All language subtitles for Apollo.The.Forgotten.Films.2019.720p.WEBRip.800MB.x264-GalaxyRG

Hidden in the archives
for over 50 years...

11.

...thousands of reels
of forgotten film...

10.

...brought together
for the first time...

9.

...to reveal a seemingly
impossible challenge.

Ignition sequence start.

I thought, "no way.

Are you kidding me?"

Every day had something
that i had never seen before.

Release.

An incredible decade of trial...

all systems are go.

...and error.

At the end of the day,
we all knew the risk.

We got skirt sep.

A team of over 400,000
men and women...

every single one of those people had one goal in mind.

...caught on camera.

I was at the right place
at the right time.

3.

With unseen footage...

2.... and exclusive interviews...

and that's 1.

...the story of mankind's
most audacious adventure.

Lift-off.
We have a lift-off.

Lift-off on apollo 11.

There's no turning back.

You're going to the moon.

--Captions by vitac--
www.vitac.com

captions paid for by
discovery communications

♪♪

we're counting down
toward the launch of apollo 11.

3 hours and 32 minutes
from now,

man begins the greatest
adventure in his history --

a trip to the moon, with the
expectation of landing there.

Apollo 11 is ready for launch.

It's taken an army

of almost half a million
scientists and engineers

nearly a decade
to get to this point.

Now a treasure trove
of forgotten film

revealing this historic mission
in jaw-dropping detail.

♪♪

three hours before launch,

nasa cameras capture
the apollo 11 crew suiting up.

♪♪

my name is mike collins.

On apollo 11, i was
the command module pilot.

Flying to and from the moon
is a three-man job.

We each had specialties.

The mission commander
is neil armstrong,

responsible for getting his team
to the moon and back.

Buzz aldrin,
the lunar module pilot,

will attempt the landing
with armstrong

while mike collins
will stay in lunar orbit.

It was a question of camaraderie

and all pitching together
to get the job down.

♪♪

suited up and ready to go...

♪♪

...the astronauts leave
for the pad.

Right on time, the prime crew

now departing from
their crew quarters

here at the kennedy
space center.

Neil armstrong leads the crew

into the glare
of the world's press.

♪♪

eight miles away, the most
powerful machine ever built,

the saturn v rocket,

awaits their arrival.

I went out there
with neil and buzz.

39a was our pad.

We'd been accustomed
to going out to the pad

and finding 40 or 50 workmen
scampering up and down

like ants on the gantries,

and here, on launch day,

no one was there.

Anyway, we found our way
up to this little elevator,

three of us, plus technician,

and up we went
300-and-some feet in the air.

♪♪

this is apollo-saturn
launch control.

Shortly, we'll expect
astronauts neil armstrong

and michael collins
to come across swing arm 9

and stand by
to board the spacecraft.

When i was waiting
for my turn to board,

i could look to my right,

and i see this gigantic
pile of machinery,

360 feet tall full of gadgets

that were going to
propel me to the moon.

Astronaut fred haise
is about to come out

after giving the three
prime crewmen a hand

in their preliminary
checkouts aboard.

My name is fred haise.

I was the back-up
lunar module pilot

on the apollo 11 mission.

I was the last person
to crawl out of the capsule,

leaving neil, buzz, and mike
to take their trip to the moon.

I waved goodbye to them
and gave them a thumbs-up,

hoping things go well.

Okay,
the swing arm is going to full retract at this time.

Filled with
super-cooled liquid fuel,

the saturn v weighs
over 3,200 tons.

Launching a rocket this big
is an unprecedented challenge.

♪♪

rarely seen footage reveals
the immense scale of the task.

♪♪

♪♪

nasa's project apollo.

Its most urgent
engineering challenge --

the development
of a launch vehicle,

capable of hurtling
men and material

to a point
250,000 miles away --

the moon.

The saturn v must deliver

at least 7.5 million
pounds of thrust

in a sustained...

controlled...

way.

Film footage traces
almost 10 years

developing a giant
rocket engine --

the f-1.

My name is rick weiss,
propulsion engineer

for all the apollo missions.

The f-1 engine was phenomenal

with 1.5 million pounds
of thrust.

Film of nasa
facilities across america

reveals critical test firings
to perfect the engine.

♪♪

the whole key to it is timing,

that the liquid oxygen meets
the fuel at the right time,

and it's burned precisely
at the right moment.

The result is the most
powerful combustion engine ever,

which now must perform perfectly

in full view
of the world's cameras.

♪♪

♪♪

from the air, film footage
captures spectators

pouring in
to witness the launch.

The estimate is
more than a million persons

are in the immediate area
in brevard county

to watch the launch.

And at the v.i.p. stands
3 1/2 miles away from the pad,

news cameras and home movies
record the excitement.

I'm kotcho solacoff.

I've known neil since we were
in the sixth grade.

The v.i.p. grandstand
was 3 1/2 miles

from where the rocket was.

I felt very special to be there,

all to see our best friend
on that rocket.

♪♪

it was just people,
people, people everywhere.

They just wanted to be
a part of the history.

♪♪

i'm joann morgan, apollo 11
instrumentation controller

in the launch control center.

♪♪

the countdown in apollo 11

was my first time
to be there for lift-off.

Exclusive nasa film footage reveals the final tense moments,

unseen by the outside world.

We just passed the 2-minute
mark on the countdown.

T-minus 1 minute,
54 seconds and counting.

♪♪

they locked the doors.

They wanted things quiet.

Everybody focused on their work.

All indications coming in
to the control center

indicate we are go.

♪♪

apollo 11, the launch team

wishes you good luck
and godspeed.

Ah, thank you very
much. Know it'll be a good one.

T-minus 15 seconds.
Guidance is internal.

12, 11, 10, 9...

ignition sequence start.

