Quote:
Originally Posted by gary
As a background story that was going on at the time, the Soviets had launched their own unmanned space vehicle that was also
in lunar orbit at the same time as Apollo 11. As Cold War tensions were still high, everyone was asking what were they up to
and the worse fear was that somehow this would jeopardize the Apollo 11 crew. The Soviet vehicle began its decent after
Armstrong and Aldrin had already performed their EVA but apparently then crashed. The Soviets at the time simply made a brief
announcement that it had completed its mission. As it transpired, the vehicle was later identified as Luna 15 which was
an unmanned lander that had been designed to retrieve a soil sample and return it to Earth. It was a dramatic end to the Space Race.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gary
Another memory in the weeks and months to the lead-up to the Apollo 11
mission was that NASA would release various gee-whiz facts about the
Saturn V and the Apollo spacecraft.
Some kids at my school would memorize them and challenge each other in the playground.
For example, some kid might ask you how high the Saturn V was and the correct
response was to then ask "fueled or un-fueled?" There was a nominal height
but then the vehicle sagged a few inches under the weight of the fuel. 
Or they might ask, "When the Command Module re-enters the atmosphere.
how much energy does it create?" and you would have to know that it was
enough energy to light Los Angeles for 104 seconds or to lift every person in
the United States ten and three-quarter inches off the ground".
The various fuel consumption figures for the Saturn V were staggering. |
Cool, two amazing bits of trivia there Gary. The unmanned soviet vehicle crashed while the manned US vehicle went on to make history...kinda shows just how far ahead of the Soviets the US really was ...and how incredibly risky it all was.
Unfortunately I was only 2 years and 2 months old when The Eagle landed ...however, I distictly remember watching a luna landing for sure when I was very small.. so I suspect I was watching one of the later landings.
Mike