Editing Apollo 11 (section)

=== Lunar ascent ===

Aldrin entered ''Eagle'' first. With some difficulty the astronauts lifted film and two sample boxes containing {{convert|21.55|kg|lb}} of lunar surface material to the LM hatch using a flat cable pulley device called the Lunar Equipment Conveyor (LEC). This proved to be an inefficient tool, and later missions preferred to carry equipment and samples up to the LM by hand.<ref name="ALSJ 3" /> Armstrong reminded Aldrin of a bag of memorial items in his sleeve pocket, and Aldrin tossed the bag down. Armstrong then jumped onto the ladder's third rung, and climbed into the LM. After transferring to LM [[life support]], the explorers lightened the ascent stage for the return to lunar orbit by tossing out their PLSS backpacks, lunar overshoes, an empty Hasselblad camera, and other equipment. The hatch was closed again at 05:11:13. They then pressurized the LM and settled down to sleep.<ref name="ALSJ 6">{{cite web |url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11.posteva.html |title=Trying to Rest |editor-last=Jones |editor-first=Eric M. |date=1995 |work=Apollo 11 Lunar Surface Journal |publisher=NASA |access-date=June 13, 2013 |archive-date=May 10, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510204402/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11.posteva.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Aldrin Looks Back at Tranquility Base - GPN-2000-001102.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|left|Aldrin next to the Passive Seismic Experiment Package with the [[Apollo Lunar Module|Lunar Module]] ''Eagle'' in the background]]

Presidential speech writer [[William Safire]] had prepared an ''In Event of Moon Disaster'' announcement for Nixon to read in the event the Apollo 11 astronauts were stranded on the Moon.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/white-house-lost-space-scenarios |title=White House 'Lost In Space' Scenarios |date=August 8, 2005 |publisher=[[The Smoking Gun]] |location=New York |access-date=May 25, 2013 |archive-date=February 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225012257/http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/white-house-lost-space-scenarios |url-status=live }} Scanned copy of the "In Event of Moon Disaster" memo.</ref> The remarks were in a memo from Safire to Nixon's [[White House Chief of Staff]] [[H. R. Haldeman]], in which Safire suggested a protocol the administration might follow in reaction to such a disaster.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Story of a Tragedy That Was Not to Be |first=Jim |last=Mann |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jul-07-mn-53678-story.html |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=July 7, 1999 |access-date=May 25, 2013 |archive-date=August 30, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130830075156/http://articles.latimes.com/1999/jul/07/news/mn-53678 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="safire">{{cite news |title=Essay; Disaster Never Came |first=William |last=Safire |author-link=William Safire |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/12/opinion/essay-disaster-never-came.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 12, 1999 |access-date=May 25, 2013 |archive-date=February 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224061550/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/12/opinion/essay-disaster-never-came.html |url-status=live }}</ref> According to the plan, Mission Control would "close down communications" with the LM, and a clergyman would "commend their souls to the deepest of the deep" in a public ritual likened to [[burial at sea]]. The last line of the prepared text contained an allusion to [[Rupert Brooke]]'s World War I poem "[[The Soldier (poem)|The Soldier]]".<ref name="safire" /> The script for the speech does not make reference to Collins; as he remained onboard ''[[Command module Columbia|Columbia]]'' in orbit around the Moon, it was expected that he would be able to return the module to Earth in the event of a mission failure.<ref>{{Cite web |author1=Elizabeth Howell |date=July 19, 2019 |title=If Apollo 11 Had Gone Terribly Wrong, Here's What Nixon Would Have Told the Country |url=https://www.space.com/if-apollo-11-astronauts-died-nixon-contingency-speech.html |access-date=July 11, 2024 |website=Space.com |language=en}}</ref>

While moving inside the cabin, Aldrin accidentally damaged the [[circuit breaker]] that would arm the main engine for liftoff from the Moon. There was a concern this would prevent firing the engine, stranding them on the Moon. The nonconductive tip of a Duro [[Marker pen|felt-tip pen]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Thomas |first1=Ashley |title=How a Felt-Tipped Marker Saved the Moon Landing |date=July 23, 2019 |url=https://www.asicentral.com/news/web-exclusive/july-2019/how-a-felt-tipped-marker-saved-the-moon-landing/ |access-date=July 20, 2022}}</ref> was sufficient to activate the switch.<ref name="ALSJ 6" />

