presentation about the first moon landing

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1969 Moon Landing

By: History.com Editors

Updated: July 17, 2023 | Original: August 23, 2018

On July 20, 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong (1930-2012) and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin (1930-) became the first humans ever to land on the moon. About six-and-a-half hours later, Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon. As he took his first step, Armstrong famously said, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." The Apollo 11 mission occurred eight years after President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) announced a national goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s. Apollo 17, the final manned moon mission, took place in 1972.

JFK's Pledge Leads to Start of Apollo Program

The American effort to send astronauts to the moon had its origins in an appeal President Kennedy made to a special joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961: "I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth." 

At the time, the United States was still trailing the Soviet Union in space developments, and Cold War -era America welcomed Kennedy's bold proposal. In 1966, after five years of work by an international team of scientists and engineers, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) conducted the first unmanned Apollo mission , testing the structural integrity of the proposed launch vehicle and spacecraft combination. 

Then, on January 27, 1967, tragedy struck at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, when a fire broke out during a manned launch-pad test of the Apollo spacecraft and Saturn rocket. Three astronauts were killed in the fire.

President Richard Nixon spoke with Armstrong and Aldrin via a telephone radio transmission shortly after they planted the American flag on the lunar surface. Nixon considered it the "most historic phone call ever made from the White House."

Despite the setback, NASA and its thousands of employees forged ahead, and in October 1968, Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, orbited Earth and successfully tested many of the sophisticated systems needed to conduct a moon journey and landing. 

In December of the same year, Apollo 8 took three astronauts to the far side of the moon and back, and in March 1969 Apollo 9 tested the lunar module for the first time while in Earth orbit. That May, the three astronauts of Apollo 10 took the first complete Apollo spacecraft around the moon in a dry run for the scheduled July landing mission.

Timeline of the 1969 Moon Landing

At 9:32 a.m. EDT on July 16, with the world watching, Apollo 11 took off from Kennedy Space Center with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins (1930-) aboard. Armstrong, a 38-year-old civilian research pilot, was the commander of the mission.

After traveling 240,000 miles in 76 hours, Apollo 11 entered into a lunar orbit on July 19. The next day, at 1:46 p.m., the lunar module Eagle, manned by Armstrong and Aldrin, separated from the command module, where Collins remained. Two hours later, the Eagle began its descent to the lunar surface, and at 4:17 p.m. the craft touched down on the southwestern edge of the Sea of Tranquility. Armstrong immediately radioed to Mission Control in Houston, Texas, a now-famous message: "The Eagle has landed."

At 10:39 p.m., five hours ahead of the original schedule, Armstrong opened the hatch of the lunar module. As he made his way down the module's ladder, a television camera attached to the craft recorded his progress and beamed the signal back to Earth, where hundreds of millions watched in great anticipation.

At 10:56 p.m., as Armstrong stepped off the ladder and planted his foot on the moon’s powdery surface, he spoke his famous quote, which he later contended was slightly garbled by his microphone and meant to be "that's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

Aldrin joined him on the moon's surface 19 minutes later, and together they took photographs of the terrain, planted a U.S. flag, ran a few simple scientific tests and spoke with President Richard Nixon (1913-94) via Houston. 

By 1:11 a.m. on July 21, both astronauts were back in the lunar module and the hatch was closed. The two men slept that night on the surface of the moon, and at 1:54 p.m. the Eagle began its ascent back to the command module. Among the items left on the surface of the moon was a plaque that read: "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the moon—July 1969 A.D.—We came in peace for all mankind."

At 5:35 p.m., Armstrong and Aldrin successfully docked and rejoined Collins, and at 12:56 a.m. on July 22 Apollo 11 began its journey home, safely splashing down in the Pacific Ocean at 12:50 p.m. on July 24.

How Many Times Did the US Land on the Moon?

There would be five more successful lunar landing missions, and one unplanned lunar swing-by. Apollo 13 had to abort its lunar landing due to technical difficulties. The last men to walk on the moon, astronauts Eugene Cernan (1934-2017) and Harrison Schmitt (1935-) of the Apollo 17 mission, left the lunar surface on December 14, 1972. 

