|Mission type||Crewed lunar landing|
|Mission duration||8 days, 3 hours, 18 minutes, 35 seconds|
|Launch mass||45,702 kilograms (100,756 pounds)|
|Landing mass||4,932 kilograms (10,873 pounds)|
|Start of mission|
|Launch date||16 July 1969, 13:32:00UTC|
|Rocket||Saturn V SA-506|
|Launch site||Kennedy Space Center LC-39A|
|End of mission|
|Recovered by||USS Hornet|
|Landing date||24 July 1969, 16:50:35UTC|
|Landing site||North Pacific Ocean|
|Periselene||100.9 kilometres (54.5 nautical miles)|
|Aposelene||122.4 kilometres (66.1 nautical miles)|
|Epoch||19 July 1969, 21:44 UTC|
|Spacecraft component||Command and service module|
|Orbital insertion||19 July 1969, 17:21:50 UTC|
|Orbital departure||22 July 1969, 04:55:42 UTC|
|Spacecraft component||Apollo Lunar Module|
|Landing date||20 July 1969, 20:18:04 UTC|
|Return launch||21 July 1969, 17:54 UTC|
|Landing site||Mare Tranquillitatis|
|Sample mass||21.55 kilograms (47.51 pounds)|
|EVA duration||2 hours, 31 minutes 40 seconds|
|Docking with LM|
|Docking date||16 July 1969, 16:56:03 UTC|
|Undocking date||20 July 1969, 17:44:00 UTC|
|Docking with LM ascent stage|
|Docking date||21 July 1969, 21:35:00 UTC|
|Undocking date||21 July 1969, 23:41:31 UTC|
Left to right: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin
Apollo 11 was the first flight to send people to the moon. It was done by NASA, the American space group. It went up to space on 16 July 1969, carrying three astronauts: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. On 20 July 1969, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to land on the moon, while Collins stayed in orbit around the Moon.
The Flight[change | change source]
Going to and from space[change | change source]
Millions of people around the world viewed the flight of Apollo 11 on television. When the rocket was sent to space it was a world-wide event. Richard Nixon, who was then President, watched the from the White House as the rocket went up. A Saturn V rocket took flight from the Kennedy Space Center in America.
About two hours after leaving Earth the bit with the people in it went away from the main rocket. The bit with the people in it had two parts, the Apollo Command/Service Module called Columbia and the Apollo Lunar Module called Eagle. Columbia was the space ship that stayed in space, and Eagle was the moon-landing space ship. 3 days later the team entered Lunar Orbit (orbit around the moon). A day later the Eagle went away from Columbia. The Eagle landed safely on the moon with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin inside. During the landing there were several problems with the computer. To land safely Armstrong had to fly the Eagle himself. They landed with only 25 seconds of fuel left.
Events on the moon[change | change source]
The first thing Buzz Aldrin did upon touch down was to pray. He also read some words of Jesus Christ. He did not reveal his plan to do this because someone had just made a lawsuit to stop astronauts from doing religious things in space. Armstrong became the first human to walk and speak on the moon's surface. The first words he said were:
|“||That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind ||”|
|Problems listening to this file? See media help.|
For the next two and a half hours Aldrin and Armstrong took notes, pictures and made holes to get moon rock. The landings were watched by over six million people on Earth using the very big radio telescope in Australia. They did many experiments like the collecting of moon rocks and dust. An American flag was set up and photographed on the moon.
Leaving the moon and returning to Earth[change | change source]
After finishing their work, Armstrong and Aldrin returned to the Eagle and slept for seven hours before starting to leave. While preparing to leave, Aldrin broke the circuit breaker in the engine starter. Armstrong used a pen to bridge the circuit and stop them from being stuck on the moon. Aldrin and Armstrong left many things on the moon: an American flag, a few experiments and a sign with a message from the human race. The sign read
Here Men From The Planet Earth First Set Foot Upon the Moon, July 1969 A.D. We Came in Peace For All Mankind.
On July 24 the three astronauts returned to Earth and were immediately placed into quarantine (kept away from other people), in case they brought back some disease from the moon. They stayed in quarantine for three weeks. When they got out the men were heroes around the world. They had dinner with President Nixon, a parade in New York City and another one in Chicago. The three were also on many television shows.
Photos[change | change source]
The Saturn V rocket carrying the Apollo 11's three people into space.
Buzz Aldrin's footprint on the moon's surface.
Apollo 11 astronauts and President Nixon.
Related pages[change | change source]
References[change | change source]
- "Apollo 11 Mission Summary". The Apollo Program. National Air and Space Museum. Archived from the original on August 29, 2013. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
- Orloff 2000, p. 106.
- Orloff 2000, p. 109.
- Orloff 2000, p. 107.
- "The First Lunar Landing". www.hq.nasa.gov.
- Buzz Aldrin, Ken Abraham (2009) "Magnificent Desolation", Random House Publishers, p. 26.
Other websites[change | change source]
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Apollo 11.|