Apollo 11: The final 13 minutes to the Moon - BBC World Service, 13 Minutes to the Moon podcast 

I was 11 years old and the whole neighborhood of we kids gathered at Ms. Mavis' house, she was one of the few women (mothers) who was "stay at home." She had a big RCA color TV and we sat on the floor watching this live. And she provided snacks too! To experience, to live through, such a historical moment is, to this day, gives me goosebumps.

Magnificent. In 1969 I watched this in a pub in Melbourne Australia.

I love the absolute intensity of the support staff.

I remembered every second of it. In the middle of the night in the Netherlands as a 13-year-old kid.

Recall we were at the beach about an hour north of Boston USA and were driving home listening to the radio. During the final five minutes of landing, I noticed that every car on the highway had pulled over to the breakdown lane and were stopped. Very eerie moment and I recall both my parents were staring downwards, almost afraid to breath. Recall it like yesterday.

I never get tired of this. Love listening to those final comments of Charlie Duke with his Carolinian accent. He later got to be on the other end of the microphone. What a privilege.

A thousand years from now the 20th century will be remembered for two sentences. Tranquility base here. The eagle has landed.

I was 11 yrs old, I watched live on a black and white TV in my family's living room in Bangor Maine. I had to go out in the front yard afterward and look up at the moon. All of the comments on this page seem to articulate aspects of this event so well.

I was eleven....Watched it in black and white like the whole world. Incredible achievement for the time.

A bazilion bazillion thumbs up. I was 6 years old and glued to the TV.

I was 10 years old and attending my dad's company picnic on a sunny Sunday afternoon at Burdette Park near Evansville Indiana. We listened to the landing live on the radio. An awesome memory that I will never forget.

I was a teen in high school. What a time to be alive, the whole town cried and celebrated. Awesome part of history. I wonder how many children of today know what the date was and what the mission name was.

I was fortunate to work on thrust domes and explosive bolt sets for the Apollo missions. As I listened to the live broadcasts - like so many others who made parts for these missions - I stopped breathing as the Eagle hovered a few feet off the moon's surface. I tried to hold back the tears, but when I heard the call for engine shutdown, they fell like rain. They still do whenever I think of that moment.

Armstrong was the greatest space ship pilot who has ever lived. His previous mission where he saved himself and fellow astronaut when the ship they were in went out of control was incredible. He was a barnstormer and flew the LM like crop duster. He knew he could. He also had pure ice in veins when flying.

This is an awesome podcast. I recommend anybody interested in this subject follow the entire podcast..

Ah, yes! I remember this well! I was a wee lad of eight years old when I witnessed mankind's greatest achievement and am still amazed by it! Thanks for posting this!

Those alarm calls still give me a shiver.

My father wrote the life signs telemetry for these missions. NASA/Lockheed. Thank you for this video.

I remember watching. Everyone was silent. No cheering. Just a profound sense of having seen one of the greatest events there will ever be in human history.

Mr gk pathutu vanthingala🔥

Mans greatest acheivment carried out with 4 Omega Speedmaster watches and a computer with the power of a pocket calculator.TRue heroes ,

Oh how this brings me back to July of '69. A 12 year old I was at the time and although it astounded me then, at this moment there are tears in my eyes. Thank you BBC.

I was 6 years old when this took place and I'll never forget how my family was gathered around the TV at my grandparents' watching this and it was complete silence as everyone was in total suspense. It was an honor to watch live, a pivotal point in human history and to be inspired by what I had seen. Of course, as a kid I had ALL the NASA toys and the astronaut helmet that I wore everywhere. Having worked in IT and other technical professions and now in aviation, what blows my mind still to this day is the incredible level of engineering that went into the Apollo program, and they didn't have calculators and computers to do it. They used advanced mathematics and slide rules to get the job done. I remember when I was at MIT in 1981 and found out that the standard calculator then had way memory than the computer on board the command module or the LEM. On board Apollo 11 was a computer called the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC). It had 2048 words of memory which could be used to store “temporary results” - data that is lost when there is no power. This type of memory is referred to as RAM (Random Access Memory). Each word comprised 16 binary digits (bits), with a bit being a zero or a one. This means that the Apollo computer had 32,768 bits of RAM memory. Imagine trying to to anything today with that small bit of memory. It's still absolutely amazing what was accomplished in 1969.

