9The First Mission to the Moon

Left - Buzz Aldrin faces the camera as his helmet reflects the lunar module and Neil Armstrong taking his picture. Armstrong kept the camera and took many photos of Buzz, but none were actually taken of him. Mid - At Mission Control, the large television screen shows the astronauts on the moon. They then received a live message from President Nixon. Hear part of what Nixon said Right - Buzz Aldrin after deployment of scientific experiments including a seismograph for detecting lunar quakes and a laser reflector to bounce back beams from Earth to calculate the exact distance to the moon. The astronauts spent a total of 2.5 hours walking on the lunar surface in gravity only one-sixth as powerful as Earth's. They then went back into the lunar module to rest and prepare for departure.

July 21, departure after 22 hours on the moon. Left - Artist's concept of the firing of the ascent engine as the lunar module ascent stage is launched.

Listen to

takeoff. The descent stage serves as a launch base and remains on the lunar surface. It bears a plaque with a unique inscription... Hear the plaque read Right The lunar module making its docking approach to the command module in lunar orbit as Earth rises above the horizon. Astronaut Michael Collins had remained in the command module in orbit while his fellow crewmen explored the lunar surface.

July 24, splashdown after 8 days, 3 hours, 18 minutes. Left - The command module afloat in the Pacific Ocean, 825 miles from Hawaii. The astronauts are wearing biological isolation suits as a precaution against any "moon germs." Mid - At Mission Control a spontaneous celebration of the successful conclusion of the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing Mission.Right - President Richard M. Nixon greets the Apollo 11 Astronauts, who are now quarantined, aboard the U.S.S. Hornet. Left - In Hawaii, the Mobile Quarantine Facility containing the astronauts is offloaded from the U.S.S. Hornet. The Facility was then transported to NASA in Houston. Mid - The astronauts dine together during the tedious weeks of quarantine at the Lunar Receiving Lab where they were tested extensively for any signs of exotic infection. Right - August 10, after a clean bill of health and release from quarantine, Neil Armstrong is greeted by friends in the crew reception area. A close-up view of moon rocks, classified by Geologists as igneous (formed by melting) possibly from a lunar volcanic flow or from a large meteorite crashing into the moon. Some of the rocks picked up by the astronauts had rested undisturbed on the lunar surface for a million years or more. Public interest in the rocks was tremendous. In September of 1969 the first public exhibition was opened in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. Thousands lined up to get a glimpse of a moon rock, but many found it disappointingly ordinary. Ticker tape parade for the Hero Astronauts who went on to make a world tour of 25 countries in 35 days. The Apollo program had fulfilled President John F. Kennedy's wish to land a man on the moon before the end of the 1960s - and did it just five months and ten days before the end of the decade