From the Earth to the Moon
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:22:02
And get some rest.
:22:04
Look...
:22:07
Did you come to me right away
when you found out about this...

:22:10
or did you try to cover your ass?
:22:12
You did a good thing.
:22:13
Not this.
This is bad.

:22:18
But as long as people speak up
about their mistakes, we've got a shot.

:22:24
They try to sweep it under the rug...
:22:26
and we're not gonna go to New Jersey,
let alone the moon.

:22:32
Get some rest.
:22:43
Truth be told, we were behind schedule
from the beginning.

:22:46
But mistakes and miscalculations
were only a small part of it.

:22:49
The real problem is that
a LEM isn't one spacecraft but two.

:22:53
The lower half of the LEM...
the descent stage...

:22:56
contains the engine that astronauts
will use to control their landing.

:23:00
After the moonwalks, the descent stage
will serve as a launch platform...

:23:03
for the ascent stage...
the cockpit of the LEM...

:23:07
which the astronauts
will fly into lunar orbit...

:23:08
for their rendezvous
with the command module.

:23:11
Now, this particular ascent stage
belonged to LEM 3.

:23:14
LEM 1 and 2 were designed and built
for unmanned test flights.

:23:18
LEM 3 would be the first
to be flown in space by astronauts.

:23:24
We worked hand in hand
with the astronauts...

:23:26
from the beginning of LEM program.
:23:30
They showed us
what we were doing right...

:23:33
and what we were doing wrong.
:23:37
From early on much of their attention
was given to LEM 3.

:23:40
But it wasn't until
a day in November, 1966...

:23:43
that NASA decided which crew
would be the one to actually fly her.

:23:47
I just got off the phone
with Deke Slayton, gentlemen.

:23:49
The crew assigned to take
the LEM 3 into space...

:23:53
on the first manned flight
of a lunar module is as follows:

:23:57
Commander Jim McDivitt...
:23:59
a Gemini vet,
one of the best pilots in the program...


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