Neil Armstrong: A Life of Flight (31 page)

Once undocked the two ships flew in formation for about 30 minutes with their astronauts becoming detailed observers. They were peering down through unfiltered sunlight at the craters and mountains, remembering how reporters dogged them with the question if they were going to ride Snoopy all the way down to 8.4 nautical miles, why not “go all the way?”

First, Snoopy was too heavy for its ascent rocket to lift it off the moon for a rerendezvous with its command ship, and equally important, there were still too many questions about the so-called “mascons,” areas beneath the visible lunar surface. They were believed to be rocks of greater density that exerted higher gravitational forces. These perturbations of lunar gravity could cause dips in the Apollo command ship and its lunar module’s orbits around the moon affecting the ships’ navigational equipment. It would be the job of
Apollo 10
to measure this, to gather needed data to tie up the loose ends and bring them all together in a single tight package for Neil Armstrong and crew.

When it was time to separate John Young fired a burst from Charlie Brown’s maneuvering thrusters and pulled away, while inside Snoopy Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan saw their ride home shrink into the distance.

“Have a good time while we’re gone, babe,” Cernan called, adding tongue-in-cheek, “And don’t accept any TEI updates.”

TEI stood for Trans Earth Insertion—the firing of Charlie Brown’s big service propulsion rocket that would have the command ship leaving the moon for Earth. An update, a new TEI, would mean Young would be leaving without them.

“Don’t you worry,” John told him laughing.

It was the type of fighter pilot banter test pilots often used when their necks were on the line. The three were most aware Tom and Gene were flying a ship that could not get them home. If something went wrong, John would have to come get them.

The countdown to fire the descent engine that would send Snoopy barreling toward the lunar surface began when Stafford and Cernan were over the moon’s far side. Mission Control went through another bout of nail-biting as the astronauts punched through critical maneuvers out of sight and out of touch with mission monitors.

Then they heard the excited voice of John Young from Charlie Brown; he’d appeared first around the limb of the moon, and as he reestablished radio contact with Earth, he fired off the initial message of mission progress: “They are down there,” he confirmed, “among the rocks, rambling through the boulders.”

Moments later Snoopy appeared, and the exuberant voice of Tom Stafford followed Young’s report of boulder tripping. “There are enough boulders around here to fill up Galveston Bay. It’s a fascinating sight. Okay, we’re coming up over the landing site. There are plenty of holes there. The surface is actually very smooth, like a very wet clay—with the excavation of the big craters.”

Cernan’s voice, too, rang with unrestrained excitement. “We’re right there! We’re right over it!” he cried as Snoopy whipped moonward to within the planned 8.4 nautical miles of the Sea of Tranquility. “I’m telling you, we are low, we are close, babe!”

Stafford was suddenly back. “All you have to do is put your tail wheel down and we’re there!” Snoopy swooped low over the moon, actually four miles south of the intended
Apollo 11
landing site because of the navigational errors planners had expected. Had this been the real thing here at the orbit’s low point, Snoopy’s descent engine would have been reignited for a final descent to the moon’s surface.

But this time Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan would simply stay where they were, soaring to a height of 215 miles, their orbit’s peak, before swooping down once more to 8.4 nautical where it would be time for the critical dismembering of Snoopy—separating the lunar craft so the legless upper portion would return them to Charlie Brown.

Astronauts Gene Cernan and Tom Stafford at the controls of the lunar module Snoopy, 8.4 miles above the moon. (NASA)

The two astronauts settled their lunar module into the needed attitude and flight for the separation. The larger descent stage and the smaller ascent stage were held together by four bolts that were to be blown apart by small explosives after which the ascent stage with its crew cabin would rocket away to find Charlie Brown some 300 miles ahead.

They were all buttoned up and ready to jettison Snoopy’s descent stage when Stafford saw a yaw rate gyro indicating an intermitting failure. He immediately began troubleshooting.

The lunar module was equipped with two guidance systems. The primary called the Pings was used for flying the lunar lander down to and from the moon for rerendezvous. The abort system called the Ags should always be shadowing the Pings so if a problem called for the use of the Ags, the crew could hit the Ags anytime down to and up from the moon to rejoin the command module.