The Apollo program was a costly and labor-intensive endeavor, involving an estimated 400,000 engineers, technicians and scientists, and costing $24 billion (close to $100 billion in today's dollars). The expense was justified by Kennedy's 1961 mandate to beat the Soviets to the moon, and after the feat was accomplished, ongoing missions lost their viability.

Apollo 11 Photos

HISTORY Vault: Moon Landing: The Lost Tapes

On the 50th anniversary of the historic moon landing, this documentary unearths lost tapes of the Apollo 11 astronauts, and explores the dangers and challenges of the mission to the moon.

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The Moon Landing

The historic event captivated the world—and helped people look to the future.

On July 20, 1969, millions of people gathered around their televisions to watch two U.S. astronauts do something no one had ever done before. Wearing bulky space suits and backpacks of oxygen to breathe, Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first human beings to walk on the moon .

After the two stepped onto the lunar surface, Armstrong proclaimed these famous words: “That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

Humans were only able to make that small step after several other space firsts happened. In 1957 the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched into space by Russia . The United States launched several satellites of their own afterward. Both countries hoped to be the first to send a human into space.

It wasn’t until 1961 that a person went to space: On April 12, Russia’s Yuri Gagarin became the first. Less than a month later the United States’ Alan Shepard became the first American in space. Following these milestones, President John F. Kennedy issued a challenge to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to put a human on the moon in 10 years or less.

NASA went to work. On July 16, 1969, the spacecraft Apollo 11 prepared to launch a crew of three astronauts into space … and the history books.

NASA officials selected Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins as the astronauts who would make the historic trip from Earth on Apollo 11. Just four days after launching from Kennedy Space Center in Florida , the spacecraft neared the moon’s surface.

Before touching down, the three men split up. Collins boarded Apollo 11’s command module, the Columbia, where he would remain in orbit around the moon. Armstrong and Aldrin boarded Apollo 11’s lunar module, the Eagle, and began to descend to the moon’s surface.

The Eagle made a risky landing in a shallow moon crater named the Sea of Tranquility. (Most people watching the landing on TV didn’t know that the Eagle had only 20 seconds of landing fuel left at this point.) Armstrong and Aldrin looked out the windows of the module at the lifeless and barren lunar landscape.

After six and a half hours pass, the pair inside the Eagle prepared to exit the module. As mission commander, Armstrong stepped out first … and became the first person on the moon.

Twenty minutes later, Aldrin climbed down the ladder and joined his partner. After reading a plaque that said they “came in peace for all mankind,” the two planted the United States’ flag on the surface. President Richard Nixon called to congratulate the astronauts.

Armstrong and Aldrin went back to work collecting samples of moon rocks and dust. After over two hours, the astronauts brought 47 pounds back onto the lunar module and prepared to rejoin Collins. It was time to go home.

DOWN TO EARTH

The Apollo 11 crew returned to Earth on July 24, 1969. Over the next several years, 10 astronauts would follow in Armstrong and Aldrin’s footsteps. The last mission to the moon was in 1972.

Though humans haven’t returned to the moon since, they have continued to explore space . They even built the International Space Station (ISS), a space research station, where they can conduct experiments and study space up close.

Today NASA is working on sending humans to another planet : Mars . Thanks to the Apollo 11 moon landing, NASA is hopeful about its chances. The act of putting three people on the moon—and then safely bringing them back home—proved that successful human exploration in space is possible.

Text adapted from Ladders Earth Science: Exploring Above and Beyond by Stephanie Harvey and Space Encyclopedia: A Tour of Our Solar System and Beyond  by   David A. Aguilar and Patricia Daniels

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Apollo 11 at 50: A Complete Guide to the Historic Moon Landing

Relive the drama!

On July 20, 1969, 600 million people watched with anxious excitement as Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. took their first steps on the moon's surface.

The first humans ever to leave footprints in the lunar regolith, Aldrin and Armstrong made history — and a permanent impression on the world — as they bravely ventured beyond Earth. This summer marks 50 years since Aldrin, Armstrong and Michael Collins made their daring journey to the moon.

But this historic achievement belongs to many more Americans than just this trio of astronauts: Behind the scenes, more than 400,000 people worked on the mission and made it possible for to land on the moon. All told, it was one of the greatest feats that we humans have ever pulled off. 

See our complete archive of Apollo 11 50th anniversary coverage here!

