Article 4KDXK 'We had 15 seconds of fuel left': Buzz Aldrin on the nervy moon landing

'We had 15 seconds of fuel left': Buzz Aldrin on the nervy moon landing

by
Ian Sample
from Science | The Guardian on (#4KDXK)

Astronaut's newly released video interview describes final moments before 'the Eagle' landed on the moon

Time was running out. The Apollo 11 lunar module was on its historic descent to the moon's crater-pocked surface on 20 July 1969 when a fuel light blinked on. Still 100ft (30 metres) above the ground, it was not what the astronauts needed. The Eagle's tank was nearly dry.

In a new video interview about the momentous first landing on the moon, Buzz Aldrin, the mission's lunar module pilot, describes how he held his tongue when the warning light appeared and Charlie Duke, Nasa's capsule communicator, came on the line from Houston to inform Aldrin and Neil Armstrong they had only 60 seconds left to make it down.

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