Apollo 11 | Moonwalk One in 4k

Video from the channel The Space Archive about Apollo 11, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 1:40:09. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

A long-form documentary about the Apollo 11 mission, from the eve of launch at Cape Kennedy to splashdown in the Pacific. Besides following the mission step by step, it captures how it was experienced on Earth: spectators on beaches and roads, guests, citizens' opinions for and against the cost, and the work of those who made the spacesuits. It opens with images of Stonehenge, the stone circle aligned with sunrise, and closes with a reflection on moon rocks as a record of the Sun's history and the origin of life.

An interlude revisits the figure of Robert Goddard: his early tests on his aunt's farm in Auburn, Massachusetts, the Daniel Guggenheim grant, and his move to New Mexico with his wife Esther. In 1926 he launched the first liquid-fuel rocket and amassed more than 200 patents. By 1930 his rockets reached 500 mph and 2,000 feet; that same year the three astronauts were born. The documentary also explains the Saturn V and, step by step, the lunar orbit rendezvous scheme, as well as space medicine and the limits of the human body. Weightlessness, it notes, can only be rehearsed on Earth underwater or in parabolic flight.

The crew consists of Neil Armstrong (commander), Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin (lunar module pilot) and Michael Collins (command module Columbia pilot). On 16 July 1969, some 6,000 special guests attend from Pad 39A. The Saturn V's first stage burns for 2 min 41 s, and the S-IVB separates 3 h 11 min into the flight, at 3,140 nautical miles. During the three days of travel, the ship rolls to distribute the Sun's heat, and the crew keeps to Earth time. In lunar orbit, the Eagle separates from Columbia and descends, despite the 1202 alarm, to Tranquility Base. On 20 July 1969, about 500 million people follow the arrival on television. In the two and a half hours of surface activity, samples are collected, panoramic photos are taken, a solar wind experiment, a seismometer and a laser reflector are set up, and the flag is planted. Meanwhile, Collins orbits at 45 miles, with one revolution every two hours. On 24 July the ship splashed down after a reentry at nearly 25,000 mph and was recovered by the aircraft carrier Hornet, with the president on board.