Synopsis:
As mankind's greatest achievement of the 20th century, Apollo 11 stood as the pinnacle of science, exploration, flight and especially technological prowess.Today the exploration of the moon is a distant memory. But as we approach the 35th anniversary of those first steps on another world, we will be amazed by the fact that it was accomplished at all. In scarcely 10 years, America went from rocketing monkeys in 10-minute flights that scraped the edge of space to landing a man on the moon. We forced the technology of the time to the bitter edge? engineering, metallurgy, communications, computing? all these and more were driven to their limits for this grand adventure. And then there were the men aboard the flight. Leaving the Earth on July 16, 1969 were Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Mike Collins. Each was blessed with special skills and abilities, and each would perform his duties without hesitation or error. They too were pushed to the limits of skill and endurance.From the moment President Kennedy announced the moon effort in 1961, NASA was thrown into high gear. At the time, they had just flown Alan Shepard's first sub-orbital flight, and were far from voyaging to the moon. First they needed a huge booster, a rocket, to loft the heavy Apollo hardware away from Earth. It would require the talents of thousands of designers, engineers, and technicians to accomplish? as well as a handful of German rocket scientists from WWII. But within a few years, the giant rocket went from the drawing pad to the launch pad, and the Saturn 5, the most powerful machine ever built, was a reality. Atop the rocket rode the three men that would make this first moon landing. Their home and workplace for the voyage was the Apollo command and service module. It consisted of a capsule with about as much living space as a compact car, a life support system, and a rocket engine. All these systems were critical- if any failed, it could mean death for the crew, for rescue was not an option. The service module engine was the biggest concern- it had to fire numerous times, at least once to place them in the moon's orbit, and once to leave it. It was the first restartable rocket engine ever? and if it failed, there was no way home.And creating a machine to land on the moon became one of the most extensive engineering efforts ever attempted. The Lunar Module was unlike anything every built? in fact, it was the first true spaceship ever designed. Intended to function entirely outside of an atmosphere, the spindly, spider-like machine had to be ultra-light, yet strong enough to fly to and land on the moon. It needed two reliable engines accomplish this, and a sophisticated (for the time) computer to guide it. And, like the command module, it would need to supply the two men inside it with enough oxygen, water, heat and light for the long journey. And once again, it all had to work perfectly. Likewise the spacesuits. A huge stride beyond the primitive Mercury and Gemini suits, the Apollo moonsuit was a small spacecraft unto itself. Designed to withstand a hard vacuum, the abrasive lunar surface, micrometeorites and the blistering heat and icy cold of the moon, the suit was yet another engineering marvel. We will see and experience the flight of Apollo 11 through the eyes of the astronauts, mission controllers, engineersand designers who made it happen. We will experience those frightening, wonderful moments when man first left their tiny spacecraft to explore another world, and be witness to their triumphant return.All this and much more will be seen, heard and experienced on this very special presentation of Modern Marvels: Apollo 11.