As they had gone through their checklist for the separation of the two stages, Gene Cernan told me, “The plan was to test the abort guidance system to make sure it worked, and I reached over and switched navigational control from Pings to Ags.”

They had now set up Snoopy to find Charlie Brown by testing the abort guidance system. Moments later, during his troubleshooting of the yaw rate gyro, Tom reached over and inadvertently hit the guidance switch, changing it back to Pings.

Thinking they were ready for separation they blew the bolts and hell broke loose. Snoopy wheeled around in wild gyrations in radar search of its mother ship. Its snub nose pitched up and instantly pitched down. It then yawed violently between left and right. As close as they were to the lunar landscape the violent moves were terrifying, on the thin edge of lethal, and Cernan saw the surface corkscrew toward them, and he yelled, “Sonofabitch!”

The curse from Cernan sent instant alarm through Mission Control, but before controllers could react to what could have been a moment of danger Tom Stafford immediately killed the abort guidance system switch and took control of the LM manually.

As he gripped the controls, Tom realized Snoopy’s thruster rockets had to stabilize the complete LM. He instantly jettisoned the descent stage 45 seconds early, getting rid of two-thirds of that weight. This gave him far less spacecraft to get under control and the veteran test pilot’s skilled fingers went to work. Within 15 to 20 seconds the LM had calmed itself and settled into the desired attitude. Snoopy was ready to go find Charlie Brown.

“Tom, God bless him,” Gene Cernan told me later. “He did a great job.”

*   *   *

With their nerves and wits restored, Snoopy’s crew fired its ascent rocket and charged ahead to find Charlie Brown. Tom and Gene were two of the best flying the lunar module and their docking with their command ship was
smooooth.

A delighted Tom Stafford told Mission Control, “Snoopy and Charlie Brown are hugging each other.”

The three astronauts, back together in
Apollo 10
, made one more trip around the cratered landscape before beginning the journey homeward. John Young had a bit of information for schoolkids everywhere.

“About the man in the moon,” he said, “We didn’t see one here, but pretty soon there will be two.”

Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan are happy to see their command ship Charlie Brown. (NASA)

John Young, at the controls of the command module Charlie Brown, watches as the lunar module Snoopy pulls up and parks. (NASA)

*   *   *

Back on Earth, the two who would be on the moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, along with their command module master Mike Collins, moved into final training. Despite the odds makers in Las Vegas, the success of
Apollo 10
meant all but one of the “ifs” had been blown away. Only landing remained.
Apollo 11
’s crew couldn’t wait to get its hands on what Tom, John, and Gene had learned.

In the coming days Neil, Mike, and Buzz grew exceedingly pleased with the superb job the
Apollo 10
astronauts had done. They had flown almost precisely the same track over the lunar landscape that
Apollo 11
needed, and had taken very detailed pictures of the descent and landing areas all the way down to the time of engine ignition, the time Neil and Buzz would begin their powered descent.

“
Ten
’s photographs were so useful we could commit to memory the major landmarks for our descent to the surface,” Neil told me. “We could crosscheck every location. We should be able to make sure we were flying the planned track,” he continued. “If we weren’t, I could take over and I felt pretty good about flying Eagle to a safe landing site.”

Snoopy moves in on Charlie Brown. Soon they will be hugging. (NASA)

I could tell there was no longer a question in Neil’s mind. The success of
Apollo 10
simply meant
Apollo 11
would be making the first attempt to land on the moon. The remaining question was when?

Deke Slayton huddled with NASA’s top brass and then called Neil into his office. He stared at a man whose opinion he respected. He asked, “Are you ready?”

Neil was not a man to show overconfidence. But he couldn’t help it this time. “Yes.”

“That’s your assessment?”

“You know you could always use more training, Deke, but we’re there,” Neil said flatly. “We should be ready for the July window.”

Each month the Earth-Moon system rotated into position for the shortest flight between the two—a window of opportunity for the most desirable time to fly—and Deke Slayton gathered with NASA’s top decision-makers again, telling them he had talked to Neil, and Neil said they’ll be ready in July.