Human Landing on the Moon July 20,1969

 

Launched by a Saturn V Rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island,Florida on July 16,1960 Apollo 11 was the fifth manned mission of NASA's Apollo Program

Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first humans on the Moon, Americans Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin on July 20, 1969, at 20:18 UTC( primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time)

Armstrong became the first to step onto the lunar surface six hours later on July 21 at 02:56 UTC. Armstrong spent about two and a half hours outside the spacecraft, Aldrin slightly less, and together they collected 47.5 pounds (21.5 kg) of lunar material for return to Earth.

Broadcast on live TV to a world-wide audience, Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface and described the event as "one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." 

A third member of the mission,Michael Collins, piloted the command spacecraft alone in lunar orbit until Armstrong and Aldrin returned to it just under a day later for the trip back to Earth

After more than 2½ hours on the lunar surface, they had left behind scientific instruments that included a retro reflector array used for the Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment and a Passive Seismic Experiment Package used to measure moomquakes. They also left an American Flag, an Apollo 1 mission patch, and a plaque (mounted on the LM Descent Stage ladder) bearing two drawings of Earth (of the Western and Eastern Hemispheres), an inscription, and signatures of the astronauts and President Nixon. The inscription read:

Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.

                                                      The plaque left on the ladder of Eagle

On July 24, the astronauts returned home aboard the Command Module Columbia just before dawn local time (16:51 UTC)in the Pacific Ocean 2,660 km (1,440 nmi) east of Wake Island , 380 km (210 nmi) south of Johnston Atoll  and 24 km (13 nmi) from the recovery ship,USS Hornet 


Aldrin poses on the Moon, allowing Armstrong to photograph both of them using the visor's reflection