# 'Live' coverage of Apollo 11 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 13, 2009, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-coverage-of-apollo-11/502855 "2009-07-13T15:03:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-coverage-of-apollo-11/502855/41 "2009-07-16T16:24:37Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > stage 1 burn was scheduled for 2m:40.8s Just a note about 2:40.8 vs. the 2:35 I posted. I was counting from liftoff; not from ignition. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-coverage-of-apollo-11/502855/42 "2009-07-16T16:46:35Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Just a note about 2:40.8 vs. the 2:35 I posted. I was counting from liftoff; not from ignition. 😉 Ha, you did fine… I was going to commend you for coming so close! Man, just listening to this in real time… it really brings it home for me. I wasn’t born until '73, so I missed it all, yet I’ve always been fascinated by the Apollo missions. Still, I can’t believe we (humankind) did this. Just wow. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-coverage-of-apollo-11/502855/43 "2009-07-16T16:49:19Z")
Good christ… that CSM/LM connection kinda gave me the shivers. These guys had balls of tungsten carbide. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-coverage-of-apollo-11/502855/44 "2009-07-16T17:03:31Z")
My pop-up window still looks like it’s connected, but I haven’t heard a peep in quite a long time. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-coverage-of-apollo-11/502855/45 "2009-07-16T17:04:42Z")
Seems like a good time to bring up this upcoming show on the History Channel. [Moonshot.](http://www.history.com/genericContent.do?id=71504&paidlink=1&vid=HIS_SEM_Search&keywords=moonshot%2Bshow&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=moonshot&utm_term=moonshot%20show) Monday the 20th, of course. Looks like the amped up dramatizations are going to make it a little on the campy side, but I’m down for the emersion of it all. ETA: Are there any other Apollo or Moon specials coming up? ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-coverage-of-apollo-11/502855/46 "2009-07-16T17:06:40Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > My pop-up window still looks like it’s connected, but I haven’t heard a peep in quite a long time. It’s been going for me. Try reloading. They communicate every couple minutes or so on average. Although, between stages 2 & 3 seemed to be the longest. If you don’t at least hear the static crackle, I don’t think you’re getting the stream. But they’ve been talking a ton now, since the CSM separated. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-coverage-of-apollo-11/502855/47 "2009-07-16T17:07:24Z")
Is there anything donuts can’t do? [From doughnuts to liftoff, Apollo 11 launch was blast - CNN.com](http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/07/16/apollo.launch/index.html?iref=mpstoryview) ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-coverage-of-apollo-11/502855/48 "2009-07-16T17:07:39Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > **Bricker** and **trupa** , well said. I couldn’t agree more. As I see it, space exploration is vitally important as an expression of the human spirit, for the value of the knowledge gained, as insurance against the extinction of humanity, and as a reflection of national purpose and greatness. But as the years go by, I unfortunately find myself less and less confident that we will ever approach the pinnacle that the Apollo program represented. More’s the pity, and shame on us. I entirely agree. Human nature gets in our way. We can hardly agree on anything; even obvious ideas (“all men are created equal”) take centuries or millennia for a majority of people to get on board and make it happen. But it’s worse than that: put up a monument somewhere. No matter how grand, no matter how beautiful, no matter how worthy, some asshat little fucktard is going to vandalize it. Every great human achievement is fraught with peril from the same antagonistic tendencies of that little vandal. Noble ideas appear in Congress and are shot down by one party merely so the other party doesn’t gain prestige. People are going to oppose the idea for the hell of it, and use some crabbed, idiot logic to justify their intellectual vandalism. But the rub is, that justification to besmirch the grand idea is going to be believed by many, and applauded by many. Unless we can convincingly prove that the effort required for things like manned missions to Mars and moonbases will have a clear, short-term economic benefit to the minority of wealthy and powerful, the vandals are going to have their way, and those achievements will remain unachievable. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-coverage-of-apollo-11/502855/49 "2009-07-16T17:26:34Z")
Also of interest: [Houston, We Erased The Apollo 11 Tapes : NPR](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106637066) ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-coverage-of-apollo-11/502855/50 "2009-07-16T17:30:20Z")
Thanks **Elendil,** these are great articles. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-coverage-of-apollo-11/502855/51 "2009-07-16T17:48:12Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > It’s been going for me. Try reloading. I was just coming back to say I did that. It worked. I also have the site opened in a browser and I can hear it there. (But I have that browser hidden so that I can’t hear it, else I get a slight echo.) ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-coverage-of-apollo-11/502855/52 "2009-07-16T18:16:23Z")
Welp, looks like we’ve got 3 days of nothing but distance and communication. I’ll probably just keep the audio running in the background, until Monday. :-p ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-coverage-of-apollo-11/502855/53 "2009-07-16T21:44:13Z")
Heh. I was scratching my head all day. They just reported Apollo 11’s speed as 9000-ish feet per second (and 38000 miles away from Earth). When they left orbit, they had accelerated up to 27000-ish feet per second. I kept thinking “Why are they slowing? They’re in a Vacuum!” Ans: Gravity. They are still climbing uphill! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-coverage-of-apollo-11/502855/54 "2009-07-16T23:13:28Z")
**mlees,** I was wondering the same thing, and came to the same conclusion. I never realized they were decelerating because of earth’s gravity well. Will the moon’s pull eventually counteract it? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-coverage-of-apollo-11/502855/55 "2009-07-16T23:16:25Z")
Yes. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-coverage-of-apollo-11/502855/56 "2009-07-16T23:26:05Z")
This seems like a good place to post some random space-related thoughts… The whole countdown sequence was always incredibly exciting…I loved hearing “ignition sequence started” … “liftoff. We have liftoff.” And I hate what NASA has done with it lately – tarting it up with some expository marketing verbiage about how grand the mission is that they’re now embarking on. “Liftoff on the shuttle Endeavour, and the trip to the space station where we’ll polish up the doorknobs and launch Japan’s entry into the new orbiting satellite technology and blahdebladefingblah…” Only 16 at the time, but I distinctly remember being less than thrilled with Armstrong’s first words. The real thrill – the hair standing up, can’t breathe, this is so cool thrill, came with “Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.” I would’ve thought those words perfect and should’ve been the ones to have been memorialized forever. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-coverage-of-apollo-11/502855/57 "2009-07-16T23:28:33Z")
**jsc1953** : For as long as you have been posting, whenever I see your username I think of Johnson Space Center. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-coverage-of-apollo-11/502855/58 "2009-07-16T23:30:19Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > **jsc1953** : For as long as you have been posting, whenever I see your username I think of Johnson Space Center. You should meet my twin, ksc1953. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-coverage-of-apollo-11/502855/59 "2009-07-17T03:01:29Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > You should meet my twin, ksc1953. > > 🙂 I never worked with KSC. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-coverage-of-apollo-11/502855/60 "2009-07-17T12:25:28Z")
What time on Monday will the Eagle touch down? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-coverage-of-apollo-11/502855.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-coverage-of-apollo-11/502855.md?page=4)