July 18, 2025 • 18 mins
A shadow stalks Apollo 11 in orbit. Is it the Soviets—or something worse? With a risky maneuver ahead, one wrong move could mean death.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Buzz, an audio drama for iHeart Podcasts starring John Lithgow
and Jeffrey Arran as buzz Aldren. This series is based
on real events, However, certain characters, names, incidents, locations, and
dialogue have been fictionalized for dramatic purposes. Chapter six.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
As Neil, Mike and I stared into space from the
command module, we didn't even know what we were looking for.
Was it a relatively harmless piece of debris held in
orbit by the Moon's gravity and propelled by our own paranoia?
Or was it a spacecraft sent by some alien force
from a galaxy far far away. Of course, that couldn't
(00:46):
have cared less about the petty political squabbles between Earthlings
and who'd be willing to destroy our planet in order
to protect theirs.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
There there two o'clock.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
You see you, Mike?
Speaker 5 (01:05):
Is it Beck?
Speaker 6 (01:08):
No?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Neil? For a second, I thought, guess not.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Then there was the how, if, and when of Eagle
unlocking from Columbia, a decision the time and available fuel
and oxygen was making increasingly crucial for me. It wasn't
so much a technical decision as it was an emotional one,
which is why it was a waste of time to
discuss it with Neil.
Speaker 7 (01:35):
Mike.
Speaker 8 (01:36):
Yeah, bus, If we lose pressure during separation, the command
module might stay intact. You'd be able to get home.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Eating shrimp cocktail all the way.
Speaker 8 (01:47):
I'm serious. If Houston doesn't get it figured out to
a greater degree of probability, would you proceed with separation.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I never worried about us getting here, but I hate
the idea of going back alone, of being known for
the rest of my life as Apollo eleven's only survivor.
If they don't figure it out, I'd vote to a
boart and leave the moon to Apollo twelve.
Speaker 8 (02:20):
I can't do that.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I know you ask what I'd do. I could live
with a disappointment. I'd still be a husband and father.
You take it as a failure, The walls come up, and.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
You'd be more.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Alone than ever.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Neil kept staring out the window and didn't say a word.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
I wish you could put all of this in some
kind of perspective. It'd be a lot different.
Speaker 8 (02:56):
I don't want to be different.
Speaker 9 (03:00):
Did Grumm and guys have what they need?
Speaker 6 (03:02):
We had to take the ambient pressure down as close
to duplicating lunar orbit conditions as we can.
Speaker 9 (03:08):
Get ten solid seconds of stability after undocking and we're
home free. All right, people, let's do this. Nothing's riding
on it except the success of the mission and the
lives of three men.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Mission Control and the engineers from Grumming had set up
a full sized duplicate at the command and lunar modules
to test the undocking procedure.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
T minus five to separation hatches are four, then enabled
three tunnel clear two triggering. Why an't one go for
undocking zero separation sequence?
Speaker 9 (04:01):
So that's three dead astronauts. Back to work, boys. We
do it again and again until we get it right.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I'm Buzz Aldrin, and this is the story you think
you know, but you don't.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Ignition frequent five good five four.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Three They dave here the angle, land on a tramp
for m.
Speaker 9 (04:39):
R Bam.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
You're listening to Buzz. This is the story of my
Greatest achievement.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Chapter six.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
It is replaced two hours till separation. Cliff and his
boys may solve this and they may not. What are
you going to tell the crew? Gene?
Speaker 9 (05:17):
When the model blew up, all I could see were
three more confidence fundamental question deecon if I were up
there would I want to know the truth.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
They have to know Gene, and they have to know
it sooner than later.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
This is Command Module Columbia, much as I'm enjoying Neil
and Buzz's company. Where are we on the undocking problem?
Speaker 10 (05:44):
We just ran another test. It wasn't entirely successful.
Speaker 8 (05:50):
You're planning to quantify that?
Speaker 4 (05:52):
How are we proceeding?
Speaker 10 (05:54):
We are continuing to explore remedia alternatives.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
And there's something else, something even better.
Speaker 10 (06:04):
The Russians have a Luna fifteen craft in orbit of
the Moon. There's the possibility of an accidental pollision or
a deliberate one.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
You've got to be kidding over how reliable is that information?