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, zero.

♪♪

hundreds of feet
below the astronauts,

launch pad cameras capture

the f-1 engines
exploding into life.

♪♪

there's this gigantic
belch of fire.

♪♪

and then it slowly ascends.

Cameras running
at 500 frames a second

capture a storm of ice

shaken free
from the rocket's frigid skin.

♪♪

remastered for the first time
in decades...

♪♪

...this incredibly detailed
slow-motion footage...

♪♪

...will allow engineers to
scrutinize any potential failure

second by second.

♪♪

lift-off.
We have a lift-off.

32 minutes past the hour.

Lift-off on apollo 11.

Inside is all kinds
of little jigs left and right.

The engine's gimballing
back and forth

to keep this machine in balance.

♪♪

the crowd see the launch,

but they can't hear it... yet.

When the rocket started,
there was no noise.

♪♪

but birds started
flying everywhere.

♪♪

at the bleachers,
all of a sudden,

the blast hit you.

Tower cleared.

Your clothes shook.
I could not believe it.

The shock wave hit,

and the floor is shaking.

Building's shaking.

What a moment.

Man on the way to the moon.

I was screaming,
but like everybody,

it was, "go, go, go, go!"

♪♪

♪♪

there he goes.
There's our buddy neil,

going up there
on their way to the moon.

Apollo 11, houston,
you're good at one minute.

♪♪

tracking cameras
follow the f-1 engines,

lifting the rocket to
an altitude of around 40 miles.

But to get to orbit
requires even more thrust.

♪♪

if your mission is
to go into deep space,

you can't just take one rocket

and expect it to carry

everything that
you need to carry.

So you build it in stages.

Assembly footage reveals

the saturn v isn't one rocket --

it's three,

stacked on top of each other.

Mark. Mode one-charlie.

One-charlie.

Remastered film
from telescopic cameras

shows the saturn v
at a distance of 55 miles,

capturing the end
of the first-stage burn.

This is houston.
You are go for staging.

♪♪

boom. There's an
explosion outside your window,

all kinds of yellow
and red and fire.

You lurch forward
in your straps.

Staging.

Before you have
a chance to react to that,

the second stage lights up.

♪♪

and ignition.

♪♪

it's very traumatic.

"Oh, my god.
Is this thing going to explode?

Or has it exploded?"

Before you realize, "no,
it's just normal staging."

It's shutting one stage down
and cranking up the next stage.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

you can't enjoy
what you've already done.

You have the next thing ahead --

ignition of your
third-stage rocket.

♪♪

and ignition.

Ignition confirmed.
Thrust is go, 11.

Apollo 11 is on the way,

riding that pillar of flame
from the saturn v

into the skies

where the moon is waiting.

♪♪

the launch team did it.

We just smiled and relished
in the thought that it was done.

To see the launcher there
with nothing on it

is just -- i mean,
it was just unbelievable.

The rocket's gone.

There's nothing there.

What just happened, you know?

We were just working
on it yesterday.

Once that vehicle
has cleared the tower,

the people at mission control
in houston

are in charge
with the rest of the flight.

♪♪

apollo 11, apollo
11, this is houston, over.

Found deep in the nasa archives,

film from inside mission control

will reveal every aspect

of apollo 11's daring journey.

I'm gerry griffin,
flight director for apollo 11.

When you walk
into mission control

and you're going to the moon,

colors are a little different.

Displays look brighter.

It's the adrenaline.

Hello, houston.
Hello, houston.

This is apollo 11.
I'm reading you loud and clear.

Go ahead. Over.

My name is glynn lunney,

a flight director for apollo 11.

It was an exciting time for me.

When i sat at the console,
i was responsible

for everything that happened
to the vehicle and the crew.

♪♪

the average age
in mission control

was about 27.

It was kind of like the
nation gave the keys to the car

to a bunch of kids and said,
"go to the moon."

The astronauts,
they had to fly the spacecraft,

but we could see
thousands of measurements --

temperatures, voltages,

all kinds of things
that they couldn't.

Apollo 11, this is houston.

You are confirmed go for orbit.

♪♪

armstrong, aldrin,
and collins have made it into earth orbit,

where they're treated
to a spectacular sight.

♪♪

♪♪

still photographs
taken by collins

provide a perspective of earth
few have seen.

♪♪

the crew of apollo 11
are less than two hours

into the greatest journey
of their lives...

♪♪

...the latest chapter
in an adventure

that began eight years earlier

with an event
that shook the world.

♪♪

♪♪

in april 1961,

soviet cosmonaut yuri gagarin

becomes the first man in orbit.

That was very scary,

because the russians
have this astronaut.

What in the world
is going to happen next?

Determined to outdo the soviets,

president kennedy
announces a bold initiative.

♪♪

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.

When kennedy said we're
going to do it in this decade,

i thought, "are you kidding me?

This is 1961.

We're going to do it
in this decade?

No way."

♪♪

it's an audacious challenge.

♪♪

nasa has no time to lose.

The countdown begins
at cape canaveral, florida,

for one of man's
greatest adventures.

John glenn is one
of seven astronauts

selected for project mercury.

Phase one --
the mercury missions.

The goal --
to launch a man into orbit

and bring him home safely.

The mercury project
was a one-man capsule.

First time we put
people in space.

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, zero.

♪♪

a camera films john glenn

as he becomes the first american
to orbit earth.

All systems are go.

My name is walter cunningham.

I was flying with
the marine corps reserve.

I heard this voice screaming,

"you lucky son of a bitch."

And i looked around
and realized it was me.

I had done that screaming.

Now this is friendship 7.

Beautiful view
of the african coast.

The horizon is
a brilliant blue.

With the success
of the mercury program...

♪♪

...nasa plans
more complex space flights.

