Also people go on about the mirrors left of the moon and the reason they did it was so they could bounce a laser off it to see how far the moon was and yet, they should know how far it is as they landed a so called lander on it didn't they lol
Picture the scene.
N.A.S.A: Right Neil and Buzz, you're going to the moon and we want you to plant this mirror on it so we can bounce a laser off it so we know the distance to the moon, now off you go, your rockets just been filled up with fuel.
Neil: Wooooo, wooooooo, hang on a minute here! what do you mean stick this mirror on the moon to see how far it is...are you telling us , you've put some juice in our motor and are guessing it'll be enough?
N.A.S.A: Well, yeah. But it'll be ok lads, we've made some good guesses and we are N.A.S.A aren't we, plus , you lads are brave anyway and that's the least of your worries.
Neil: How do you mean like?
N.A.S.A: Well, firstly you have to get out of Earth's atmosphere whilst sat in an ICBM only a bit bigger with no steering. You then have to break through the atmosphere at super speed which in reality should burn up the unprotected rocket, then you have to hope all the bits fall off it at the right times, then you are in space.
You then have to travel to moon which has no atmosphere, un-dock from the little command module, head towards moons gravity in your 4 legged lander, then you have to somehow flip the ship so your nozzle is facing the moon and just use your thrusters to somehow land but don't worry about that bit because Eric here will be in the remote control mission room making sure your computer is doing all the necessary work as it's all automatic this lander like Neil and it knows the terrain of this moon like the back of it's cathode tube.
Neil: Yeah ok but what if we run out of fuel?
N.A.S.A: Stop worrying about fuel for God's sake, you will land, trust me and probably with a good few seconds to spare after you've realised the computer is sending you into a crater full of boulders and have to steer it sideways with those little made up RETRO booster aerosols that will sling you to the side even against all that power in that big nozzle on the bottom and you won't tip over either because we have built in a steadying mechanism that fires the little aerosols like crazy when you and buzz are getting flung about and knocking the lander off balance.
Neil: Oh ok, well I'm starting to feel a bit better about that now but how do we take off from the moon and will we have enough fuel in the kettle thing?
N.A.S.A: Ermmmm, yeah you should do but only if you manage to survive the oven like temperatures of 250 degrees because you don't have a comfy Earth atmosphere on the moon you know Neil but don't panic, you will be wearing a suit and a helmet which we have made white to reflect the heat away from you and we've hoyed a heat exchanger in your back pack which doesn't work but it's about the look and the feel good factor that counts.
Neil: So you're saying we will simply die on the moon?
N.A.S.A: Don't be daft man, you'll be ok. Oh and don't forget to take loads of pictures with your big chest mounted camera. It's got special film in it that doesn't crinkle up in the intense heat so all your exposures should be lovely.
Neil: If we get stuck on the moon is there any chance of rescue?
N.A.S.A: Of course there is man, this is 1969 and we can do anything we can... and we will even put the year 2000 and onwards to shame. We have loads of those Saturn V rockets in the hangar Neil and we'll just launch one of them to pick you up
Aye I'm sure they said something like this.
