Apollo 8 - 50 years anniversary

On Christmas Eve 1968, man reached the Moon for the first time.

Apollo 8 was launched as planned on 21 December 1968 crewed by astronauts Jim Lovell, Bill Anders and Commander Frank Borman. The lift-off of the first manned Saturn V rocket went perfectly, roaring into space with it's millions of horsepower. The experience was so powerful and deafening that the astronauts on board were sure the rocket had exploded and their last hour had come.

It all went perfectly though, and for the first time Mankind left the Cradle of Earth. For the first time human beings saw Earth from space, and the astronauts recounted the vertiginous and almost unreal experience of watching Earth's horizon through the window as it curved away and Earth became what looked like an enormous, bright blue marble.

Only the 24 men that traveled to the Moon 1968-1972 have seen this view with their own eyes. Apollo 8 was the first time. Borman said to himself, "This must be what God sees. I was absolutely awe struck."[5]

After three days' journey the three astronauts reached the Moon on Christmas Eve 1968 and went into orbit around the Moon!
Commander Frank Borman had been told by NASA to prepare a televised Christmas Eve message to the entire world on the part of the crew, and the only instructions he had been given was "do whatever's appropriate." No PR departments or worried political bureaucrats were breathing down his neck then as they undoubtedly would have been today.

Borman already had his hands full with an intensive training program and quickly realized he had been given a task for which he had neither the time, the training, nor perhaps the ability to perform as it deserved. What do you tell the people on Earth on Christmas Eve the first time human beings reach another world? He needed help so he called his friend Si Bourgin, a science advisor at the United States Information Agency, who had often advised Borman previously.

Bourgin wracked his brains trying to get around the problem, but "it just didn't sound right" so he passed it on to his friend, Joe Laitin, newspaperman and public affairs official, who assured him it was a piece of cake and he would have it ready within the 24 hour deadline.

Joseph Laitin quickly realized that this was far from a piece of cake. In the Laitin family's modest home the children had been put to bed and Joseph, working in the kitchen, was struggling with the theme "peace on earth", but simply couldn't get it right. In 1968, the US was deeply involved in a bloody conflict in Vietnam. At home there was constant violence arising from race riots, leftist students protests, assassination attempts as well as the assassinations of well-known political leaders such as Robert Kennedy and Reverend Martin Luther King. Laitin was fully aware that opponents of American policies could easily rip a peace-on-earth speech to shreds, calling it hypocritical, cynical propaganda.

In 1968, the US was deeply involved in a bloody conflict in Vietnam. At home there was constant violence arising from race riots, leftist students protests, assassination attempts as well as the assassinations of well-known political leaders such as Robert Kennedy, and Reverend Martin Luther King. Laitin was fully aware that opponents of American policies could easily rip a peace-on-earth speech to shreds, calling it hypocritical, cynical propaganda.

Something more compelling was needed. Later that evening Laitin got out his bible and began to feel better. He threw himself into the New Testament, jotting down a number of notes from different places, but as the minutes and hours ticked by and it still didn't fall into place, he began to panic.

In the small hours Christine, his wife, made her way downstairs into the kitchen. She found her husband in despair surrounded by mountains of scraps of paper on which he had scribbled quotations from the bible. "My God, Joseph, what have you done?" she exclaimed. The fear that her husband had unexpectedly committed a crime lay in her voice. He quickly reassured her, however, and explained the great task. He wouldn't find what he was looking for in the New Testament, she told him immediately, it would be in the Old Testament.

"That night in the airport lounge, as the astronauts read from Genesis, there wasn't a single word spoken. Not one." Joseph Laitin. Picture taken from Watkins [5]. ("Joseph and Christine Laitin" has no relevant hits at Google images - The Laitins are truly unsung heroes.)

 Joseph burst out despairingly that it was already 3.30 a.m. and he had no idea where to begin in the long and weighty book. "Why not begin at the beginning?" suggested Christine Laitin. He opened the book to the first page and immediately realized that this was it.