♪♪

rare reels of film
record their search for pilots

with the right stuff
to fly them.

When the space program
was first created,

people didn't know what sort
of background they should select

for this strange, new
space role.

Mike collins, seen
in this newly transferred film

from 1962,

hopes he's got what it takes.

Then someone said that the candidates should be graduates

of an accredited
test pilot school.

♪♪

these men, including
a young neil armstrong,

regularly risk their lives,

pushing untried aircraft
to the limits.

Release.

Man

the role of the test
pilot is to do things better,

to do them higher,
to do them faster.

Man

it's exactly
what nasa's looking for.

And there's no shortage
of applicants.

♪♪

my name is jim lovell.

I was at the naval academy
at the time.

I'm al worden.

I had the test pilot training.
I was less than the age limit.

I thought,
"what have i got to lose?"

Rare archive film
shows the successful recruits

meeting the world's press.

I'm bill anders.

To my amazement, i got selected.

I'm harrison schmitt.

I belong to the group 4
scientist-astronauts.

I'm astronaut charlie duke.

A moon flight, if i got one, was
gonna be the ultimate adventure.

Among the new
astronauts are three men

destined to attempt
the first moon landing.

We knew exactly
what nasa was trying to do.

It was going to be
a successful program.

♪♪

apollo 11, this is houston.

Slightly less than one minute
to ignition,

and everything is go.

After 1 1/2 earth orbits,

the crew of apollo 11
must now fly further

and faster than ever before.

Apollo 11, preparing to fire

the third-stage engine again

and put the men
on the trajectory

out toward the moon.

You've got to get your
spacecraft out of earth orbit,

and that requires
and additional burn.

♪♪

it's called t.l.i. --
trans-lunar injection.

♪♪

apollo 11, this is houston.

You are go for t.l.i. over.

Thank you.

♪♪

ignition.

When that engine lights,

it keeps going
faster and faster.

We confirm ignition,
and the thrust is go.

24,000 miles an hour.

♪♪

ignition.mccandless: we confirm ignition,

and the thrust is go.

♪♪

the apollo 11 crew
is breaking away from earth

at extraordinary speeds.

35,000 feet per second.

Film of earth rapidly shrinking

gives a sense of the
acceleration needed to escape --

over 24,000 miles an hour.

♪♪

roger, 11.

The flight to the moon

is a very fragile
daisy chain of events.

You've got to look for,
"what's the next one?

When is that coming up?
How am i gonna cope with that?"

Unseen film gives
a fascinating insight

into the years of training
the astronauts faced

before ever leaving the ground.

♪♪

5, 4, 3...

for a flight to the moon,

failure is not an option.

We use simulators to
practice for the actual mission.

We do everything from lift-off. Roll complete.

We learn how the rocket
is performing.

Pressure's decreasing.

♪♪

astronauts also need
to prepare themselves

for the enormous strain
of launch and landing.

In our centrifuge,
we had to get up to 6 "g"s,

because that is the "g"-loading
that we get during re-entry.

If you've never had an
elephant sitting on your chest,

that's what it felt like.

The blood all pools
in the back of your head.

After about 4 "g"s,

it's difficult
to get to the switches.

As this shocking film reveals,

nasa even used test subjects

to analyze the affects
of extreme launch vibrations.

♪♪

the lead conductor
of these simulations

was a simulation supervisor,

some devil-may-care kind of guy

that would just
drive you insane.

They're constantly
trying to kill you.

The team had enough
failures in the simulator

to make a nine-life cat
look bad.

I mean, i must have been killed
20 or 30 times,

maybe per day.

But with every failure,

their skills only improve.

It's like playing a piano --

you can practice
eight hours a day for months,

to the point where
you don't even think about it.

You just do it.

Learning how to cope
with all these difficulties

gave us a great
feeling of confidence

that we really knew our machine.

♪♪

but in space,
there's little margin for error.

♪♪

just over three hours
after launch,

mike collins prepares for
the next critical maneuver.

What mike had to do was
separate the command module

from the third stage
of the saturn,

and then turn around,
180-degree maneuver,

dock, eject the lunar module,
and then back away.

We're waiting
for the lunar module

to come and pull it out.

And here we hear them.

Apollo 11, this is houston.

You're go for separation.

As the spacecraft turns around,

mike's target
lines up in the lens.

♪♪

it requires skill to get docked.

Very, very slow motion.

Very precise.

♪♪

no reason to hurry.

He had a long time
to get it off of there.

♪♪

mike did a wonderful job.

Everything worked fine.

The three
apollo 11 astronauts --

armstrong, aldrin,
and mike collins --

now with the lunar module
attached to their nose,

they'll be on their way
to the moon.

♪♪

the crew now faced eight days

in the most hostile
environment known to man.

♪♪

my name is bill carpentier.

I was the flight surgeon
assigned to apollo 11.

With the goal of sending
a man to the moon

and returning him
safely to earth,

what we didn't know

was how a man was going
to function in space.

Remastered film shows
nasa left nothing to chance.

♪♪

back in 1964, the space program
is gathering pace.

But with under three days of
human space flight experience,

nasa embarks on phase 2
of their grand plan --

project gemini.

The gemini program
was to try to figure out

all the problems that we'd have
going to the moon.

Nasa launches 10 two-manned
earth-orbiting missions

to practice space walks...

♪♪

...rendezvous...

♪♪

...and docking maneuvers.

♪♪

but the greatest unknown
is the most critical.

Can humans survive the duration
of a moon mission?

Rediscovered nasa film reveals
astronauts gordon cooper

and pete conrad's journey
to find out.

My name is jay barbree.

I reported apollo 11
for nbc news.

Gemini v was known
as 8 days or bust.

It was to prove that we could
live in space long enough

to go to the moon and back.