Speaker 10 (06:20):
Houston Jadrel Bank in England has been monitoring the Luna
fifteen since it was launched. Any sign of an object
in your vicinity, we need to know about it as
soon as possible.
Speaker 11 (06:32):
Over there has been a citing Houston of a Luna
of something. We're not sure what it is.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Over Neil may have been commander, but at that point
my instincts as a fighter pilot took over.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
Mike.
Speaker 8 (06:49):
What are the latest fuel numbers for the RCS Thruster quads?
Speaker 3 (06:53):
We're five percent belunomenal in quad Bravo, but the others
are fine.
Speaker 8 (06:58):
Why if the Russian craft's coming in, we need to
get the thrusters ready. Let's take the RCS, select off auto,
and get ready to hot fire.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Neil.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
You didn't say anything about that, About what?
Speaker 8 (07:10):
I'm not waiting for Neil to say anything.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Houston Buzz thinks we sha't take.
Speaker 8 (07:13):
A translator, Neil. We have to hot fire the thrusters
to create distance from the Luna.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Now is not the time yet, it is. We don't
have a procedure from Houston Command.
Speaker 8 (07:24):
Colonel Armstrong. If the Russian craft intersects, we're talking about
a seven mile a second closure.
Speaker 10 (07:30):
Speed Columbia flight.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
But I wasn't listening to Gene Krantz. This was between
me and Neil.
Speaker 11 (07:36):
Without knowing where it's going, we could be pushing ourselves
closer to it.
Speaker 8 (07:39):
If there's one thing I know about Neil, it's rendezvous.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
I know you know about it, Buzz. Everyone knows you know.
Speaker 8 (07:47):
What the hell does that mean?
Speaker 10 (07:49):
If we can sell the data on where it is
going and when it'll get there, we'll develop contingencies forization too.
Then we're not going to spin all the wheels, planning
a procedure that we'll make a bad situation worse.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Columbia go ahead, Houston.
Speaker 10 (08:06):
Stand by for further instructions.
Speaker 9 (08:09):
Roger that Ludwig said they'd go after each other, jeopardizing
the mission.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
What's jeopardizing the mission? Gene our technical malfunctions and maybe
our own incompetence.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
We flew on saying nothing to each other for what
seemed like hours. It wasn't. All we knew was Houston
was trying to figure out how to separate Eagle from
Columbia without killing us, while we kept our eyes peeled
for the Russian spacecraft, hoping to avoid it so they
wouldn't kill us. And I thought Korea was a bitch.
Speaker 6 (08:56):
What have you got cliffs here? You think they've solved it.
Speaker 9 (09:00):
It's a new test model.
Speaker 6 (09:01):
There are three for three on clean undock.
Speaker 9 (09:03):
With the procedure change.
Speaker 6 (09:05):
E COMM says we can start to vent early without
impacting the consumables. N FDO says, there's no effect on
the trajector.
Speaker 9 (09:12):
Cap Com. Let's get the procedure up to the crew.
If we can vent the tunnel without a hiccup, we
may have dodged.
Speaker 7 (09:18):
A bullet Roger that flight director Columbia, Houston. We've got
another checklist change for you on the undocking procedure over Houston.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Should we break out the helmets.
Speaker 10 (09:29):
Negative, Columbia, leave the stowed for now, see anybody copy.
We need you to cycle the repress from auto twice
and then do the same with the dump valve. Then
when you extend the probe, we want to see the
barber pull on pressurization before you retract.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
We can start to cycle the dumb valve. On's neil
and buzzer in position and the hatches are closed.
Speaker 10 (09:56):
In position.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
They're in position cycling the valve.
Speaker 12 (10:00):
Yim fingers cry, I'm feeling a little deja vous.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Well, buzz practice makes perfect.
Speaker 10 (10:11):
Also on the end.
Speaker 8 (10:13):
RCS pressurized closing lunar module.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Hatch closing command module, watch rules.
Speaker 12 (10:20):
Disabled, depressed back to auto, dumb valve open, ah damn venthenomenal, Houston.
Speaker 10 (10:33):
Roger, Columbia.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
We're showing zero pressure and holding fifteen seconds to zero.
Speaker 7 (10:39):
Looks like we're going to the moon.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Run it again, Gene.
Speaker 9 (10:44):
How many times the rumen may be three for three,
but we're only one for one. It may have been
a Fluke.
