Chapter 9 of 10

Explosive Bolts: Why My Bottom Half Had to Stay

Stage separation and Ascent Stage liftoff from Tranquility Base (GET 124:22:01)

Told in Eagle’s imagined voice · the events are real · source

AS11-40-5899 (20 July 1969) --- Close-up view of the plaque which the Apollo 11 astronauts left on the moon in commemoration of the historic lunar landing mission.
EagleTwenty-one hours and thirty-six minutes after landing, the countdown reached zero—and explosive blades sliced right through my waist.
NASA/JSC
01In a fraction of a second, pyrotechnic guillotines severed every thick wire bundle, pipe, and steel bolt holding my upper cabin to my lower legs.
Every pound counts when escaping the Moon, so my heavy landing engine, empty fuel tanks, and four wide legs were never coming home.
02By leaving my golden Descent Stage behind on the ground, my small 3,500-pound-thrust ascent rocket only had to lift the lightweight cabin, the two astronauts, and forty-seven pounds of Moon rocks.
S69-39961 (16 July 1969) --- The huge, 363-feet tall Apollo 11 (Spacecraft 107/Lunar Module S/Saturn 506) space vehicle is launched from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center (KSC), at 9:32 a.m.
EagleMy ascent rocket ignited with a silent flash, turning my own lower body into a launchpad on another world!
NASA
03The blast tore crinkly gold Kapton foil from my lower frame and knocked the American flag flat into the lunar dirt as my top half shot skyward at four thousand miles per hour to rejoin Michael Collins.
As the silver cabin vanished into the black sky, the dust slowly settled back down around my four golden legs.
04My dangerous job of carrying humans was finished. My new job—standing guard as humanity's first monument on another world—had just begun.

The big idea

Eagle's Descent Stage did not just land the crew; it served as a solid, level launchpad so the lightweight Ascent Stage could blast back into orbit without hauling heavy landing gear.

Think about it

How did Eagle's bottom half help the astronauts one final time at the exact moment of liftoff?

In this chapter: Pyrotechnic guillotine blades, 3,500-lb-thrust Ascent Engine, and Descent Stage launchpad

Sources: Main record

Machine illustration: AI-made. Photos: NASA Image and Video Library, credited on each picture.

Chapter 9 of 10

Next