It was very important,
because no one had ever flown that long.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, zero.

Ignition.

Lift-off.

Nobody knew what would happen.

For how long could man adapt
to weightlessness?

♪♪

gemini v, see you guys
in eight days.

♪♪

it's been a busy day for
astronauts conrad and cooper.

They're now in
their 50th revolution,

passing over south america.

♪♪

roger.

Gordon cooper
and pete conrad tonight

are nearly midway
through their eight-day flight

and showing no signs
of any ill effect.

On the fifth day,
we took over the endurance time from russia.

♪♪

roger. Congratulations.

The main concern was re-entry.

There was no information
about how the astronauts

would handle "g"-forces

after eight days
of weightlessness.

What could be expected when they
returned to earth, nobody knew.

♪♪

film found in the nasa archives

documents the health
of the men during recovery.

I was waiting
for them in the helicopter.

The crew was able to stand up.

They were able to wave.

They were in very good spirits.

♪♪

both of them were joking around.

They were normal.

And so gemini v gave confidence
that we can send man to the moon

and expect him to function
after eight days in space.

♪♪

11, this is houston.

We're receiving a tv picture
coming down from you all.

A day after launch,
the apollo 11 crew transmit

their first live tv broadcast

to millions of viewers on earth.

That's big mike collins there.

Yeah, hello, there,
sports fans.

You got a little bit of me,

plus neil's in
the center couch.

Buzz is doing the camera
work this time.

At the last minute,
they load on board a tv camera.

We did the best we could
with it.

We tried to put on
an entertaining show.

But out prime job
was to get to the moon safely,

and the tv camera was not gonna
help us at all in that regard.

With most of the mission ahead,

the crew must trust their craft

to protect them from
the deadly environment of space.

Houston, apollo 11.duke: go ahead, 11.

♪♪

thanks to stunning
remastered film footage,

we're seeing the apollo 11
mission like never before.

Yeah, neil's standing
on his head again.

He's trying to make me nervous.

Roger.

In the void of space,
the crew's survival

depends on the command module --

a spacecraft born
from a painful past.

♪♪

♪♪

after the mercury
and gemini missions,

nasa begins its ultimate
push to the moon --

the apollo program,

their biggest undertaking ever.

Uncovered film archive reveals
the unprecedented preparations

for landing men on the moon.

The difference between
the gemini program

and the apollo program
was marked.

For one thing, we had
three astronauts on board.

Carrying three astronauts

demands a much more
complex spacecraft.

Cockpit,
crew quarters, command center.

When america's three
astronauts travel to the moon,

they'll use the apollo command
module for all these things.

My name's jerry goodman.

I worked on the interior design

of the command module.

The command module has
to protect against the vacuum

outside of the vehicle.

And you had to have
environmental control,

temperature control,
food and water,

waste management,

and all the rest of the supplies
necessary to sustain them.

It was very complex.

With goal of landing on the moon before the end of the decade,

engineers are pushed for time.

The first one
was scheduled to fly

in february of '67.

There was pressure
to get this done.

We were working 24 hours a day.

There's no doubt
we were moving quickly.

We were working our tails off.

♪♪

rare film from the vaults reveals nasa's press conference

announcing the first crew
of their new spacecraft.

Gentlemen,
the occasion, of course,

is the naming of
the first apollo flight crew.

Lieutenant colonel
virgil gus grissom,

lieutenant colonel
edward h. White,

and lieutenant
roger b. Chaffee.

Man

but if it were,
which two men would go down?

If it was this crew, it would
be me and somebody else.

Needless to say,
i'm extremely excited,

and i think i've got a couple
of the greatest men

in the world to work with.

It's gonna be a lot of fun.

♪♪

remastered film shows
the apollo 1 command module

preparing for a launch test.

We were getting ready
for the first flight,

and everything
was really looking up.

Man

Man

Roger.

Bailer bar down and locked. Check.

Neck ring locked. Check.

Tie down front and back. Check.

It was a plugs-out test,

a dress rehearsal,
if you can think of it that way.

Fixed black-and-white tv cameras

provide live pictures
of the pad tests.

Let me know when you
have secured the door.

We would count down to zero,

and it would stop.

This is e.c.s. go ahead, e.c.s.

the hatch door is secured. Roger.

With grissom, white,
and chaffee sealed inside,

the apollo 1 countdown
test continues.

That wasn't
on my transcript today.

Okay, i'm just
barely reading you.

We were having trouble
with communication.

Commander gus grissom
was really complaining about it.

They stopped the countdown

to see if they could fix
the communication.

♪♪

i kept my headset on,

and i heard this static,

kind of a crackle.

Said, "something's going on
at the cape."

I suspect
by the time i got that out,

it was over.

♪♪

we don't know to this day
exactly where it sparked,

but a fire started
inside the command module.

In those days,
we used 100 % oxygen.

If you ever get a fire started
in a 100 % oxygen atmosphere,

you can burn almost anything.

♪♪

we had a hatch
that is sealed from the inside,

and it got a spark
just like that.

They were all gone
in about 18 seconds.

♪♪

♪♪

we were devastated by the loss of three of our friends.

Going to the moon
or going around the earth,

you're willing to take the risk,

but sitting in
an un-fueled spacecraft,

that was not the way to go.

♪♪

that was not
what we had joined for.

America is stunned by
the deaths of three heroes,

but the archives reveal
a determination

that this should
never happen again.

♪♪

after the fire,
i was put on a team

to straighten out
the command module.

We changed the air,

make sure we went
to a mix of oxygen and nitrogen.

We redesigned the interior

so nothing was flammable.

We decided to go
to a unified hatch

that you could open
outward very fast.

Behind-the-scenes footage

documents a radical redesign
of the command module.

By october 1968,

after almost two years of delay,

nasa finally has a spacecraft
ready to go to the moon.