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The mission, dubbed Apollo 11, was the climax of the Apollo program, which pushed human spaceflight forward faster than ever before. In October 1968, the first crewed flight of the Apollo program lifted off; less than a year later, Apollo 11 launched. Within just a few short years, a total of six missions landed 12 U.S. astronauts on the surface of the moon. A seemingly impossible goal, the first human landing on the moon was a major victory for the United States in the ongoing space race with Cold War rival the Soviet Union. 

Fifty years after the Apollo 11 mission, people around the globe are once again reflecting on and celebrating the moon landing, the odds that were stacked against it and how it continues to influence spaceflight.

Slideshow: How NASA's Apollo Astronauts Went to the Moon

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We choose to go to the moon 

"We choose to go to the moon," U.S. President John. F. Kennedy famously declared in 1962 to a captivated crowd at Rice Stadium in Texas.

This speech invoked a new urgency in the space race, which had been going on between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The two Cold War rivals were both determined to outdo the other and land humans on the lunar surface first. 

The U.S. efforts in this contest included two predecessors to Project Apollo: Project Mercury , which began in 1958, and Project Gemini , which followed in 1961. But until the moon landing itself, the Soviet space program was ahead overall, with successful missions including Sputnik, the first satellite to orbit Earth, and Luna 2, the first space probe to touch the moon.

"I think in America, at least, there [was] a feeling of a great lack of self-confidence, a feeling of 'We are falling behind,'" Asif Siddiqi, a space historian at Fordham University in New York, told Space.com. "Pretty much every single major event in the space race in the early days was a triumph of Soviet space achievement ."

After World War II, Siddiqi explained, the U.S. was feeling on top as the country's economy grew. "There's an expectation that if anything's going to happen in science and technology, America's going to be first," Siddiqi said. But this expectation was not realized in the space race, and the Soviet Union beat the U.S. to space milestones again and again.

So, in 1961, Kennedy decided to take charge and proposed to Congress the goal of "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth" by the end of the decade. (The idea of a moon mission was first discussed during Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration, but it's most strongly associated with Kennedy's declaration.) This seemingly impossible task quickly became the ultimate goal of the Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo. 

Kennedy's famous speech at Rice Stadium the next year inspired Americans to dream big. The announcement lit a fire under the teams at NASA to complete the task on a seemingly impossible timeline. 

But the ambitious goal required an equally ambitious budget. The U.S. government ended up allocating $25 billion in 1960s dollars to the Apollo program, or about 2.5% of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) at the time annually for approximately 10 years. 

Project Apollo ran from 1961 to 1972, even though NASA accomplished Kennedy's goal in 1969. Although other astronauts visited the lunar surface after Apollo 11, the triumphant first landing remains a pinnacle in spaceflight history.

Trial and error 

Apollo 11 was successful only because of the missions that came before it. Those flights set the stage for the lunar landing and served as the testing grounds for the burgeoning technologies and strategies that were eventually used in that mission.

Apollo 1 , originally named Apollo Saturn-204 or AS-204, was to be the program's first crewed mission, set to orbit Earth with three astronauts aboard. However, tragedy struck on Jan. 27, 1967, when a fire ignited within the Apollo 1 command module while the crew was performing a prelaunch test. All three astronauts inside — Ed White, Roger B. Chaffee and Gus Grissom — died in the fire.

At the time, it seemed like the Apollo program might be over before it really even began. But the deaths instead forced NASA to improve astronaut safety requirements. The agency put crewed missions on hold while it reevaluated its systems to make sure they were safe enough to fly. The astronauts of the Apollo 1 crew would be the only fatalities of NASA's push to land on the moon. After this first disaster, NASA tested its capabilities and resolved outstanding safety issues with uncrewed missions dubbed AS-201, AS-202, AS-203, and Apollo missions 4 through 6.

Crewed flights resumed with Apollo 7 , which launched on Oct. 11, 1968, orbited Earth for more than a week and splashed back down on Oct. 22. Aboard Apollo 7, the crew demonstrated the functionality of the command and service module. The mission also showcased how the mission-support facilities could work together with the vehicles and the crewmembers.