The crew approved, and when the great moment arrived, the three Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders started reading from the book of Genesis:

In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth. 

And the Earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep...

Taking turns, the three astronauts read the first 10 verses during the 2-3 minutes breathtaking Christmas television broadcast and all across the globe, people were deeply affected and moved by the event. 

Linking the story of the creation of the universe to the awe-inspiring present was brilliant. An arc was drawn from the beginning of all things to the wonderful present. The arc connected mankind to God.

"It's very difficult to explain to generations today what that mission and television broadcast meant...Just look at America today; People talking on cell phones as they're walking down the street, as they're riding in buses. There's so much noise, we can't hear ourselves anymore. That night in the airport lounge, as the astronauts read from Genesis, there wasn't a single word spoken. Not one." (Joseph Laitin, who, together with his wife Christine got the idea of the mighty Genesis reading [1])

 

This fantastic video-clip is taken from one of my favorite documentaries "Failure is Not an Option". Directed by Rushmore DeNooyer and Kirk Wolfinger from 2003.

Commander Frank Borman stated later that he had the feeling that reading aloud from the Book of Genesis on Christmas Eve, the first day human beings had left Earth for another world, may have been predestined. 

"I had an enormous feeling that there had to be a power greater than any of us, that there was a God, that there was indeed a beginning, and that maybe even our choosing to read from Genesis wasn't a half-assed thing - that maybe it has been ordained some way." (Frank Borman [3])

This highly inspired recording of the full reading (2m:49s) gives a sense of the monumental scale of the Apollo 8 Christmas Eve moment - I find it very moving indeed:

 

 

The Christmas Eve coincidence 

 

And this blog, of course, will not overlook the coincidence of this great moment in history taking place on a Christmas Eve. One could say that man arrived at the Moon, on the same night that God arrived at the Earth! But Apollo 8 was definitely not planned by NASA to be a Christmas event. It was dictated by two major objective facts: 

1) The Americans wanted to reach the Moon as soon as possible, to avoid being upstaged by the Soviet competitors, whom the CIA (rightly) believed were planning their own mission to Moon. 

2) They wanted to reach a 6-Day Moon, to gather as much photos as possible of the planned Apollo 11 landing spot, The See of Tranquility, in the right sun-angle (approximately 11 degrees).

The phase of the Moon had to be similar to that of the planned Apollo 11 landing 20th of July 1969. That was the objective reason why mankind reached the Moon on a Christmas eve.

"...and it had nothing to do - we weren't trying to plot for Christmas Eve. It's just the way the launch window fell out that we would be circling the Moon with Frank Borman on Christmas Eve." (Flight Director Gene Kranz [2])

 

The homecoming - "a very, very, very religious experience"

The first return journey from the Moon went without any major problems. The engines work perfectly and after falling toward Earth for three days the Command Module slammed into the atmosphere at a speed of almost 25,000 mph. If the heat shield failed or the Command Module was turned with the wrong side facing the direction of flight, both the vessel and the astronauts would be vaporized into plasma gas within seconds.

The vessel had to decelerate from 25,000 mph down to some 25 mph in only three minutes. For three minutes the astronauts were subjected to a brutal deceleration up to 7.5 G. For purposes of comparison, imagine braking in a car from 140 mph to 0 mph in a single second, and then continuing to brake for another 180 seconds. A deceleration of this magnitude and duration was almost unbearable even for seasoned test pilots lying in the optimal position for re-entry, with their backs facing the direction of deceleration. Many people considered the approach the most dangerous maneuver of the entire mission, and with good reason.

But everything went smoothly and shortly before dawn on 27 December 1968 Apollo 8, gently swaying under three giant parachutes, floated safely down onto the warm Pacific Ocean. Inside the capsule Borman, Lovell and Anders were strapped upside down, but were relieved and jubilant at having completed the mission. The astronauts were picked up at dawn and taken by helicopter to a real heroes' welcome on board the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown.

