It was forty years ago on July 20, 1969, that the impossible, the improbable, and the daring, was accomplished. The dream of President John F. Kennedy, to have a man land on the Moon became a dedication of his to have a team of astronauts blast off to the Moon, became realized when NASA sent into space three men whose names would forever be tied to the that unique group of star voyagers who have been able to break free from the gravitational confines of the Earth, and look back on it from the surface of the Earth’s satellite. Six years after Kennedy’s assassination, the Apollo 11 crew, consisting of Commander Neil Armstrong, Lunar Module Pilot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, and Command Module Pilot Michael Collins (orbiting overhead), landed on the Moon, fulfilling Kennedy’s promise to put an American on the surface of the Moon, by the end of the decade and return him safely to Earth, with the first manned lunar landing.
The area they landed in is known as Mare Tranquilitatis (“Sea of Tranquility’), so chosen because of its smooth surface area for landing the Eagle lunar vehicle.
Gingerly stepping out of the Eagle lunar land module, astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human (and American) to set foot on lunar soil.
With over 500 million people watching the televised images beamed back to Earth, and with countless millions listening in on radios broadcasting the voices of Mission Control in Houston, Texas, and the astronauts, at exactly six and a half hours after landing, Neil Armsrong spoke the words that would forever become etched into many people’s minds: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”.
| Moon landing, 1969 ‘One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind… ‘ |
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Aldrin, after viewing the gray, lifeless surface of the moon, gave a description of the Moon as “Magnificent desolation.”
After walking the Moon’s surface (which lasted all of 2.5 hours), collecting some of its “moon rocks”, and taking photographs, Armstrong and Aldrin returned to the Eagle, docked with the Columbia (which was orbiting the Moon above under the command of astronaut Collins), and they were on their way back to Earth, after 22 hours on the Moon. They left behind an American flag, a patch honoring the fallen Apollo 1 crew (Virgil “Gus” Grissom [one of the original members of the Mercury 7 astronauts] Roger Chaffe, and Edward White), and a plaque on one of the Eagle’s legs. It reads:
“Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”
On its return voyage to Earth on July 24, 1969, Apollo 11 safely landed, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, 270 miles away from its original landing spot to avoid an approching storm.
The Apollo crew were quarantined (for fear they may have brought back with them lunar germs), and this was a big letdown to them. (Even during their quarantine, they were kept from public contact in a sealed trailer, which had at the door entrance a sign posted with the words ”PLEASE DON’T FEED THE ANIMALS.”)
But the crew’s spirits were bolstered when they became the happy receivers of adulation and praise from so many people when the crew of Apollo 11 were welcomed with ticker tape parades, and numerous public apperances.
The Apollo Missions, which lasted from 1963 to 1972,from the first man to make footsteps on the Moon, Neil Armstrong (Apollo 11), through the seven lunar missions (six which did land, and the ill-fated Apollo 13, which could have been lost, but, for the tenacity and brilliance of the atronuats and Houston Mission control, with astronauts James A. Lovell, John L. “Jack” Swigert, and Fred W. Haise, all brought back safely to Earth, to the last man to walk on the Moon, Eugene Cernan (Apollo 17), the landing of Apollo 11 on the Moon was more than technical achievement. It was the drive and dedication, the aim for the stars, and the ultimate fulfillment of going where no man had gone before.
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LINKS:
“NASA – July 20, 1969: One Giant Leap For Mankind”
“Apollo 11 – 30TH Anniversary”
Photographs of the Apollo 11 Mission
“The 12 Moonwalkers: Where Are They Now?”
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AT LAST, FORTY YEARS LATER: APOLLO LANDERS SEEN ON THE MOON
Posted by Alan MacRobert, July 17, 2009
“Hey, can you see the flag on the Moon with that thing?”
For the last 40 years, every amateur astronomer with a big telescope has heard this countless times. My standard response, ever since I was a teenager, has always been: “No, telescopes on the ground mostly can’t see anything smaller than a mile across on the Moon. The flag is just a couple feet across. The Apollo landing stages are still there, but they’re only a few yards across.” Fact is, not even the Hubble telescope or lunar orbiters have had optics good enough to see anything that humans left on the Moon. Until now. On June 18th NASA launched its new Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), designed in part to scout future landing sites. It worked its way down into low lunar orbit and has started taking pictures with both its wide-angle and narrow-angle cameras. The latter are designed to achieve a pixel resolution of 1 meter (3 feet) on the ground. Naturally enough, some early targets for the Narrow Angle Cameras have been the various Apollo landing sites. In time for next Monday’s 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, NASA released pictures today. Browse and enjoy. |
