Moonwalk
Forty years ago tonight, Neil Armstrong cautiously stepped out onto the lunar surface and uttered the famous line “That’s one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind”. What we tend to overlook, however, is what he and Buzz Aldrin did next: they went for a walk. Sure, the initial steps and early bounding around are famous, but Buzz and Neil spent over two hours on the surface, walking around to set up experiments, take pictures and collect moon rocks.
That initial ramble – and the longer ones that followed during the Apollo 12 and 14 missions – are often glossed over in favour of the more ‘exciting’ activities like planting the US flag, unveiling the ‘For All Mankind’ plaque or, in the case of Apollo 14′s Alan Shepard, whacking a golf ball. But those early walks (before later missions went tearing around in a moon buggy) offer a fascinating contrast. The astronauts blasted off from Florida on the largest and most complicated machine ever built. They spent three days traveling through space in the ‘mini planet’ that was the Command Module before entering the highly-specialised Lunar Module to descend towards the surface. Radar telemetry guided them down as three separate computer programs brought them in to land. And then they got out and walked.
Though Buzz and Neil were first, they travelled no further than 160 feet from their spacecraft, Eagle. Their mission was clear: get there safely, plant the flag, grab some moon rocks and get out of there. In November 1969, Pete Conrad and Alan Bean returned to the moon on Apollo 12, this time spending nearly eight hours exploring the Oceanus Procellarum region. They walked 1.2 miles on foot and ventured as far as 1500 feet from their base. Like earth-based Ramblers, they had a local ‘point of interest’ in mind: the Surveyor 3 lunar probe, which had landed on the moon two years earlier. After collecting some pieces of it for study and taking a few snaps, they ambled back to their lunar parking lot.
Apollo 14, the last mission that landed without a moon buggy to explore with, arrived on the moon in 1971. Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell were the hikers this time, but now had a little cart called the Mobile Equipment Transporter to lighten the load. Travelling over two miles on foot, they ventured nearly a mile from their spacecraft, setting up specialised experiments but also doing the things we enjoy back on earthly walks: observing the local geology and collecting interesting-looking rocks. In their case, however, the souvenirs have become priceless. For insurance purposes, NASA once estimated the value of Apollo moon rock at $100,000 per ounce – if it was for sale, which it isn’t. Also among Apollo 14′s precious cargo – and of interest to us outdoor types – were 500 tree seeds carried by Command Module Pilot Stuart Roosa. Back on earth, the seeds were germinated and distributed across America and around the world. Half a dozen of these ‘Moon Trees‘ are apparently growing right here in the UK.
Mission accomplished, Apollo 14 splashed down in the Pacific on February 9, 1971 – ending the era where man truly walked on the moon. So as the world celebrates Neil Armstrong’s famous first step tonight, take a minute to reflect on the ones that followed – and where they might lead us next.
Chris Hatherill is web editor of Walk Magazine.
Images: Apollo 14′s Edgar Mitchell does a little map-reading (top), Buzz Aldrin carrying gear (middle) and the famous bootprint (right), which will be on the moon long after we’re gone. All images NASA.