Left to right: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin, the crew of Apollo 11. Photo: NASA.
On this day in 1969, humans walked on the moon for the first time. The Apollo 11 spaceflight brought Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the lunar surface on July 20, 1969, at 20:18 UTC.
Michael Collins, the mission’s third member, remained in lunar orbit. All three men returned safely to Earth after an 8-day mission that began with a Saturn V rocket launch from Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida on July 16.
This was the fifth manned mission of NASA’s Apollo program, which ran from 1963 to 1972 and included 6 missions that landed on the moon. These were the first and last times human beings set foot on another world.
NASA has a collection of restored HD videos well worth watching on this historic day.
Above: Side by side view of Apollo 11’s descent on July 20, 1969, showing the view out of the lunar module’s window side by side with the broader panorama reconstructed from LRO data. (via NASA.gov, Courtesy of GoneToPlaid)
And below, restored footage of Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the lunar surface.
Also worth visiting today: Google Moon.
(thanks, Miles O’Brien!)