FLIGHT PLAN OF APOLLO 11

FOR the first four days of their climactic mission, Astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins will follow closely the space route taken by Apollo 10 in May. Until the lunar module swoops to within 50,000 ft. of the moon, the Apollo 11 crew will face familiar challenges and risks. A minor malfunction could turn the flight into a simple earth-orbital mission or a quick loop around the moon. A more calamitous equipment failure could cause Apollo 11 to crash into the moon or leave the craft stranded in lunar orbit. But from the moment that Houston radios, "We are go for PDI [powered descent initiation]," Armstrong and Aldrin will be blazing a new trail. They will have begun man's first descent to the surface of another celestial body.

Tracking landmarks through the front windows of the lunar module (LM) as it flies face down, the astronauts will fire their descent engine when the craft is 50,000 ft. above the moon and 300 miles east of the planned landing site in the Sea of Tranquillity. Its forward velocity slowed by the blasting engine, the LM will begin dropping closer to the lunar surface. At 39,250 ft., the craft will begin rolling into a face-up position, pitching into an upright attitude at the same time. Twelve minutes later, its rate of fall slowed from 5,660 ft. per sec. to between 3 f.p.s. and 5 f.p.s., the LM will touch down. The first contact with lunar soil will be made by 5-ft. probes dangling from the LM's footpads. When the probes brush the surface, two lights the size of half-dollars will begin flashing in the LM under the white-lettered words, "lunar contact," and Armstrong will cut off the engine. The LM will then drop the last few feet to the surface, touching down at 4:19 p.m. (E.D.T.) on Sunday.

At this point, Astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin will hastily check out the LM for any damage suffered in the landing. Should they discover any serious problems, such as leaking fuel or falling pressure in the cabin, they will abort the mission, blasting off immediately to rejoin Collins in the orbiting command module. If all is well, they will have a brief snack, sleep for four hours and eat a leisurely dinner. Only then will they struggle into their bulky space suits, visored helmets, boots and gloves. With their Portable Life Support System (PLSS) backpacks, which supply air conditioning and enough oxygen for four hours, each will be encased in 183 lbs. of equipment. But under weak lunar gravity (one-sixth the earth's), the total weight of each fully burdened astronaut will be only about 60 lbs.

Left Foot Forward

Some ten hours after the landing, Armstrong will begin EVA (extravehicular activity), backing feet-first out of the hatch, on his belly. On the LM's "porch," he will pull a ring that opens a storage area and exposes a mounted TV camera, which will relay to audiences on earth a view of his awkward progress down the LM's ladder. At the bottom, Armstrong will place his right foot in the bowl-shaped footpad and--by 2:22 a.m. Monday, if he is on schedule--plant his left foot firmly on lunar soil.

Armstrong will first test his ability to walk and maneuver in his bulky suit. Immediately after, he will scoop up some lunar material in a sample bag at the end of a long, telescoping handle and place the bag in his pant-leg pocket. Thus, even if the mission had to be aborted at that moment, Apollo 11 could bring at least some moon material back to earth.

About 25 minutes after Armstrong emerges from the LM hatch, Astronaut Aldrin will pass an electrically powered Hasselblad still camera down a nylon conveyor (similar to a clothesline on pulleys), and then back down the ladder himself. The astronauts will move next to the opened storage area, called MESA, for Modularized Equipment Storage Assembly. Armstrong will detach the TV camera and place it on a stand about 30 ft. from the LM to provide a panoramic view of the surface activities. While Aldrin is setting up a solar wind experiment, consisting of a 1-ft. by 4-ft. aluminum-foil strip designed to capture particles streaming in from the sun, Armstrong will scoop up another 60 lbs. of lunar rocks and soil and place them in an aluminum sample box.

From an equipment bay on the other side of the LM, the busy spacemen will remove EASEP (for Early Apollo Scientific Experiments Payload). They will set up one part of the package--a laser-beam reflector--some 70 ft. from the LM. The other experiment, a seismometer for measuring moonquakes and meteor impacts, will be placed 10 ft. farther away. Both will be left on the moon for the benefit of earthbound scientists (see following section).

Exploring the area within 100 ft. of the LM, Aldrin will scoop up scientifically interesting rocks, while Armstrong photographs each site and takes notes about the specimens. Armstrong will also thrust a core sampler as far as 12 in. into the soil to collect subsurface samples uncontaminated by the exhaust from the LM's descent engine. Up to 60 lbs. of documented rocks will then be placed in a seeond aluminum sample box, along with core samples and the aluminum solar particle collector, and sealed.

Before they depart, the astronauts will leave behind three items of symbolic import: a 3-ft. by 5-ft. U.S. flag stiffened with thin wire so that it will appear to be flying on the windless surface of the moon; a silicon disk bearing good-will messages for posterity from world leaders, including President Tito, Pope Paul and Queen Elizabeth; and a metal plaque bearing the names not only of the three astronauts, but also of President Richard M. Nixon, a fact that has stirred some criticism.

Four-Legged Launch Pad

After Aldrin has climbed back aboard the LM, Armstrong will send the sample boxes up the nylon conveyor and re-enter the spacecraft, about 2 1/2 hours after he first emerged. The astronauts will then toss their PLSS units, overshoes and a camera out of the spacecraft to reduce the possibility of bringing back equipment contaminated by any lunar organisms that might exist.

At 1:55 p.m. Monday, after another 4-hr. sleep period sandwiched between two meals, Armstrong and Aldrin will fire the LM's ascent engine, using the four-legged descent stage as a launch pad. If all goes well, they will rendezvous with Collins and transfer to the command module, taking their precious rocks with them in sealed boxes and leaving the LM in orbit around the moon. From that point on, they will again follow the path of Apollo 10. After firing themselves into an earth-bound trajectory, they will splash down in the Pacific Ocean some 1,160 miles southwest of Hawaii just before 1 p.m. (E.D.T.) on Thursday, July 24, their places in history assured.

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