Apollo 7 was soon followed by the first Apollo lunar mission, Apollo 8 , which launched on Dec. 21, 1968, and returned home a week later, on Dec. 27. Apollo 8 was a major step forward in the program, as it was the first flight that took humans beyond low-Earth orbit to the moon’s orbit and back again.

The Apollo 8 mission was an important testing ground for the spacecraft systems and navigation techniques that NASA had developed for approaching and orbiting the moon. These systems and techniques made the future lunar landing possible.

Additionally, on this flight, astronaut Bill Anders took the famous "Earthrise" photo , showing the planet seeming to hover above the moon's surface. Besides being "the most influential environmental photograph ever taken," as nature photographer Galen Rowell said, the image showed the incredible progress that had been made in human spaceflight.

Apollo 9 soon followed , launching on March 3, 1969, and splashing down just over a week later, on March 13, after orbiting Earth. During this mission, the Apollo 9 astronauts tested all aspects and functionalities of the lunar module in Earth orbit and demonstrated that the craft could operate independently as it performed its docking and rendezvous maneuvers. These tests mimicked what NASA expected would happen during a lunar landing. 

The Apollo 10 mission flew a command and service module dubbed "Charlie Brown" and a lunar module known as "Snoopy." This mission, which launched on May 18, 1969, just two months before Apollo 11, proved that the crew, the vehicles and the mission-support facilities at NASA were prepared for a lunar landing. The mission was a "dry run" for the moon landing, as the Apollo 10 astronauts performed all of the operations that were scheduled for Apollo 11 except for the actual moon landing. 

All of this hurried preparation paved the way for NASA to finally launch the Apollo 11 mission — astonishingly less than a year after the first successful crewed Apollo flight.

Inside the spacecraft 

When it was finally time to send humans to the moon, NASA decided to launch the mission on a Saturn V rocket . 

That rocket lofted three modules into Earth's orbit, including the command module to carry the astronauts to and from the moon and the lunar module to land Aldrin and Armstrong on the surface. 

The massive Saturn V rocket stood an impressive 363 feet (111 meters) tall on Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Saturn V was a type of extremely powerful rocket known as a heavy lift vehicle, and with a liftoff thrust of 7.6 million lbs. (34.5 million newtons), Saturn V is not just the tallest but also the most powerful rocket ever launched. (After the Apollo program, the ultrapowerful rocket was used to launch the Skylab space station.) The rocket's first crewed launch was Apollo 8. 

Saturn V weighed 6.2 million lbs. (2.8 kilograms) and could launch about 50 tons (43,500 kg) of cargo and crew to the moon. For the Apollo program, the Saturn V was outfitted with three stages. The first stage had the most powerful engines on the rocket, to lift the craft off the ground. 

This first stage separated from the rocket with the "dead-weight" launch escape tower, leaving the second stage to carry the rocket almost into orbit. The third stage then broke the vehicle out of Earth's orbit and sent it toward the moon. 

Related: Could NASA Build the Saturn V Today? It's Working on It, with a Twist

Apollo spacecraft 

On top of the Saturn V rocket , Apollo 11 launched the command and service module — made up of the service module and the command module spacecraft — and the lunar module spacecraft. 

The command module housed the astronaut crew along with the spacecraft's operation systems and the equipment needed for reentry. Standing 10.6 feet (3.2 m) tall and 12.8 feet (3.9 m) wide at its base, the command module didn't leave much room for the astronauts inside to move around. At 210 cubic feet (6 cubic m), the space inside of the command module has been compared to the interior of a car. 

The command module was made up of three compartments — the forward compartment in the nose cone, the aft compartment at the base of the module and the crew compartment. The forward compartment held parachutes for the Earth landing, while the aft compartment held propellant tanks, reaction-control engines, wires and plumbing. Within the crew compartment, astronauts sat on three couches facing forward in the middle of the craft, which offered the crew an opportunity to look out through five windows. The command module was also powered by five silver/zinc-oxide batteries that which supported the craft in reentry and landing after it separated from the service module. 

One of the command module's most important features was its heat shield, which allowed the spacecraft to survive incredibly hot temperatures while reentering Earth's atmosphere.

For most of the Apollo 11 mission, the service module was attached to the back of the command module. Holding fuel tanks, fuel cells and oxygen/hydrogen tanks, the service module provided the command module with power, propulsion and room for additional cargo. A cylinder-shaped craft, the service module was 24.6 feet (7.5 m) long and 12.8 feet (3.9 m) in diameter. 