The fire reminded us
that we had to be careful.

The crew paid a big price,
but they may have saved us.

♪♪

♪♪

safe in their command module,

1/4 million miles from earth,

apollo 11 is closing in
on the moon.

♪♪

the trip to the moon
is rather strange,

in that you're not allowed
to look at the moon.

The reason has to do
with thermal conditions.

To keep the heat
evenly distributed,

you have to turn broadside
to the sun

and rotate the machine
like a chicken on a rotisserie.

But that's about to change.

Apollo 11 must fire
its rocket engine

and be captured
by the moon's gravity,

a maneuver called
lunar orbit insertion.

A mistake at this stage
could prove fatal.

Lunar orbit insertion was one

of the more challenging aspects
of the flight.

11, this is houston.
You are go for l.o.i. over.

Roger.

The maneuver had to be
essentially perfect.

The capture happens
behind the moon,

out of sight
of mission control.

If anything goes wrong,
the astronauts are on their own.

We'll see you
on the other side. Over.

We now have had confirmation

of loss of signal
from the apollo 11.

Apollo 11,
this is houston, over.

Apollo 11, this is houston.

Three days
into their historic journey,

apollo 11 is behind the moon,
cut off from mission control.

♪♪

but film footage
and onboard voice recordings

capture the astronauts'
first reactions

to their close-up view
of the alien world.

-== [ www.OpenSubtitles.com ] ==-

It was a bulbous,
three-dimensional, huge sphere.

Belly stuck out toward us,

it filled the whole window,

so close that you're almost
worried about hitting it.

♪♪

it didn't offer me

any particular warm invitation
to go further.

♪♪

♪♪

we're a
minute-and-a-half away

from acquisition time.

After around 35 anxious minutes,

mission control are waiting
to hear from the astronauts.

With the blackout over,
and locked in lunar orbit,

the crew turned their live
tv camera on the world below.

We're getting
a beautiful picture now, 11.

The lunar surface is the
roughest place i've ever seen --

cratered everywhere,
not one level spot.

The terrain is deadly,

but they're hoping to find
a safe landing spot

in an area called
the sea of tranquility.

♪♪

to attempt a landing,
armstrong and aldrin

must put their lives
in the hands

of the most extraordinary
spacecraft

ever conceived --

its design
and testing documented

in rare remastered films.

♪♪

♪♪

the lunar module
was an extraordinary challenge

for engineers.

The spacecraft had to land
on the moon,

provide protection for the crew,

and get the crew back to
the command and service module.

Film of the early
mockups reveal a craft

that's anything but aerodynamic.

It was designed to fly
outside the atmosphere,

so it doesn't look like
a normal spacecraft.

♪♪

there are two main parts.

The bottom is the descent stage.

The descent stage
had the one big engine

to be throttled so it would make
the landing.

On top is the ascent stage,

which holds the crew
on their way down...

you had no seats.
The crew would have to stand up.

...and when their time is up,

blast them off the surface.

But the lunar module's
greatest challenge is weight.

To maximize the time
you could stay on the moon,

everything was done possible
to keep its mass at a minimum.

The skin was a little
tougher than reynolds wrap,

but not much.

One time, a guy bent over
with a screwdriver in his pocket

and the screwdriver fell out

and went right through
the lunar module.

After seven years of design

and two test flights in space...

...nasa is convinced the lunar
module is up to the job.

Now, with apollo 11, the whole
world is about to find out.

♪♪

♪♪

we're approaching
one of the critical moments

of this flight.

The command module
and the lunar module

will begin undocking.

Armstrong and aldrin
are inside the lunar module,

nicknamed "eagle."

♪♪

roger.

After separation,

collins films and photographs
eagle as it begins its descent.

He's left to orbit the moon

on board the command module,
nicknamed "columbia."

When neil and buzz
went down to the surface,

my job was to fill
that command module.

I was their base camp,
their ticket home.

♪♪

great.

On earth,
hundreds of millions of viewers

follow events as armstrong
and aldrin

attempt to make history.

The lunar module has begun
to drop into the orbit,

which will take it down
to the moon's surface.

Aldrin turns on
eagle's mounted camera

to film its daring descent.

With apollo 11,
the last 50,000 feet --

that's when it became real.

Columbia, eagle, houston.

Both looking good
going over the hill.

Everything else up to that point

we had practiced
in prior missions.

But this was new territory.

We're gonna either land
or we're gonna abort --

one of the two.

♪♪

mission control
charts eagle's progress

on a giant screen.

The room
was absolutely jam-packed.

We were sitting on the floors,
on the steps.

And you talk about excitement.

My role in apollo 11
was capsule communicator --

capcom -- the only person
in mission control

who can actually talk
to the crew.

Roger, understand.

♪♪

we ignited the engine.

As we started the descent,

it seemed like the wheels
came off of the whole thing.

♪♪

we started having
communication problems.

We were having data dropout.

We start having
computer problems.

Mission control faces
a split-second decision --

land or abort.

Roger, copy.

Program alarm.

1202! 1202.

With alarms sounding

on board apollo 11's
lunar module...

give us the reading
on the 1202 program alarm.

...mission control
must make a critical decision --

land or abort.

We had a series of alarms.

I said, "this is it.
Computer's going belly-up.

We won't be able to continue."

We were overloading
the computer.

And it was saying to us,

"you're asking me
to do more than i can do."

But as the cameras reveal,

flight director gene kranz
isn't ready to give up.

- We're go on that, flight.
- We're go on that alarm?

If it doesn't reoccur,
we'll be go.

Roger.

Capcom,
we're go for landing.

Eagle, houston.
You're go for landing, over.

The tension was rising
in mission control

with these things going wrong.

We're go. Same type, we're go.