I was about 5 years old and our school was showing the landing in the school hall on a black and white tv. But somehow I missed the landing because my mum had come to pick me up from school. I cried that I didn't get to see it. I always remember her reply, "Don't worry, they'll be landing on Mars soon, you can watch that instead."

I love it - even though I heard it first time around and we all know the outcome, somehow you never quite believe they are going to make it

I was 7 years old when this amazing, unbelievable event took place. My family was in NC. I remember my Dad waking us up to watch Armstrong stepping onto the moon. I’m 61 now but I’ll always have a clear memory of it as long as I live.

Now that was INTENSE!!!

I was 2 years old I think when this happened and I can still remember my dad holding me in front of the TV and saying to me “you’re now watching history”. Crazy to have such a vivid memory from that age.

"30 seconds (of fuel left)". Neil Armstrong's voice didn't even shake. Makes you proud to be human.

Cool recreation. Thanks for making this.

Im honoured to hear this thank you v much

Still gets me every time

Houston, Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed. Some of the most momentous words spoken in the history of man. Those guys had brass klackers.

It still has me on the edge of my seat with hairs standing up and a lump in my throat. I was eight years old. It was unforgettable.

Tranquility base here the eagle has landed the most famous words in world history,, what heroes, up there and down there,,

Brilliant

Watched this as a 12 year old glued to my TV.

I remember it like it was yesterday. One of the rare, truly landmark moments in human history. I was so glad to be able to witness it.

In the live BBC showing of the Apollo landing, Pink Floyd played music in a studio, just jamming randomly, and their music was fed to the BBC to play as live background music. David Gilmour is still amused about that to this day.

Loved this, thank you 🇺🇸👍

Great upload.

Neil Armstrong flew combat missions in the Korean War. 78 of them. God preserved him through the destruction for the Gemini Program and for this journey. There were many ways it could have taken a fatal course. A victory of engineering, planning and enterprise. To go so far where there is no oxygen and no drinking water or food. Crazy brave.

Greatest achievement of mankind. Still amazing.

The greatest thing I've ever been privileged to watch

That chokes me up every time ,I can still remember sitting in front of the tv as a kid listening to the landing, Awesome.

I listened to the whole thing and by the time the Eagle was coming into land, my heart was in my mouth. Just an incredible achievement.

Thé whole planet was watching it live. As I did at 11 😊 It’s still incredible today. Especially with the limited means at this time. NASA and the numerous companies that worked with paved the way of the incredible revolution of technology were still living now.

Brilliant and very detailed podcast series, BBC WS - thanks a lot 😊

Great podcast!

Armstrong landed it _manually?!_ I had no idea he'd had to take over and land it manually. Incredible.

Incredible

I watched this in real time. That didn't bring me to tears. This did.

This is truly glorious. A defining moment in human history. "Inform, educate, entertain" - tick, tick, tick. BBC World Service is amazing.

This still gives me goosebumps after watching it live as a teenager. America’s finest moment.

Absolutely stunning indeed.

It always brings back listening and watching Live TV in the moment. Exhilarating! Lucky to exist in this modern time. Imagine what the Mars Landing shall be like... As a Buckeye I've always been proud of both Glenn and Armstrong, yet their victories were built on the shoulders of ALL the men & Women of NASA.

I was 11 also, I used to play a 45 record of this over and over again.

This represents the greatest day in American and world history and the brave men and women involved must never be forgotten.

Just AWESOME ❤

5:40 Imagine being 25 years old and having just 20 seconds to decide whether or not to abort Apollo 11. Steve Bales is a legend.

Im proud to be an American and as a child of 8 years old at that time it was simply futuristic and amazing. This is a prime and exquisite example of teamwork that had never been performed before. Thats what working together in a concerted effort can achieve. They are all true heroes under God and invincible.