"…we beat the Russians to the moon…I had a feeling almost of euphoria, I was so pleased, I was so thankful. Because let's face it, God must have been looking after us or we wouldn't have made it! So it was a very, very, very religious experience for me." (Apollo 8 Commander Frank Borman [4])

Lovell and Anders were US naval pilots whereas Frank Borman was in the Air Force. This was the first time he found himself on the deck of an aircraft carrier. It was a beautiful, warm day with 3,000 sailors cheering and singing at the top of their lungs while the ship's band played and the flags waved triumphantly in the Pacific morning breeze. Borman describes the moment as the high-point of his life:

"…we beat the Russians to the moon…I had a feeling almost of euphoria, I was so pleased, I was so thankful. Because let's face it, God must have been looking after us or we wouldn't have made it! So it was a very, very, very religious experience for me."(Frank Borman [4])

Later the crew went on a triumphal tour of the world meeting celebrities, government leaders and heads of state. They gave press conferences over the entire world and the subject of the Christmas Eve reading from Genesis often came up. One journalist asked the crew what they thought about Gagarin's comment (falsely reported by the Soviet propaganda, Gagarin was a Christian believer!) that he hadn't seen God in space. Frank Borman answered with characteristic frankness:

"I can't comment on what he didn't see, but I saw evidence that God lives. I had a chance to see the lunar surface, a vast, lonely, forbidding and expansive nothing, and at the same time compare it to the creation of the earth with its oceans and continents and eventually man. Reading from Genesis gave us a new meaning, a new grasp of the miracle of creation."[5]

"I saw evidence that God lives... Reading from Genesis gave us a new meaning, a new grasp of the miracle of creation." (Apollo 8 Commander Frank Borman [5])

Borman also visited Rome and had a private audience with Pope Paul VI who expressed his deep appreciation for the astronauts' having "brought God into their mission", and presented Borman with a rare bible in gratitude. Frank Borman recalls the Pope, in a gentle voice saying "For that particular moment of time, the world was at peace"[5]

Frank Borman recalls Pope Paul the sixth, in a gentle voice saying "For that particular moment of time, the world was at peace". (Picture & quote taken from from Borman's autobiography "Countdown" [5])

 

An arc of 1632 years... 

Let's finish with an odd observation for the reader of faith. If you do believe in God, and further: if you do believe it was God's plan that "we would be circling the Moon with Frank Borman on Christmas Eve", then you may also see the Apollo 8 adventure as God's blessing of the date first known to be celebrated as the birthday of Jesus in the year 336 A.D. The night between the 24th and 25th of December.

The exact historical birthday of Jesus is disputed, and probably "unknown" from a purely scientific/historical view. This take from the site history.com seems typical of the strict scientific view (that is, as much as we can say without including the proof of our hearts):

"The first official mention of December 25 as a holiday honoring Jesus’ birthday appears in an early Roman calendar from 336 A.D. But was Jesus really born on December 25 in the first place? Probably not. The Bible doesn’t mention his exact birthday, and the Nativity story contains conflicting clues." 

However, for the believer, in the year 1968 A.D., the story of Apollo 8 gave us God's blessing of the choice of date. 1632 years after the first known celebration. How about that.

God's blessing for you and yours.
/Christian

---------------

References for this post

[1] Billy Watkins, Apollo Moon Missions: The Unsung Heroes, ISBN:9780803260412
[2] Gene Kranz, Interview, 1/8-1999, The Johnson Space Center Oral History Project
[3] Moon Shot. Dir. Kirk Wolfinger. Documentary. 1994.
[4] NOVA: To the Moon. Dir.Kirk Wolfinger. Documentary. 1999.
[5] Frank Borman, Countdown, ISBN: 0688079296

I highly recommend Billy Watkins awesome book "The Unsung Heroes"[1]. It features interviews with a number of key participants in the Apollo project, unknown to the public - some of the "unsung heroes". Among them Joseph Laitin. The description of the origin of the Apollo 8 Genesis reading in this post is partly re-told from the book.

