Apollo 11 Mission of 50 years ago!

I remembered the Gemini Project of the two-person space capsule, that lead to the Apollo three-person capsule and watching the TV, to keep up with the space program. President John F. Kennedy set the goal for the United States to be the first nation on earth to land a man on the moon. My father Antonio Rendon Hernandez worked at Brooks AFB, the Air Force Aerospace Medicine, where many of the astronauts trained before their flight in space. Brooks AFB was one of the nineteen military bases that help train U.S. astronauts for the NASA program; known as the National Aeronautics, and Space Administration.

My father would take me to his job when they had social functions, and met many of the astronauts as a little boy. It was an exciting time to grow up as a child as the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. known as Russia competing in a space race. Apollo project was going well for Apollo 1 until a tragic accident aboard the capsule where there was a fire. All three astronauts died inside the Apollo 1, a real setback for the U.S. space program.

The tragedy of Apollo 1 pre-fight test accident where astronauts Edward H. White, Roger Coffee, and Virgil (Gus) Grissom had served in prior space missions. On January 27, 1967, were sitting inside the space module when an oxygen tank ruptured and caused a fire inside the space capsule in burning all three astronauts alive. During the Mercury Project and Gemini Project; space capsule was being launched by Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM). The same ICBM’s that the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. were already using in a cold war arms race; both nations were no using them to get men into space for a space race.

NASA had to step back to figure what went wrong and what happened. The U.S. still plans to reach its goal to land a man on the moon by the late 1960s as mandated by President Kennedy. NASA had to redesign a new rocket launch vehicle that could safely put men back into space, and reach the moon by 1969. The space program was many years of modern technology, advancement in sciences, and engineering. 

I remember when I was young in talking to the astronauts visiting Brooks AFB for training and asking the astronauts questions. I learn that many of these astronauts lived in Houston, Texas by mission control. The astronauts always learning, and studying, many of these men had three to five college degrees, spent time in the United States Military, and had their amateur radio license. I remembering asking some of the astronauts at Brooks AFB, why they had a ham radio license, and one of them said that the ham radio was a backup radio communications. The Astronauts said that NASA has a practice of doubling up on systems and procedures. The astronauts encourage me to get my ham radio license.

Brooks AFB opened up Hanger 18 in memory museum of the Apollo 1 crew, and Mrs. White was the honor guest for the dedication of her husband Edward H. White, and two other two astronauts who died on January 27, 1967 at the John F. Kennedy Space Center.

Apollo 7 was the first successful mission of the new rocket systems that would deliver a crew into space. Apollo 8 was the first mission to test the new rocket system to take the astronauts into the moon’s orbit, and return the astronaut safely back to earth. Apollo 9, and Apollo 10 was the mission to fly around the moon to test the new hardware for the command module, and the lunar lander, to prepare for the future of Apollo 11 to actually land a man on the moon surface.

The day finally arrived for the Apollo crew of astronauts Neil A. Armstrong (Commander), Michael Collins (Command Module Pilot), and Buzz Aldrin (Lunar Module Pilot). The eight trip to the moon and back to earth had started on July 16, 1969, at 8:32 a.m. The Apollo 11 crew traveled 230, 000 miles in about 76 hours to the moon’s orbit on July 19, 1969. Commander Module Pilot stayed in orbit on July 20, 1967, when the Eagle Lunar Lander separated from Apollo 11 capsule. Commander Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Aldrin descended onto the moon’s surface. It was an exciting moment as I watched on TV, but it was also a scary moment, not knowing what might happen or not happen. I was a concern for the safety of the astronauts, fearing that some space alien would come out and attack the astronauts.

No such alien attack ever came as both astronauts explored the surface. Commander Armstrong was the first man to step on the moon. His famous words that have lived through U.S. space history, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” as the whole world watched on television. The astronauts placed a U.S. flag on the moon’s surface. The Apollo 11 was seen as an entire success after the astronauts landed the capsule in the ocean, and recovered by the United States Navy. My father worked during the space program to support NASA. I saw the incredible mission of NASA, and that my father was part of the 14,000 personnel that help support each space flight, with the help of the U.S. Military.

After the astronauts landed, all three crew members of the Apollo 11 were placed on medical isolation so that doctors can check for any infections or illnesses. Doctors took precautions, not knowing if the lunar moon samples collected would cause any contamination from medical issues. Following the success of Apollo 11, there were several more moon missions. Apollo 11 marks the 50th anniversary of the first man to walk on the moon. The U.S. space program encouraged me to learn all I can about ham radios, communications, and the use of telescopes to view into the night skies of space.

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