"Contact Light"

a personal retrospective of Project Apollo

by Kipp Teague Introduction



"Contact Light" is a nostalgic and personal look back at man's first voyages to the Moon, not from the perspective of a participant, nor from that of a historian, but instead from my own perspective as a young teenager at the time of Apollo, and an avid follower of the space program. Featured here are many "artifacts" and souvenirs from the period, as well as many rare, high-quality NASA images and video clips from the historic Apollo missions.



I consider myself lucky to have grown up in the 1960's. What better perspective to have had than that of a twelve-year-old, old enough to be awestruck by the distant views of Earth beamed down from the capsule of Apollo 8 on Christmas Eve of 1968, but too young to fully comprehend or overly concern myself with the violence and unrest that concurrently plagued a troubled America.



© Chesley Bonestell Estate The era of the "space race" was an exciting period in which to live, and even as a child, one could not help but be aware of the fierce competition that was underway with the Russians, who had taken an early lead by placing the first human (Yuri Gagarin) in Earth orbit. Accompanying the early days of the space-frenzy from a young boy's perspective were toy rockets and models, lunchboxes featuring the space-art of Chesley Bonestell, space-oriented comics, Weekly Reader articles, and television fare such as "Fireball XL-5."

The President's Challenge



"I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important in the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish."



Project Apollo



The Apollo project was dealt a major setback in early 1967 with the tragic Apollo 1 fire and death of its crewmen during training, and it wasn't until October of 1968 (23 months after the final Gemini flight) that manned missions resumed with the launch of earth orbital mission Apollo 7. In the meantime, I and several other friends had developed a strong interest in a new NBC television program: Star Trek. This mix of interests in NASA and Star Trek was natural for me, and the two converged when, at the end of the Star Trek's second season, a time-travel episode was centered on Cape Kennedy and a Saturn V launch (and included footage of the launch of the first Saturn V in the unmanned Apollo 4 mission)



To The Moon



Apollo 8 audio segment Visit the Project Apollo Archive for Apollo 8 multimedia clips.



To the left is the TV view of the lunar surface beamed to Earth as the Apollo 8 astronauts read from the Bible on Christmas Eve, 1968 Also be sure to visit the Project Apollo Image Gallery

for more high-quality Early Apollo images

The Day They Landed



Apollo 11 audio segments Visit the Project Apollo Archive for Apollo 11 multimedia clips.

A few weeks after Apollo 11 returned to Earth, readers of Life magazine were stunned by the clarity of the first published photographs from the Moon. In stark constrast to the fuzzy black & white video broadcast during the moonwalk, the astronauts' photographs revealed the "magnificent desolation" that astronaut Buzz Aldrin had described when he stepped onto the surface.



More Apollo 11 Photographs

Apollo 11

spacecraft

atop Saturn V

on launchpad

The Lunar Module

"Eagle" as

photographed from

"Columbia"

Man on the Moon

(specifically

Edwin E.

"Buzz" Aldrin)

Aldrin unloads the

Apollo Lunar

Surface Experiment

Package

Neil Armstrong

works at the LM

(this is the only

Apollo 11 photo which

includes Armstrong) Also visit the Project Apollo Image Gallery

for more high-quality Apollo 11 images

Modeling Apollo



Apollo/Saturn Models

Revell 1/96th-scale

Saturn V model

photographed 1969

for Junior High

science project



Revell Apollo Lunar Spacecraft 1/48th-scale model

Centuri's 1/100th-scale

Saturn V working

model rocket. See this website's Project Apollo Archive

for more Apollo-related models Apollo Memorabilia

Life Magazine

(September 25, 1964)

Robert McCall gatefold cover

Newsweek

(October 14, 1968)

Gulf Oil Co.

