Narrative text about the Moon
- men who landed on the moon
The pressure was enormous. It had been only two months since Apollo 10, commanded by Thomas P. Stafford, had orbited the Moon and carried out the dress rehearsal for the moon landing, just 14 kilometers from the lunar surface. And now, like an Olympic runner who receives the baton from his partner’s hands, Apollo 11 warmed up its engines, that July 16, 1969.
Taking their places in the bowels of the rocket, Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins shared an empty stomach. This was what they had trained for. They were ready. But the shadow of the Apollo 1 fire lurked in some remote part of their minds. It was inevitable.
The Saturn V rocket roared like a beast as the countdown reached zero. The astronauts, closing their eyes so as not to see their own fear in the eyes of their companions, held their breath for the few seconds it took for the vehicle to leave the launch pad. It was half past nine in the morning, and the world was fixing its eyes on those three men, who in just over nine minutes began to feel the effects of microgravity.
- A quick landing on the stairs
The worst was over. Or at least the worst of the beginning. Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins met for the first time on the mission so far, and proceeded to calibrate their equipment and go over the necessary telecommunications. During the next three hours, Apollo 11 orbited the Earth, at an altitude of about 215 km, while they verified that the established trajectory was correct. Someone will have leaned out of the window, to contemplate the immense blue spot that was the planet, and the infinite blackness of space on the other side. It was better not to wonder if this would be his goodbye.
The spacecraft gave the planet two complete orbits before Houston announced the start of the journey to the Moon. They had now been oriented in the correct way and the third stage engine began to propel them further and further from home, until reaching 45,000 km/h.
If the calculations had gone right, the Moon’s gravity would soon pick them up and they would begin to orbit the Moon. If not, they would have to coordinate with Houston on corrective measures, always running the risk that the rocket would send them heading straight for nothing, or simply leave them adrift. There was virtually no margin for error.
“How do you see it?”, perhaps an astronaut asked his companions. And Armstrong, just 38 years old, would have immediately replied that he did, that he looked good, that they remain calm. That was the role, after all, of the mission commander: to maintain a certain atmosphere of enthusiasm.
- In the dark arms of Selene
Three long days of navigation checks and minor course corrections led them toward the embrace of the Moon. During this time, Apollo 11 lost part of its speed due to the attraction of the Earth, but it gradually recovered it as it approached, when it reached 9,000 km/h.
Then began a new critical point in the mission: lunar orbit insertion, a maneuver to be carried out on the mysterious dark side of the Moon. For half an hour telecommunications would be impossible and the mission would be entirely on its own. During that journey they were tense, double- and triple-checking every detail. If something happened, they couldn’t report it, or even ask for help or say goodbye to their families.
The automatic braking controls tripped on time and the ship began to slow down to allow lunar gravity to do its job. This time the astronauts felt more confident, as the pale, rocky face of the Moon filled the space outside the ship’s windows, but none dared break their respectful silence. They were alone, 400,000 kilometers away from Earth. Alone with the moon
Finally the radio came back to life and Houston confirmed the success of the maneuver. Then, at last, all three burst into loud laughter. They were orbiting the Moon. They had made it.
- A great leap for humanity
With renewed spirits, they embarked on the next, no less dangerous phase of the mission. The ship was to be divided into two parts: “Eagle” (eagle), the lunar module, manned by Armstrong and Aldrin, began the descent towards the lunar surface; while “Columbia”, the module for the return home, continued to orbit the satellite under the command of Collins. It was the first time the group had been separated since the start of the mission. But these were professionals, the first space soldiers.
100 hours after the start of the mission, that is, almost four days later, the Eagle began its descent towards the so-called Sea of Tranquility (Mare Tranquillitatis), where the dusty surface of the Moon awaited him.
In Houston, it was 3:17 p.m. on July 20 when Neil Armstrong’s voice reached them through the communication equipment: “Houston, Tranquility Base here… the Eagle has landed.” We can only imagine the outcry such a message must have aroused among those supervising the mission from Earth.
Six hours after the moon landing, Armstrong donned his spacesuit and emerged from the lunar module to take a look for himself. Descending the stairs of his ship, he activated the television camera embedded in his suit and broadcast the images to 600 million eager viewers.
Around him, space was infinite black and the Moon a marvelous desert. “This is one small step for a man,” he said as the first of his boots landed on the lunar soil, “…but one giant leap for mankind.”
That phrase would go down in history.
References:
- “Apollo 11” on Wikipedia.
- “Narration” on Wikipedia.
- “The journey of Apollo XI, minute by minute: a leap of 393,309 km towards glory” in El Español.
- The biggest and most dangerous adventure” in the newspaper El Mundo (Spain).
- “July 16, 1969. 51st Anniversary Launch of Apollo 11” at NASA.
What is a narrative text?
A narrative text is one that contains a story, that is, it provides the reader with a series of events spun in an orderly manner and in which a story is narrated. The characteristic element of the narrative text is the presence of the narrator, who may or may not be a character in the story. The story has a plot, that is, a connection between the events and a series of characters, which can be divided into main ones (to whom the story happens) and secondary ones (those who accompany the main ones).
Some examples of literary texts are stories, novels, chronicles, legends, myths, and journalistic texts.
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