Today is the 50th anniversary of one of the most important space missions in history – Apollo 11. The NASA mission saw humans step foot on the moon for the first time, having completed the gruelling 225,623-mile journey from Earth. At 17:44 GMT on 20 July 1969, the Apollo Lunar Module, known as Eagle, undocked from the main spacecraft and descended to the lunar surface, where it landed in the Sea of Tranquility – a large, flat plain within the Moon’s Tranquillitatis basin – at 20:17. This was about four miles downrange from the original predicted touchdown point, and happened almost 1.5 minutes earlier than scheduled. Around six and a half hours later, Neil Armstrong emerged from the Eagle and deployed a TV camera for the transmission of the event to Earth. Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. walking on the surface of the moon ( Image: Getty) Finally, at 02:56 GMT, Armstrong stepped onto the moon, uttering the now infamous words: “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.” Buzz Aldrin then followed behind him, around 20 minutes later. During their time on the moon, the astronauts left several items on the lunar surface. This included… Read full this story
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