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On This Day in 1969: Neil Armstrong Walks on Moon
July 19, 2022 at 03:52 PM EDT
By WeatherBug Meteorologist, Dan Rupp
On this day, Neil Armstrong created a significant chapter in history by saying the words “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” as he famously became the first person to set foot on the moon in 1969.
It was a space race against the Soviet Union to land on the moon after trailing them for years. In 1961 John F. Kennedy addressed the nation with a bold statement stating that we will land on Earth’s satellite in a decade. With a huge team of scientists and engineers at NASA, the U.S. was able to conduct the first unmanned Apollo mission just 5 years later. Unfortunately, during a manned launch-pad test three astronauts were killed after a fire broke out on the Saturn Rocket and Apollo spacecraft. NASA pressed on though and was able to successfully launch the first manned Apollo 7 mission in 1968 with an orbit around Earth. This mission allowed astronauts to test the systems needed for the moon mission.
A year later, on Apollo 9, astronauts were able to orbit the moon 10 times in December and 31 times with Apollo 10 in May of the same year. All of these missions paved the way for Apollo 11 which took off at 9:32 a.m. on July 16. The three astronauts on board were Edwin Aldrin Jr., Michael Collins and Neil Armstrong. Apollo 11 entered the moon’s orbit on July 19th after traveling 240,000 miles in 76 hours. The lunar module, named Eagle, descended toward the moon at 1:46 p.m. on July 20th and landed on the surface at 4:18 p.m. At this time, Armstrong told Houston’s Mission Control center “The Eagle has landed.” At 10:56 p.m. Neil Armstrong broadcasted to over millions of television set back on Earth “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” before stepping on to lunar soil. After taking photos, planting a U.S. flag, and running tests the men headed back to the command module leading to Earth on July 21st. Apollo 11 safely splashed into the Pacific Ocean on July 24 at 12:51 p.m.
Later, there were 5 more lunar landings. Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt were the last to walk the moon on December 14, 1972. The Apollo program ending up using 400,000 people to achieve the dream and cost $24 billion. NASA has plans to return people to the moon by 2025 through its Artemis program.
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Image Courtesy: Pixabay.com
It was a space race against the Soviet Union to land on the moon after trailing them for years. In 1961 John F. Kennedy addressed the nation with a bold statement stating that we will land on Earth’s satellite in a decade. With a huge team of scientists and engineers at NASA, the U.S. was able to conduct the first unmanned Apollo mission just 5 years later. Unfortunately, during a manned launch-pad test three astronauts were killed after a fire broke out on the Saturn Rocket and Apollo spacecraft. NASA pressed on though and was able to successfully launch the first manned Apollo 7 mission in 1968 with an orbit around Earth. This mission allowed astronauts to test the systems needed for the moon mission.
A year later, on Apollo 9, astronauts were able to orbit the moon 10 times in December and 31 times with Apollo 10 in May of the same year. All of these missions paved the way for Apollo 11 which took off at 9:32 a.m. on July 16. The three astronauts on board were Edwin Aldrin Jr., Michael Collins and Neil Armstrong. Apollo 11 entered the moon’s orbit on July 19th after traveling 240,000 miles in 76 hours. The lunar module, named Eagle, descended toward the moon at 1:46 p.m. on July 20th and landed on the surface at 4:18 p.m. At this time, Armstrong told Houston’s Mission Control center “The Eagle has landed.” At 10:56 p.m. Neil Armstrong broadcasted to over millions of television set back on Earth “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” before stepping on to lunar soil. After taking photos, planting a U.S. flag, and running tests the men headed back to the command module leading to Earth on July 21st. Apollo 11 safely splashed into the Pacific Ocean on July 24 at 12:51 p.m.
Later, there were 5 more lunar landings. Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt were the last to walk the moon on December 14, 1972. The Apollo program ending up using 400,000 people to achieve the dream and cost $24 billion. NASA has plans to return people to the moon by 2025 through its Artemis program.
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Image Courtesy: Pixabay.com