First Man - Film Review

In this post we will have a look on the new movie "First Man" about the life of Neil Armstrong .

To make a long story short, I find the movie to be false, shallow and boring. Everything good, inspiring and meaningful have been systematically filtered from the story.

If you are interested in the life Neil Armstrong, I strongly recommend that you skip "First Man" and read the book or watch this absolutely awesome BBC memorial documentary from 2012:

Let me try to explain, why I am so disappointed.

"First Man" is false and misleading

 

For good reasons, the film has sparked a lot of controversy already, particular regarding the omission of the planting of the American flag on the Moon. We already covered some of that controversy in an earlier post and Brett McCracken wrote this great piece covering the omission of Buzz Aldrin's communion on the Moon (Yes, the first food and the first drink on the Moon where the communion elements).

The film makers have distorted history by removing any trace of the perhaps two greatest cornerstones of this great adventure: The meaning, the why, the greater cause: the fight for freedom. And secondly the who were these great men (and women). The spirits of the human beings involved is completely neglected. One evident result of this is the fact that the audience is not moved emotionally once during the long movie, which really is a first for films portraying the Apollo project.

There is no sign of the excellence that so characterized machines and men, not least Neil Armstrong. No greatness. No fun, no laughter. No music (Neil Armstrong was in fact a talented musician). No meaning and yes, no religion too...

The makers of the film have clearly been twisting history in very disloyal and misleading way - throughout the movie. Only I cannot make out if this was done intentionally, by negligence or for some other reason. Let's maybe speculate about the motives in another post.

"First Man" paints a misleading image of Buzz Aldrin

 

The falsehood that made me the most sad was the abuse put on Buzz Aldrin. In particular the two scenes regarding the death of Charlie Basset and Elliot See and the Apollo 1 fire that killed astronauts Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffee and Ed White, Buzz Aldrin is framed saying appallingly disrespectful and unfeeling lines, that "rightfully" get reputed by his fellow astronauts. (even by Neil Armstrong, who would actually never would have done that - he never corrected anyone in public, according to the book, that the movie allegedly is based on[1]).

Buzz Aldrin was totally dedicated to the project and was involved in virtually every type of project planning. He had definite opinions which he held onto without softening, and he was no diplomat. He was undoubtedly personally ambitious, but at the same time he was a selfless patriot who would give his life for the cause of his country and freedom. Aldrin was a Presbyterian like the Mercury astronaut, John Glenn. They were Elders in the same church and both were animated by the same energetic, active spirit. Many found him to be contentious and obstinate, but Aldrin's apparent lack of flexibility was also the result of his exceptionally high intelligence and his determination not to let personal considerations get in the way of the mission. ("Men on the Moon" by yours truly)

Buzz Aldrin would never have said or behaved anything like that.

First of all Ed White and Buzz Aldrin were best friends. They were brother in arms! They had been through fire together. At West Point together, at service in Europe together, and it was Ed white that encouraged Aldrin to apply for astronaut. The Basset's were neighbors of the Aldrin's - Joan Aldrin and Jeannie Basset were best friends. Buzz Aldrin were deeply moved and saddened by the loss of his colleagues.

Second, there is no record in the literature to hint any support, that Buzz Aldrin said anything remotely like his lines in "First Man". I have been through all Apollo astronaut biographies, and just about all books written on the project and it's just not there...  No hint at all. "I can't think of a better symbol of courage for future generations than Ed White" wrote Buzz Aldrin in his 1989 autobiography [2]. Aldrin also left an Apollo 1 patch on the moon's surface, to honor his fallen friend!

Third, the thought that anyone in those days, in those circles, would treat the death of their fellow brothers in arms in such a cold and disrespectful way as depicted in the movie is simply unthinkable. To me, it proves that the film-makers did not penetrate the minds of the people that did these great deeds. And perhaps this is really the basic problem of the film: It is shallow.

