CHARLIE DUKE'S STORY OF NEIL ARMSTRONG'S LINE,
"HOUSTON, TRANQUILITY BASE HERE, THE EAGLE HAS LANDED."
"Tell Me A Story - Charlie Duke Talks Down Apollo 11"
[00:00:04] I was privileged to be the CAPCOM on Apollo 11 during the first lunar landing. And we had trained for a couple of months to get as perfect as we could on the landing procedures.
[00:00:24] And as we started the actual landing sequence, things started to go not quite right.
[00:00:36] We first started having problems with our communications, so we had to reorient the spacecraft. Then we had a major problem, I thought.
[00:00:46] It was a computer warning. Master along came, computer says, "1201, 1201," which was an alarm code. And I had not a clue what that was. And I said, “oh, the mission is over” in my mind. I was thinking, we gotta abort. But the guidance guy, Steve Bales, said, "We're go, FLIGHT, we're go on that."
[00:01:10] [recording of Duke during the landing] "We're go, same type, we're go."
[00:01:10] As we continue down, we continue to have these alarm codes.
[00:01:20] [recording of Duke during the landing] "Roger, we got you, we're go on that alarm."
[00:01:23] So we continued down. But then we discovered that when Neil pitched over to see the landing site for the first time, we had him targeted into a big boulder field and it was not suitable for landing.
[00:01:37] So he had a level off at about four or five hundred feet above the moon, fly horizontally for about a mile or more, then slow down his forward velocity, and then start down. Well, all that took a lot of fuel.
[00:01:53] So now we're getting a fuel problem. And the last two calls that we had from Mission Control was to the spacecraft was going to be "Eagle, 60 seconds." That meant he had 60 seconds to land--and then after that would be an abort.
[00:02:12] [Recording of Duke during the landing] "60 seconds."
[00:02:14] And you can imagine the tension is rising in the room. Whereas a lot of activity and sub-conversations are usually going on Mission Control, it was dead silence.
[00:02:27] And so he's still in the landing descent. And then I call, "Eagle, 30 seconds." He had 30 more seconds to land or there would be an abort.
[00:02:38] Well, about 13 seconds later, according to my stopwatch, I heard Buzz Aldrin say, "Contact, engine stop." And so, we knew they were on the ground, hopefully right side up. And then there was a pause.
[00:02:58] And Neil came back in such a cool manner.
[00:03:08] [Recording of Armstrong] "Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.".
[00:03:08] And my response, I was so excited, my response came out first, "Roger, Twan—" and I knew that wasn't right. So, I've corrected it in the middle, mid-word: "Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again."
[00:03:26] And so we all erupted in cheers at that point. And so what started out as a descent that looked like it was going to be aborted even down to the last few seconds, Neil and Buzz were so skilled that they pulled it all off.
[00:00:04] I was privileged to be the CAPCOM on Apollo 11 during the first lunar landing. And we had trained for a couple of months to get as perfect as we could on the landing procedures.
[00:00:24] And as we started the actual landing sequence, things started to go not quite right.
[00:00:36] We first started having problems with our communications, so we had to reorient the spacecraft. Then we had a major problem, I thought.
[00:00:46] It was a computer warning. Master along came, computer says, "1201, 1201," which was an alarm code. And I had not a clue what that was. And I said, “oh, the mission is over” in my mind. I was thinking, we gotta abort. But the guidance guy, Steve Bales, said, "We're go, FLIGHT, we're go on that."
[00:01:10] [recording of Duke during the landing] "We're go, same type, we're go."
[00:01:10] As we continue down, we continue to have these alarm codes.
[00:01:20] [recording of Duke during the landing] "Roger, we got you, we're go on that alarm."
[00:01:23] So we continued down. But then we discovered that when Neil pitched over to see the landing site for the first time, we had him targeted into a big boulder field and it was not suitable for landing.
[00:01:37] So he had a level off at about four or five hundred feet above the moon, fly horizontally for about a mile or more, then slow down his forward velocity, and then start down. Well, all that took a lot of fuel.
[00:01:53] So now we're getting a fuel problem. And the last two calls that we had from Mission Control was to the spacecraft was going to be "Eagle, 60 seconds." That meant he had 60 seconds to land--and then after that would be an abort.
[00:02:12] [Recording of Duke during the landing] "60 seconds."
[00:02:14] And you can imagine the tension is rising in the room. Whereas a lot of activity and sub-conversations are usually going on Mission Control, it was dead silence.
[00:02:27] And so he's still in the landing descent. And then I call, "Eagle, 30 seconds." He had 30 more seconds to land or there would be an abort.
[00:02:38] Well, about 13 seconds later, according to my stopwatch, I heard Buzz Aldrin say, "Contact, engine stop." And so, we knew they were on the ground, hopefully right side up. And then there was a pause.
[00:02:58] And Neil came back in such a cool manner.
[00:03:08] [Recording of Armstrong] "Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.".
[00:03:08] And my response, I was so excited, my response came out first, "Roger, Twan—" and I knew that wasn't right. So, I've corrected it in the middle, mid-word: "Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again."
[00:03:26] And so we all erupted in cheers at that point. And so what started out as a descent that looked like it was going to be aborted even down to the last few seconds, Neil and Buzz were so skilled that they pulled it all off.