History Series: Apollo 11

History of the 1st Moon Landing — Apollo 11

55 Years Ago Today

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

Fifty-five years ago today, at 3:17 Eastern Time, July 20, 1969, the first human stepped out of the Apollo 11 lunar module onto the moon. With the immortal words of the 38-year-old Neil Armstrong:

“That’s one small step for (a) man,
one giant leap for mankind.”

…the first man in history began an excursion on the moon that lasted over two and a half hours.

Five hundred million people watched it on television. Everyone I knew watched it.

Moon Landing: The Mission

Kennedy speaks at Rice University on September 12, 1962

Eight years previously, in May 1961, President John F. Kennedy, in his special State of the Union message, had uttered these galvanizing words:

“I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal,
before the decade is out,
of landing a man on the moon and
returning him safely to Earth.”

You have no doubt heard the phrase “Space, the final frontier… her mission…” first spoken in September 1966. But John Kennedy’s 29-word statement five years…