On July 20, 2009, we marked the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, the first manned mission to land on the moon. I was fortunate to be an engineer on the launch team at the Kennedy Space Center for this momentous event in history and decided this would be an appropriate time to place a cache marking this milestone.
When posting your find, it would be interesting to read your story of where you were when the landing took place (assuming you are old enough!).
The cache is NOT at the given coordinates, but is nearby.
Before heading out, determine:
day of the month Apollo 11 launched = X1 _____
day of the month Eagle landed on the Moon = X2 _____
number of crewmen aboard Apollo 11 = X3 _____
number of landing legs on Eagle = X4 _____
one third the diameter (in feet) of the Saturn V first stage = X5 _____
number of letters in the name of the city where the command module pilot was born = X6 _____
number of stages on the Saturn V rocket = X7 _____
number of letters in the name of the recovery aircraft carrier (w/o "USS") = X8 _____
number of main engines on the Saturn V second stage = X9 _____
Happy Googling!
Now, set your GPS to read decimal degrees (DDD.DDDDD)
Final coordinates of the cache are:
LAT: AR.MSTRONG
LONG: -BUZ.ZALDRIN
where
A = X5 - X7 - X9
R = X2 - X9 - X8
M = X8 + X7
S = X5 - X9
T = X3 + X7
R = X5 - X8 +1
O = X6 - 4
N = X3 - X7
G = X6 - X4
(checksum = 39)
B = X2 - X1 - X3
U = X8 - X7 - X3
Z = X1 - X8 - X9
Z = X8 - X6
A = X5 - 8
L = X1 - 10
D = X2 - X1
R = X5 - X7
I = X6 - X4
N = X8 - X9 - 1
(checksum = 29)
black bison, log only, no pen.
A 10% discount on a sample of lunar dust if you email the significance of the road name in relation to Apollo. (Please don't post the answer.)
Be aware of muggles and traffic in the area.