After more than {{frac|21|1|2}} hours on the lunar surface, in addition to the scientific instruments, the astronauts left behind: an [[Apollo 1]] mission patch in memory of astronauts&nbsp;[[Roger B. Chaffee|Roger Chaffee]], [[Gus Grissom]], and [[Ed White (astronaut)|Edward White]], who died when their command module caught fire during a test in January 1967; two memorial medals of Soviet cosmonauts [[Vladimir Komarov]] and [[Yuri Gagarin]], who died in 1967 and 1968 respectively; a memorial bag containing a gold replica of an olive branch as a traditional symbol of peace; and a silicon message disk carrying the [[Apollo 11 goodwill messages|goodwill statements]] by presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon along with messages from leaders of 73 countries around the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-111507a.html|title=The untold story: how one small silicon disc delivered a giant message to the Moon|website=collectSPACE|access-date=November 20, 2019|date=November 15, 2007|archive-date=February 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224210851/http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-111507a.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The disk also carries a listing of the leadership of the US Congress, a listing of members of the four committees of the House and Senate responsible for the NASA legislation, and the names of NASA's past and then-current top management.<ref>{{cite press release |title=Apollo 11 Goodwill Messages |date=July 13, 1969 |publisher=NASA |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://history.nasa.gov/ap11-35ann/goodwill/Apollo_11_material.pdf |id=Release No: 69-83F |access-date=June 14, 2013 |archive-date=September 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190903191836/https://www.history.nasa.gov/ap11-35ann/goodwill/Apollo_11_material.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Apollo 11 photo map.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|right|Map showing landing site and photos taken]]

After about seven hours of rest, the crew was awakened by Houston to prepare for the return flight. 
At that time, unknown to them, some hundred kilometers away from them the Soviet probe [[Luna 15]] was about to descend and impact. Despite having been known to be orbiting the Moon at the same time, through a ground-breaking precautious goodwill exchange of data, the mission control of Luna 15 unexpectedly hastened its robotic [[sample-return mission]], initiating descent, in an attempt to return before Apollo 11.<ref name="audio">{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/recording-tracks-russias-moon-gatecrash-attempt-1730851.html| title=Recording tracks Russia's Moon gatecrash attempt| date=July 3, 2009| newspaper=[[The Independent]]| location=London| last=Brown| first=Jonathan}}</ref> Just two hours before Apollo 11's launch Luna 15 crashed at 15:50 UTC, with British astronomers monitoring Luna 15 and recording the situation one commented: "I say, this has really been drama of the highest order",<ref name="a357">{{cite news | last=Horton | first=Alex | title=The Soviets crashed a spacecraft onto the moon | newspaper=Washington Post | date=July 19, 2019 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/07/19/soviets-tried-beat-apollo-they-crashed-spacecraft-moon-instead/ | access-date=July 17, 2024}}</ref> bringing the [[Space Race]] to a culmination.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/luna-15/in-depth| title=Missions: Luna 15| website=Solar System Exploration: NASA Science| access-date=March 18, 2019| archive-date=April 10, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410114541/https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/luna-15/in-depth| url-status=dead}}</ref>

Roughly two hours later, at 17:54:00 UTC, the Apollo 11 crew on the surface safely lifted off in ''Eagle''{{'s}} ascent stage to rejoin Collins aboard ''Columbia'' in lunar orbit.{{sfn|Orloff|2000|p=108}} Film taken from the LM ascent stage upon liftoff from the Moon reveals the American flag, planted some {{Convert|25|ft|m|0}} from the descent stage, whipping violently in the exhaust of the ascent stage engine. Aldrin looked up in time to witness the flag topple: "The ascent stage of the LM separated&nbsp;... I was concentrating on the computers, and Neil was studying the [[attitude indicator]], but I looked up long enough to see the flag fall over."{{sfn|Collins|Aldrin|1975|p=219}} Subsequent Apollo missions planted their flags farther from the LM.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/9439047/American-flags-still-standing-on-the-Moon-say-scientists.html |date=June 30, 2012 |title=American flags still standing on the Moon, say scientists |access-date=September 24, 2018 |archive-date=February 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210209133957/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/9439047/American-flags-still-standing-on-the-Moon-say-scientists.html |url-status=live }}</ref>