Wednesday, July 20, 2016

"The Eagle Has Landed" July 20, 1969

Apollo XI Crew: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin

I remember watching this on television at a friend's house while the events unfolded.  While Michael Collins circled the moon in the lunar orbiter, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men ever to walk on the moon.  Neil stepped onto the surface about 11am ET (they hadn't established lunar time yet) proclaiming in a speech that was not plagiarized, "That is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."  Twenty minutes later, Aldrin joined him on the moon.  Their total EVA was about 2 1/2 hours taking samples of the lunar surface and conducting experiments.  After almost 22 hours on the moon, Aldrin and Armstrong took off to rendezvous with Collins.  They splashed down July 24.


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