Sitting beneath the command and service module, the Apollo 11 lunar module , also known as "Eagle," was the final piece of the Apollo puzzle and carried Aldrin and Armstrong to the lunar surface during the historic mission. At 23 feet (7 m) tall and 14 feet (4 m) wide, the lunar module was made up of an upper ascent stage and a lower ascent stage.

After Collins inspected the lunar module, Aldrin and Armstrong undocked it from the command and service module and headed for the lunar surface, leaving Collins to orbit the moon. The Apollo lunar modules were the first crewed spacecraft to operate only in space.

In addition to the astronauts themselves, the lunar module contained the Early Apollo Scientific Experiment Package. That package held a number of self-contained experiments that were designed to be left on the lunar surface.

The package also held additional scientific instruments and equipment for sample collection on the surface. Apollo 11 carried the first geological samples from the moon back to Earth. In total, Armstrong and Aldrin collected 48.5 lbs. (22 kilograms) of material from the moon, including 50 moon rocks , lunar soil, pebbles, sand and dust. The astronauts also sampled material from more than 5 inches (13 centimeters) below the lunar surface.

Related: Why the Lunar Module Looked So Much Like a Moon Bug

The impact of Apollo 

An estimated 600 million people around the world watched as Armstrong and Aldrin left the first footprints on the lunar surface. The landing marked not just a historic milestone, but also the end of the Cold War space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The Apollo program brought more missions and more landings, but Apollo 11 marked an unparalleled victory for the U.S. 

But the geopolitical tension had done more than just intensify the race to the moon; it also ignited a fevered excitement about space. Americans of all ages idolized the NASA astronauts.

"They were rock stars," former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino told Space.com earlier this year . As Siddiqi said, the "sort of clean-cut, all-American archetype" was a positive diversion from the massive problems that plagued the U.S. at the time. The civil rights movement was growing in response to the incredible inequalities in the country as both the Cold War and Vietnam War continued. The Apollo astronauts were the romanticized, larger-than-life heroes that people could admire during those difficult times.

"The cultural imagery, the imagination of Apollo is very powerful if you think about the pictures and the astronauts," Siddiqi said. And this superheroic imagery was only amplified as science fiction novels and movies continued to grow in popularity. Many people viewed a journey to the moon as the ultimate adventure and the Apollo astronauts as the perfect hero leads. 

The romanticization of the lunar landing program permeates space exploration even today. Fifty years after Apollo , NASA has sent spacecraft out beyond Pluto, to the surface of Mars and to the sun. Researchers have discovered exoplanets with Earth-like qualities, and our knowledge of the solar system and the universe at large has become profoundly more detailed over the decades.

But many still view the Apollo 11 lunar landing as the greatest achievement in spaceflight. People who remember watching the landing on television still recall the moment as if magic had been made real before their eyes.

We choose to return to the moon  

Humans haven't stepped foot on the lunar surface since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. For decades, people have wondered why we haven't returned to the moon, and presidential administrations have toyed with the idea of doing just that. But currently, the moon is having a moment, and NASA has again set its aim on landing humans on the lunar surface. 

President Donald Trump's administration recently announced a new, aggressive timeline to return astronauts to the moon. On March 26, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence announced that the U.S. would aim to land humans on the moon within the next five years.

According to NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, the agency will address that goal first by sending a crew close to the moon by 2022, then landing humans at the moon's south pole by 2024. Bridenstine said this timeline will allow for a Mars landing by 2033 .

The new moon push, which has been dubbed the Artemis program, is also meant to be longer-lived than the Apollo program. "This time, when we go to the moon, we're going to stay," Bridenstine said at NASA headquarters on Feb. 14. 

The space agency has tenuous plans to build a space station that will orbit the moon as a platform for astronauts to use to reach more-diverse sites on the lunar surface. Pence said the administration's plan also includes a permanent lunar base .

But NASA isn't alone in its quest to return humans to the lunar surface. Instead, the agency is looking to build partnerships with other countries and with U.S. businesses. So far, the agency has hired Maxar to build the power and propulsion element of the lunar Gateway space station; NASA also announced that it would purchase rides to the lunar surface from Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines and Orbit Beyond for the agency's first Artemis program science experiments and technology demonstrations.

