This week in 1969 saw the launch of Apollo 11, which delivered the first astronauts to set foot on the moon. BBC Tomorrow’s World saw the crew during the months of intense, unrelenting simulations that NASA used to prepare them for the historic takeoff.
John Parry of the BBC remarked, “There’s not much room in here, and these couches are very uncomfortable,” while he and James Burke were seated upside down in the Apollo space capsule simulator at the NASA space research center in California in August of 1968. “But it doesn’t matter very much,” he said, “because when you are in space your body doesn’t weigh anything at all.”
BBC Tomorrow’s World visited NASA’s facilities to see how much money and effort the agency was spending attempting to replicate the sights, sounds, and sensations that the crew of Apollo 11 would encounter while in orbit.
President John F. Kennedy pledged the US would pursue the audacious objective of sending a man to the moon and returning him safely to Earth in 1962.
Since then, the space agency has assembled an incredible team, advanced technology, creativity, and tenacity for a project that would finally launch astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins into space and into the annals of history in July 1969.
NASA has constructed a sophisticated network of very accurate simulations to get those astronauts ready for their journey into space. These made it possible for the crew to become proficient with the Apollo spacecraft and for Mission Control to thoroughly practice each stage of the mission, including launch, lunar landing, and re-entry.
The device, which Parry and Burke were strapped into, imitated what it would have been like to be inside and pilot the Columbia-dubbed command module. With all the same displays and flight controls as the space capsule, it could produce all the possible readouts and replies for a voyage. To help the astronauts build muscle memory, it was also made to “feel” just like the ones they would later use.
1353 of the most significant stars are all the right size in respect to one another as they drift gently by Apollo’s window while the craft rotates in deep space. Burke James
“The spacemen who will be inside here may have to spend as much as 14 days locked up and for the whole of that time, they will take it in turns to do eight-hour shifts at this control panel, looking at the dials and the instruments and controlling the switches,” Parry stated.
In order to replicate the experience of being in space, NASA had laboriously built a three-dimensional scale model of Earth and a complex optical system that projected realistic views out the window when the Apollo spacecraft and the planet rotated during the voyage. To prevent the side of the spacecraft facing the sun from overheating and the opposite side from freezing due to the extreme cold, the spacecraft would need to spin gently. This maneuver was named “barbecue mode” by the astronauts.
The astronaut sees a clear image of Earth hundreds of miles below him as the prisms rotate and tumble, reflecting every tiny movement of the ship. It took six painters six months to paint every last aspect of Spain and the North African coast by hand, primarily using satellite images. Burke stated, “This map has some areas that are accurate to within half a mile.”
Another television camera showed lifelike images of the stars in the sky that would be within the crew’s range of vision, enabling them to navigate and ascertain the spacecraft’s position. “They roll gently past Apollo’s window as the craft spins in deep space, 1353 of the most important ones are all the correct size in relation to each other.”
With a variety of complicated systems controlling every facet of the Moon journey, including propulsion and navigation, communication, electrics, and the astronauts’ life support, the spaceship they intended to launch was incredibly complex.
An army of flight controllers had been gathered by NASA, and they sat behind consoles, controlling and keeping an eye on the various systems during every second of flight. With an average age of just 27, many of these flight controllers were young, having been hired right out of college.
“Everything that happens in the capsule in this simulated flight is watched over in this main control room, and another one at the space administration headquarters in Houston, Texas, 1,500 miles away,” stated Burke.
“Both the astronauts testing the equipment and the control room crew record it all for later analysis. They have attempted to make everything here more realistic, at the expense of not duplicating the real-world psychological and physical strains of space travel.”
For the mission, these flight controllers were essential. They performed the duties of a group of co-pilots for the spaceship, communicating information to the crew continuously, keeping an eye on their vital signs, and precisely timing the launching of rockets to maintain the course.
“During a simulated flight, control staff is as busy as the astronauts, checking the mass of computerized information,” stated Burke.
“They are conversing and keeping in constant contact with their counterparts in Texas while observing a bank of closed-circuit television monitors.” The crew must confirm every choice with the onboard computer before changing course because the wall navigation controls are fully functional.