Speaker 5 (10:50):
We got a checklist a mile long in separation scheduled
for less than half an hour.
Speaker 9 (10:54):
Run it again, Dick.
Speaker 8 (10:58):
RCS pressurized, closing, lunar module hatch.
Speaker 10 (11:03):
Command module hatch clues.
Speaker 12 (11:05):
Le disabled, depressed, back to auto.
Speaker 8 (11:09):
Dump valve open.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
Pressurization systems looking good, Houston.
Speaker 10 (11:16):
Roger Eagle zero pressure. Excellent job, Neil. We're t minus
nineteen minutes fifty four seconds to undocking of Columbia and
Eagle prior to entering lunar orbit.
Speaker 8 (11:29):
Uh oh, there it is again at three o'clock and holding.
Speaker 10 (11:34):
You got Columbia.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
We have a moving object within visual.
Speaker 10 (11:40):
Can you identify? Is it a Russian Luna fifteen over?
Speaker 4 (11:44):
It appears to be tracking on a steady course.
Speaker 10 (11:47):
Eagle.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Can you identify the Russian run of fifteen negative?
Speaker 4 (11:51):
Houston?
Speaker 8 (11:52):
No identification possible.
Speaker 10 (11:56):
The Houston or we go for undocking regardless?
Speaker 4 (12:00):
What do we do well, Jane.
Speaker 10 (12:04):
Repete Houston. Are we go for undogging and lunar descent
or do we are board.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
Come on.
Speaker 10 (12:26):
Control in Columbia? Different theature changes. They're putting a tent
in our RCS, fuel in ausington supplies. Are we go
for module separation?
Speaker 9 (12:36):
You could run another test. Will the decompression hold or not?
I believe it will. Don't tell me what you believe,
Tell me what you know. Fundamental question, Cliff, If you
were up there, I am mister Krantz.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
We have Sir Bernard online nine oh one.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Sir Bernard?
Speaker 4 (12:57):
What is it?
Speaker 10 (12:58):
Bad bit of luck?
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Chris?
Speaker 8 (13:00):
And I'm afraid the latest orbit of the Soviet craft
only increases the possibility of an intercept.
Speaker 12 (13:05):
We're less than ten minutes from separation.
Speaker 8 (13:08):
Our rate of thrust or fuel consumption requires a go
or abort decision.
Speaker 10 (13:12):
There's no safety in the former and no glory in
the latter. Makes for a moment of broad high drama,
doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
I'll keep you informed.
Speaker 10 (13:22):
Speaking on.
Speaker 11 (13:25):
Repeat, Houston, where are we on Columbia? Eagle separation running.
Speaker 10 (13:29):
Through final Columbia.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
It was at that time I decided to introduce a
novel concept in the proceedings.
Speaker 8 (13:37):
Is someone gonna make up their mind?
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Or what.
Speaker 9 (13:42):
Activate the squad boxes?
Speaker 5 (13:43):
Deacon gotcha?
Speaker 9 (13:44):
Eagle, this is flight. You are cleared for separation. You're
cleared for separation. Testings over.
Speaker 11 (13:55):
This is the real McCoy Roger Houston, buzz and I
will proceed into the lunar module.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Come here, palass I gave Mike a hug.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
We knew it might be the last time we'd see
each other, but we weren't about to say so. Pilot's
don't do that now.
Speaker 8 (14:15):
When I get back, you better have saved me. Shrimp cocktail,
You got.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
It, buzz, Come on, Buys.
Speaker 6 (14:30):
We'll know within seconds of the latch actuators triggering whether
we've lost whole pressure. At that point, we won't have
very much time to egress before the lunar module gets
too far away from Mike to catch up with it.
If everything looks.
Speaker 9 (14:43):
Good, we won't know about subsystem integrity till we're halfway
down to the surface. There's another thing, Jane flight dynamics.
Speaker 6 (14:53):
If they outgas even a little, it's gonna push them
off course.
Speaker 9 (14:57):
Look, let's just get them undocked and make sure they
can still breathe.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
And then there's the Russian craft Jane.
Speaker 9 (15:05):
One disaster at a time.
Speaker 10 (15:08):
Columbia Houston rule zero zero zero zero zero seven zero
zero zero.
Speaker 11 (15:16):
And Tenata Omni RCS pressurized closing hatch, closing.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Hatch disabling roll looking good.
