Special Sub-Topic: Apollo 11 - Four Decades Ago Click Here To Play: Apollo 11 - Four Decades Ago

Does the Apollo 11 mission patch have the names of the crew on it?

No. It was decided that the patch should commemorate everyone who worked on the mission. The patch was designed by Michael Collins.

We know that landing on the moon took place on July the 20th 1969 (21st in places like Australia and New Zealand). What date was the launch site lift off?

July 16th. Lift off occurred on July 16th at 13:32 UTC (9:32am Florida local time). As the rocket began to ascend the announcer said, "Lift Off! We have a lift off. At 32 minutes past the hour."

When Neil Armstrong stepped on to the lunar surface, which radio telescope was used to receive the historic pictures?

Parkes, Australia. Goldstone, Honeysuckle Creek and Parkes were all receiving the signal from the Moon. However, Parkes had the best pictures, so NASA decided to go with it. At the time, Parkes was suffering from winds that were ten times stronger than what is safe for operations, but it was decided not to abandon the task as it was too important. The story of the Parkes dish is told in the movie "The Dish", which was made in 2000. Warkworth is used for telecommunications.

The TLI burn sent the spacecraft from Earth orbit towards the moon. What does TLI stand for?

Trans Lunar Injection. There is an equivalent burn called TEI (Trans Earth Injection) to bring the spacecraft back again. The burn to go into lunar orbit is called Lunar Orbit Insertion. Both the LOI and TEI burns take place on the far side of the moon.

The command module, Columbia, was the only piece of the spacecraft to come back to Earth. Where is its permanent home?

National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC. Michael Collins, the command module pilot, was the director of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum from 1971 to 1978. The flotation collar, the righting spheres and the quarantine trailer are at the Udvar-Hazy center. The Apollo 8 command module is in Chicago and the Apollo 17 command module is in Houston.

A piece of moon rock, brought back by Apollo 11, was embedded in the center of the Space Window. This is a stained glass window located in which cathedral?

Washington National Cathedral. The stone is located in the center of the red "planet". The rock was donated by the crew of Apollo 11 and the window was dedicated on April 21st 1974. Michael Collins is an alumnus of St Alban's School in the Cathedral Close.

After the rather dramatic landing when Armstrong took manual control of the LEM, the computer was giving sporatic error codes, and the LEM was running out of fuel, Armstrong sent the message back "Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Who was the CAPCOM that replied "Roger Twank ... Tranquility, we copy you on the ground. We have a bunch of guys here about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot."?

Charles Duke. All these men were CAPCOM during various parts of the mission. Duke eventually walked on the moon during the Apollo 16 mission in 1972. He was the lunar module pilot.

What do all three members of the Apollo 11 crew have in common?

This was their second spaceflight.. Neil Armstrong's first flight was Gemini 8. Buzz Aldrin had been on Gemini 12. Mike Collins had been on Gemini 10. Apollo 14 was jokingly referred to as an "all-rookie" crew as it was the first spaceflight for Roosa and Mitchell, while Shepard's earlier flight had been a fifteen minute Mercury sub-orbital flight. The crew of Apollo 15 had either an honorary degree or a Masters degree from the University of Michigan.

After Armstrong and Aldrin re-entered the LEM, a circuit breaker that would arm the ascent engine was broken. What was used to activate the switch?

A felt-tip pen.. If it hadn't worked, it would have been possible to reconfigure the LEM circuitry to fire the ascent engine.

At the 27th Science Fiction Worldcon in 1969, were the crew of Apollo 11 presented with a Hugo?

y. The Hugo was for the Best Moon Landing Ever. The Worldcon was in St Louis, Missouri and was known as St Louiscon. It was held from the 28th of August to the 1st of September at the Chase-Park Plaza.