Lunar Module Kit

(click here for instruction sheet)

National

Geographic

(December 1969)

Decca Moon

Landing LP

(1969) See this website's Project Apollo Archive for even more

Apollo memorabilia, including additional magazine covers

Repeat Performance



Apollo 12 audio segment Visit the Project Apollo Archive for Apollo 12 multimedia clips. Also visit the Project Apollo Image Gallery

for more high-quality Apollo 12 images

A Close Call



Original NASA Apollo Timetable

The Apollo 13 near-disaster put the brakes on NASA's Apollo timeline, an ambitious plan that included a trip to the Moon approximately every four to six months in 1970 through 1972. APOLLO 13. March, 1970. Land in Fra Mauro formation of flat highlands, stay about 22 hours. Collect soil and rock from an old area relatively untouched by what many believed were ancient floods or volcanoes. APOLLO 14. July, 1970. Land in Censorinus crater area for a stay of about 22 hours. Investigate craters, possibly carved in moon's surface by meteors. APOLLO 15. November, 1970. Land in Littrow area of volcano-like projections, remain about 22 hours. Attempt a pinpoint landing on an exact, pre-selected target. APOLLO 16. March, 1971. Descend to crater Copernicus, remaining for about 70 hours. Extract from crater and high-rising column within formation rocks believed to be from far below the lunar surface. APOLLO 17. Late in 1971. Land near rugged highland crater Tycho for stay of about 70 hours. Test first moon "rover" vehicle. APOLLO 18. Early 1972. Land in Marius Hills, remain about 70 hours. Collect soil and rock samples from volcanic-like domes and valleys between. APOLLO 19. Middle or late 1972. Land deep in Schroeter's Valley, with about 70 hours on the surface. Attempt a descent into a deep crater to determine cause of mysterious " red flashes " seen there by astronomers. APOLLO 20. Late 1972 or early 1973. Land near the Hyginus Rill, a long, major canyon, for stay of about 70 hours. Investigate canyon for possible lunar core material. This timeline had been altered slightly even before the Apollo 13 mission, when in January, 1970, Apollo 20 was cancelled in order to reserve the last production Saturn V for use in launching the planned Skylab orbiting laboratory a few years later. This change shifted the planned Apollo 18 and 19 lunar missions to 1974 to follow Skylab, but further budget-cutting in late 1970 also resulted in the cancellation of Apollo 18 and 19.

The Cape



More Kennedy Space Center Photographs

Vehicle Assembly Building

and Mobile Launch Towers

Apollo Saturn Facilities

Test Vehicle AS-500F

Rollout of AS-501

(Apollo 4)

Launch Pad 39A and

Crawlerway to VAB See this website's Project Apollo Archive

for more Kennedy Space Center photographs and memorabilia

"It's Been A Long Way..."



(Mercury Redstone 3)

Apollo 14 audio segments Visit the Project Apollo Archive for Apollo 14 multimedia clips. Also visit the Project Apollo Image Gallery

for more high-quality Apollo 14 images

"Man Must Explore"



The day prior to the launch of Apollo 15, we had toured the Kennedy Space Center once again, and had viewed the launch vehicle from close proximity (as close as visitors were allowed, that is...see the movie clip below). At one point during the tourbus ride, we had caught sight of a trio of Corvettes, one red, one blue and one yellow, parked outside the small beachhouse retreat for the crewmen.



In a few days, our vacation took us to Florida's west coast and Sanibel Island, and I found myself facing a serious dilemna. There was sunshine, sand and the ocean just outside our beachfront cottage, but at the same time, two of Apollo 15's astronauts were not just walking, but also driving around on the moon! Actually for me, the choice was quite simple, and despite my father's displeasure, I watched every minute of TV coverage of the moonwalk. I didn't mind. After all, there was no such thing as a home VCR back then, and I wasn't about to miss history in the making.





Apollo 15 Photographs

Detailed view of

Apollo 15 launch

Astronaut Dave Scott and

Rover at Hadley Rille

Apollo 15 CSM

in lunar orbit

Apollo 15 splashdown

with fouled main chute Also visit the Project Apollo Image Gallery

for more high-quality Apollo 15 images Apollo 15 audio segments

Visit the Project Apollo Archive for Apollo 15 multimedia clips.

