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The first landing itself was, was way more dramatic than any of us knew when we were
listening to it. A problem with the guidance system sends Apollo 11
miles off course Down at Mission Control they saw this on a
graphic, a little sort of space invader there, which is a Lunar Module and it suddenly jumped
to four miles off range They'd actually overshot their mark...suddenly
nice level plain where Armstrong had intended to come down, there was no way
they could come down in time for that. So there was a question at that point do they
abort the mission then. Running dangerously low on fuel, Armstrong
overrides the guidance computer and takes manual control.
When he took over, he was looking where we were going and he didn't like where we were
headed. You might land right in a crater because the
computer didn't know that. So that's why we take control the last 500
feet. I was getting a little worried, but I didn't
want to disturb Neil's concentration so I didn't say anything.
75 feet Guys looking good
Armstrong has turned off computer guidance, but the computer's flight control continues
to check his every move and implement his commands electronically.
Information from the joysticks was not being delivered to the Lunar Module and the computer
via any moving parts. No one had ever done this before, that was a first time, it was
the first flying machine in which that had happened.
It's a digital control generated by the computer that tells the thrusters and tells
the engine what to do Once you get to 10 feet, you're going to land
or crash or do something. With just seconds of fuel left, Armstrong
finds a safe landing spot. Ok...engine stop...Houston, Tranquillity base
here...the Eagle has landed... Roger Tranquillity we copy you on the ground.
You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue, we're breathing again, thanks a lot.