AS-506 lifts off from Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center July 16, 1969.
Apollo XI Launch Vehicle AS-506 and Spacecraft 107, Launch Pad 39A for CDDT (Countdown Demonstration Test), includes MSS (Mobile Service Structure) pullback, KSC. 1. APOLLO XI - PRELAUNCH KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL
This view from the Apollo 11 spacecraft shows Earth rising above the moon's horizon. The lunar terrain pictured is in the area of Smyth's Sea on the nearside.
In this photograph, astronaut Buzz Aldrin takes his first step onto the surface of the Moon.
Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot of the first lunar landing mission, poses for a photograph beside the deployed United States flag during Apollo 11 extravehicular activity (EVA) on the lunar surface. The Lunar Module (LM) is on the left, and the footprints of the astronauts are clearly visible in the soil of the moon. Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, commander, took this picture with a 70mm Hasselblad lunar surface camera.
The Lunar Module "Eagle" was a two part spacecraft. The LM was full of gear with which to communicate, navigate, and rendezvous.
During 2½ hours of surface exploration, the crew set up experiments, collected 47 pounds of lunar surface material for analysis back on Earth, planted the U.S Flag, and left a message for all mankind. In this photograph, Aldrin is deploying the Passive Seismic Experiment Package (PSEP).
Aboard the Saturn V launch vehicle were astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins,Command Module (CM) pilot; and Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin Jr., Lunar Module (LM) pilot. The CM, piloted by Michael Collins, remained in a parking orbit around the Moon, while the LM, named “Eagle’’, carrying astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin, landed on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility.
The Lunar Module's lower or descent stage had the landing gear, engines, and fuel needed for the landing. When the LM blasted off the Moon, the descent stage served as the launching pad for its companion ascent stage, which was also home for the two astronauts on the surface of the Moon.
Shown here is the recovery operation of the capsule in the Pacific Ocean after splashdown. The three astronauts wait in the life raft as a pararescue man closes and secures the capsule hatch. The crew was then air lifted to the prime recovery ship, the U.S.S. Hornet, where they were housed in a Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF).
Here the quarantined Apollo 11 crew members (l to r) Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin, and U.S. President Richard Milhous Nixon share laughs. The president was aboard the recovery vessel awaiting return of the astronauts. With the success of Apollo 11, the national objective to land men on the Moon and return them safely to Earth had been accomplished.
Apollo 11 astronauts, Mike Collins, Buzz Aldrin, and Neil Armstrong celebrated their successful mission with a ticker tape parade through the streets of New York City.
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