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Neil Armstrong Recalls The Final Stages Of Apollo 11's Moon Landing
Former astronaut Neil Armstrong testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee on supersonic transport. He showed a film of the first Russian made Soviet TU-144. Bettmann Archive
In 2011, just a year prior to his death, Neil Armstrong gave a rare public account of his final few thousand feet of descent in the Lunar Module July 20, 1969. It was before the House Science Committee with other space dignitaries present, including Apollo 17's Gene Cernan.
In typical Armstrong fashion, the account is factual and understated, without much emotion. Accompanying his humble narration were actual images taken from the LM juxtaposed with the same images enhanced by newer Google Moon Map technology. The Google images allowed the audience to more accurately see what Armstrong saw from the windows of his spacecraft. Following are edited excerpts from what he said.
Neil Armstrong: 'I was informed by a gentleman in Australia of an interesting film that has been created in the United States that I did not know about, using Google Moon to enhance the photos that Apollo 11 took on the way down to the lunar surface. I'm going to show it now.
The actual descent of the Lunar Module took twelve-and-a-half minutes, but I'll describe the last three-and-a-half starting at about 3,000 feet in altitude, and then continuing all the way down..
APRIL 18, 2006: Former astronaut Neil Armstrong receives the NASA Ambassadors of Exploration award in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images) NASA via Getty Images
We were descending at a controlled rate, but with many computer warnings, sounding, which we were getting used to by then. The autopilot told us it was going to land us close to the rim of a large crater I could see. I didn't want to go there. It had steep sides and a broad field of large boulders about the size of automobiles.
I looked out about a mile further to the west, where there looked to be a smooth and level landing spot. We saw another crater coming up, about 30 meters or a hundred feet in size, but, beyond it, those level spots that looked good. We were running low on fuel, though, because we'd extended our flight forward.
With about 30 seconds left, we were getting very close to the surface, and could see dust kicking up. We could also see the shadow of our lander leg as it touched down. Then Buzz [Aldrin] said, 'Engine stop,' and the Eagle was down!
From left: US Vice President Dan Quayle, US President George HW Bush (1924-2018), and astronauts Neil Armstrong (1930-2012), Buzz Aldrin (born Edwin Aldrin Jr), and Michael Collins (1930-2021) with NASA's Lunar Module 2 at the National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC, July 20. (Photo by Robert Trippett/Pool) Getty Images
What you see on-screen now is one of the actual vertical pictures taken of the spot where we landed - plus the descent stage of Eagle that contained the rocket engine we'd used for descent and the fuel for that engine, the landing legs and some of the scientific equipment we left behind on the moon. It's a view into history with the help of modern technology.'
