Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

11, this is Houston. We're getting a good picture of Buzz now, but no voice modulation. And would you open up the f stop on the TV camera; try 22, please?

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

That appears to be a lot better now. We're still not receiving Buzz's audio.

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

Good evening. I'd like to discuss with you a few of the more symbolic aspects of the flight of our mission, Apollo 11. As we've been discussing the events that have taken place in the past 2 or 3 days here on board our spacecraft, we've come to the conclusion that this has been far more than three men on a voyage to the Moon; more, still, than the efforts of a government and industry team; more, even, than the efforts of one nation. We feel that this stands as a symbol of the insatiable curiosity of all mankind to explore the unknown. Neil's statement the other day upon first setting foot on the surface of the Moon, “This is a small step for a man, but a great leap for mankind,” I believe sums up these feelings very nicely. We accepted the challenge of going to the Moon; the acceptance of this challenge was inevitable. The relative ease with which we carried out our mission, I believe, is a tribute to the timeliness of that acceptance. Today, I feel we're fully capable of accepting expanded roles in the exploration of space. In retrospect, we have all been particularly pleased with the call signs that we very laboriously chose for our spacecraft, Columbia and Eagle. We've been particularly pleased with the emblem of our flight, depicting the U.S. eagle bringing the universal symbol of peace from the Earth, from the planet Earth to the Moon; that symbol being the olive branch. It was our overall crew choice to deposit a replica of this symbol on the Moon. Personally, in reflecting on the events of the past several days, a verse from Psalms comes to mind to me. “When I consider the heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained, what is man that Thou art mindful of him.”

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

The responsibility for this flight lies first with history and with the giants of science who have preceded this effort; next with the American people, who have through their will, indicated their desire; next, to four administrations, and their Congresses, for implementing that will; and then, to the agency and industry teams that built our spacecraft, the Saturn, the Columbia, the Eagle, and the little EMU, the space suit and backpack that was our small spacecraft out on the lunar surface. We would like to give a special thanks to all those Americans who built the spacecraft, who did the construction, design, the tests, and put their—their hearts and all their abilities into those crafts. To those people, tonight, we give a special thank you, and to all the other people that are listening and watching tonight, God bless you. Good night from Apollo 11.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

11, this is Houston. We're getting a zoom view out the window now.

Michael Collins (CMP)

Houston, Apollo 11. Do you want to crank up PTC again; do you have some reason to hold its attitude, or what's your pleasure?

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

You can crank up PTC again, Mike, any time you like. And I might add I thought that was a mighty fine TV presentation. There's certainly nothing I can add to it from down here.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

Apollo 11, this is Houston. Over.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

Okay, 11. I've got a few small items here: one flight plan update and some entry photography information, if you are ready to copy. Over.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

Roger. At 180 hours 50 minutes GET, we should like to delete your oxygen fuel cell purge.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

And on the entry photography, if you are going to use a fresh magazine of color interior film, we recommend the following exposure settings: f11 at 1/250, six frames per second, focus on 7 feet for the fireball; f2.0, 1/60 of a second, six frames per second, focus on 50 feet when the chutes open. If you are using a magazine, part of which has already been used for interior shots, we recommend f16 at 1/500 of a second, six frames per second, focus on 7 feet for the fireball; f2.8, 1/60 of a second, six frames per second, focus on 50 feet when the parachutes open. And we would like to know the magazine number that you are intending to use if you have a chance. Over.

Michael Collins (CMP)

Okay. I think we got those. We will be using a fresh one and it will be color interior. Over.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

Roger. When you get—get it out, we would like to have the number of the magazine and the letter of the magazine relayed down.

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

Okay. And we're thinking that we might want to run some of that at 12 frames per second. And I think we can get everything from 0.5—0.5g down; that will only give us about 7.8 minutes and … frames … double that. I guess maybe just an occasional burst to 12 frames would be what we want and the rest of it at six. Over.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

This is Houston. That plan sounds fine with us, Neil.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

And lastly, we would like to know if your stowage configuration for entry is going to conform to the nominal. The RETRO's down here are anxious to get an accurate e.g. computed for you, and in particular, where the LEVVA's are being stowed. Over.

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Spoken on July 23, 1969, 11:28 p.m. UTC (54 years, 8 months ago). Link to this transcript range is: Tweet

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

Okay. We think we are going to put the LEVVA's and helmets in the hatch bag, and we'll let you know any other nonstandard stowage locations that we complete this evening.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

This is Houston. Roger. Out.

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

Roger. The magazine we'll be using for entry tomorrow is magazine M. Over.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

Roger. Understand. Magazine M as in Mike.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

Apollo 11, this is Houston. Your friendly Green Team going off for the night, and going off for the last time. We wish to bid you a good night and Godspeed.

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

Thank you. We appreciate all that fine work done by the Green Team, and we'll be thanking you in person when we get back.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

Roger. We'll see you on the ground.

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

Really enjoyed working with all of you. Thanks very much. Over.

Michael Collins (CMP)

As usual, all you Greenies.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

They're all smiles down here, even the trench.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

Apollo 11, this is Houston. Over.

Michael Collins (CMP)

Roger. How's our thruster firing activity? We're about ready to crank up PTC if you are.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

Apollo 11, this is Houston. Over.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

11, we'd like you to shift to an OMNI antenna configuration at the present time. We're requesting the S band antenna OMNI switch to Bravo and the S band antenna OMNI switch to OMNI. The high gain antenna track in MANUAL. Pitch minus 50, yaw 270. Over.

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

Roger. I'll do that right now.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

Roger. And if Mike has a minute, we'd like to do a little bit of troubleshooting. It seems he's either flat chested or something because we've lost respiration rate on the BIOMED telemetry. That is, the ZPN trace down here is flat.

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

He was shaving a little bit ago. He might have just let it slip. Hold on a moment.

Michael Collins (CMP)

All the blasted wires are all connected, is all I know.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

Okay, Mike. We had a request that you disconnect the yellow connector from the signal conditioner and verify that it looks okay, reconnect it and then, if you would, check the two electrodes that are placed one on each side of your lower rib cage. Over.