Author
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Topic: 'Mount Marilyn' and Apollo 11 Eagle's descent
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Jim_Voce Member Posts: 273 From: Registered: Jul 2016
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posted 07-28-2016 03:05 AM
Many will know that before the Apollo 8 mission, Jim Lovell picked out a plateau feature on a lunar mountain range that was on the edge of the Sea of Tranquility and he named the feature 'Mount Marilyn'. I do not know what the purpose of identifying this feature was and spotting it from lunar orbit on Apollo 8. However, I believe Apollo 8 was spotting possible landing areas and the Sea of Tranquility was one of them. Then on Apollo 11 and during the Eagle's descent, Armstrong spotted the feature and called out something like - 'There's Mountain Marilyn' much to the Lovell's satisfaction as they were watching the descent. Was there any significance to the 'Mount Marilyn' feature during the Eagle's descent or was it just a nice tribute by Armstrong? And also, does anyone know what Armstrong's exact words were when identifying the feature? |
oly Member Posts: 971 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 07-28-2016 06:34 AM
Mount Marilyn was a reference point that was identified as an easily recognised feature for the crew to identify with. it was a easily referenced point that the LM overflew during decent. With reference here, all three Apollo 11 astronauts made reference to Mount Marilyn during numerous lunar orbit operations. Bruce McCandless also responds to these references during PDI prep. 076:37:48 Armstrong: We're over Mount Marilyn at the present time, and it's ignition point.076:37:55 McCandless: Roger. Thank you. And our preliminary tracking data for the first few minutes shows you in a 61.6 by 169.5 orbit [114.1 by 313.9 km]. Over. 076:38:10 Armstrong: Roger. 076:38:12 McCandless: And Jim is smiling |
schnappsicle Member Posts: 396 From: Houston, TX, USA Registered: Jan 2012
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posted 07-28-2016 06:52 AM
Aldrin's exact quote (according to NASA's mission transcript) is: 03 04 37 48: "We're going over Mount Marilyn at the present time, and it's ignition point." At 03 04 38 13, McCandless reports "And Jim is smiling". That exchange occurred during the first revolution, not during the descent. There were several features on the moon that were landmarks to the crew during the descent. The flight plan called for them to pass over those landmarks at certain times during their descent. If they passed over the landmark too soon, it meant that the crew would land long (past the intended landing point). Such was the case on Apollo 11. From my uneducated reading of the transcript, I believe that PDI occurred over Mount Marilyn. Hence it's significance. I could not find Armstrong commenting on Mount Marilyn anywhere in the transcript. |
schnappsicle Member Posts: 396 From: Houston, TX, USA Registered: Jan 2012
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posted 07-28-2016 06:58 AM
It's funny how one transcript attributes the quote to Armstrong and the other to Aldrin.I wonder which one is right. I listened to the voice recording of that moment, and it does sound like Aldrin to me, but the quality is such that it's really hard to tell. |
oly Member Posts: 971 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 07-28-2016 07:10 AM
Use this map for reference, Mount Marilyn is almost centre of map about 1 Deg N, 40 Deg E. |
LM-12 Member Posts: 3324 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 07-28-2016 09:06 AM
The LROC website has this page on Mt.Marilyn, including photo AS10-29-4165 of the Apollo 10 CSM flying over the landmark.(LROC, AIG and ALSJ have frame 4165 in Magazine 28. AIA and AFJ have frame 4165 in Magazine 29. I think the correct Mag is 29.) The direction of travel in the LROC photo is down. |