We're getting close
to touchdown

on the moon's surface.

I'm getting knots
in my stomach.

To land safely,

neil armstrong needs
complete control of eagle.

2,000 feet. 2,000 feet.

Remastered film footage reveals

how his piloting skills
became second to none.

♪♪

♪♪

landing on an alien landscape

requires pilots to master
a complex flying machine...

in an airless,
low-gravity environment.

♪♪

my training was to go
to nasa langley research center

and fly a tethered test vehicle
that's gonna put you in

1/6 gravity.

♪♪

it had the characteristics
control-wise

of the lunar module vehicle.

Once the astronauts master
steering

in a tethered simulator...

♪♪

they graduate to
a self-powered training vehicle.

♪♪

it had a gimbal jet
engine that ran on jet fuel.

You could orient it
by little push rockets

distributed about the vehicle.

♪♪

we had great confidence
in the gauging system.

We'd get down to 20 seconds
and take off again.

That confidence was overrated.

As neil armstrong
is about to discover.

♪♪

♪♪

that morning,
the fuel sensor head failed.

♪♪

we thought he'd had twice
as much time.

He didn't.
And he ran out of gas.

Cameras capture armstrong
grappling for control.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

what the heck happened?
It was so fast.

He just ejected out.

♪♪

that incident got him the job

of landing on the moon,

because they put more faith
in neil armstrong

to make the right decisions
to land

than any other
of the astronauts.

♪♪

now armstrong
faces the ultimate test

of his flying skills.

This time,
ejecting isn't an option.

♪♪

♪♪

coming down to 23.

Less than 1,000 feet
above the moon,

eagle's onboard film camera
rolls

as armstrong sees something
troubling.

When neil finally
looked out the window

and knew where the computer
was going to land him,

he had to change that
because of a crater.

But that means
piloting eagle manually.

350 feet, down at 4.

He over-flew that crater

to find another landing point.

But in doing so, of course,
used up more fuel.

300 feet down, 3 1/2,
47 forward.

He's looking for
a place to land.

I mean, if it's a rock,
it's okay.

But if it's a boulder,
it may not be.

We had to be careful
with the fuel.

There was a limited amount
of it on board.

Charlie duke
starts counting down

to a low-fuel abort call.

60 seconds.

Buzz's focus was inside
looking at the pressures,

the temperatures.

He was calling height above the
surface and his descent rate...

so neil didn't have to take his
attention and look at a gauge.

It was like a song and dance.

They were working together
to get the thing on the ground.

Buzz would make these calls
about every 10 or 15 seconds.

And between two calls,
he slipped in something.

"Picking up some dust" --

it still sends chills
up my back.

"Ooh, we're there.
We're gonna do this."

Around the world,

viewers follow the action
through tv animations.

I was watching tv.

Walter cronkite
was the anchorman.

And i started yelling,

"go, neil! Go, neil! Go, neil!"
Like that.

Drifting to the right a little.

30 seconds.

♪♪

faint shadow.

Everybody's holding
their breath.

♪♪

contact light.

Okay. Engine stop.

I heard buzz say,
"contact. Engine stop."

And we knew they were
on the ground.

♪♪

we copy you down, eagle.

Houston, uh,
tranquility base here.

The eagle has landed.

Roger, tranquility.

We copy you on the ground.

It was like air going out
of a big balloon, you know --

shooo!

You got a bunch of guys
about to turn blue.

We're breathing again.
Thanks a lot.

It's just a great sigh
of relief,

and our hearts are pounding.

Neil is just as calm
as he can be.

Thank you.

He finally made it.

I jumped up and down,
and i started to cry.

I just said, "i knew you could
do it, buddy.

I knew you could do it."

Man on the moon! Phew, boy.

♪♪

moments after touchdown,

buzz aldrin positions
the onboard 16mm camera

to record
neil armstrong's descent.

I was reporting
from mission control.

Nasa had programmed in for them

a four-hour rest period.

I'm talking to neil a couple
of weeks before he takes off

and he says,
"we ain't gonna sleep.

You think i'm gonna sleep
when i just landed on the moon?"

♪♪

okay, houston,
i'm on the porch.

Roger, neil.

Heading down the ladder,

armstrong pulls a cord,

releasing a tv camera.

And we're
getting a picture on the tv.

You got a good picture,
huh?

Currently, it's
upside-down on our monitor.

But we can make out
a fair amount of detail.

The live camera feed
beams back to earth...

♪♪

...giving over half-a-billion
people their first look

at the moon's surface.

It was so wonderful to
see neil armstrong step out.

Okay, neil.

We can see you coming down
the ladder now.

Seeing coverage
around the world,

how many people cared
and how unifying it was --

it made me
a very proud american.

I'm, uh,
at the foot of the ladder.

I watched neil
come down the ladder

on the same screen

that the people
in mission control watched.

They were all very focused
with what was going on.

The surface appears
to be very fine-grained

as you get close to it.

It's almost like a powder.

Neil moves down the pad.

Okay, i'm gonna
step off the lm now.

This was the moment
it was going to happen.

He put one foot down
onto the moon...

♪♪

...and then he said it.

That's one small step
for man...

one giant leap for mankind.

♪♪

the date's now indelible --
july 20, 1969,

the day man reached
and walked on the moon.

♪♪

mission control was so
proud because we were there,

we had done it,
we were on the moon.

♪♪

i had a little bit
of envy, of course,

being the backup commander.

Had something happened to neil
during his training,

i would've been
the actual guy going.

It's too bad he was so good.

As armstrong explores the moon,

his first words are
resonating around the world.

"That's one small step for man,

one giant leap for mankind."

I asked neil, "how did you
figure out how to say that?"

And he says, "well,
i was thinking about the game

we used to play as kids
called mother, may i.

