![]() ![]() The launch was picture-perfect, and within 12 minutes the craft entered Earth orbit at an altitude of about 100 nautical miles (185 kilometers). The mission to land on the Moon was underway. EDT, the rocket ignited, and Apollo 11 lurched upward with millions watching. With Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins secured in the capsule, the mighty Saturn V rocket was slated to lift off from the now-historic launchpad 39A, and the countdown began in the early morning. ![]() ![]() Jack King, NASA’s chief of public information, supplied commentary for TV network coverage. Thousands of people crowded along roads, around the public viewing areas, and even far off in other parts of the state to watch the rocket’s towering flame head skyward. Wednesday, July 16, 1969, dawned clear and bright at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Blind Faith played its first show in front of a massive crowd in London’s Hyde Park.Īnd the world’s eyes increasingly turned toward that bright ball of light in the night sky. Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones drowned in his swimming pool. Plans came together for Woodstock, to be held in August in New York. The Beatles played their last public concert, on the London rooftop of Apple Records. Students overran the administration building at Harvard University to protest the Vietnam War. Former President Dwight Eisenhower lay in state in the U.S. President Richard Nixon had ordered the first troop withdrawals from Vietnam. In the summer of 1969, the decade was rocketing to a close, portraying a far different world from the summer of love in 1967 and the hippie culture of 1968. After years of planning, the Gemini missions, and all of the Apollo mission testing, the big day was finally near. Columbia borrowed its name in part from the European historical name for the Americas, and also in a reference to Jules Verne’s 1865 novel, From the Earth to the Moon.Īnticipation for the launch was immense. ![]() Eagle took its name from the emblem of the United States. Not everyone in NASA was amused by the informal names of the Apollo 10 command and lunar modules - Charlie Brown and Snoopy, respectively - so more serious names were given to the Apollo 11 counterparts: Columbia for the command module and Eagle for the LM. The support crew for Apollo 11 included capsule communicators (capcoms) Charlie Duke, Ronald Evans, Ken Mattingly, Bruce McCandless, Harrison Schmitt, and Jack Swigert. Aldrin, 39, was an engineer and Air Force pilot who was selected in the third astronaut group he flew with Jim Lovell on Gemini XII in 1966. He, with John Young, was a veteran of Gemini X, which flew in 1966. Army major general, he became an Air Force test pilot before being selected to the third group of NASA astronauts. Along with David Scott, he flew aboard Gemini VIII in 1966. For all three, it would be their second time in space.Īrmstrong, 38, an Ohio-born naval aviator and test pilot, was among the second group of NASA astronauts. The crew consisted of an all-veteran, multipurpose group: Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module (LM) Pilot Buzz Aldrin. After the success of Apollo 10, it appeared that NASA would indeed keep the promise that John F. The flight of Apollo 11, the mission chosen to attempt the first lunar landing, was scheduled to launch July 16, 1969. ![]()
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