Tranquility Base

[Superluminal]

Best view yet of Tranquility Base. Can't wait to see what the HBer's say. http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/?archives ... s-Own.html

[KLA2]

Right. Looks like a dead fly imbedded in a tortilla to me.

Saw one with the face of Jesus once. :P

[Enzo]

A dead fly with the face of Jesus? Did he rise up and fly away the next day?





Cool photo.

[KLA2]

Looking at that, I imagine how thrilled and awed Neil and Buzz must have been to land and walk there, and how relieved they (and Mike Collins) must have been when the ascent module functioned as it should.

Wow.

[Мастер]

Yep, < 1 min away from an abort on the landing.

So if they can't make it back, I guess Mike Collins heads back alone, and radios them, "Sorry guys, you can't always save everyone" :P

[Arneb]

AFAIK, that was the plan. Collins has said repeatedly that getting his crewmates up from the surface worried him far more than getting them down towards it.

BTW, in the event of an unplanned abort, or an emergency liftoff, he would have had to steer the CM towards the marauded LM - everything would have depended on his skill...

[Мастер]

There was a thread about this at apollohoax. I think the conclusion was, it was a pretty narrow window that allowed them to get into lunar orbit, but not the proper orbit. And if on a sub-orbital trajectory, < 1 hour till crunch time.

[KLA2]

I think few appreciate how many things had to go right ... and against all odds.

The astronauts knew. They went anyway.

[Мастер]

And, they even came back :P

[Arneb]

In "The Shadow of The Moon" (highestly recommended), Collins describes how he wasn't afraid but "mildly worried all the time" because of this "fragile daisy chain of things that had to go right".