You would say,
'take five small steps'

to reach a certain goal,
or you could say,

'take three giant steps.'"

and he said,
"on the way to the moon,

i got to thinking about
giant steps and small steps

and i kind of
put them together."

But nasa must bring back more than words and pictures.

Okay, i'm on the top step.

Aldrin joins armstrong
on the surface

to help gather priceless
scientific samples.

- Beautiful view.
- Isn't that something?

- Magnificent sight out here.
- Magnificent desolation.

But how do the astronauts know

what the scientists
want collected?

Newly uncovered film reveals

the great lengths they went to
to learn.

♪♪

you can't just go to the moon

and just pick up a few rocks.

You've got to have them at least
describe their landing site,

and they couldn't say
something geological

unless they were
trained in geology.

♪♪

cameras follow the astronauts

as they swap flying
for fieldwork.

I'm jerry schaber, part
of the apollo 11 geology team.

Training the groups
of astronauts was difficult

because,
if you're a test pilot,

geology is the last thing
on your mind.

They were
full of testosterone,

so they were always
fooling around.

♪♪

it was like having a class
that wasn't paying attention.

♪♪

for the reluctant rock hounds,

nasa singles out the most
realistic lunar landscapes.

In hawaii,

we would take them
to the volcanic eruptions

so they could see geology
happening in real time.

I can remember walking
on a lava lake

where you could see
the molten lava down below.

One of the astronauts
said, "i smell rubber."

That was their boots burning

because the lava under them
was still hot.

We went up to where
it was flowing.

Suddenly,
there was a small eruption.

The liquid started to bubble up
more and more.

We got out of there
just in the nick of time.

We were very lucky, i think,

we didn't get trapped
with the lava flows there.

Despite the hazards...

the astronauts soon pick up
the knowledge needed

to practice geology
on the lunar surface.

You learn how to identify
the various rock types

that you might encounter
on the moon.

We studied volcanic rocks,

igneous rocks like granite...

sedimentary rocks.

You learned
if a rock was unusual.

♪♪

the months
of fieldwork are critical.

On the moon, they'll have
less than three hours

to put their training
into practice.

♪♪

♪♪

so-called kangaroo hop.

Live tv coverage
of armstrong and aldrin

doesn't just enthrall
millions of viewers --

it helps geologists monitor
the mission,

revealed here
in the forgotten films.

I was given the assignment

to keep track of the astronauts
on the moon.

I had a map
and two little paper cutouts.

One of them was marked
for "commander."

And one of them was marked "lmp"
for lunar module pilot.

♪♪

roger.

There was a tv camera
over my map table

which could be projected
into the flight control room.

It sounds so silly,

but it was just to keep track
of them like a gps would today.

The tv camera

captures armstrong
collecting the samples.

♪♪

but on the moon,
science comes second to safety.

♪♪

first priority

was to get them back
without any problems.

All the time
they were out there,

we're saying,
"we got to get them back.

We got to get them back."

♪♪

after 2 1/2 hours,

mankind's first moonwalk
is coming to an end.

Keeping tuned now
to mission control

before men leave the moon
for the first time.

The ascent from the moon

was probably the most nervous
for me,

and i'm sure it was
for everyone.

To escape the moon,

the astronauts must depend on
the lunar module one last time.

♪♪

it was one engine --
one sole source of propulsion,

and that engine either worked
or it didn't.

They were dead men
if it didn't work.

Houston, tranquility base.

We're in the process of, uh,
using up what film we have.

♪♪

tranquility base, houston.

You're cleared for takeoff.

Roger, understand.
We're number one on the runway.

It was tense, and there
was nothing that we could do.

9... 8... 7... 6... 5...

abort stage,

engine arm ascent,

proceed.

♪♪

just after liftoff,

aldrin starts the film camera.

To everyone's relief,

the ascent-stage engine
fires flawlessly.

♪♪

after 21 hours alone
in the command module, columbia,

mike collins prepares
to pick up his crew mates.

Getting them up off the moon

and safely back to columbia

had worried me for months.

♪♪

collins films
the approaching lunar module.

Pretty good.

Cameras on the two spacecraft

show them lining up.

♪♪

i stayed
in a perfect 60-mile orbit,

and neil and buzz climbed up
into orbit below me.

Then we could bring
the two vehicles back together

as we had trained to do.

♪♪

back together,

the astronauts reignite
the command module's engine...

...beginning
their three-day journey home.

♪♪

roger.

The astronauts of apollo 11,

on their way back home
for a splashdown on thursday.

The way back from the moon,

it's pretty quiet time
aboard columbia.

That'd be nice.

On earth, cameras
record recovery preparations

targeted for a small splashdown
zone in the south pacific.

What you're worried about is,

from a distance of
a quarter of a million miles,

you're trying to hit
a tiny, little area.

Miss their target,
and the astronauts may end up

in one of the most
hostile places on our planet.

Restored footage shows
how they prepared for the worst.

♪♪

♪♪

if you landed on land,
you could land in a desert.

You could land in the jungles.

And so we learned how to survive
for three days.

In the remote
wastelands of america,

cameras follow the astronauts

as they learn to fend
for themselves

using only what they can
salvage from their spacecraft.

They gave us a bag of water

and a shovel and a parachute.

You've got acres
of nylon material,

and from that material,
you can build tents and clothing

to protect yourself
from the blazing sunlight.

We had to make arab-type dress.

One thing i did learn is,
if you were in the desert,

the idea is to conserve
your sweat.

Parachutes can
even help quench your thirst.

You dig a hole
and you put a can in the bottom

and take a piece of parachute,

and at night, the dew comes down
and drains down this parachute

so you get water.

♪♪

keeping cool
in the desert is one thing --

finding food in the jungle
is another.

The guy living
in houston, texas --

what does he know
about the jungle?

