| Watch the updated version of this video on: www.youtube.com It's the ultimate buddy movie. Forty years ago, on November 19, 1969, astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean landed on the moon in one of the most important of the Apollo flights. This video shows them making a pinpoint landing on a treacherous lunar surface, finding rocks, and generally having a blast. The program features an interview with Pete Conrad, filmed a year before he died in a tragic motorcycle accident in 1999. Credit Space.com with editorial assistance. Earth.... November 14th, 1969. Three astronauts... with spacesuits, food, water, and a battery of scientific and communications equipment... were bound for the moon. Thousands gathered at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, including President and Mrs. Richard Nixon, to witness the historic launch. The Saturn V rocket that would carry them into space was theoretically designed to launch in any weather... and on this day it was raining. The mission's commander, astronaut Pete Conrad, would say later: "The flight was extremely normal, for the first 36 seconds." Audio: 10, 9, 8, ignition sequence start, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, all engines running... liftoff. The five engines of the Saturn 5's huge first stage burned through 5 million pounds of liquid oxygen in just two and a half minutes, boosting the spacecraft 42 miles up... and 58 miles out over the Atlantic. Racing through the stormy environment, the rocket generated a lightning bolt that traveled down ... |