Actually with the false portrait painted of Buzz Aldrin as a villain, I am pleased that his communion on the Moon was omitted (as any other of the many many religious references in the book by the way). It would only have back-lashed the Christian religion, if the villain of the movie was the only one expressing faith.

The abuse of Buzz Aldrin is not founded in any publicly available historical evidence, but rather contradicts it.

The attempted character assassination of the great man, Korean veteran, Colonel Buzz Aldrin, who repeatedly put his behind on the line, to free the world of one tyranny, who fought to save the freedom for future generations, including that of film director Damien Chazelle and Canadian actor Ryan Gosling, is in my view the worst of the many crimes of the movie.

The meaning of it all

"First Man" leaves the audience with absolutely no clue, whatsoever, why the Americans went to Moon. On the contrary we are left with the impression that it was a pointless, stubborn waste of money. This notion is supported by the appearance of several unchallenged hecklers like Leon Bridges and the unknown congressman picking on Neil Armstrong at a reception in Washington. Meanwhile no one is defending or even explaining the point. Why did the Americans spend so much money and human sacrifice on this? We analyzed this question in an earlier post and found that it was to win the important battle of the Cold War called the Space Race. It was free man's necessary battle against tyranny, not the first and not the last battle. The fact, that this "the greatest adventure on which Man has ever embarked" was a struggle against tyranny is never hinted in the movie. So, when neither characters, nor the audience knows why the characters are acting as they are, the whole adventure appears a meaningless endeavor - a waste.

The Americans went to the Moon to beat the Soviet Union in the battle of the cold war called the Space Race. JFK's own analysis was, that America would have to fight and win the Space Race, in order to mitigate the victory of totalitarian tyranny. The Apollo project was no more a waste of money than fighting WW2 was a waste of money.

"First Man" paints a misleading image of Neil Armstrong

The opening scene shows the only confirmed flying mistake, Neil Armstrong ever made according to the book [1]. (Neil Armstrong flew more than 200 different types of planes, and James Hansen is VERY thorough, so this says a lot about the excellence of N.A.). From then on, and throughout the film, Neil Armstrong is made to look like a mediocre pilot. In fact he was anything but an mediocre pilot. I spent the rest of the movie awaiting the moment when we were to restore and reveal the true professional excellence that Armstrong possessed - but that moment never really came. Not even his performance saving the Gemini 8-mission or the LLTV bail-out lets us feel his rare greatness. This means, the audience never really understands the excellence of Neil Armstrong, and they never understand the fact, that it was not a coincidence, that he was chosen to command Apollo 11 and designated to be the first man on the Moon. Neil Armstrong was indeed chosen because he was the best of the best.

Neil Armstrong was 38 and had 22 years of highly concentrated experience, when he strapped into the commander's seat of Apollo 11. Neil Armstrong knew how to fly.

The film misses several distinctive and important sides of Neil Armstrong (and we don't know that many of those, because he was so seclusive, so they should not have left any of them out!):

• The humility of his nature. Neil had been brought up with good words like D.L. Moody’s "If I will take care of my character, my reputation will take care of itself". He never raised his voice with anyone, never bragged, and it was no coincidence that the Apollo 11 patch is the only one with no astronaut names on it.
• The professional excellence. The evidence is overwhelming. Neil Armstrong was 38 and had 22 years of highly concentrated experience, when he strapped into the commander's seat of Apollo 11. Neil Armstrong knew how to fly. Let's just leave it with the words of Buzz Aldrin: "I don't think anybody can come close to touching the skills that he had." [3]
• His sense of responsibility. He did not go to war for fun. He did not become an astronaut for fun, neither by coincidence, but because he felt it was his responsibility. "If there was something that he could pass along to future generations -- I think it would be -- the conviction to do the right thing." said his son Mark Armstrong.[4] 
• Armstrong's accuracy. Everyone seems to describe him as a person that did not speak often, but when he spoke he was always right. He spoke slowly, probably to avoid errors. In "First Man" he appears just a bit slow-witted or plain dumb - at least to me - with Ryan Gosling not speaking much, but fast, like ordinary people.
• His out-of-this-world-appearance. Perhaps Norman Mailer came closest when he described Armstrong as "a presence in the room, as much spirit as man... Armstrong seemed of all the astronauts the man nearest to being saintly"[5]. Other people have said similar. Ryan Gosling comes no where near that. I doubt he is even trying. I doubt he even knows.