Nothing.

So they put us loose
down in panama for a week,

and we had to live off the land.

Mike collins and i
were teamed up

for jungle survival school.

But we were trained in all the
good things there were to eat.

You could chop the vine
and get water.

You could pick fruit.

They'd hire a native,

and he would serve you
all these goodies.

I decided,
"gorge the night before,

and, if necessary,
go food-less for three days."

Mike raced all around the
jungle, never caught anything,

and was about to collapse
from exhaustion.

♪♪

you had to find critters,
if you could.

We trapped a snake
that we skinned.

♪♪

it was an intriguing
kind of meal.

Tastes a little bit
like chicken.

It was a good
learning experience.

And snake's pretty tasty,
really, if you're hungry.

The astronauts are now prepared

for any eventuality
back on earth.

But they have to
get there first.

♪♪

♪♪

apollo 11, this is houston.

Are you still up there?
Over.

Armstrong, aldrin, and collins

face one final
perilous challenge --

surviving the searing heat
and incredible speed

of coming home.

♪♪

♪♪

it's apollo 11 signing off.

♪♪

♪♪

and the sun
is going down on schedule.

It's getting real dark in here.

♪♪

apollo 11 is almost home.

The crew uses up
its last frames of film

before braving
the fires of reentry.

♪♪

there's always that concern

that you've flown
this entire mission,

and then you might lose them
on landing.

But there's no alternative.

You've got to go through it.

Aldrin turns on
his mounted camera

for the last time,

recording the inferno as they
slam through the atmosphere

at over 24,000 miles an hour.

♪♪

when you get into
the thin upper air,

there's various colors, hues,

little subtle lavenders
around the edge.

As the air thickens,

you meld into the yellows,
the oranges,

the fires of friction.

As the protective
heat shield melts away,

a blazing trail
of burning debris

spews from the spacecraft.

♪♪

there's blackout.

If you're gonna burn up
in a heat-shield fail,

it would be during
that hottest period.

An airborne camera
flying at 40,000 feet

catches the first sight
of apollo 11

streaking through
the earth's atmosphere,

engulfed in a ball of fire.

Aria 3 reported
a visual contact.

To see it reenter
the earth's atmosphere,

you would say,
"here comes a shooting star."

♪♪

♪♪

apollo 11,
houston through aria.

♪♪

with the command
module reentering on target,

in the pacific ocean,
the uss hornet scours the skies

for their first glimpse
of the returning astronauts.

♪♪

apollo 11, apollo 11.

This is hornet. Hornet.
Over.

Hello, hornet.

This is apollo 11
reading you loud and clear.

Our position 1330, 16915.

♪♪

11, hornet. Copy.

♪♪

♪♪

man

hornet, copy.

♪♪

the astronauts of apollo 11,

having left their footprints
on the moon,

have now returned to earth.

In mission control,

the cameras are also rolling,
capturing the elation.

Dave aubrey is at
the manned spacecraft center,

where a real celebration
is under way.

People are gathering
around here,

cheering one another,
congratulating one another.

Everybody lit up
these great big cigars,

and puffing away

and waving american flags.

♪♪

but for
armstrong, aldrin, and collins,

the celebrations
will have to wait.

For them, a whole new phase
of the mission begins,

one designed to safeguard
the survival of humanity.

♪♪

the first astronaut
is now emerging.

A lot of scientists
thought there was a possibility

that the moon harbors
very dangerous pathogens,

and that we were going to
contaminate the whole planet.

Long-lens film footage reveals

the first steps taken
to prevent contagion --

using protective clothing.

The suits
were just rubber bladders.

The south pacific was kind of
warm, and the sun was shining.

I was sweating profusely.

♪♪

on board uss hornet,

news crews jockey
to get the first footage

of the returning astronauts.

I opened the door
of the helicopter,

and the crew walked towards
the mobile quarantine facility.

♪♪

then, bingo --

the doors opened
to our little enclosure.

♪♪

the crew was sealed

inside a modified
gulf stream trailer

and transported back to houston
for quarantine.

♪♪

arriving
at the manned spacecraft center

in houston,

the astronauts will spend
the remainder

of their
21-day isolation period

in this $8 million
special building,

the lunar receiving laboratory.

And stepping out first,
commander neil armstrong.

Previously unseen
footage reveals the lab

where astronauts
and support staff are holed up.

Inside, nasa's cameras
aren't just watching the crew.

We were in quarantine

with this
lovely colony of white mice.

They were exposed
to the lunar material

to test for viruses.

If there were microbes found

that were dangerous
to the earth,

we may be quarantined
for a very long time --

maybe forever?

If the white mice lived,

then olé --
we'd carried this thing off.

If the white mice died,
we were in deep trouble.

Cameras roll
on both mice and men

for another 12 days.

♪♪

thankfully for everyone,
the mice survive.

♪♪

news cameras watch
america's heroes

enter a world changed forever
by their actions.

♪♪

john f. Kennedy
gave us our mandate --

get to the surface
of the moon safely

and return home
all in one piece.

And that's what we had done.

♪♪

today,
the forgotten film footage

from half a century ago

keeps the memories of apollo 11
as fresh as ever.

♪♪

it was the best job
i ever had in my life.

It was fun.

It was really, really fun.

Apollo
was the ultimate adventure.

It was a significant achievement
in the history of man.

It was not a program
just for the american people --

it was apollo
to everybody that saw it.

It was wonderful.

For a short time, it seemed
like all mankind was united.

♪♪

neil told me --
he said, "i was just one man."

He said,
"i just flew the thing.

I'm not a hero.
I was just a pilot.

The heroes are all those people
that did all this other work."

To all the other people

that are listening
and watching tonight,

god bless you.

Good night from apollo 11.

♪♪

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