Apollo 11 First Men on the Moon

Black and white photograph of three astronauts in spacesuits without helmets on white background between a blue and white image of Earth on the left, and a blue and white image of the moon on the right.  White text on a red top edge and blue bottom edge, with the name of the mission in blue above the astronauts, and their names and the date in red below.

On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 was launched from Kennedy Space Center.  During the course of the ship’s flight, the crew transmitted three televised broadcasts showing the ship’s interior and the surface of the moon.  Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin boarded the lunar module (Eagle) and disengaged from the spacecraft (Columbia) on July 20th.  Michael Collins remained on the Columbia.  The Eagle landed on the Sea of Tranquility at 4:18 p.m. EDT.  After Aldrin and Armstrong prepared the module and systems,  Armstrong left the Eagle at 10:56 p.m., uttering the phrase, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”  Aldrin and Armstrong  collected samples from the moon and walked approximately 3.300 feet during their 2.5 hours of exploration.  After spending 21.5 hours on the moon, the Eagle rejoined the Columbia, and the craft and crew began the journey home.