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Date: June 21, 2011

Title: Apollo 11 — The Astronauts’ Backgrounds

Podcasters: Thomas Hofstätter and Leon Dombroski

Organization: :: The Hidden Space Project ::

Link: www.hidden-space.at.tf

Description: This podcast is about the first two men on the moon and their peaceful mission, which was a milestone in human history. On July 20, 1969, Neil A. Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first men to set their footprints on another solar object where no man had gone before. They set a new step toward the exploration and maybe colonization of the solar system and beyond.

Bios: Born in 1993 near Vienna, Austria, Europe. Upper High School with focus on Computer Science. Interested in extreme small and extreme big, devious and uninvestigated things. My main aim is to bring astronomy to public and to establish secular interest in astronomy, physics and mathematics. Host of :: The Hidden Space Project :: at http://hidden-space.at.tf.

Leon Dombroski is a co-contributer and he is from the state of Connecticut.

Sponsor: This episode of “365 Days of Astronomy” is sponsored by — NO ONE. We still need sponsors for many days in 2011, so please consider sponsoring a day or two. Just click on the “Donate” button on the lower left side of this web page, or contact us at signup@365daysofastronomy.org.

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to this episode of 365 Days of Astronomy. My name is Thomas Hofstätter and I am the hoster of :: The Hidden Space Project :: at www.hidden-space.at.tf.

[Leon:] And I’m Leon Dombroski from the state of Connecticut in the United States.

I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon, and returning him, safely, to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long – range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.

[Leon:] With these words in a speech on May 25, 1961 John F. Kennedy announced the goal for the race to the moon. On October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union had become the first nation to send an object into space. Sputnik 1 orbited earth for three months and sent signals to earth. This caused a shock for the United States of America. After Juri Gagarin had become the first man in orbit on April 12, 1961, the Soviet Union was one step ahead and for the US it was necessary to achieve the goal of being the first nation to land on the moon.

This podcast series is about the first two men on the moon and their peaceful mission, which was a milestone in human history. On July 20, 1969, Neil A. Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first men to set their footprints on another solar object where no man had gone before. They set a new step toward the exploration and maybe colonization of the solar system and beyond.

[Leon:] Neil Alden Armstrong – later Command Pilot (CP) of Apollo 11 – was born on August 5, 1930 in Ohio. He had an early passion for flying and got his pilot’s license on his sixteenth birthday. Thereafter he became professional pilot and served in the Korean War for the US Navy (USN) and later became a research pilot of the US Air Force (USAF) for high altitude flights. Toward the other astronauts he had most flight experience.

At first he was not interested in applying for a job as an astronaut for the Mercury program:

We reckoned we were more involved in space flight research than the Mercury people, but after John Glenn orbited earth […] we began to look at things a bit differently.

For this reason he applied for the Gemini program in 1962. On March 16, 1966 he first launched into orbit as commander of Gemini 8.

[Leon:] Edwin Eugene “Buzz” Aldrin – later Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) of Apollo 11 – was born on January 20, 1930 in New Jersey. He attended the Military Academy at West Point, New York and graduated as third of the best of 435 students. His strong points were sports and mathematics. Afterwards Aldrin went to the US Air Force as a fighter pilot. He flew 66 missions in North Korea and later was stationed in Western Germany. Later in the US he got a postgraduate degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For his doctorate he wrote Line of Sight Guidance Techniques for Manned Orbital Rendezvous.

When he applied for the job as an astronaut he was accepted on October 3, 1963. Then he worked as a specialist of the Gemini missions and was able to fly the Gemini 12 mission. When the radar failed, he was able to complete the mission manually.

[Leon:] Michael Collins – later Command Module Pilot (CMP) of Apollo 11 – was born on October 31, 1930 in Rome where his father, General James L. Collins, was stationed. Although he had passions for medicine, Collins attended to West Point and later became soldier at the US Air Force. There he was trained for ground use of nuclear bombs.

When he first applied for the job as an astronaut, he was rejected but on his second approach he was accepted on October 17, 1963. His job was to develop space suits and other equipment for extravehicular activity (EVA). On July 18, 1966 he was selected for Gemini 10.

Collins never touched the moon because he had to stay in the command module. When he was asked whether he was frustrated he answered:

I’d either be a liar or a fool if I said that I think I have the best of the three seats on the mission. On the other hand, all these seats are necessary. […] I am going 99.9 per cent of the way, and I don’t feel frustrated at all.

That’s it for today. I hope, you enjoyed it. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, write me an email to hidden-space (at) gmx (dot) at or visit me at my website at www.hidden-space.at.tf.

Thanks for listening and clear-skies!
[Leon:] Good bye for now!

New stories are to come soon!

End of podcast:

365 Days of Astronomy
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