Apollo 11 – First Men On The Moon.
July 20, 1969 at 02:56:15 UTC.
NASA: Apollo 11 Mission Overview
“The Eagle has landed…”
Mission Objective
The primary objective of Apollo 11 was to complete a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961: perform a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth.
Additional flight objectives included scientific exploration by the lunar module, or LM, crew; deployment of a television camera to transmit signals to Earth; and deployment of a solar wind composition experiment, seismic experiment package and a Laser Ranging Retroreflector. During the exploration, the two astronauts were to gather samples of lunar-surface materials for return to Earth. They also were to extensively photograph the lunar terrain, the deployed scientific equipment, the LM spacecraft, and each other, both with still and motion picture cameras. This was to be the last Apollo mission to fly a “free-return” trajectory, which would enable a return to Earth with no engine firing, providing a ready abort of the mission at any time prior to lunar orbit insertion.
Mission HighlightsApollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy on July 16, 1969, carrying Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin into an initial Earth-orbit of 114 by 116 miles. An estimated 650 million people watched Armstrong’s televised image and heard his voice describe the event as he took “…one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” on July 20, 1969.
Two hours, 44 minutes and one-and-a-half revolutions after launch, the S-IVB stage reignited for a second burn of five minutes, 48 seconds, placing Apollo 11 into a translunar orbit. The command and service module, or CSM, Columbia separated from the stage, which included the spacecraft-lunar module adapter, or SLA, containing the lunar module, or LM, Eagle. After transposition and jettisoning of the SLA panels on the S-IVB stage, the CSM docked with the LM. The S-IVB stage separated and injected into heliocentric orbit four hours, 40 minutes into the flight.
The first color TV transmission to Earth from Apollo 11 occurred during the translunar coast of the CSM/LM. Later, on July 17, a three-second burn of the SPS was made to perform the second of four scheduled midcourse corrections programmed for the flight. The launch had been so successful that the other three were not needed.
On July 18, Armstrong and Aldrin put on their spacesuits and climbed through the docking tunnel from Columbia to Eagle to check out the LM, and to make the second TV transmission.
On July 19, after Apollo 11 had flown behind the moon out of contact with Earth, came the first lunar orbit insertion maneuver. At about 75 hours, 50 minutes into the flight, a retrograde firing of the SPS for 357.5 seconds placed the spacecraft into an initial, elliptical-lunar orbit of 69 by 190 miles. Later, a second burn of the SPS for 17 seconds placed the docked vehicles into a lunar orbit of 62 by 70.5 miles, which was calculated to change the orbit of the CSM piloted by Collins. The change happened because of lunar-gravity perturbations to the nominal 69 miles required for subsequent LM rendezvous and docking after completion of the lunar landing. Before this second SPS firing, another TV transmission was made, this time from the surface of the moon. more
I remember watching this on a little battery powered television while on duty at a checkpoint in Vietnam.
Seemed a little surreal then, under those circumstances, and it still seems that way today when I think about it.
I watched the landing at my Dad’s house in Pensacola, six days before my ninth birthday. And they did it with onboard computers that had less calculating power than today’s cell phones. One of the greatest achievements in human history.
Remember it very well.. I was camping with my grandparents that summer, up in Northern Minnesota, Lake of the Woods.., listening to the little AM radio on my grandfathers Pickup truck.., all the while looking up thru the trees, to see the moon, and know that the Eagle had landed.. A moment in time, never forgotten.., been a space junky all my life, having seen the Astronauts up close..This, was a defining moment & What American was all about..
I was 16 when I watched our astronauts land on the moon. It was a great achievement for not only the United States but also for all mankind. The next day I was talking to the elderly Jewish gentleman named Stanley who ran a small neighborhood clothing store next door to my dads gas station, he told me that it was one of the greatest moments of his life when he saw the moon landing, I still miss that old guy because he would always come over for a few minutes and talk to us and just shoot the breeze with us before going back to work next door.
Watched it on a 12″ B&W Magnavox portable… and it was awesome!
That’s a very vivid memory of a tremendous success. I was 20, in the Army, and watched the event in, of all places, the EM club at the long gone Fitzsimons Hospital in Aurora CO.
The other strong memory I have of that time is the bar & grill just outside Fitzsimons where if you were active duty military you could buy a ten oz. draft Coors for 15¢. Ten ounces is pretty small, but 15¢ is even smaller. (-:
I remember watching this with the family our first year in MA. But if I remember correctly our TV was a Philco. Just look at all the other countries that have put
menpersonkind on the Moon since then.crickets
I also remember the entire family around the little b&w TV and how we all felt the wonder. Thanks for posting this
Watched at my aunt’s house. Shortly after the landing, lightning struck their antenna and destroyed the tv. Was more exciting than the landing.
I was fifteen and watched in my parents living room on their Zenith console TV. We had no air conditioning and it sure was hot inside the house in July in southeast Texas. My father finally installed central air conditioning two years later and I thought it was at least as amazing as the moon landing.
I had just gotten off actice duty with the Marines, Saw it in a bar and grill near Mt. Lassen.
It must have taken a lot of fingers and toes to work all the calculations.