Slideshow: Remembering Neil Armstrong & Apollo

8/31/2012 12:29 PM EDT

Some more insights into the character of Neil Armstrong by Washington Post science writer Joel Achenbach:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/achenblog/post/neil-armstrong/2012/08/26/fd66f16c-ef8d-11e1-adc6-87dfa8eff430_blog.html

8/31/2012 5:31 PM EDT

What an inspiring man Armstrong was, for his humility as well as for the intellect and athleticism he had to have to be an astronaut. My impression is that a measure of humility is not understood to be a virtue as much now as it was back then. That's a shame. Even though people have different temperaments, where some are more outgoing and others are more to themselves, there is still something to be learned from him about sharing the limelight, and keeping some restraint on the ego.

9/1/2012 12:37 PM EDT

"Aldrin said that when he looks at the moon, he thinks: “It’s no longer a stranger. It’s a friend.”"...really it might had been a completely different feelings they experienced when they looked at the moon in the night sky after they came back...it was like a puzzle solved for them...
did Neil or other moon walkers feel nostalgic about going back again there?

9/4/2012 6:54 PM EDT

I don't like to complain George and it was an interesting enough article, but I was hoping for a bit more on the technology. For starters, what are all the red and blue thingys on the space suits (page 9)? And it would be really interesting to see some of the electronics boards that were used, with maybe some architecture diagrams or even schematics?

9/4/2012 8:59 PM EDT

Excellent!!

9/5/2012 4:38 AM EDT

I always loved this story I heard about Neil Armstrong-
Some people see the glass as half empty. Some see the glass as half full.
Neil Armstrong, who had to deal with the logic and methodology of scientists and engineers in preparation for his flight to and walk on the moon, reportedly proclaimed: "An engineer would just see the glass as being twice as big as it needs to be."

9/5/2012 8:10 AM EDT

I believe the red and blue thingies are where the umbilicals attach. These are the flight suits and are liquid cooled. During flight, O2, CO2 removal, and suit coolant were supplied by the ship through umbilicals.

9/6/2012 2:54 PM EDT

If you want to hear what it was like to be flying the Apollo 11 command module while entering the moon's domain, listen to this:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo11/audio/11_highlight_2.mp3

Neil Armstrong is as usual on top of the situation, telling CM pilot Mike Collins to keep an eye on engine chamber pressure. Meanwhile, Armstrong observes that the fast approaching moon in "plaster of paris."

The highlight of this audio, which I believe occurs at SPS engine shutdown as the command module settles into lunar orbit, is an exchange between Collins and Buzz Aldrin. Collins is sneaking peeks out the window at the surface of the moon. "Tan, it's tan!" he yells. "Jesus!" Aldrin, an MIT grad, is telling Collins to keep an eye on his instruments. Collins replies: "I take back any bad things I ever said about MIT, which I never have."

9/7/2012 4:19 PM EDT

Its uncanny how similar Neil Armstrong the first Man on Moon looked to Yuri Gagarin, the first Man in Space. Perhaps a case of the genes for the Right Stuff spreading from Russia to Germany ( Armstrong ).