Speaker 8 (15:26):
Columbia Cycling complete dumb valve initiate.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
We have nominal depressurization and our go for separation.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Houston, Copular Meal, you or go for undocking latch retract
in three two.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
One, Neil hit the switch and the docking mechanisms disengage
the two spacecraft. As they separated. I could see the
blackness of space in but was the tunnel between the craft?
What a sight?
Speaker 4 (16:06):
Houston, we have separation.
Speaker 10 (16:07):
We are go for Luna landing.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
All systems looking good, but all systems worked.
Speaker 10 (16:16):
We're doing explosively compression in the docking assembly.
Speaker 7 (16:19):
Roger Houston. We're reading the same thing.
Speaker 5 (16:22):
There's we're getting buckling in the lunar module pressure health
and the gimbals are going crazy.
Speaker 9 (16:29):
Umbia, we're seeing on all access rotation in both vehicles.
Null those rates. Columbia. Can you see Eagle?
Speaker 4 (16:43):
Eagle?
Speaker 7 (16:44):
Are you reading Columbia, Columbia, Eagle, We're still showing rotation.
Do you have hot fire on your thrusters?
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Over Eagle?
Speaker 9 (16:53):
We need you to stabilize to recover calms. Columbia and
the Eagle, are you reading us?
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Repeat?
Speaker 9 (17:06):
Colombia and Eagle, this is flight. Are you reading us? Colombia?
This is Houston. Are you in visual contact with Eagle Capcom.
Are you receiving nothing on high or Low.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
Eagle?
Speaker 9 (17:30):
Do you have a visual on Colombia? Eagle Colombia, this
is flight. Please respond.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Buzz, starring John Lithgow and Jeffrey Errand, is created by
Stephen Cronish and directed by John Scott Dryden. Chapter six
is written by Matt Graham and Stephen Cronish. Original music
is by Sasha Putnam. Sound designed by Elouise Whitmore. The
producer is Emma Hearn. The executive producers are Jeremy Fox,
(18:19):
John Scott Dryden, Stephen Cronish, Howard Stringer and Jason English.
Buzz is a production of Thoroughbred Studios, gold Hoff Productions
and iHeart Podcasts.
Buzz, an audio drama for iHeart Podcasts starring John Lithgow
and Jeffrey Arran as buzz Aldren. This series is based
on real events, However, certain characters, names, incidents, locations, and
dialogue have been fictionalized for dramatic purposes. Chapter six.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
As Neil, Mike and I stared into space from the
command module, we didn't even know what we were looking for.
Was it a relatively harmless piece of debris held in
orbit by the Moon's gravity and propelled by our own paranoia?
Or was it a spacecraft sent by some alien force
from a galaxy far far away. Of course, that couldn't
(00:46):
have cared less about the petty political squabbles between Earthlings
and who'd be willing to destroy our planet in order
to protect theirs.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
There there two o'clock.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
You see you, Mike?
Speaker 5 (01:05):
Is it Beck?
Speaker 6 (01:08):
No?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Neil? For a second, I thought, guess not.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Then there was the how, if, and when of Eagle
unlocking from Columbia, a decision the time and available fuel
and oxygen was making increasingly crucial for me. It wasn't
so much a technical decision as it was an emotional one,
which is why it was a waste of time to
discuss it with Neil.
Speaker 7 (01:35):
Mike.
Speaker 8 (01:36):
Yeah, bus, If we lose pressure during separation, the command
module might stay intact. You'd be able to get home.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Eating shrimp cocktail all the way.
Speaker 8 (01:47):
I'm serious. If Houston doesn't get it figured out to
a greater degree of probability, would you proceed with separation.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I never worried about us getting here, but I hate
the idea of going back alone, of being known for
the rest of my life as Apollo eleven's only survivor.
If they don't figure it out, I'd vote to a
boart and leave the moon to Apollo twelve.
Speaker 8 (02:20):
I can't do that.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I know you ask what I'd do. I could live
with a disappointment. I'd still be a husband and father.
You take it as a failure, The walls come up, and.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
You'd be more.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Alone than ever.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Neil kept staring out the window and didn't say a word.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
I wish you could put all of this in some
kind of perspective. It'd be a lot different.
Speaker 8 (02:56):
I don't want to be different.