Prime-Time Apollo



Apollo 16 continued the lunar "J" mission series in April of 1972, landing in the Moon's Descartes region. The J-Missions (Apollo 15, 16 and 17) differed from the previous Apollo flights in that, in addition to carrying a LRV, they each used more advanced versions of the Apollo Lunar Module and Command and Service Modules. Also, on each of these missions, while the Commander and Lunar Module Pilot explored the moon's surface, the Command Module Pilot was busy in orbit using the spacecraft's SIM (Scientific Instrument Module) to photographically map the Moon and to perform a variety of sensing experiments.





Apollo 16 audio segments

Visit the Project Apollo Archive for Apollo 16 multimedia clips. Also visit the Project Apollo Image Gallery

for more high-quality Apollo 16 images

Contact Light



It was Apollo itself that had introduced me to the concept of computer programming, specifically by way of the detailed descriptions of the onboard computer systems provided by John Noble Wilford in his book "We Reach The Moon." I found Apollo's "DSKY" (Display Keyboard) interface, and its simple but powerful NOUN/VERB, data/action command and programming system detailed in the book particularly fascinating. So, it was only natural that I took quickly to the Honeywell "time-sharing" system to which I discovered I had access through my high school's klunky and noisy teletype. Not only was I able to play and work with an honest-to-God computer, but among its many programs was a text-based lunar landing simulator!



For this website, I have incorporated elements of the original 1970's lunar lander program into a JavaScript version which you can play from your browser. Click on the lander display to the right to load the simulator from http://www.retroweb.com/lander.html. Land safely to see a special message and photograph from man's last mission to the Moon. APOLLO LUNAR LANDER SIMULATOR

requires JavaScript1.1-capable browsers such as Netscape Navigator v3.x and Microsoft Internet Explorer v4.x

The Grand Finale



Portion of an Apollo 17 panoramic view taken at Taurus-Littrow "Station 5"

(courtesy David Harland)

With December of 1972 arrived the end of the manned lunar expeditions as Apollo 17 journeyed to the Moon's Taurus-Littrow region. The final mission, which commenced with the first night launch of a Saturn V, was the only Apollo mission to include an astronaut-scientist, Harrison H. "Jack" Schmitt, who held a Ph.D. in geology. Apollo 17 set records for total duration of lunar EVA's (22 hours), distance driven with the LRV (36 km.) and lunar samples collected (254 lbs.), and brought the manned lunar landing missions to conclusion in grand fashion with a spectacular televised lunar liftoff.





Apollo 17 audio segments

Visit the Project Apollo Archive for Apollo 17 multimedia clips. Also visit the Project Apollo Image Gallery

for more high-quality Apollo 17 images

Post-Apollo



On July 20, 1984, Apollo came full circle for me when I attended an anniversary event at the National Air and Space Museum in DC. On hand for the panel discussion and Lunar Landing Party that evening were three moonwalkers, Alan Bean (Apollo 12), Jack Schmitt (Apollo 17) and Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11). It was a memorable birthday for me as we watched a replay of the Apollo 11 ladder descent and first steps, timed to the minute with the actual event that same day in 1969. I am not an autograph collector, but on that day, I not only got an autograph, but also a handshake, from a man who precisely fifteen years prior to that moment had been standing on the surface of the Moon. (Note: My Apollo anniversary experiences would not end here. See below the Apollo 11 30th Anniversary addendum to this retrospective)



The Apollo Legacy



But, it had been worth every penny.

More than simply a means of unravelling the mysteries of the Moon, and despite its roots in cold war oneupmanship, the Apollo program provided a generation with a technical challenge and unifying source of inspiration unlike anything in recent human history, and will most likely remain unmatched in this regard for the foreseeable future. Many like myself owe their choice of technical, scientific and engineering careers at least partly to the inspiration of Apollo. More importantly, with Apollo, our 300,000-year-old species at long last broke the bonds of the Earth and took its first "giant leap" into the Universe.

For those of you who were there in 1969, I hope you enjoyed this nostalgic look back at Project Apollo. For those not around or too young to recall, I hope "Contact Light" has given you some sense of what you missed, and here is hoping that we will all again be witness in our lifetimes to an achievement as grand, as glorious and as significant.

Kipp Teague

September, 1998