over three times you can read more of the c-span-sows poll results at psos poll c-span-if so' results at c-span.com. >> this year marks the 50th anniversary of the apollo 11 mission. next on "reel america," prelaunch interviews with the crew members, who described their individual prelaunch responsibilities. this is neil armstrong, command pilot for the apollo 11 moon landing mission. what is the purpose of the mission? man's firstg: it is attempt to demonstrate the ability to go to the moon, to

land there, and to return to earth. interviewer: what are your responsibilities as commander of apollo 11? general, the: in responsibilities are to make the on board decisions whenever required, because i oversee the performance of the duties of all the crew. in this case, i participated in procedures on board the spacecraft as well as oversee of my fellow crewmembers, and the specific tasks i am charged with the performance of include monitoring the launch, the manual climb of the boosters, should that be watched, and taking on

and monitoring of the spacecraft systems in the command module. in the lunar module, i'm charged almost equally with the lunar module pilot in the operation of the lunar module systems and control of the vehicle during ascent and ascent. interviewer: will you describe what will be happening before the lunar module touches down on the moon? mr. armstrong: we will continue burning the engine until feet,tude of about five at which the probes will ignite a light on our panel. we see it illuminate, we cut the and fall the last several feet to the moon. columbus explored

one new world. you are about to explore another. how do you feel about such comparisons? i'marmstrong: well, impressed to be compared with columbus, and of course we andgnize his discovery monitored in some respects by the call sign of our command module, columbia. there are favorable comparisons and some that won't hold true. venture waslumbus's one that was very expensive and in his time was one that very few countries could afford, and only byuld afford digging into the very depths of their treasury.

a voyage with a good bit complaint, some however in many ways it was not at all like the voyage of apollo 11. where he wasn't sure was going, at least he thought he was going to china or the indies and ended up in a completely new world. i very much hope that we want terminate at some place that we plan to visit.o we know a good bit about the .lace that we are going and it is also necessary to note that he did it without an entire

nation's effort behind them. our voyage is a voyage of the nation and a voyage of humanity, while his was a voyage of a very limited few. narrator: this is esther not michael collins, command module pilot of the apollo 11 mission. what will result from the apollo 11 flight? mr. collins: we have opened up a travel system which has heretofore been impossible. we now will be able to offer to human beings the option of either walking on the surface of the earth, or walking on the surface of the moon, or hopefully on some not too far distant date, walking on the surface of another planet. i think the possibilities therein are almost unlimited, although i am not equipped to say in great detail

what they may be. -- we haven able to not been able to predict the effectives various inventions in various discoveries. interviewer: how do you view your view? -- view your role? -- itllins: et cetera i is as important than the other two positions. i would be a fool if i said, i have the best seat of the three. on the other hand, i can say with complete candor and complete honesty that i am very happy to have the seat which i have an to be doing the job which i intend to do. interviewer: will you be kept busy as you fly alone in the command module? mr. collins: yes and no. -busy. i will be very un i have two rolls. i as the passive target vehicle, and in the event everything is

working perfectly within the lem, then i have many chores to do. and i am prepared to take an active role in bringing the two vehicles together, however, itsided the lem works and radar is working properly and it is capable of making each and every maneuver leading up to the rendezvous and docking, then my job is essentially a pleasant one. on the other hand, if difficulties should arise, my , ands to rescue the lem then i find myself being an active partner in charge of a very complex vehicle with a very complex job, and i truly become busy and i am literally racing from one side of the cockpit to the other, getting solutions to various problems from my digital computer, making sure that my rendezvous radar transponder and

vhf ranging systems are working properly, and doing a host of other small details, all of which are necessary for the successful completion of the rendezvous. interviewer: this is esther not edwin aldrin, lunar module pilot for the apollo 11 moon landing mission. what is the first thing you end neil armstrong will do after landing? mr. aldrin: one of the first things we will be engaged in is making immediate decisions as to how long we will be staying on the surface. favored abort points that we will be checking various systems to get a stay or no stay beyond these points. the first occurs four or five minutes after touchdown. the next one, about 10 minutes, and the final stay occurs one revolution afterwards. what we will be doing during that first revolution is very

intensely preparing the vehicle for a simulated countdown to launch, which we will carry up to the last five or 10 minutes, up to the absent 1 -- up to the ascent one revolution later as the command module comes over. following this we will go through a powerdown of the systems in the lunar module, preparing it for an extended stay on the surface. eating periodn followed by a four-hour rest period. when we awaken we will have another eat period and go through a two-hour plus eva preparation period. a -- therviewer: about exploring lunar surface, asked her not aldrin had this to say. mr. aldrin: we will go through

planned, two men exploration of the surface with neil going down the ladder first. as he goes down the ladder, i will be taking pictures of him with a 16mm camera through the window. a television camera will also be recording his activities. initially he will collect a contingency sample. as i descend onto the surface, he will then be collecting a bulk sample, a larger sample of lunar material. i wille is doing this, be participating in an extended eva evaluation, just what are the capabilities of performed tasks on the lunar surface. we will then join together following the deployment of television and that then -- television and then the deployment of the flag on the surface. we will perform jointly an inspection walking around the

lunar module, looking at the various systems, landing gear, making a very thorough inspection of everything we can observe on it. the process of doing this will be taking a series of panorama photographs at three different locations as we move around. when we get about three quarters of the way around the lem, we will deploy several experiments. , and we laser reflector will offload these from the scientific equipment bay. another experiment is a passive seismometer. the deployment of these experiments will take five to 10 to bes, and they are deployed 50 to 60 feet away from the lunar module. when we return from this excursion around the lunar module, we will then pick up the

equipment for a documented sample in detail, and a predetermined location some 40, 50, 60 feet away from the lunar module. following this, we will package up these samples, conduct a few core tubes samples, another brief experiment, the solar wind experiment, and then prepare these packages to be transported up into the lunar module. i will enter the lem first and then neil will convey these two sample return containers up on this tether assembly. once they are inside, he will reenter the lunar module, we will pressurize, and that will be the end of our eva. space, the first decade, is a 1968 film reviewing major accomplishments of nasa since it was established in 1958. the documentary culminates with the successful launch of a saturn v