It is the golden anniversary for the Apollo 11 team. That Apollo 11 team in 1969, became the first Americans and humans to ever land on the moon. The team included commander Neil Armstrong, lunar model pilot Buzz Aldrin, and command module pilot Michael Collins. These three men had a successful moon landing 50 years ago today.
Commander Neil Armstrong was a 38 year old civilian research pilot when NASA selected him, to be the commander of the mission for NASA. Previous to commanding the Apollo 11 space team, Armstrong graduated from Perdue University where he studied aeronautical engineering. He had experience flying, he flew planes during the Korean War, and post-war. He joined the NASA Astronaut Corp in 1962. In March of 1966, at the age of 36, Armstrong became the first civilian astronaut to fly in space, when he was the command pilot for Gemini 8. Three short years later, on July 20th, 1969, Armstrong became the first human to ever land and walk on the moon. It was then that Neil Armstrong said "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"
Lunar model pilot Buzz Aldrin was a quite impressive man as well for the Apollo 11 team but oftentimes does not receive as much recognition as Neil Armstrong does. Buzz Aldrin was born the same year as Armstrong, so both men were 39 years old when they traveled up to space to be the first two men to walk on the moon. Aldrin had a degree in mechanical engineering and a Doctorate of Science in Astronautics from MIT. He was the first astronaut in NASA's program to ever have a doctorate. Aldrin's first space experience was also in 1966, on Gemini 12's mission around the moon. Similarly to Armstrong, three short years later he was selected to be apart of Apollo 11's space team to land on the moon. He was the second man to ever put a foot on the moon, 19 minutes after commander Armstrong did.
Command-module pilot Michael Collins makes up the third and final member of the famous Apollo 11 team. Before being apart of Apollo 11's space team, Michael Collins joined the Air Force Acadamy and flew fighter planes. In 1960, he was accepted into the U.S. Air Force Experimental Flight Test Pilot School. Collins became the second person to ever fly around the moon alone, during the Apollo 11 trip. He was alone while Armstrong and Aldrin were getting samples from the moon's surface. Collins spent approximately one full day alone out orbiting around, but he stated that he never truly felt alone. He also stated that even though he never placed a foot on the moon, he felt just as much a part of the mission as the other two, because, without him, the other men would not have a way back to earth.
The trip began on July 16th, 1969, around 9:30a when the world watched the televised launch of the spacecraft from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft, carrying the team, traveled 240,000 miles in 76 hours, which is just over three days. Apollo 11 entered into lunar orbit on July 19th, and by 4:17p the following day, July 20th, the lunar pod carrying Armstrong and Aldrin touched down on the moon's surface. It was at this time that Armstrong radioed to Houston, making his now-famous quote of "The Eagle has landed". At 10:39p that same day, Armstrong opened the pod doors and 17 minutes later, he had fully descended from the pod, placing his foot on the powdery surface of the moon. After spending approximately two hours on the moons surface, both men returned to the pod, slept and accended to rejoin the main spacecraft just before 2:00p on July 21st. The descend back down to earth began on July 22nd just before 1:00a and the three men safely landed in the Pacific Ocean around 1:00p on July 24th. They returned heroes.
This trip greatly changed the course of history in America as well as for the world. Happy anniversary to NASA, and the three men who took part in this history-changing event.
