Eagle's Descent — Apollo 11 Lunar Module Landing Simulator

APOLLO 11 LUNAR MODULE LANDING SIMULATOR

EAGLE’S DESCENT

Step into the Apollo 11 Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), and into Neil Armstrong’s shoes.

You have separated from the Command Service Module, and the Apollo guidance computer has flown the LEM down from orbit. Now the surface is rising to meet you, riddled with craters and boulders.

Take the (simplified) controls during the final descent — read the terrain, control the descent rate, manage fuel, and put her down soft to recreate the historic landing.

LEARN

BEGIN

CREATED BY SANDEEP SHARMA · GOSANDEEP.COM FLIGHT DYNAMICS FROM NASA APOLLO LM DOCUMENTATION GUIDANCE LOGIC AFTER THE AGC “LUMINARY” PROGRAM

MISSION BRIEFING

PILOT WINDOW

INSTRUMENT PANEL

KEYBOARD

TIPS

OUT THE COMMANDER’S WINDOW — P64 APPROACH

The pilot window during the P64 approach

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1

LPD ANGLE SCALE — etched on the glass. The commander read the computer’s landing point against it.

2

YOUR SHADOW — the LM’s shadow, thrown ahead by the low sun behind you. It slides toward you as you descend and meets the craft at touchdown.

3

CRATERS — dark bowls with bright rims. The shadowed near wall shows their depth. Avoid them when choosing a site.

4

TARGET RING — the computer’s aim point. Hold SPACE and tap the arrow keys to move it. Visible during P64 only.

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DUST — blown up by the engine below about 100 ft. It hides the surface, so fly the last seconds on the instruments.

THE LAST 100 FT

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HOW TO LAND SOFT

1Read the site during P64. Dark bowls with bright rims are craters. Speckled ground is a boulder field. Pick smooth grey ground and move the target ring onto it early, while the range is long and corrections are cheap.

2Kill the drift first. At the P66 hand-off at 500 ft, null both HORIZ VELOCITY needles to under 4 ft/s before you work the descent rate. A small tilt held for a few seconds is enough. Level off with the opposite key.

3Ride the rate down. Use W and S to set the descent rate. A good profile is about 3 ft/s at 100 ft and 1 to 2 ft/s in the last 20 ft. Watch your shadow slide toward you. When it reaches the craft you are seconds from contact.

4Stop the engine at the light. When the blue LUNAR CONTACT light comes on, press X. Cut too late and the craft bounces. Run the tank dry and it falls. Keep an eye on TIME TO DRY. Houston calls sixty and thirty seconds.

TOUCHDOWN LIMITS

Vertical speed	≤ 7 ft/s	gear fails above 10
Sideways speed	≤ 4 ft/s	faster tips the craft
Tilt plus ground slope	≤ 12°	land level, on level ground
Ground under the pads	clear	no boulders, no crater rim
Fuel at contact	> 0	a dry tank is a crash

THE THREE PROGRAMS

P63 and P64 fly themselves. The computer brakes, then steers toward the target ring while you judge the ground. Your control begins with P66, the final descent phase entered at 500 ft. See the INSTRUMENT PANEL tab for the PROG display and each program in detail.

WHAT ARMSTRONG DID

Eagle’s computer was steering into a boulder field beside West crater. Armstrong took manual control at about 500 ft, flew past it, and set down with under a minute of fuel left. The same choice is yours on every descent.

CLOSE

PRE-FLIGHT

DESCENT CONFIGURATION

CONTROL MODE

PILOT

The computer holds attitude and works the throttle. You steer and click the descent rate — as Apollo was actually flown.

COMMANDER HARD

No descent-rate hold in P66 — you fly the throttle by hand (SHIFT+W/S) inside the engine’s 10–60% band.

REMEMBER

Tilt against the cross-pointer needles to kill drift — released keys hold your tilt. Watch your shadow ahead. Engine stop at the blue light.

LANDING REGION

APOLLO 11 · MARE TRANQUILLITATIS

The historic site. Smooth mare plains — but Eagle had to overfly a boulder field to get down.

APOLLO 12 · OCEANUS PROCELLARUM

Crater-chained plains. Pete Conrad’s pinpoint landing, a walk from Surveyor 3.

APOLLO 15 · HADLEY–APENNINE

A narrow shelf between the Apennine peaks and the winding Hadley Rille.

APOLLO 17 · TAURUS–LITTROW

A boxed valley strewn with boulder fields. The final Apollo landing.

APOLLO 11 · PILOT MODE

BEGIN DESCENT

PAUSED

ESC TO RESUME

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POST-FLIGHT DEBRIEF

FLY AGAIN · R

SETUP · M

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