“The Eagle has landed.”
Fifty-one years ago today, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins made history by landing on the moon.
“At precisely 3:17:40 pm Houston time on July 20, 1969, Aldrin called out ‘contact light,’ indicating that at least one of the three 67-inch probes hanging from the bottom of three of the LM’s {lunar modules} footpads had made contact with the moon,” according to NASA.gov.
The first moon landing was a purely audio event for everyone back on Earth. There was no live television broadcast of the landing.
“A 16-mm silent film camera mounted in the right hand (Aldrin’s) window recorded the event, but was not available for viewing until it was returned to Earth and developed,” states NASA.
That video has not been without controversy, as some have argued that the landing was faked, an allegation that Aldrin has flatly denied.
Watch Buzz Aldrin punch lunar lunatic in the face
After a few minutes, Aldrin provided the first verbal description of their surroundings, including the types and sizes of rocks and the general color of the surface.
Buzz Aldrin: Remembering Apollo 11, the moon and why we should be dong more
Aldrin would then help Armstrong out of the module and watch as he became the first man to step on the moon’s surface.
“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” Armstrong proclaimed.
At the time of the landing, Aldrin and Collins were members of the United States Air Force. Armstrong was a member of the United States Navy.
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