Speaker 9 (03:00):
Did Grumm and guys have what they need?
Speaker 6 (03:02):
We had to take the ambient pressure down as close
to duplicating lunar orbit conditions as we can.
Speaker 9 (03:08):
Get ten solid seconds of stability after undocking and we're
home free. All right, people, let's do this. Nothing's riding
on it except the success of the mission and the
lives of three men.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Mission Control and the engineers from Grumming had set up
a full sized duplicate at the command and lunar modules
to test the undocking procedure.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
T minus five to separation hatches are four, then enabled
three tunnel clear two triggering. Why an't one go for
undocking zero separation sequence?
Speaker 9 (04:01):
So that's three dead astronauts. Back to work, boys. We
do it again and again until we get it right.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I'm Buzz Aldrin, and this is the story you think
you know, but you don't.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Ignition frequent five good five four.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Three They dave here the angle, land on a tramp
for m.
Speaker 9 (04:39):
R Bam.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
You're listening to Buzz. This is the story of my
Greatest achievement.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Chapter six.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
It is replaced two hours till separation. Cliff and his
boys may solve this and they may not. What are
you going to tell the crew? Gene?
Speaker 9 (05:17):
When the model blew up, all I could see were
three more confidence fundamental question deecon if I were up
there would I want to know the truth.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
They have to know Gene, and they have to know
it sooner than later.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
This is Command Module Columbia, much as I'm enjoying Neil
and Buzz's company. Where are we on the undocking problem?
Speaker 10 (05:44):
We just ran another test. It wasn't entirely successful.
Speaker 8 (05:50):
You're planning to quantify that?
Speaker 4 (05:52):
How are we proceeding?
Speaker 10 (05:54):
We are continuing to explore remedia alternatives.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
And there's something else, something even better.
Speaker 10 (06:04):
The Russians have a Luna fifteen craft in orbit of
the Moon. There's the possibility of an accidental pollision or
a deliberate one.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
You've got to be kidding over how reliable is that information?
Speaker 10 (06:20):
Houston Jadrel Bank in England has been monitoring the Luna
fifteen since it was launched. Any sign of an object
in your vicinity, we need to know about it as
soon as possible.
Speaker 11 (06:32):
Over there has been a citing Houston of a Luna
of something. We're not sure what it is.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Over Neil may have been commander, but at that point
my instincts as a fighter pilot took over.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
Mike.
Speaker 8 (06:49):
What are the latest fuel numbers for the RCS Thruster quads?
Speaker 3 (06:53):
We're five percent belunomenal in quad Bravo, but the others
are fine.
Speaker 8 (06:58):
Why if the Russian craft's coming in, we need to
get the thrusters ready. Let's take the RCS, select off auto,
and get ready to hot fire.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Neil.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
You didn't say anything about that, About what?
Speaker 8 (07:10):
I'm not waiting for Neil to say anything.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Houston Buzz thinks we sha't take.
Speaker 8 (07:13):
A translator, Neil. We have to hot fire the thrusters
to create distance from the Luna.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Now is not the time yet, it is. We don't
have a procedure from Houston Command.
Speaker 8 (07:24):
Colonel Armstrong. If the Russian craft intersects, we're talking about
a seven mile a second closure.
Speaker 10 (07:30):
Speed Columbia flight.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
But I wasn't listening to Gene Krantz. This was between
me and Neil.
Speaker 11 (07:36):
Without knowing where it's going, we could be pushing ourselves
closer to it.
Speaker 8 (07:39):
If there's one thing I know about Neil, it's rendezvous.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
I know you know about it, Buzz. Everyone knows you know.
Speaker 8 (07:47):
What the hell does that mean?
Speaker 10 (07:49):
If we can sell the data on where it is
going and when it'll get there, we'll develop contingencies forization too.
Then we're not going to spin all the wheels, planning
a procedure that we'll make a bad situation worse.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Columbia go ahead, Houston.
Speaker 10 (08:06):
Stand by for further instructions.
Speaker 9 (08:09):
Roger that Ludwig said they'd go after each other, jeopardizing
the mission.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
What's jeopardizing the mission? Gene our technical malfunctions and maybe
our own incompetence.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
We flew on saying nothing to each other for what
seemed like hours. It wasn't. All we knew was Houston
was trying to figure out how to separate Eagle from
Columbia without killing us, while we kept our eyes peeled
for the Russian spacecraft, hoping to avoid it so they
wouldn't kill us. And I thought Korea was a bitch.