 

The Apollo 11 crew designed their own patch. It is no coincidence, that it is the only Apollo patch that does not include the names of the astronauts. The crew led by Neil Armstrong was truly humble.

 

"First Man" is boring

Having read James Hansen book, that the movie claims to be based on, a real page turner of some 700 pages, that made my summer of 2015 an absolutely mesmerizing tour through American history, I did NOT see a boring movie coming - no way.

You can not pack a human lifetime with more adventure and meaning than that of the great man Neil Armstrong:

• Born 1930, childhood during the great depression in the 1930's Ohio through World War 2
• Solo pilot certificate age 16
• Flying jets of aircraft carriers aged 18
• 78 Combat missions in the Korean war
• Test pilot at the Edwards Air Force base
• One of the chosen few to fly the fasted airplane ever, the incredible X-15
• Astronaut, first man to walk on the Moon
• Professor of Aerospace Engineering
• 3 children, daughter Karen died at two, divorced and remarried in the 90's. 

You can not pack a human lifetime with more adventure and meaning than that of Neil Armstrong. Future generations should be inspired and brought in awe - not whining over "wasted money" or wasting time doing emotional analysis of Neil Armstrong's alleged improper sorrow-handling. 

So, how do you make a boring movie out of that life?

First, you cut the story very short. We start at X-15 flight 3-4-8 February 1962 and close the story after the return to earth July 1969. There is no hint or reference to anything before or after this period.

Then you box the set of characters very, very tightly. We only really get an impression of Neil (though silently poker-faced throughout the film) and his wife Janet (though mostly nervous, and angry when not silent throughout the film). Other characters than Neil and Janet are portrayed only very vaguely, we don't really get to know anyone at all.

Janet Armstrong is clearly the intended hero of this story (!) and there is no sense of affection for any other characters, not for Neil Armstrong, not for anyone and certainly not for the Apollo-project.

So we are left in a very small and cold box in time and character set. Too small. It gets claustrophobic. I felt the urge to break out - wanting to know the roots, and the aims - the foundations and the meaning for the future - why did we do this and where did we come from. And I wanted to know all the incredible people that Neil and Janet connected to.

Secondly, it is a very silent movie. No one is talking most of the time, and no significant film music is applied for the sake of explaining the silence. Then from time to time the silence gets brutally disrupted with the somewhat impressive (I have to admit that) space-mission scenes, where the noise on the other hand is violently exaggerated.

So the film is a strange mix of longs scenes with quiet stone-faced people in silence and longs scenes with very loud machines. This probably connects with modern arts and the latest trends in film-making, in some intricate way. But it is beyond me, and I actually find it both annoying and boring.

Thirdly, the one dominant theme of the film is chosen to be the part of Neil Armstrong that we, and the film-makers, know almost nothing about: The personal and emotional life of Neil Armstrong. Even James Hansen [1] cannot penetrate these aspects, so claiming to be based on this book seems really to be another far stretch from Damien Chazelle.

But anyway, the tragic loss of their little daughter Karen, aged two, and Neil Armstrong's short-comings in expressing and sharing his feelings in this behalf is the turning point of the history. Neil did in fact handle the loss in a very "masculine" manner. He probably did not discuss it with anyone, and certainly not with his wife Janet. Instead he went back to work. This is a frequently recurring theme throughout the film (even when standing on the Moon!) with way too many way too long scenes of a completely poker-faced Ryan Gosling, apparently struggling internally with his feelings. That is, if he has any feelings - it is not clear. Because we never get under Ryan Goslings skin.

