Flying Close To The Surface
On the morning of July 20th, Armstrong and Aldrin went into Eagle and left Collins by himself in the lunar orbit. The two of them got ready to fly the lunar module to the surface of the moon. They had already circled the satellite almost twelve times before it was time to land. This was a crucial aspect of the trip.
Flying Close To The Surface
ADVERTISEMENT
Making The Final Descent
The two of them had to bring the lunar module to an elliptical orbit from a standard one. This would let them get as close as 50,000 feet to the surface. By then, the astronauts had to use the engine of Eagle to make the final descent. At five hundred feet away, Armstrong switched the spacecraft to manual mode.
Making The Final Descent