Other companies are looking to reach the moon on their own. SpaceX, for instance, has publicly stated that it intends to fly private citizens around the moon . Israeli startup SpaceIL's robotic Beresheet mission ended with a crash, but the team has already expressed interest in building a new lander. 

Other countries also have their eyes on the moon. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is working to land astronauts on the moon by 2029 and is even designing a vehicle with Toyota to explore the lunar surface. 

In the nearer term, two lunar missions may launch this year. China opened the year by becoming the first country to land on the far side of the moon, with the robotic Chang'e 4 mission. And the country is targeting its next launch, of the Chang'e 5 sample-return mission, for later this year.

India has also been pursuing both crewed and robotic missions to the moon. That country plans to launch Chandrayaan-2, which includes an orbiter, a lander and a rover, later this year. 

Apollo 11 Giveaway!

•   How the Apollo 11 Moon Landing Worked (Infographic)  
•   Apollo 11 Moon Rocket's F-1 Engines Explained (Infographic)  
•   Remembering the Apollo 1 Fire (Infographic)  

Follow Chelsea Gohd on Twitter @chelsea_gohd . Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and Facebook .  

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Chelsea “Foxanne” Gohd joined  Space.com in 2018 and is now a Senior Writer, writing about everything from climate change to planetary science and human spaceflight in both articles and on-camera in videos. With a degree in Public Health and biological sciences, Chelsea has written and worked for institutions including the American Museum of Natural History, Scientific American, Discover Magazine Blog, Astronomy Magazine and Live Science. When not writing, editing or filming something space-y, Chelsea "Foxanne" Gohd is writing music and performing as Foxanne, even launching a song to space in 2021 with Inspiration4. You can follow her on Twitter  @chelsea_gohd and @foxannemusic .

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Apollo 11 mission overview.

Sarah A. Loff

“The Eagle has landed…”

Mission Objective The primary objective of Apollo 11 was to complete a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961: perform a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth.

Additional flight objectives included scientific exploration by the lunar module, or LM, crew; deployment of a television camera to transmit signals to Earth; and deployment of a solar wind composition experiment, seismic experiment package and a Laser Ranging Retroreflector. During the exploration, the two astronauts were to gather samples of lunar-surface materials for return to Earth. They also were to extensively photograph the lunar terrain, the deployed scientific equipment, the LM spacecraft, and each other, both with still and motion picture cameras. This was to be the last Apollo mission to fly a “free-return” trajectory, which would enable a return to Earth with no engine firing, providing a ready abort of the mission at any time prior to lunar orbit insertion.

Mission Highlights

Apollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy on July 16, 1969, carrying Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin into an initial Earth-orbit of 114 by 116 miles. An estimated 650 million people watched Armstrong’s televised image and heard his voice describe the event as he took “…one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” on July 20, 1969.

Two hours, 44 minutes and one-and-a-half revolutions after launch, the S-IVB stage reignited for a second burn of five minutes, 48 seconds, placing Apollo 11 into a translunar orbit. The command and service module, or CSM, Columbia separated from the stage, which included the spacecraft-lunar module adapter, or SLA, containing the lunar module, or LM, Eagle. After transposition and jettisoning of the SLA panels on the S-IVB stage, the CSM docked with the LM. The S-IVB stage separated and injected into heliocentric orbit four hours, 40 minutes into the flight.

The first color TV transmission to Earth from Apollo 11 occurred during the translunar coast of the CSM/LM. Later, on July 17, a three-second burn of the SPS was made to perform the second of four scheduled midcourse corrections programmed for the flight. The launch had been so successful that the other three were not needed.

On July 18, Armstrong and Aldrin put on their spacesuits and climbed through the docking tunnel from Columbia to Eagle to check out the LM, and to make the second TV transmission.

On July 19, after Apollo 11 had flown behind the moon out of contact with Earth, came the first lunar orbit insertion maneuver. At about 75 hours, 50 minutes into the flight, a retrograde firing of the SPS for 357.5 seconds placed the spacecraft into an initial, elliptical-lunar orbit of 69 by 190 miles. Later, a second burn of the SPS for 17 seconds placed the docked vehicles into a lunar orbit of 62 by 70.5 miles, which was calculated to change the orbit of the CSM piloted by Collins. The change happened because of lunar-gravity perturbations to the nominal 69 miles required for subsequent LM rendezvous and docking after completion of the lunar landing. Before this second SPS firing, another TV transmission was made, this time from the surface of the moon.

