Next week will be 51 years since the iconic Apollo 11 mission landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969, where it saw Armstrong jump off the Eagle lunar lander six hours later to deliver his “one step” speech. to the millions who anxiously watched the return. on earth. Joined by Aldrin just a few minutes later, the couple spent two and a quarter hours exploring what would become the Base of Tranquility, collecting more than 20 kg of rock samples before burying the US flag in the surface to indicate the end of the Space Race. But one of the scientists who was in Mission Control that day, Professor Farouk El-Baz, revealed how he spent over a year working with astronauts on another very important task that they had to complete, which would be crucial to the success of future space missions.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, the 82-year-old man, who was the leading geologist in the Apollo program and in charge of landing site selection, revealed how he trained Armstrong and Aldrin to take photos of “targets of opportunity “outlined by NASA.
He said: “Science [work with Armstrong and Aldrin] It was once every week or two weeks and they gave us an hour because they had a very complete schedule with tests, test simulations, etc.
“When we met with them, we had very specific topics, we had a very specific time and we told them what we wanted to tell them.
“We showed them maps where we wanted them to take pictures and NASA called them ‘targets of opportunity’, the places we needed them to photograph because they were flying over locations that were crucial for subsequent missions.
Next week it will be 51 years since Apollo 11 (Image: GETTY)
The Apollo 11 crew in 1969 (Image: GETTY)
“So there was quite an interesting photograph of the Moon. We had these photographic sites, we had to instill in them the importance of when to look at them to get the correct shadow [to take a good photo].
“NASA engineers called these targets opportunity, which means they didn’t have to, but if they had a chance, they should go ahead and do it.”
Professor El-Baz recalled a fond memory of Armstrong, who ran away just before he supposedly left the lunar surface to catch one of these targets.
He added: “They did very well, actually. Neil Armstrong in particular was very meticulous about it, he always impressed us.
“The last thing he did, after the mission was completed and they collected all the material and started putting it back on the spaceship and Buzz Aldrin started driving, was to remember something important.
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Farouk El-Baz gave astronauts a mission (Image: BOSTON UNI)
“Geologists had told him that we needed to know the thickness of the soil layer on the Moon’s surface.
“You can only see this if you look at the crater and photograph the rim and see how far you have to go down before you see solid rock.
“Anything on solid rock would be the soil layer.”
Professor El-Baz explained why the photographs were crucial at the time, and could still be central to future space missions.
He continued: “Neil remembered that before finishing and before entering the spaceship to leave, he ran very fast west towards a crater that he saw from a distance so it would be nice to do this.
“He stood off to the side, looked at him, took the photo, turned around and ran back, but it was a fabulous image and very important to us.
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Mission control was tense during the mission (Image: GETTY)
Astronauts planted the American flag on the Moon (Image: GETTY)
“From day one, we absolutely made sure that all photographs of the Moon were available to the general public and worldwide.
“We hope that anyone will see the picture and find something we missed and post it, and that it can benefit us.”
At just 31 years old, Professor El-Baz became secretary of the Lunar Landing Site Selection Committee for the Apollo program.
But, at the heart of this great American project, he was very far from home.
Born in January 1938 in the city of Zagazig in the Nile Delta, his first years of primary school were in Damietta, an Egyptian port city north of the nation’s capital, Cairo.
It was here that his love for science and the natural world was born from the colorful rocks of Mokattam Mountain.
Neil Armstrong took this picture of Buzz Aldrin (Image: GETTY)
He later moved to Cairo with his family to study geology, chemistry, biology, and mathematics, and graduated with a bachelor of science in 1958.
Upon moving to the U.S., he earned a master’s degree followed by a doctorate in geology, but a return to Egypt would see him try and not get a position there.
He returned to the US in 1967 and was successfully interviewed for Bellcomm, which provided engineering support to NASA headquarters, and soon made his way into the Apollo program.
During his candid interview with Express.co.uk, he recalled the unique position he held in the early days as a non-American and particularly Egyptian scientist, whose president at the time, Gamal Abdel Nasser, had forged ties with the Soviet Union. .
He also recalled a fascinating but terrifying story of the mission that would inevitably lead astronauts to land in the wrong area.
