Talk:Tranquility Base

The reason for the page move

The official International Astronomical Union Latin name is "Statio Tranquillitatis" which may be the best name for this article.

The NASA website uses Tranquility Base 148 times ([1]) to only 6 for Tranquillity Base ([2]). Tranquility Base is the more popular Google search result. The Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/) gives the translation as "Sea of Tranquility" (they uses the IAU's Working-Group for Planetary System Nomenclature database). From the same website, the official IAU name for "Tranquility Base" is "Statio Tranquillitatis" ([3]). Here is the NASA audio and transcript from Apollo 11: [4]. NASA uses the following address: US Space & Rocket Center, One Tranquility Base, Huntsville, Ala. ^BlankVerse 07:16, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

I guess it doesn't make too much sense to link the coordinates to the GeoHack tool as long as there is only mapping of the Earth (readers are directed to a point somewhere in the Atlantic), therefore I have delinked the coordinates. Should there be one day a tool that has maps of the moon to be directed to, that would be a fine service, of course. --Proofreader 12:42, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Background

Quote: You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. EndQuote

Do you know WHY they [NASA controllers] were about to turn blue? I understand the LEM computers had overloaded multiple times during the landing procedure; they were way off course and not where they were supposed to be. The LEM was hovering and maneuvering above large boulders while the pilot was trying to find a place to land, and were just seconds from running out of fuel. If you listen to the tape, you can Aldrin talking and mission control just counting down numbers, that is the number of seconds of fuel they were supposed to have left. They landed with (not sure) something like less than 10 seconds of fuel -- THAT's why they were holding their breath and turning blue. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.125.64.66 (talk) 03:23, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Original Name?

Any idea what the original name for the landing site was before Armstong coined "Tranquility Base" on the spot?

The capcom says "Roger, Twan... " in his reply to Armstrong. Any idea what he was going to say before he corrected himself. 70.88.213.74 (talk) 19:04, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

I doubt there was an existing name. It sounds like the capcom was just trying to quickly respond using a name he hadn't heard before. --^hello,gadren 01:41, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

Like in "Be vewy, vewy quiet! I'm hunting wabbits!". --Alex:D (talk) 21:31, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

IIRC, the Apollo 11 crew had decided about that name before and had secretly told only Charlie Duke, who was the assigned capcom for the landing, about it. They were anxious about Charlie replying with something like "Tran what!? Say again, please!", spoling the moment. --Kucharek (talk) 13:47, 20 August 2009 (UTC)

Too much drama

There is an improper original research implication being made here:

The name was given to the site by Armstrong, as he announced their successful landing there.

Armstrong: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

Capcom Charles Duke: "Roger, Twan... [correcting himself] Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot." Jones, Eric M. (1995). "The First Lunar Landing - Corrected Transcript and Commentary". NASA. Retrieved 2009-07-15.

Armstrong appears to have created the name on his own. His use of "Tranquility Base" surprised most NASA Mission Control personnel, who had not heard it before. During simulations, the crew had always referred to themselves as "Eagle", both before and after landing.Failure is Not an Option. History, 24 August 2003. Rather than referring to their vessel, the name identifies it as a site, and implies a human presence of some duration.

The subtle implication is being made, that Duke's tongue-tied response was in part due to his surprise at the name. There is absolutely no evidence this is true; he had adequate reason because of the stressfulness of the landing, caused by the computer alarms, and the diminishing fuel reserve as Armstrong had to avoid a boulder field to land. There's also some implied WP:SYNTHESIS going on by juxtaposing the ALSJ and History Channel sources.

In point of fact, Duke's response is totally out of scope of this page about the site and its name; it belongs in the Apollo 11 article, and possibly on Duke's biography page.

Also, "Armstrong appears to have created ..." is unencyclopedic, as is the uncited, complete last sentence. JustinTime55 (talk) 16:08, 2 August 2013 (UTC)

Sounds like you're trying to move the drama from the article to the Talk page. Take a few deep breaths and calm down, please. -Jason A. Quest (talk) 17:27, 2 August 2013 (UTC)

Canadian Band

Tranquility Base is also the name of a Canadian band from the 1960s. They had a hit with "If You're Lookin'" 2607:FEA8:1360:3BA:A189:5791:61D8:936E (talk) 20:31, 31 May 2019 (UTC)

The Orb's song "Back Side of the Moon" mentions the base, presumably using original recordings of the astronauts. Malick78 (talk) 13:33, 6 February 2020 (UTC)

Timing question

The lede text has the astronauts emerging from the module "six hours" after landing. "Six hours" seems too exact (unless it is accurate and exactness was built into the timetable). Is there an exact after-landing hour-minute timing of the capsule exit for Armstrong? In an Apollo 11 talk page discussion the times of astronaut exit were given (first Armstrong, then Aldrin 19 minutes later, which I'll correct on this page's text which makes it sound like they bounded out simultaneously) as "109:07:33 Hatch opens, 109:24:23 Armstrong steps from pad to surface, 109:43:16 Aldrin steps from pad to surface" but not an exact time that the Eagle landed. Thanks. Randy Kryn (talk) 17:49, 30 June 2019 (UTC)

Article improvements

@Balon Greyjoy, Hawkeye7, and Wehwalt: I have been very pleased with the overall article improvement effort that commenced in preparation for the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 (and soon, other Apollo missions). This is the last article I can think of that I would like to have substantially improved by the 50th anniversary. If any of you have time to put any effort into the article, I would appreciate it and it would benefit our readers greatly. I will see what I can do to help the cause as well. If you cannot edit the article now for whatever reason, no worries. Thanks. Kees08 (Talk) 06:03, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

@Balon Greyjoy: Repinged since I whiffed on the first one. Kees08 (Talk) 06:42, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

• collectSPACE forum link with links to several news sources on California and New Mexico designating it as a historical site.

@Kees08: Are you hoping to get the article to GA status before the 50th anniversary, or just give it overall improvement? Balon Greyjoy (talk) 10:13, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

Just overall improvement. Kees08 (Talk) 15:20, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

File:Aldrin Looks Back at Tranquility Base - GPN-2000-001102.jpg scheduled for POTD

Hello! This is to let editors know that the featured picture File:Aldrin Looks Back at Tranquility Base - GPN-2000-001102.jpg, which is used in this article, has been selected as the English Wikipedia's picture of the day (POTD) for July 20, 2021. A preview of the POTD is displayed below and can be edited at Template:POTD/2021-07-20. For the greater benefit of readers, any potential improvements or maintenance that could benefit the quality of this article should be done before its scheduled appearance on the Main Page. If you have any concerns, please place a message at Wikipedia talk:Picture of the day. Thank you! Cwmhiraeth (talk) 10:42, 7 May 2021 (UTC)

Tranquility Base is the landing site of the Apollo 11 mission on the Moon where, on July 20, 1969, humans first landed and walked on a celestial body other than the Earth. This photograph was taken at Tranquility Base by Neil Armstrong, the Apollo 11 commander, and depicts crewmember Buzz Aldrin with scientific equipment he had just deployed on the lunar surface. In the background on the right of the image is the lunar module, Eagle; the United States flag planted at the site during the mission was blown over the next day by the exhaust of the ascent rocket.

Photograph credit: Neil Armstrong

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