Some people, I know, do find these dramas of intense and dark contained internal emotional struggles interesting, but I don't, and I am not aware that anyone really gets moved anywhere good by this kind of stuff.

I left the cinema in a sad state of mind. Apparently even Hollywood is no longer able to understand and celebrate the great adventure, even when it is served them on a golden plate. What should and could so easily have been a celebration of a great man doing great things in absolute excellence, and a mighty celebration of the greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked, has instead become a dark, shallow and boring work of modern films art.

All put together it is no wonder that "First Man" is not a box office movie - at least not in Denmark. Some 800 seats out of 900 were vacant at the premier.

Yours truly were first man to enter the Cinema to see "First Man" in Copenhagen Imperial. Eventually some 100 people showed up. I recommend you to stay home and read the book or watch the BBC memorial documentary on the life of Neil Armstrong.

 "First Man" will inspire no one to do anything good, and that is such a waste of opportunity.

I hope and believe it will soon be forgotten and that some day, someone with an affection for Neil Armstrong will tell the real story of his life.

[1] James R. Hansen, First Man. The Life of Neil Armstrong, ISBN:9780743492324
[2] Buzz Aldrin, Men from Earth, ISBN: 9780553053746
[3] Buzz Aldrin in the documentary "In the Shadow of the Moon"
[4] Mark Armstrong, son, in the BBC documentary, First Man on the Moon.
[5] Norman Mailer: Moonfire, 1969

The faith of a Flight Director - Gene Kranz

Lets take a look at one of the many examples from the Apollo project, where faith was actively applied by engineers and astronauts.

Senior Flight Director Gene Kranz. He had the watch in Mission Control when Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, when Apollo 13 "had a problem" and was saved, and when the Hubble telescope was  repaired and made functional.

When Apollo 11 entered lunar orbit, on the 19th of July, 1969 after 75 hours of travel to the Moon, a day of preparations commenced as the crew started up, tested and tuned all the Lunar Module’s systems. The actual landing maneuver would be carried out on Gene Kranz’s team’s watch, and he confidently left the preparations to the other teams and took the evening off.

Kranz knew how important the coming day was. No matter what the outcome, it would be the most important day of his life. He had the ultimate responsibility not only for the lives of the three astronauts but also for ensuring that some four million man-years of preparation would bear the fruit it deserved. Whether or not he could live up to this responsibility would be of crucial importance for his country, for the Cold War and for the battle for the Free World of which he was fully aware. He was certainly aware of the importance of winning the Space Race as declared by John F. Kennedy 8 years earlier.

Such a heavy burden would have been enough to terrify any normal person out of his wits, but Gene Kranz was firmly convinced that throughout his entire life God had been leading him to the task that now lay before him. He had faith that God wouldn’t have done this without also giving him the capacity to carry it out. He trusted God, and was thus comfortable with his responsibility. This is a recurring theme in his autobiography, Failure Is Not An Option (hereby strongly recommended by yours truly).

So, how did he spend this rare Saturday night off? Running over the flight plans for the millionth time? No, he went to church:

"I go to Saturday evening mass. Blessed by my mother with strong faith, during almost every mission, I find a way to get to church and pray for wise judgment and courage, and pray also for my team and the crew. Our pastor, father Eugene Cargill, knows the risks and the difficulties of our work and the need for extra guidance. He knows that tomorrow is a special day, and he says a few words about it in his sermon. After mass he talks with me briefly, finishing with a thumbs-up. Then I go home, have a great supper and a couple of beers, and Marta keeps the kids quiet when I go to bed early. I sleep well." (Gene Kranz [1])

He slept well! Can you imagine that... All that importance, all that responsibility - and he slept well!

