Apollo 11 spacecraft consisting of Columbia and Eagle.
The 400th anniversary of Apollo 11 was celebrated in July 2369 with a civilian recreation of the historic Apollo 11 mission. The recreation culminated with the Eagle module landing on the surface of Luna on 20 July, exactly four hundred years after the original did. Over one hundred thousand spectators, most of them Luna residents, watched the landing from a pressurized amphitheatre constructed for the event.
Crew[]
The Apollo 11 spaceship was crewed by three human civilian space pilots Paul Abell, Inge Heyer and Amy Sisson. Abell stood in for original astronaut Michael Collins aboard the command and service module Columbia, while Heyer and Sisson, standing in for Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin respectively, touched down aboard the lunar module Eagle.
Preparation[]
The recreation took six years of planning and preparation and was supported by over five hundred volunteers. The authentic Saturn V launch vehicle was constructed using parts replicated over a two year period from the original construction blueprints. However, it was slightly modified to run on a modern, clean fuel. Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Flight Museum was restored to its original condition and function for the launch.
The three modern-day astronauts trained for months in holographic simulations of the spacecraft for their four day flight to Earth's moon.
Mission[]
The mission began on 16 July, the Saturn V rocket lifting off from launching pad 39A. Four days later, the Eagle module, carrying Heyer and Sisson, separated from Columbia and made its descent to the lunar surface, leaving Abell aboard the command module in orbit. The landing site was the only deviation from the original mission as it was one kilometer east of the original site which had been turned into an historical monument. Upon touchdown, the famous words uttered from the surface of the moon were spoken again: "Houston. Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."
Quotes[]
The recreation and celebration was covered by UFP Today reporter, John Coffren, who recorded these quotes.
- "We're trying to follow the original Apollo 11 mission chronology as close to real time as possible." - From a pre-launch interview with Inge Heyer.
- "Houston. Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." - Heyer on touchdown.
- "It's been a perfect day. Six years work, and it all went off without a hitch." - From a post-landing interview with Amy Sisson.
- "I want to do this again in a hundred years." - Paul Abell speaking from Columbia after the landing.
- All information comes from the expansion of the Spaceflight Chronology in Star Trek Magazine Issue 162: "Blast Off!"