It is amazing how far technology has come and how much it is still very much the same as it was then.

I am here after watch Mr. Gk

Man! 52 years have gone by and this still boggles the mind. All that the entire Apollo project accomplished is nothing short of a miracle.....all made possible with 1950s and 1960s technology.

I was two-and-a-half years old in the summer of 1969. My only memory from that summer is playing in my aunt's kitchen. 😕

Camera man is legendary for staying behind to get that last shot😂

Awesome video, I didn’t know it was 6 hours before they left the module!

I was 19, college sophomore in Physics; switched to Aeronautical & Astronautical engineering a year later. I went to my girlfriend's house to watch because they had a big color TV, and of course watched the landing in black and white. At the time, we didn't realize that Armstrong had to take over and fly the final part of the landing manually. Oddly, it's more exciting to listen to the replay now that it was to watch in real time back then, perhaps because know I know how close they were to failure throughout every Apollo flight to the moon.

Fabuous reenactment with contemporary voices of the back room engineers, the controllers, and the astronauts. A great tribute to the 400,000 people who made this happen. Thank you Kevin and all the BBC WOrld Service team - and all who helped them,

This brings back memories; I watched the lunar landing live on TV.

13 minuts to the moon is a fantastic podcast from BBC 💪😃

Super , fantastic well done BBC , Love BBC world Service .

Both seasons of the podcast are so good!

I was 4 and a half when this happened. We were visiting my grandmother in Sweden. My Dad woke the whole house at 3 in morning to watch this. My mother kept telling me I would ruin my eyes because my nose was two inches from the set. Great day.

The final outside-the-window video sequence shown here is not in sync with the audio track. There are other YT videos where the synchronization is spot on.

Great childhood memory

One of THE greatest moments in world history...I was 14...and we stayed up all night watching Walter Cronkite. A moment I'll never forget!

3.37mins Armstrong timed 'the appearance of the lunar landmarks from his view out the window,' ....using the checklist he made before they left home. I must be certifiably mad to think that this is truly unbeliebeable.

There is a transcript of the entire mission and a video as well readily available on the internet. Not hard to find.

DAMN! I sat here, headphones on, eyes and ears riveted. Heroes.

I was 10 when they landed. Not one kid over the age of 2 in our neighborhood was in the street outside. In the summer time where i lived we never went home until 9. That was the only exception to that rule. I’ll never forget than moment.

I found this narrative very moving

Watched it as it happened. Those last few seconds the whole world held its breath.

My whole school stopped everything and watched this in the gym. I was 11ys old and just amazed at the thought of going into space and traveling to the moon. When I heard the conspiracy theory that this was faked, I was just flabbergasted. How on earth could you believe we spent all the time, effort and money, just to fool the Russians?

I knew many of the LEM designers from Grumman and they all said that every gram of weight was critical.

I remember. 8 years old. Entire family with us .. watching. I remember wishing Walter Cronkite would stop talking so we could listen to the important people and what they were saying. 😂

Talk about cutting it close! 30 seconds of available fuel left in a manual landing. An astronomical achievement.

BALLS OF STEEL

One of the greatest moments of human endeavour.

Heroes, my heroes.

I was 8 we were at my aunt Cora’s on Long Island NY. RIP Aunt Cora 😊

The final words, The Eagle has landed, still send a thrill through my bones. Now, If anyone cares to watch Apple TV's For all Mankind, the landing did not go like that...

most humans have no idea how dangerous this was

Summer vacation.Senior year in HS growing up. Neighbor friend and I scheduled our weekend motorcycle ride on our Hondas to catch this landing. Can't believe I'm scheduling motorcycle rides to catch Falcon 9 and now Starship launches.

Damn right

BTW apparently the lunar module on Apollo 10 was underfueled ... just to make sure the crew didn't suddenly try to go for glory ...😄😄

Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, Jr.were the first American astronauts to leave their footprints on the lunar surface.

I'm curious if their was lag time between communications given the great distance. I am thinking their was.

Historic

lol after all these years i still get tense at the landing