1969 – the first man
on the moon
Neil Armstrong Michael Collins Buzz Aldrin
On 16 July 1969, at 9.30 in the morning, Apollo 11 lifted off
from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. There were three
astronauts – Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael
Collins. The enormous rocket took three days to complete
the 250,000 miles to the moon, travelling at six miles per
second (21,600 miles an hour). Then it circled the moon 30
times, giving time to prepare for the landing.
The lunar landing
The lunar module landed on a part of the moon called the
Sea of Tranquillity at 8.17 in the evening on 20 July.
It was time for the astronauts to rest, but they were
too excited to sleep. At 3.00 in the morning on July 21,
Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the
moon. Six hundred million people all over the world
watched on TV. As Armstrong took his first steps, he said
the famous words, ‘That’s one small step for man, one
giant leap for mankind.’
Walking on the moon
Armstrong and Aldrin spent two and a half hours walking
on the moon. They collected samples and set up scientific
equipment. Finally, they put up a US flag. After 22 hours on
the moon, the lunar module lifted off and flew up to join the
rocket that took them back to Earth. They left an inscription:
(Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon,
July 1969. We came in peace for all mankind. )
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