Nixon's Moon Call: How Apollo 11 Communicated

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President Richard Nixon spoke from the Oval Office using a standard telephone connected to NASA’s communication network. His voice was converted into radio signals, transmitted via communications satellites, and routed to NASA’s Mission Control in Houston. From there, the signal was sent through the Deep Space Network (DSN), a global system of large radio antennas in California, Spain, and Australia designed to communicate with spacecraft far beyond Earth orbit.

The message was received by Apollo 11’s Lunar Module, Eagle, using its S-band communication system, which handled voice, telemetry, and television signals. Inside the module, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin heard Nixon through their headsets connected to the onboard communications panel. Armstrong spoke into the microphone while Aldrin listened, with a noticeable but manageable delay due to the vast distance and speed of radio waves.

When Armstrong replied, his voice traveled back through Eagle’s S-band transmitter to Earth. The signal was picked up by the Deep Space Network, routed to Mission Control in Houston, and then sent through terrestrial communication lines back to the White House. Nixon heard the astronauts’ voices only seconds after they spoke, completing the first two-way conversation between Earth and the Moon.

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