The Apollo 11 Moon Landing 50 Years Later: For All Mankind

Astronaut Edward "Buzz" Aldrin standing with the US flag
on the surface of the moon.

50 years ago today, on Sunday, July 20, 1969, the crew of the Apollo 11 NASA mission successfully landed on the surface of the moon, beginning a mission of exploration that human beings have dreamed of for millennia since the dawn of mankind. 

First step on the moon.

Americans Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Edward "Buzz" Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle at a site they named Tranquility Base at 4:17 P.M. EDT. Command module pilot Michael Collins flew the command module Columbia alone in lunar orbit while they were on the Moon's surface.

Armstrong became the first person to step onto the lunar surface, speaking the following words: "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind." Armstrong's first step onto the lunar surface was broadcast on live television to a worldwide audience.

 

Apollo 11 effectively ended the Space Race and fulfilled a national goal proposed eight years before in 1961 by US President John F. Kennedy: "before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."

In addition to various scientific instruments, the Armstrong and Aldrin left behind an Apollo 1 mission patch in memory of astronauts Roger Chaffee, Gus Grissom, and Edward White, who died when their command module caught fire during a test in January 1967; two memorial medals of Soviet cosmonauts Vladimir Komarov and Yuri Gagarin, who died in 1967 and 1968 respectively; and a memorial bag containing a gold replica of an olive branch as a traditional symbol of peace.  

One of the most amazing human technological achievement was the work of hundreds of thousands of dedicated American people over a decade, from those who designed the equipment, the factory workers who build the components for the command and lunar modules, the rocket engineers who designed and built the Saturn V rocket, the employees at NASA who planned out the missions, and of course the astronauts themselves who carried them out, risking their lives to achieve this milestone in human history.  

More so it was the dream inspired by writers of science fiction for over a century. Many more would be inspired by the achievement of the Apollo program to continue writing about mankind's quest for the other planets in our solar system, and eventually traveling the stars themselves.

This blog post is dedicated to the memory of all those who helped make the Apollo program and this great achievement possible, and for those who work today to continue the mission of expanding humanity's frontiers in space.

The memorial plaque attached to the Eagle lander with the
names and signatures of the three Apollo 11 astronauts
Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin,
and U.S. President Richard M. Nixon.
"We came in peace for all mankind."

The Apollo 11 lunar landing mission crew.
From left to right: Neil A. Armstrong, commander;
Michael Collins, command module pilot;
and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot.

The Apollo 11 insignia.