Mr. P, This One's For You

[Kathianne]

Very cool on Apollo XI

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/4317732.html

[Mr. P]

Ahhhh the memories! For days I sat at the TV with my reel to reel tape recorder and a Kodak Instamatic camera loaded with black & white film...

One of the many things I find so impressive about this flight is the lunar lander was seconds from running out of fuel when they touched down...you'd never know it from listening to the transmissions (although it's on the tape) ...all cool calm an collected.

Thanks, K.

[Mr. P]

• Kranz: We got what we call "low level" in the propellant tank. Once we got that indication, we knew we'd have roughly 120 seconds of propellant remaining at a hover throttle setting.

• Carlton: We had never seen that light, never expected to see it. In all of the sims, we had so much margin, that wasn't normally a factor.

• Garman: At that point there was nothing the ground could do except watch. It became a spectator activity. The tension went up noticeably. Very noticeably.

• Duke: When we got down to the last minute or so, it was real quiet. Everybody was glued to his monitor.

• Carlton: I had a stopwatch. I'm looking at it, and at the same time I'm looking at the altitude, and I can see it's still a long way down. I didn't know it, but the guys were flying over a crater. We call up 30 seconds. I'm thinking there's no way we're going to make it.

• Kranz: I'm a Catholic, and in the flight director business, you want all the help you can get.

• Carlton: When the engine shut down, I had 18 seconds to the point where we would have aborted.

Imagine running outta gas that far from home!

[Kathianne]

• Kranz: We got what we call "low level" in the propellant tank. Once we got that indication, we knew we'd have roughly 120 seconds of propellant remaining at a hover throttle setting.

• Carlton: We had never seen that light, never expected to see it. In all of the sims, we had so much margin, that wasn't normally a factor.

• Garman: At that point there was nothing the ground could do except watch. It became a spectator activity. The tension went up noticeably. Very noticeably.

• Duke: When we got down to the last minute or so, it was real quiet. Everybody was glued to his monitor.

• Carlton: I had a stopwatch. I'm looking at it, and at the same time I'm looking at the altitude, and I can see it's still a long way down. I didn't know it, but the guys were flying over a crater. We call up 30 seconds. I'm thinking there's no way we're going to make it.

• Kranz: I'm a Catholic, and in the flight director business, you want all the help you can get.

• Carlton: When the engine shut down, I had 18 seconds to the point where we would have aborted.

Imagine running outta gas that far from home!

I never knew that! Glad I could find that for you!