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A little more than ten kilometers before the surface of the Moon, the emergency alarm of the on-board computer went off several times, but the specialists of the Flight Control Center in Houston decided that these alarms could be ignored.
With half a kilometer to go, the astronauts noticed that the autopilot was going to land the module in an unsafe place covered with large stones, so they had to take control from the autopilot and quickly choose a new place for landing.
NASA illustration/Eagle landing on the moon. Drawing from the briefing kit distributed to the media prior to the launch of the Apollo 11 mission
These corrections critically depleted the Eagle’s landing stage fuel tanks. When there were still 30 meters to the surface of the Moon, a warning light came on that only 5% remained. fuel The astronauts had to make a vital decision immediately: risk continuing the descent in the hope of sufficient fuel, or disconnect and drop the landing stage to engage the ascent engine and return to orbit with it.
A 94-second countdown has begun, after which crew chief Neil Armstrong will have only the last 20 seconds to either land the Eagle or abort the descent.
