A Ringside View of the Moon Shots, Part 6: Midcourse Corrections

The Apollo 11 mission logo looms large over the Mission Operations Control Room (MOCR) in the Mission Control Center (MCC), Building 30, Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC), where flight controllers are celebrating after learning of the successful splashdown of the Command Module “Columbia” in the South Pacific on July 24, 1969. (NASA Image S69-40299 via NASA on the Commons)

By Steve Milner
Contributing Writer

In one of my strangest recollections of Apollo 11, someone at the Florida spaceport, or at higher NASA management, proclaimed that only astronauts and direct launch-support personnel were authorized to wear the familiar eagle mission logo patch, or put related stickers on their hardhats, lunch boxes, etc. At that time, the spaceport’s employee store and its public Visitor Information Center were already selling these “prohibited” patches and stickers. So after some discussion, this decree was rescinded and the “Eagle” survived for the rest of the world to enjoy. Besides, this logo was a good way to publicize a space mission, as previous ones had done for their flights.

During a nighttime training session on April 11, 1967, a multiple exposure captures the movement of the Lunar Excursion Module Simulator (LEMS). The LEMS was a manned rocket-powered vehicle used to familiarize the Apollo astronauts with the handling characteristics of a lunar-landing type vehicle. The Apollo program is best known for astronaut Neil Armstrong's first step on the moon July 20, 1969. In its earlier test period, the LEMS featured a helicopter crew cabin atop the lunar landing module. Later, the helicopter crew cabin was replaced with a stand-up rectangular cabin which was more efficient for controlling maneuvers and for better viewing by the pilot. The vehicle was designed and fabricated at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Langley also constructed the Lunar Landing Research Facility (LLRF), a unique and imposing erector-set structure which provided the capability to perform simulated lunar landings with the LEMS. The LEMS was designated a national historic landmark in 1986 and is displayed in the Virginia Air and Space Center.  The giant LLRF gantry is still in use at NASA Langley today in multiple roles. (NASA image EL-1996-00001 via NASA on the Commons/Flickr)

In the early days of the Apollo program, the lunar landing vehicle was initially known as the Lunar Excursion Module, or LEM. Somewhere along the line this name was shortened to Lunar Module. I always wondered if someone at NASA thought the term “excursion” sounded too much like a holiday outing.

A transporter carries the Apollo 11 space vehicle to the launch pad, after leaving the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center.  (NASA photo Courtesy of Steve Milner)

And in another unexplained situation, NASA changed the name of its two gigantic vehicles that individually carried un-fueled Apollo space vehicles from their assembly area to the launch pad. Originally known as “crawlers,” when we wrote about them in news stories, their name was eventually changed to “transporters.” Word was that someone at NASA thought the name, “crawler,” sounded too much like a creepy animal or bug.  When I escorted news personnel on the transporter carrying an un-fueled Apollo/SaturnV space vehicle to the launch pad, it traveled at one-mile-per hour. It felt as if we were standing still, as a transporter literally inched its way to the launch site, a trip that took more than three hours.

On December 13, 1972, Eugene A. Cernan salutes the flag on the lunar surface during extravehicular activity (EVA) on NASA's final lunar landing mission, Apollo 17.  Note the distinctive red stripes on his space suit that identify him as the mission commander.  The Lunar Module "Challenger" is in the left background behind the flag and the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) also in background behind him. While astronauts Cernan and Schmitt descended in the Challenger to explore the Taurus-Littrow region of the Moon, astronaut Ronald E. Evans, Command Module pilot, remained with the Command/Service Module (CSM) "America" in lunar-orbit. (NASA Image AS17-134-20380 via NASA on the Commons/Flickr)

One of the lessons learned when astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin were on the Moon didn’t involve science, but was something more down to earth. When the space pilots were outside their lunar module, there were times we couldn’t tell them apart, either during their live television transmissions, or when reviewing post-flight photos and movie footage. As NASA’s principal photo caption writer during manned launches, this situation was difficult for me, in real-time, because I didn’t want to delay the dissemination of official photos to the worldwide news media. But someone came up with the idea that future Apollo commanders would wear a red armband, solving this problem for everyone.

Editor's Note: In addition to serving as public affairs officer for 17 years at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Steve Milner was also a public affairs contractor with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at Cape Canaveral during the manned Gemini, Apollo and Skylab programs.