It's been 46 years since we heard those famous words announcing that humans had finally reached another world:
"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."
On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the moon.
When mission commander Neil Armstrong finally took the "small step," I was watching in the Fillmore West in San Francisco. In a corner of the huge concert hall they had a large screen showing mankind’s first steps on the moon. The activities at Tranquility Base fit right in with the light show.
The following video is NASA's restored broadcast of the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity (EVA) on the surface of the moon. Armstrong's, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind," is at the 3:35 mark of the video.
NASA reminds us that the Apollo 11 (EVA) began at 10:39:33 p.m. EDT on July 20, 1969 when Astronaut Neil Armstrong emerged from the spacecraft first. While descending, he released the Modularized Equipment Stowage Assembly on the Lunar Module's descent stage. A camera on this module provided live television coverage of mankinds's first step on the Moon. During this first visit to the Moon, the astronauts remained within about 100 meters of the lunar module, collected about 47 pounds of samples, and deployed four experiments. After spending approximately 2 hours and 31 minutes on the surface, the astronauts ended the EVA at 1:11:13 a.m. EDT on July 21.
Ten American astronauts visited the surface of the moon over a three and a half year period. Gene Cernan, commander of the last Apollo mission left the lunar surface with these words:
"We leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace, and hope for all mankind."
Photos: One) Aldrin Looks Back at Tranquility Base - Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin was photographed by mission commander Neil Armstrong. In the foreground is the Passive Seismic Experiment Package; beyond it is the Laser Ranging Retro-Reflector; in the far right background is the Lunar Module "Eagle."Two) A close-up view of an astronaut's bootprint in the lunar soil, photographed with a 70mm lunar surface camera during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity (EVA) on the moon. Image credit: NASA
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