On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin entered the LM again, made a final check, and at 100 hours, 12 minutes into the flight, the Eagle undocked and separated from Columbia for visual inspection. At 101 hours, 36 minutes, when the LM was behind the moon on its 13th orbit, the LM descent engine fired for 30 seconds to provide retrograde thrust and commence descent orbit insertion, changing to an orbit of 9 by 67 miles, on a trajectory that was virtually identical to that flown by Apollo 10. At 102 hours, 33 minutes, after Columbia and Eagle had reappeared from behind the moon and when the LM was about 300 miles uprange, powered descent initiation was performed with the descent engine firing for 756.3 seconds. After eight minutes, the LM was at “high gate” about 26,000 feet above the surface and about five miles from the landing site.

The descent engine continued to provide braking thrust until about 102 hours, 45 minutes into the mission. Partially piloted manually by Armstrong, the Eagle landed in the Sea of Tranquility in Site 2 at 0 degrees, 41 minutes, 15 seconds north latitude and 23 degrees, 26 minutes east longitude. This was about four miles downrange from the predicted touchdown point and occurred almost one-and-a-half minutes earlier than scheduled. It included a powered descent that ran a mere nominal 40 seconds longer than preflight planning due to translation maneuvers to avoid a crater during the final phase of landing. Attached to the descent stage was a commemorative plaque signed by President Richard M. Nixon and the three astronauts.

The flight plan called for the first EVA to begin after a four-hour rest period, but it was advanced to begin as soon as possible. Nonetheless, it was almost four hours later that Armstrong emerged from the Eagle and deployed the TV camera for the transmission of the event to Earth. At about 109 hours, 42 minutes after launch, Armstrong stepped onto the moon. About 20 minutes later, Aldrin followed him. The camera was then positioned on a tripod about 30 feet from the LM. Half an hour later, President Nixon spoke by telephone link with the astronauts.

Commemorative medallions bearing the names of the three Apollo 1 astronauts who lost their lives in a launch pad fire, and two cosmonauts who also died in accidents, were left on the moon’s surface. A one-and-a-half inch silicon disk, containing micro miniaturized goodwill messages from 73 countries, and the names of congressional and NASA leaders, also stayed behind.

During the EVA, in which they both ranged up to 300 feet from the Eagle, Aldrin deployed the Early Apollo Scientific Experiments Package, or EASEP, experiments, and Armstrong and Aldrin gathered and verbally reported on the lunar surface samples. After Aldrin had spent one hour, 33 minutes on the surface, he re-entered the LM, followed 41 minutes later by Armstrong. The entire EVA phase lasted more than two-and-a-half hours, ending at 111 hours, 39 minutes into the mission.

Armstrong and Aldrin spent 21 hours, 36 minutes on the moon’s surface. After a rest period that included seven hours of sleep, the ascent stage engine fired at 124 hours, 22 minutes. It was shut down 435 seconds later when the Eagle reached an initial orbit of 11 by 55 miles above the moon, and when Columbia was on its 25th revolution. As the ascent stage reached apolune at 125 hours, 19 minutes, the reaction control system, or RCS, fired so as to nearly circularize the Eagle orbit at about 56 miles, some 13 miles below and slightly behind Columbia. Subsequent firings of the LM RCS changed the orbit to 57 by 72 miles. Docking with Columbia occurred on the CSM’s 27th revolution at 128 hours, three minutes into the mission. Armstrong and Aldrin returned to the CSM with Collins. Four hours later, the LM jettisoned and remained in lunar orbit.

Trans-Earth injection of the CSM began July 21 as the SPS fired for two-and-a-half minutes when Columbia was behind the moon in its 59th hour of lunar orbit. Following this, the astronauts slept for about 10 hours. An 11.2 second firing of the SPS accomplished the only midcourse correction required on the return flight. The correction was made July 22 at about 150 hours, 30 minutes into the mission. Two more television transmissions were made during the trans-Earth coast.