And let us not leave Marta unsung. Marta Kranz had not only served up a great supper and kept the kids quiet the night before the landing. She had also lived for years with a man who worked 60-100 hours a week during which time she had carried, borne, and raised six children. She had maintained a good, loving home on her husband’s modest government paycheck.

If the United States hadn’t had women of Marta’s caliber whose sacrifices were surely as great as their husbands’ in return for considerably less public acclaim, the Apollo project would not have been successful. If Gene Kranz and his men had had to pick up the kids at school and kindergarten, human beings even today would not yet have walked on the Moon. Marta Kranz and the tens of thousands of women standing behind their engineers and astronauts who kept the families and the homes running are truly the Apollo project’s unsung heroes.

Gene & Marta. If the US hadn’t had women of Marta’s caliber whose sacrifices were surely as great as their husbands’ in return for considerably less public acclaim, the Apollo project would not have been successful.

The next morning Gene Kranz and his team got to work before dawn, Sunday 20 July 1969. The great moment was approaching.  He called his anxious, young team together for the final pep-talk:

"We're getting ready to make history. You know what we're about to do. From the day that we were born we were destined to be in this room this day. I've trained, I've absolute confidence in everyone in this room, but I want you to know something: No matter what happens to us this day, I will stand behind every decision that you make. However it goes, when we walk out of this room, we walk out of this room as a team." (Gene Kranz [2])

"From the day that we were born we were destined to be in this room this day." (Gene Kranz)

Gene Kranz was actively using his faith to inspire his men with confidence in Providence and the faithfulness of God: He told his men, that they were all destined by God to carry out the task before them - and implied in this, because God never deceives and never fails, that they were also given the ability. This gave them the confidence and the peace of mind they needed to perform their best.

Take a look at this 1-minute youtube-clip from the fabulous 2003-documentary "Failure is not an Option" [2]. 

I say, it takes a heart of stone, not to be moved by this.

GUIDO Steve Bales, who was only 26 at the time, says about his Flight Director’s talk, in a clearly moved tone of voice:

"I can’t even say that today without getting choked up about it. That was the best, best thing he could have said to me."[2]

Stephen Bales at just 26, had his fair share of difficult decisions during the highly dramatic Apollo 11 landing. He handled all the problems that came his way with excellence and a clearly spirited concentration. The Flight Director's outspoken faith in God's providence was contagious.

During the next half hour Bales had to bear his share of the difficult decisions on his young shoulders. Gene Kranz had found the “extra guidance” he had sought in church and was the perfect leader for his men. He was a modern day version of the good king in the great adventures, who with divine inspiration leads his knights into battle against the powers of darkness.

"I said lock the control room doors and from that moment forth, no one would enter or leave this room until we have either landed, we had aborted or we had crashed." [2]

The doors to the control room were locked. The electric power systems in the control room were placed on “battle short” (which basically meant that all electric fuses were bypassed and disabled, like when a battle ship enters a combat situation and its survival is dependent on the continued operation of the equipment, an unnecessary power failure is more to be feared than a short circuit as a result of overload and missing fuses.)

The doors were locked to the Mission Control Room, powers system were in "battle short"-mode, the men were all ready in body, brain and spirit; the rest was left to God.

Everything had been thought through and optimized during the 10 years tirelessly spent gathering space travel experience. Each and every man had gone to the men's room right before the doors were locked – on Kranz’s orders! Each and every man was ready and raring to go, urged on by Kranz. Everything that was humanly possible had been done; the rest was up to God.

In fact the landing was highly dramatic, and demanded the utmost of men and machines. There were a number of minor problems and at least three major crisis (failing communication, computer-errors and fuel shortage) which put the engineers in the Control Room – and the astronauts in space - to the ultimate test.  They passed.

Gene Kranz' and his "White team" passed the ultimate test.

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[1] Gene Kranz, Failure is not an Option, ISBN:0743200799

[2] Failure is Not an Option. Dir. Rushmore DeNooyer and Kirk Wolfinger. Documentary. 2003.