Kennedy's 1961 pledge to land a man and return him safely before the decade was out (1961)
To a joint session of Congress on 25 May 1961, weeks after Gagarin's flight and the Bay of Pigs
History · The 20th century
The Apollo 11 Moon landing
16–24 July 1969; landing 20 July 1969
Spaceflight — the first crewed landing on another world
The first crewed landing on another world. Launched by a Saturn V from Kennedy Space Center on 16 July 1969, the mission carried Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. On 20 July the lunar module Eagle separated from the command module Columbia and, after Armstrong took manual control to avoid a boulder-strewn crater, touched down in the Sea of Tranquility with about twenty-five seconds of fuel margin. Armstrong stepped onto the surface at 02:56 UTC on 21 July, watched by an estimated 600 million people; he and Aldrin spent about two and a quarter hours outside, planted a flag, took photographs and collected 21.5 kilograms of rock and soil. They rejoined Collins in lunar orbit and splashed down in the Pacific on 24 July, fulfilling Kennedy's 1961 pledge with five months to spare.
How to spot them
- ▸A lunar module called Eagle and a command module called Columbia
- ▸Program alarms 1201 and 1202 during the descent, caused by an overloaded computer
- ▸A landing site called the Sea of Tranquility
- ▸One of the three crew never set foot on the surface
- ▸It met a presidential pledge made in May 1961 with five months to spare
What happened
The Rice University speech choosing to do things not because they are easy but because they are hard (1962)
Kennedy in Houston on 12 September 1962
Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed. (1969)
Armstrong's first words after touchdown, at 20:17 UTC on 20 July 1969
One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind (1969)
Spoken at 02:56 UTC on 21 July; Armstrong maintained he said 'for a man'
Aldrin's two words on looking around him: magnificent desolation (1969)
His description of the surface shortly after stepping down
A plaque left on a landing leg saying they came in peace for all mankind (1969)
Signed by the three crew and by President Nixon
A retroreflector left behind that is still used to measure the Earth-Moon distance (1969)
The laser ranging retroreflector array, part of the Early Apollo Scientific Experiments Package
Quick-fire facts
- •The crew were Neil Armstrong (commander), Edwin Buzz Aldrin (lunar module pilot) and Michael Collins (command module pilot), who stayed in orbit
- •Launched 16 July 1969 from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center on a Saturn V
- •The lunar module Eagle landed at 20:17 UTC on 20 July 1969; Armstrong stepped onto the surface at 02:56 UTC on 21 July
- •The guidance computer threw 1201 and 1202 alarms during descent; Steve Bales in mission control judged them safe to continue
- •The crew spent about 21.5 hours on the surface and 2 hours 31 minutes outside the module, collecting 21.5 kg of samples
- •Charles Duke was the capsule communicator in Houston for the landing; Gene Kranz was the flight director
- •Splashdown was in the Pacific on 24 July 1969, with recovery by USS Hornet, followed by 21 days in quarantine
- •Five more crews landed, the last being Apollo 17 in December 1972; twelve people have walked on the Moon
- •The mission answered Kennedy's May 1961 pledge to Congress, made after Yuri Gagarin's flight
- •Aldrin, an elder of his Presbyterian church, took communion privately on the surface before the moonwalk
Drill it — 10 cards
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Sources
- NASA — Apollo 11 Mission Overview
- NASA — Apollo 11
- Andrew Chaikin — A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts