On July 20, 1969 , more than 600 million people watched American astronaut Neil Armstrong become the first human to set foot on the Moon.
That feat was an unprecedented technological challenge. These were some of the challenges that the experts who participated in the project had to deal with.
– The Apollo Navigation Computer , the computer that, among other things, made it possible to perform the necessary calculations to control the orientation and guidance system of the command module – the vehicle that took the astronauts to lunar orbit – had a memory 32 kB ROM and a RAM of only 2 kB.
Its technical specifications are laughable compared to those of a current smartphone – any one of them is about a thousand times faster – but, at the time, its construction, carried out by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was a milestone in what is refers to the miniaturization of components: it was one of the first to incorporate integrated circuits, it measured 61 x 32 cm and “only” weighed 32 kilos.
– Technicians at the optronic systems firm Angénieux , who had devised the special magnifying lens of the Westinghouse camera worn by astronauts, had to develop a system to protect the optical surfaces from solar radiation and a new mechanical lubrication process, They observed that under the conditions in which their equipment was to be used, the conventional lubricant evaporated and covered the target with a layer of atomized material.
– A team of NASA engineers began work on the flag to be displayed by astronauts on the satellite three months before the Apollo 11 mission departed.
They had to design a special mast made up of two telescopic structures, including a side bar that, attached to the end of the other, would hold the cloth. In this way, although the Moon lacks an atmosphere, it would seem that it would be waving. The idea was that the set, including the container in which it would travel, be as manageable and light as possible. In total, all this weighed 4.2 kilos.
– In his work Rocket men , the writer Craig Nelson summarizes the work of the approximately 400,000 people who collaborated in one way or another for Armstrong and Aldrin to walk on the surface of the Moon in July 1969.
Their spacesuits, for example, were handcrafted by staff at Playtex, a well-known lingerie brand. These were composed of 21 insulating and protective layers made with different materials, many of them devised by DuPont, such as nylon, neoprene, Teflon – an anti-abrasion compound -, mylar – resistant to wear and corrosion – or nomex, which protects from fire.
– In space, the simple act of drinking and eating is not as easy as it seems. Some of the foods that the Apollo 11 astronauts brought on board were heat-stabilized, others were dried, frozen, or needed to be rehydrated before being consumed.
His first menu consisted of small portions of bacon, peaches in syrup, and cookie chips. During the trip they also ingested stew, chicken cream and different soft drinks. The vehicle carried two spigots that provided cold water – for drinking – and hot – for food.
In this weightless environment, if a leak occurred, the water would form spheres that floated in all directions. One of the problems that the crew members could encounter is the depressurization of the ship. In that case, they would have to survive inside their suits and feed themselves through the so-called Contingency Feeding System, a device that injected liquid food through a special opening in the helmet.