Ready for anything
All possible scenarios were included in the simulations since during the real space trip, the astronauts and the flight controllers would need to be prepared for everything. NASA would simulate potential system failures, anomalies, and emergencies in addition to practicing complex maneuvers like docking and undocking the lunar module. This would test the astronauts’ and flight controllers’ ability to remain composed under pressure, collaborate effectively, communicate accurately, and make quick decisions.
The former flight director of the Apollo missions, Gene Kranz, provided an explanation of the operation of these simulations in 2019 on the BBC podcast 13 Minutes to the Moon.
“Under the direction of a simulation supervisor, your training team’s task is to develop mission scenarios that are completely realistic and will teach all of the crew’s expertise as well as that of the controllers and flight directors. It was as genuine as training could get. The palms would start to grow sweaty. It was genuine now; it was no longer training. The same sentiments and feelings. Adrenaline would flow in the same way,” he added.
These rigorous, draining training exercises strengthened the bonds between the astronauts, flight controllers, and Mission Control, sharpening their capacity to devise creative solutions when things unexpectedly went wrong and eliminating those who couldn’t take the strain.
“We would work out like this ten or twelve times a day during the workday. The BBC was instructed in 2019 by former Apollo flight controller John Aaron to “run it, debrief it, turn it around, and run another one.”
Armstrong felt pressured to abandon even though he was out of fuel and tried to maneuver to locate a smooth landing spot.
At the end of the day, you are exhausted when you leave the room. I used to tell folks that the goal is easy to complete if they could survive the simulations because they weren’t generally working on 20 difficulties at once. Perhaps one.”
The lunar module’s simulator, also known as Eagle, proved to be especially important. Mike Collins remained behind in the command module during the mission, allowing Armstrong and Aldrin to rehearse their descent and landing on the moon.
The Moon’s uneven surface meant that the landing needed exact human control. The flight crew was able to practice what they would do in the event of an engine failure or a landing gear issue by going through the simulations.
Despite getting warning messages from the various systems and machinery, the astronauts and flight controllers were able to make the correct decision during the real landing in 1969 because of their intuitive understanding of them gained via these demanding training scenarios.
In the Past
The BBC’s unique audio and video collection is used in the series “In History” to examine historical events that have lasting relevance. Become a weekly recipient of the related newsletter.
“The final phases of the descent of Apollo 11 were kind of fraught, we had two computer alarms, a 1202 and a 1201 alarm saying that the computer was being overworked, so it was not a good thing,” former NASA flight controller Gerry Griffin stated to Witness History in 2019. Fortunately, we had seen them during the last simulation before the operation was launched, according to Griffin, and the crew was more aware of it when it surfaced during the flight. They gave them a “go” after swiftly checking to make sure all the instructions were proper. The young man who took the call, by the way, was in his 20s.”
A few minutes later, Armstrong was also able to make an instant decision when he noticed, through Eagle’s glass, that the landing spot that NASA had chosen was, in fact, littered with enormous boulders and craters. Even though he was almost out of fuel and felt compelled to land, he chose to maneuver in an attempt to find a smooth landing spot.
It was nerve-wracking for us to witness that. At that moment, it was in Neil Armstrong’s possession,” Griffin stated. “I will always remember Buzz Aldrin saying, ‘We are picking up some dust.'” At that moment, I believed we would succeed since an engine was sweeping dust off the Moon. Neil once said to me, “This is similar to a car.” There remains some remaining fuel in the tank when it is empty.
Five more Moon landings were made by NASA during the lunar program that ran from 1972 to 1972, following the successful landing and return of Apollo 11. Now, with far more advanced technology, the race to take people to the moon is heating up once more. China claims it will send humans to the Moon by 2030, and NASA’s Artemis crew plans to land in 2026.
“You know today, 50 years later, I think the historical significance has more of an impact on me now than it did then,” stated Griffin. Do you realize what we accomplished with outdated technology? It kind of astounds me. The fact that we accomplished what we achieved continues to astound me.”
