In a rare and surprisingly detailed letter, Neil Armstrong, mission commander of historic Apollo 11, described how strategic considerations and operational constraints conditioned the first moonwalk in 1969. It was penned in response to a blog posting by Robert Krulwich on National Public Radio questioning the limited range of Armstrong and Aldrin’s moonwalk.
Krulwich did so by laying NASA’s map of the moonwalk over a soccer field and a baseball diamond, showing that the astronauts strayed less than a hundred yards from their lunar module. Armstrong’s longest walk, as Krulwich explained, was akin to “Joe DiMaggio’s jog from home plate to mid-center field.”
Armstrong’s response reflected a careful regard for planning and prudence that the newness of the mission dictated. He noted extremes of temperature, over 200 degrees Fahrenheit, with near-vacuum conditions on the lunar surface. These, combined with the uncertainties of their pressurized suits and water-cooled interiors, dictated a conservative operational radius.
“We did not have any data to tell us how long the small water tank in our backpacks would suffice,” Armstrong explained. NASA officials, therefore, limited their surface working time to 2 and 3/4 hours to prevent hyperthermia. Upon returning to the Lunar Module, they measured the remaining water in their backpacks to validate their predictions.
Armstrong also said that the working necessity was to experiment within the range, which is possible to be viewed by a television camera. It was done to give maximum learning opportunities to the subsequent missions. He admitted that despite all that, he went out of the perimeter to have a look and take pictures of the inner walls of the crater because the possible scientific gain was worth the risk.
In these regards, Armstrong compared this lunar exploration with old-world exploration of the New World and the American West. He said the first six lunar landings, covering areas from suburban lots to small townships, are just the beginning. “That leaves more than 14 million square miles yet to explore,” he pointed out, underlining the vast potential, as yet untapped, awaiting lunar exploration.
Armstrong shares his fascinating insights on the inside views of strategic and operational challenges surmounted in the Apollo 11 mission, which set precedence for human posterity to continue lunar exploration.