History was made 49 years ago today, when the first humans set foot on the Moon during Apollo 11. Watched live on television by a worldwide audience, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin went where no one had gone before.
On July 16, 1969, the huge, 363-feet tall Saturn V rocket launches on the Apollo 11 mission from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center, at 9:32 a.m. EDT. Onboard the Apollo 11 spacecraft are astronauts Neil A. Armstrong – commander, Michael Collins – command module pilot and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr (Buzz Aldrin) – lunar module pilot. Apollo 11 was the United States first lunar landing mission. While astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin descended in the Lunar Module “Eagle” to explore the Sea of Tranquility region of the moon, astronaut Collins remained with the Command and Service Modules “Columbia” in lunar orbit.
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin spent 21 hours, 36 minutes on the moon’s surface.