Engineering the Moon Landing - Engineering Space - S01 EP02 - Space Documentary

Little town I'm from in upstate Michigan had a specialty wire manufacturer. They made wire so fine that it could be woven into cloth-like material that was strong, abrasion-resistant, and lightweight.. This was used on the outer boots worn my Niel and Buzz on the lunar surface. Our tiny contribution to a nationwide effort to accomplish this.

0:10 That's my dad in the yellow shirt and tie.

I went to engineering school,with a guy who had worked during the summer at the company that made the legs for the LEM. Machined out of solid aluminium rods, they were about 20 feet long, but had been almost completely hallowed out to reduce weight. He had a piece of one from a failed manufacturing test. Amazing. And that was just one small part of the whole system.

Absolutely wonderful! Seeing these machines, feeling the emotions of the engineers it seems just pure magic to me. Seven years, 24 hour a day these LEM-s were being developed by hundreds of people, well.. it was just possibble that way! I wish I could have been part of Apollo, even just as a cleaner. There is only one Apollo and never ever be something similar. I was born in 1983 but I somehow feel so related to the era..

During college, I worked summers at TRW SYSTEMS IN Redondo Beach. I was in the Non Destructive Test Department. One item which we x-rayed was a titanium manifold. It was about ten inches overall. This hand formed piece was where the two explosive gasses cane together. Two pipes in, one pipe out. There were two fkat flanges and two thin formed sheet halves. The halves were welded together and the flanges were welded to the ends. These four welds were hyper critical die to the enormous stresses at the point of mixing and exploding. Each weld was x-rayed one inch at a time. If there was an imperfection (inclusion) in the weld, it was ground out and rewelded. After all was perfect they were set into the production line. They all worked perfectly. There are seven of these still on the moon. I held them all in my hands. Larry Sorenson, Phoenix Arizona

One of the original actual LEMs that was intended for Apollo 18 but never flew in space can be seen in Washington DC at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Tours are free. To stand just 15 feet away from this amazing piece of history is inspiring!

Thanks to all the wonderful engineers and astronauts that made Apollo a success. The lunar module was always my favorite model and I still have the one that I got a 1972. I have a great deal of respect for what you did and it will continue to motivate new generations of engineers to come. Thank you!!

Absolutely incredible documentary. Just when I thought I had seen them all. It really is heartbreaking and infuriating the level of ignorance that so many people display simply because they can't believe it. Just this one machine and the near miraculous levels of engineering and ingenuity that went into it... and this was just a small fraction of roughly half a million people who worked on the Apollo program. It's been said many times that it was simply easier to do it than to fake it. But here we are in 2024, when people can't believe that we accomplished something so incredible. Then again, look at the thousands of brilliant young scientists and engineers who actually learned & applied critical thinking skills back in those days... and compare them to the output of today's public school system, among other factors. How many people today can't even grasp that the world isn't flat, let alone basic science and common sense, not to mention critical thinking. Anyway, thanks for putting this together. Incredible stuff.

The amount of brain power and man hours dedicated to this endeavor makes me proud to be a human. The paragon of human achievement

There was No TV in entire India in 1969. We saw the Entire "Moon Landing" on a USIS portable TV in Calcutta. After it, Pannalal Hazarika and I went to the US consulate to look for Scholarship, but actually received Immigration Forms. We then arrived at Milwaukee.

Engine throttle capability was a game changer. What a tremendous job!

Great video! Thanks! One of my engineering professors worked on Apollo, and shared amazing stories.

Access to the LEMDE lab at TRW was thru a vestibule with a shoe dip tray containing a cleaning solution. A few feet down the aisle was a full-sized engine. A sign on the engine encouraged you to “pat” the exhaust nozzle for good luck. The “spot” on the nozzle was easily noticeable from the accumulation of thousands of good luck touches. The sign also noted that this engine may end up on the moon. A large banner was strung across the back wall which read, “The last five miles are on us”.

At 31:41, the narrator says, "To the engineers, it seems the astronauts have just escaped certain death". No, it only seems that way to the narrator. If Armstrong's descent fuel level had reached a certain level, there would have been a "Bingo" call. Armstrong would have had to land immediately or abort the mission. If he had aborted, he would have had all of the fuel in the ascent stage available to him. The ascent stage fuel supply was separate from that of the descent stage fuel supply. An abort would certainly have been risky, but it would not have been "certain death."

Well, we're on our way back. Godspeed to Victor Glover 🤘🏿, and his Crew. Can't wait!

Great report

The Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) descent engine was made at TRW Space Systems. I worked on them.

Apart from all the comments one thing stands out IT WAS A STAGGERING AGHIEVEMENT

Que gran ingeniería la del Apollo!! Especialmente el módulo Lunar.

awesome documentation!