Phase 6: On the Moon

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Roger, Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

You're looking good here.

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

Okay. We're going to be busy for a minute.

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

MASTER ARM, ON. Take care of the … I'll get this …

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

Very smooth touchdown.

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

Okay. It looks like we're venting the oxidizer now.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Roger, Eagle. And you are STAY for —

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

— T1. Over. Eagle, you are STAY for T1.

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

Roger. Understand, STAY for T1.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Roger. And we see you venting the OX.

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

… copy NOUN 60, NOUN 43. Over.

Michael Collins (CMP)

Houston, how do you read Columbia on the high gain?

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

— We read you five by, Columbia. He has landed, Tranquility Base. Eagle is at Tranquility. Over.

Michael Collins (CMP)

Yes. I heard the whole thing.

Michael Collins (CMP)

Houston, Columbia went UPTELEMETRY COMMAND, RESET, to reacquire on the high gain.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Eagle, Houston. You loaded R2 wrong. We want 10254.

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

And do you want V horizontal 5515.2?

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

Like—AGS to PGNS align.

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

Like an AGS to PNGS align. Over.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Roger. We're standing by for it.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Eagle, Houston. You are STAY for T2. Over.

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

Roger. STAY for T2. We thank you.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Tranquility Base, Houston. We recommend you exit P12. Over.

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

Hey, Houston, that may have seemed like a very long final phase. The AUTO targeting was taking us right into a football field size—football field sized crater, with a large number of big boulders and rocks for about … one or two crater diameters around it, and it required a … in P66 and flying manually over the rock field to find a reasonably good area.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Roger. We copy. It was beautiful from here, Tranquility. Over.

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

We'll get to the details of what's around here, but it looks like a collection of just about every variety of shape, angularity, granularity, about every variety of rock you could find. The colors—Well, it varies pretty much depending on how you're looking relative to the zero-phase point. There doesn't appear to be too much of a general color at all. However, it looks as though some of the rocks and boulders, of which there are quite a few in the near area, it looks as though they're going to have some interesting colors to them. Over.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Roger. Copy. Sounds good to us, Tranquility. We'll let you press on through the simulated countdown, and we'll talk to you later. Over.

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

Okay. This one sixth g is just like the airplane.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Roger. Tranquility. Be advised there's lots of smiling faces in this room and all over the world. Over.

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

Well, there are two of them up here.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Roger. That was a beautiful job, you guys.

Michael Collins (CMP)

And don't forget one in the command module.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Tranquility, Houston. We have you pitched up about 4 1/2 degrees. Over.

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

That's confirmed by our local observation.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Roger.

Expand selection down Contract selection up

Spoken on July 20, 1969, 8:21 p.m. UTC (55 years, 4 months ago). Link to this transcript range is: Tweet

Michael Collins (CMP)

And thanks for putting me on relay, Houston. I was missing all the action.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Roger. We'll enable MSFN relay.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Roger, Columbia. This is Houston. Say something. They ought to be able to hear you. Over.

Michael Collins (CMP)

Roger, Tranquility Base. It sure sounded great from up here. You guys did a fantastic job.

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

Thank you. Just keep that orbiting base ready for us up there now.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Columbia, Houston. LOS 103 27, AOS 104 13. Over.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Tranquility Base, Houston. All your consumables are solid. You're looking good in every respect. We copy the DPS are venting. Everything is copasetic. Over.

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

Houston, the guys that said that we wouldn't be able to tell precisely where we are are the winners today. We were a little busy worrying about program alarms and things like that in the part of the descent where we would normally be picking out our landing spot; and aside from a good look at several of the craters we came over in the final descent, I haven't been able to pick out the things on the horizon as a reference as yet.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Roger, Tranquility. No sweat. We'll figure out—We'll figure it out. Over.

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

You might be interested to know that I don't think we notice any difficulty at all in adapting to one sixth g. It seems immediately natural to move in this environment.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Roger, Tranquility. We copy. Over.

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

The area out the left hand window is a relatively level plain cratered with a fairly large number of craters of the 5 to 50 foot variety, and some ridges—small, 20, 30 feet high, I would guess, and literally thousands of little 1 and 2 foot craters around the area. We see some angular blocks out several hundred feet in front of us that are probably 2 feet in size and have angular edges. There is a hill in view, just about on the ground track ahead of us. Difficult to estimate, but might be a half a mile or a mile.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Roger, Tranquility. We copy. Over.

Michael Collins (CMP)

Sounds like it looks a lot better than it did yesterday —

Michael Collins (CMP)

— at that very low Sun angle. It looked rough as a cob then.

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

It really was rough, Mike. Over the targeted landing area, it was extremely rough, cratered, and large numbers of rocks that were probably some, many larger than 5 or 10 feet in size.

Michael Collins (CMP)

When in doubt, land long.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Tranquility, Houston. After you get through this P57, we'd like an E memory dump. Over.

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

Roger. After this first P57, you want an E memory dump.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Columbia, Houston. We have a P22 update for you, if you're ready to copy. Over.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Roger, Mike. T1, 104 32 18; T2, 104 37 28. And that is 4 miles south. This is based on a targeted landing site. Over.

Michael Collins (CMP)

Okay. Roger. Understand based on a targeted landing site; T1, 104 32 18; T2, 104 37 28, and 4 miles south.

Michael Collins (CMP)

Do you have any idea whether they landed left or right of center line? Just a little bit long, is that all we know?

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Apparently that's about all we can tell. Over.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Tranquility, Houston —

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

And, Houston, our mission timer is now reading 902 34 47 and static.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Roger. Copy your mission timer's now static. It—Say again the time?

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Roger. Copy, Tranquility. That gravity align looked good to us. We see you recycling.

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

Well, no. I was trying to get time, 16 65 out, and somehow it proceeded on to the 622 before I could do a VERB 32 ENTER. I want to log a time here, and then I'd like to know whether you want me to proceed on the torquing angles or to go back and reenter again before torquing. Over.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Tranquility, Houston. We'd like you to recall P57 and run through the gravity align one more time. Over.

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

Roger. I concur with that.

Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)

Roger, Tranquility. For the mission timer, two suggestions. Set the circuit breaker, panel 11; also reset and attempt to start. That nine in the first digit might have something to do with it. Over.

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

Okay. We've tried both of those. If the circuit breaker is in when I reset the—put it in RESET, I get 902 04 40. When I release it now, I get 902 04 49. I'm going to cycle the circuit breaker.