Apollo 11 Space Flight

The Apollo 11 mission was the fifth human spaceflight of Project Apollo and the third human voyage to the Moon. The crew was made up of (from left to right) Mission Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin Jr.

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On July 16, 1969 at 9:32 a.m. EDT the Apollo 11 Saturn V space vehicle lifted off from Kennedy Space Center. It would carry the command/service module pair into space. After 30 minutes into flight, the separation was complete and the crew was on the way to the moon. Millions watched this event on TV including President Richard Nixon.

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Everyone had high hopes for the flight of Apollo 11. It was hoped that it would be the first Lunar landing mission. During the planned eight-day mission, Armstrong and Aldrin were to descend in a lunar module to the Moon's surface while Collins orbits overhead in the Command Module. The two astronauts are to spend 22 hours on the Moon, including two and one-half hours outside the lunar module. They will gather samples of lunar material and will deploy scientific experiments which will transmit data about the lunar environment. They will rejoin Collins in the Command Module for the return trip to Earth.

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On July 19 the Apollo 11passed behind the Moon and fired its service propulsion engine to enter lunar orbit. The Apollo 11 Lunar Module was called the Eagle. This is a picture of it from the Command and Service Modules (CSM) while in lunar obrit. Inside the Eagle were astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. Astronaut Michael Collins remained with the CSM in lunar orbit.

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The Apollo 11 Command and Service Modules (CSM) (tiny dot near quarter sized crater, center), with astronaut Michael Collins, command module pilot, aboard. The view overlooking the western Sea of Tranquility was photographed from the Lunar Module (LM).

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On July 20, 1969 the Eagle separated from the CSM and landed on the moon. While there were some issues with the landing, it was a success in the end. Buzz Aldrin was the first to speak from the Moon calling out commands and status updates on the landing. Then Neil Armstrong spoke the famous words heard here. This is one of the few pictures of him on the moon.

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On July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong made his decent to the Moon's surface and spoke the famous line heard here six and a half hours after landing. He was the first man to walk on the moon. This is picture of an astronaut's bootprint in the lunar soil, photographed with a 70mm lunar surface camera.

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Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. walked around to explore the Sea of Tranquility region of the Moon. In this clip he was joking that they wanted to be sure not to be locked out of the lunar module since that would be where they were staying while on the mission.

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While on the moon the crew had set up a TV camera and were able to broadcast their time on the moon to 600 million people back on Earth. When Neil Armstrong had first exited the Eagle module, he described the surface of the moon. Listen to what he said in this clip. In addition to their famous walks, Armstrong and Aldrin planted an American Flag on the moon, spoke with President Nixon from the moon and performed experiments and collected samples.

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This is a picture of the moon from the Apollo 11 as it made it's journey home. On the moon Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin Jr. left scientific instruments, an American flag, an Apollo 1 patch, a gold olive branch as a symbol of peace, a drawing of the Earth and a disk with messages from U.S. Presidents and leaders around the world. Their mission to the moon was an amazing success and fulfilled the President John F. Kennedy's goal of reaching the moon by the end of the 1960s.

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