what it was like to have gone to the moon and return is not in the tangible evidence of the endeavor.
It's not in the things we took with us or brought back.
And it wouldn't have been in the TV footage we never got, which I beat myself up over for half the mission.
It's in the individual consciousness and vision, of the human beings who made the trip.
People like Dick Gordon, Pete Conrad and even me.
My, that sun is bright.
It feels good.
- Let's go.
- Yeah.
In the end, what I have left from my walk in the Ocean of Storms are memories.
Almost like it was a trip to the seashore, or a drive in the country.
They mix together in a constant stream of thoughts and images that come and go, like all memories do.
The most precious things I brought back with me were the same things I left with - my two best friends.
I realise when you go through any endeavor, any journey, whether across town or to the moon and back, all that matters is that you share the experience with people that you love.
That's what makes life special.
Because, ultimately, that's all there is.
That's really all there is.