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Apollo 11: The Command Module Transcripts

Conversations between Aldrin, Armstrong and Collins on the mission to the moon when no-one else was listening.

Status: Being written
Book: Hardback
Regular price £30.00
Regular price Sale price £30.00

Description

55 years ago, three men embarked on a journey that would change history for ever . . .

Powered by 1960s technology and relying on the most rudimentary computing power, NASA somehow landed two of those men successfully on the moon. As well being the most audacious scientific feat of all time, it was a mission that required almost superhuman bravery on the part of its three astronauts.

This book reproduces the transcript of their private conversations (what they said to each other rather than their communication with Mission Control). It is a human document that still resonates – the record of three smart, funny men as they hurtle into the vast emptiness of space.

The conversations were captured by a small onboard reel-to-reel tape recorder and later transcribed by NASA. Kept confidential until the late 1970s, they offer an unprecedented, intimate glimpse into Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins’s groundbreaking lunar mission.

From author Jonathan Scott . . .

"The transcripts hit you in a number of ways. On one level their conversations help you grasp the magnitude of what they did, the real-time challenges they were facing and how these were overcome.


But it's the unguarded, unscripted moments that take you right inside the command module like nothing else can. You're eavesdropping on the crew through moments of intense concentration and stress, followed by periods of relative calm.

Throughout the mission you hear them crack jokes, express hopes and fears, admit mistakes, wonder at the view, lose things, find things, encourage, congratulate and poke fun at each other. They sound like three ordinary guys getting on with a job, when the job happens to be the most extraordinary journey ever attempted.

The chatter veers without warning from easy-to-follow pleasantries to arcane procedural language to obscure in-jokes and historical references. Our in-depth annotations will explain the story behind every syllable, from take-off to splash-down."

The original transcript will be accompanied by detailed annotations from Jonathan that explain the scientific intricacies, give background context, and explain how the conversations fit within the different phases of the mission.

A sample of the conversation in the transcript . . .

Collins: Jesus Christ, look at that horizon!

Armstrong: Isn’t that something?

Collins: Goddamn, that’s pretty! This is unreal. I’d forgotten.

Armstrong: Get a picture of that.

Collins: Ooh, sure, I will. I’ve lost a Hasselblad. Has anybody seen a Hasselblad floating by? It couldn’t have gone very far, big son of a gun like that.

Armstrong: Now, what do we have is that all the … ?

Collins: You had the switch on inside. Oh yeah. Okay. Automatic light control features.

Collins: Well, that pisses me off! Hasselblad gone. Find that mother before she or I ends the [garble]. Everybody look for a floating Hasselblad. I see a pen floating loose down here, too. Is anybody missing a ballpoint pen?

Aldrin: Got mine. Is it ballpoint, or is it?

Collins: Yes, ballpoint. Here it is. I mean felt tip.

Collins: Much embarrassed to say they’ve lost a Hasselblad. I seem to be prone to that.
On a previous Gemini mission, Collins had lost a Hasselblad camera whilst on a spacewalk, making it the only spacewalk that hasn't been photographed.

About the Author

Jonathan Scott

Jonathan Scott is a writer, nerd and record collector. He's been obsessed with space since the early 1980s, and recorded the Voyager II flypasts of Uranus and Neptune on Betamax video. His book The Vinyl Frontier told the story of NASA's 1977 mixtape for aliens, the Voyager Golden Record, winning 5* reviews from the Telegraph ("bursts with gloriously geeky detail") and Mojo ("blends extraterrestrial wonder with earthbound charm"). He spoke at the 'Apollo 50' celebrations at Goonhilly Earth Station in 2019, so in a sense was the warm-up act for Public Service Broadcasting and The Radiophonic Workshop. His last book, Into the Groove, was all about the history of recorded sound. He lives near Brighton, is father/step-father to three children, runs a lot, and last had an alcoholic drink in 2014. He also writes for Record Collector and Who Do You Think You Are? magazine.

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