Apollo 11

History

On July 20, 1969, the human space race accomplished it's single greatest technological achievement of all time when a man first set foot on another celestial body. We entered a new era, no longer bound by the circles of the earth that had held us so jealously so close to its surface for so long. On that day we evolved from lowly, apelike homo sapiens to homo universalis, Man of the Universe, through the power of our minds and the strength of our indomitable will.

Six hours after landing at 4:17 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (with less than 30 seconds of fuel remaining), Neil A. Armstrong took the "Small Step" into our greater future when he stepped off the Lunar Module, named "Eagle", onto the surface of the moon, from which he could look up and see the earth in the heavens as no man had done before him.

Armstrong was shortly joined by "Buzz" Aldrin, and the two astronauts spent 21 hours on the lunar surface and returned 46 pounds of lunar rocks. Their liftoff from the surface of the moon was (partially) captured on a TV camera they left behind, and they successfully docked with Michael Collins, patiently orbiting the cold but no longer lifeless moon alone in the Command Module "Columbia."

The moon walkers left behind a plaque on the lunar surface that read: "Here Men From Planet Earth First Set Foot Upon The Moon. July 1969 A.D. We Came In Peace For All Mankind."

LROC

On July 20, 1969, humanity left its first footprints on the Moon. Forty years later the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera captured the image of the descent stage of the Eagle, Apollo 11’s Lunar Module. The descent stage is the largest artifact left behind by astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong after their 22-hour stay on the Moon. During their walk on the lunar surface one of the astronauts (probably Buzz Aldrin) snapped a photo of the Lunar Module with Earth almost directly above.

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter - July 12, 2009

Apollo Lunar Module

Binder: "[Independent] VHF receiving facilities that by-passed NASA broadcast outlets claim there was a portion of Earth-Moon dialogue that was quickly cut off by the NASA monitoring staff. It was presumably when the two moon walkers, Aldrin and Armstrong, were making the round some distance from the LEM that Armstrong clutched Aldrin's arm excitedly and exclaimed 'What was it? What the hell was it? That's all I want to know.' " MISSION CONTROL: What's there?...malfunction(garble)...Mission Control calling Apollo 11... APOLLO 11: These babies were huge, sir...enormous..Oh, God you wouldn't believe it!...I'm telling you there are other space-craft out there...lined up on the far side of the crater edge...they're on the Moon watching us... See also Photographic budget