Speaker 6 (08:56):
What have you got cliffs here? You think they've solved it.
Speaker 9 (09:00):
It's a new test model.
Speaker 6 (09:01):
There are three for three on clean undock.
Speaker 9 (09:03):
With the procedure change.
Speaker 6 (09:05):
E COMM says we can start to vent early without
impacting the consumables. N FDO says, there's no effect on
the trajector.
Speaker 9 (09:12):
Cap Com. Let's get the procedure up to the crew.
If we can vent the tunnel without a hiccup, we
may have dodged.
Speaker 7 (09:18):
A bullet Roger that flight director Columbia, Houston. We've got
another checklist change for you on the undocking procedure over Houston.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Should we break out the helmets.
Speaker 10 (09:29):
Negative, Columbia, leave the stowed for now, see anybody copy.
We need you to cycle the repress from auto twice
and then do the same with the dump valve. Then
when you extend the probe, we want to see the
barber pull on pressurization before you retract.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
We can start to cycle the dumb valve. On's neil
and buzzer in position and the hatches are closed.
Speaker 10 (09:56):
In position.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
They're in position cycling the valve.
Speaker 12 (10:00):
Yim fingers cry, I'm feeling a little deja vous.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Well, buzz practice makes perfect.
Speaker 10 (10:11):
Also on the end.
Speaker 8 (10:13):
RCS pressurized closing lunar module.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Hatch closing command module, watch rules.
Speaker 12 (10:20):
Disabled, depressed back to auto, dumb valve open, ah damn venthenomenal, Houston.
Speaker 10 (10:33):
Roger, Columbia.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
We're showing zero pressure and holding fifteen seconds to zero.
Speaker 7 (10:39):
Looks like we're going to the moon.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Run it again, Gene.
Speaker 9 (10:44):
How many times the rumen may be three for three,
but we're only one for one. It may have been
a Fluke.
Speaker 5 (10:50):
We got a checklist a mile long in separation scheduled
for less than half an hour.
Speaker 9 (10:54):
Run it again, Dick.
Speaker 8 (10:58):
RCS pressurized, closing, lunar module hatch.
Speaker 10 (11:03):
Command module hatch clues.
Speaker 12 (11:05):
Le disabled, depressed, back to auto.
Speaker 8 (11:09):
Dump valve open.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
Pressurization systems looking good, Houston.
Speaker 10 (11:16):
Roger Eagle zero pressure. Excellent job, Neil. We're t minus
nineteen minutes fifty four seconds to undocking of Columbia and
Eagle prior to entering lunar orbit.
Speaker 8 (11:29):
Uh oh, there it is again at three o'clock and holding.
Speaker 10 (11:34):
You got Columbia.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
We have a moving object within visual.
Speaker 10 (11:40):
Can you identify? Is it a Russian Luna fifteen over?
Speaker 4 (11:44):
It appears to be tracking on a steady course.
Speaker 10 (11:47):
Eagle.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Can you identify the Russian run of fifteen negative?
Speaker 4 (11:51):
Houston?
Speaker 8 (11:52):
No identification possible.
Speaker 10 (11:56):
The Houston or we go for undocking regardless?
Speaker 4 (12:00):
What do we do well, Jane.
Speaker 10 (12:04):
Repete Houston. Are we go for undogging and lunar descent
or do we are board.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
Come on.
Speaker 10 (12:26):
Control in Columbia? Different theature changes. They're putting a tent
in our RCS, fuel in ausington supplies. Are we go
for module separation?
Speaker 9 (12:36):
You could run another test. Will the decompression hold or not?
I believe it will. Don't tell me what you believe,
Tell me what you know. Fundamental question, Cliff, If you
were up there, I am mister Krantz.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
We have Sir Bernard online nine oh one.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Sir Bernard?
Speaker 4 (12:57):
What is it?
Speaker 10 (12:58):
Bad bit of luck?
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Chris?
Speaker 8 (13:00):
And I'm afraid the latest orbit of the Soviet craft
only increases the possibility of an intercept.
Speaker 12 (13:05):
We're less than ten minutes from separation.