Re-entry procedures were initiated July 24, 44 hours after leaving lunar orbit. The SM separated from the CM, which was re-oriented to a heat-shield-forward position. Parachute deployment occurred at 195 hours, 13 minutes. After a flight of 195 hours, 18 minutes, 35 seconds – about 36 minutes longer than planned – Apollo 11 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, 13 miles from the recovery ship USS Hornet. Because of bad weather in the target area, the landing point was changed by about 250 miles. Apollo 11 landed 13 degrees, 19 minutes north latitude and 169 degrees, nine minutes west longitude July 24, 1969.

Crew Neil Armstrong, Commander Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr., Lunar Module Pilot Michael Collins, Command Module Pilot

Backup Crew James A. Lovell, Commander Fred W. Haise Jr., Lunar Module Pilot William A. Anders, Command Module Pilot

Payload Columbia (CSM-107) Eagle (LM-5)

Prelaunch Milestones 11/21/68 – LM-5 integrated systems test 12/6/68 – CSM-107 integrated systems test 12/13/68 – LM-5 acceptance test 1/8/69 – LM-5 ascent stage delivered to Kennedy 1/12/69 – LM-5 descent stage delivered to Kennedy 1/18/69 – S-IVB ondock at Kennedy 1/23/69 – CSM ondock at Kennedy 1/29/69 – command and service module mated 2/6/69 – S-II ondock at Kennedy 2/20/69 – S-IC ondock at Kennedy 2/17/69 – combined CSM-107 systems tests 2/27/69 – S-IU ondock at Kennedy 3/24/69 – CSM-107 altitude testing 4/14/69 – rollover of CSM from the Operations and Checkout Building to the Vehicle Assembly Building 4/22/69 – integrated systems test 5/5/69 – CSM electrical mate to Saturn V 5/20/69 – rollout to Launch Pad 39A 6/1/69 – flight readiness test 6/26/69 – Countdown Demonstration Test

Launch July 16, 1969; 9:32 a.m. EDT Launch Pad 39A Saturn-V AS-506 High Bay 1 Mobile Launcher Platform-1 Firing Room 1

Orbit Altitude: 118.65 miles Inclination: 32.521 degrees Orbits: 30 revolutions Duration: eight days, three hours, 18 min, 35 seconds Distance: 953,054 miles Lunar Location: Sea of Tranquility Lunar Coordinates: .71 degrees north, 23.63 degrees east

Landing July 24, 1969; 12:50 p.m. EDT Pacific Ocean Recovery Ship: USS Hornet

Apollo 12 Presentation

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China confirms target date for landing taikonauts on the moon

C hina has successfully reached the lunar surface three times up to now, but none of the missions involved humans setting foot there.

The Asian giant is planning to change that, however, and this week officials at the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) confirmed that it’s on track to put its first taikonauts on the lunar surface before the end of this decade.

The plan is to put two taikonauts on the moon for a period of about six hours before they head back to the lunar orbiter, crewed by a third colleague, for the journey home.

“The program development for major flight products, including the Long March 10 rocket, the Mengzhou crew spacecraft, the lunar lander Lanyue, and the lunar landing suits, are all complete,” Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of CMSEO, said in comments reported by Space.com .

Lin said that the development of mechanical and thermal test equipment for the spacecraft and lander have been “basically completed,” adding that “various rocket engines” are also undergoing hotfire tests. The crew’s launch site is also under construction, close to China’s existing coastal spaceport at Wenchang, Hainan island, about 1,400 miles south of Beijing.

Looking further ahead, the nation has an even more ambitious lunar goal — to build a permanent international research station on the lunar South Pole by 2040.

China’s interest in our nearest neighbor mirrors NASA’s own plans to put astronauts on the moon in 2026 as part of the Artemis program, a long-term project that’s also expected to involve constructing a permanent base on the lunar surface.

Both China and the U.S. are looking to locate water on the moon, which could be converted to fuel for future rocket launches to deep space. Staring missions from the moon would be more efficient than from Earth as the weaker gravity there would make lifting off easier.

China’s lunar update came in the same week that the nation sent a new three-person crew to its Tiangong space station in low-Earth orbit, a relatively new facility that’s another reflection of the country’s growing space-based ambitions.

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Apollo 11 Moon Landing

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