A worldwide event that still astonishes the masses 

On July 16, 1969 three astronauts left the Earth’s surface with a mission to do what no one had done before, to land successfully on the Moon. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins made up the party that would go down in history as Apollo 11, the first crew to successfully put mankind on the moon.

The Apollo 11 crew was launched from Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida in a Saturn V rocket. The crew was literally propelled by a missile into space; the Apollo 11 group marked the fifth crewed mission of the NASA Apollo program.

It was estimated at the time that over 100 million people watched the televised launch of Apollo 11, with millions more listening to the broadcast over radio.  On July 20, 1969 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin successfully landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on the Moon’s surface. 

Everyone knows the famous first words of Commander Armstrong, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” What most people don’t know is the mass cheering and celebration that came from the NASA control center prior to either astronaut leaving the shuttle. When the two-man crew had confirmed their safe landing on the moon, Armstrong reported to the Houston control center, “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.” 

July 20, marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11’s successful landing on the surface of the Moon. July 21, marks the first time mankind had ever walked across its surface.  

Armstrong and Aldrin spent a total of 21 hours and 31 minutes on the Moon’s surface just outside of the area they named “Tranquility Base” while Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit piloting the command module that would return the crew to Earth. During those hours while Aldrin and Armstrong conducted research on the Moon, Collins was piloting the command module by himself, frequently losing radio contact with both the lunar module and mission control on Earth as he orbited the Moon. 

This is a very special weekend, not just for Americans, but for all of the people of Earth, on July 20, 1969 three astronauts accomplished something that many people believed to be impossible. 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of both the first successful moon landing by a crewed mission, as well as the accomplishment of the first moonwalk.

The mission that took Apollo 11 to the Moon took a total of eight days, three hours, 18 minutes and 35 seconds. That is from the initial launch on July 16, 1969 until the crew was successfully recovered by the USS Hornet. 

The benefits of that Apollo 11 launch have helped propel the United States and the world into an incredible age of technological expansion. NASA has recently uploaded many photos from the Apollo 11 mission that were not available to the public before. To view the photos, learn more about NASA and the Apollo 11 crew vistit NASA.gov. 

By Samuel Robinson

Sam.robinson@tryondailybulletin.com