Speaker 8 (13:08):
Our rate of thrust or fuel consumption requires a go
or abort decision.
Speaker 10 (13:12):
There's no safety in the former and no glory in
the latter. Makes for a moment of broad high drama,
doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
I'll keep you informed.
Speaker 10 (13:22):
Speaking on.
Speaker 11 (13:25):
Repeat, Houston, where are we on Columbia? Eagle separation running.
Speaker 10 (13:29):
Through final Columbia.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
It was at that time I decided to introduce a
novel concept in the proceedings.
Speaker 8 (13:37):
Is someone gonna make up their mind?
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Or what.
Speaker 9 (13:42):
Activate the squad boxes?
Speaker 5 (13:43):
Deacon gotcha?
Speaker 9 (13:44):
Eagle, this is flight. You are cleared for separation. You're
cleared for separation. Testings over.
Speaker 11 (13:55):
This is the real McCoy Roger Houston, buzz and I
will proceed into the lunar module.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Come here, palass I gave Mike a hug.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
We knew it might be the last time we'd see
each other, but we weren't about to say so. Pilot's
don't do that now.
Speaker 8 (14:15):
When I get back, you better have saved me. Shrimp cocktail,
You got.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
It, buzz, Come on, Buys.
Speaker 6 (14:30):
We'll know within seconds of the latch actuators triggering whether
we've lost whole pressure. At that point, we won't have
very much time to egress before the lunar module gets
too far away from Mike to catch up with it.
If everything looks.
Speaker 9 (14:43):
Good, we won't know about subsystem integrity till we're halfway
down to the surface. There's another thing, Jane flight dynamics.
Speaker 6 (14:53):
If they outgas even a little, it's gonna push them
off course.
Speaker 9 (14:57):
Look, let's just get them undocked and make sure they
can still breathe.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
And then there's the Russian craft Jane.
Speaker 9 (15:05):
One disaster at a time.
Speaker 10 (15:08):
Columbia Houston rule zero zero zero zero zero seven zero
zero zero.
Speaker 11 (15:16):
And Tenata Omni RCS pressurized closing hatch, closing.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Hatch disabling roll looking good.
Speaker 8 (15:26):
Columbia Cycling complete dumb valve initiate.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
We have nominal depressurization and our go for separation.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Houston, Copular Meal, you or go for undocking latch retract
in three two.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
One, Neil hit the switch and the docking mechanisms disengage
the two spacecraft. As they separated. I could see the
blackness of space in but was the tunnel between the craft?
What a sight?
Speaker 4 (16:06):
Houston, we have separation.
Speaker 10 (16:07):
We are go for Luna landing.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
All systems looking good, but all systems worked.
Speaker 10 (16:16):
We're doing explosively compression in the docking assembly.
Speaker 7 (16:19):
Roger Houston. We're reading the same thing.
Speaker 5 (16:22):
There's we're getting buckling in the lunar module pressure health
and the gimbals are going crazy.
Speaker 9 (16:29):
Umbia, we're seeing on all access rotation in both vehicles.
Null those rates. Columbia. Can you see Eagle?
Speaker 4 (16:43):
Eagle?
Speaker 7 (16:44):
Are you reading Columbia, Columbia, Eagle, We're still showing rotation.
Do you have hot fire on your thrusters?
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Over Eagle?
Speaker 9 (16:53):
We need you to stabilize to recover calms. Columbia and
the Eagle, are you reading us?
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Repeat?
Speaker 9 (17:06):
Colombia and Eagle, this is flight. Are you reading us? Colombia?
This is Houston. Are you in visual contact with Eagle Capcom.
Are you receiving nothing on high or Low.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
Eagle?
Speaker 9 (17:30):
Do you have a visual on Colombia? Eagle Colombia, this
is flight. Please respond.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Buzz, starring John Lithgow and Jeffrey Errand, is created by
Stephen Cronish and directed by John Scott Dryden. Chapter six
is written by Matt Graham and Stephen Cronish. Original music
is by Sasha Putnam. Sound designed by Elouise Whitmore. The
producer is Emma Hearn. The executive producers are Jeremy Fox,
(18:19):
John Scott Dryden, Stephen Cronish, Howard Stringer and Jason English.
Buzz is a production of Thoroughbred Studios, gold Hoff Productions
and iHeart Podcasts.
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