The Apollo 11 mission was the first manned mission to land on the moon. It was the fifth human spaceflight of Project Apollo and the third human voyage to the Moon. Launched on July 16, 1969, it carried Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene “Buzz” Aldrin.
On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon, while Collins orbited above. On July 21, Armstrong made his descent to the Moon’s surface and spoke his famous line, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” exactly six and half hours after landing. Aldrin joined him, describing the view as “magnificent desolation.”
For two and half hours, they took notes, photographed what they saw, and drilled core samples. They planned placement of Early Apollo Scientific Experiment package and the U.S. flag by studying their landing site through Eagle’s twin triangular windows. The first landing used Slow-scan TV incompatible with commercial TV, so it was displayed on a special monitor and a conventional TV camera viewed this monitor. This footage was received and broadcast to at least 600 million people on Earth.
