On July 20, 1969, the manned spacecraft Apollo 11 successfully landed on the moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Seven hours later, Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people to set foot on extraterrestrial soil.
On April 5, 1967, 17 astronauts were called to Donald Slayton - responsible director of crews at NASA. At the meeting, it becomes clear that these are the people on whom the burden of carrying out the lunar program will fall, and among them is the person who will have the honor of being the first to set foot on the lunar surface.
Among 17 - those "aces" is also Neil Armstrong. He was entrusted with the command of the backup crew of Apollo 8 and the main crew of Apollo 11. On April 14, 1969, at a special press conference, NASA management announced its decision to land on the moon during the flight of Apollo 11 and its commander Neil Armstrong to become the first man in the world to set foot on the lunar surface.
The manned Apollo 11 spacecraft, consisting of the Saturn V launch vehicle (AS-506), the command module (CM-107) with the callsigns “Columbia“ (Columbia) and the lunar module (LM-5) with call signs “Eagle“ (Eagle) with a total mass of 43.9 tons, is the third apparatus of the "Apollo" series sent to the Moon in the NASA program. Before him, only Apollo 8 and Apollo 10 with a crew on board had reached Earth's natural satellite without landing on it. The purpose of the Apollo 11 mission was to perform a soft landing on the Moon in a predetermined area in the Sea of Tranquility, collect and deliver to Earth samples of the lunar soil, take photographs, conduct direct television communication with Earth, place scientific equipment on the lunar surface and return to Earth.
The rocket took off on July 16, 1969. Four days later, lunar orbit was reached. On July 20, about 102 hours after launch, the Lunar Module separated at an altitude of 110 km. above the surface and begins to slow its trajectory. The maneuver is performed from the Near Side of the Moon in constant communication with the Control Center in Houston and the remaining in orbit Command Module. According to the program, the Eagle should land in automatic mode, but already during the flight, Armstrong decided that about 100 meters from the surface he would switch to semi-automatic mode, arguing that the automatics did not know how to choose a landing site. During the flight, however, it is necessary to switch to manual mode much earlier due to overloading of the on-board computer. Regardless of the problem, Houston advised the astronauts to continue the mission, and Armstrong and Aldrin managed to land in manual mode, flying over a crater about 180 meters in size. At 20:17:42 UTC on July 20, 1969, the Lunar Module touched down in the Sea of Tranquility and Neil Armstrong reported:
"Houston, Tranquility base here, Eagle landed".
There was fuel left in the tank of the landing engines for another 17 seconds of operation and it was not necessary to cancel the landing and the forced return to orbit, obekti.bg recalls. The crew conducts an operation simulating a moon launch to check all Eagle systems, which are found to be in full working order. The planned rest after the moon landing was canceled at the request of the astronauts and the operation to leave the lunar surface was started. An external on-board camera televised directly to all of humanity the historic moment of Neil Armstrong's first step on another celestial body. With the words:
"One small step for man - one giant leap for mankind..." , on July 21, 1969 at 2 hours, 56 minutes and 20 seconds he left the first footprints on the surface of the Moon. Fifteen minutes later, Edwin Aldrin also set foot on the moon and began experimenting with various means of getting around in the weak lunar gravity. The most successful are the long “kangaroo“ jumps where they fly over 2 meters. A television camera was installed and then the US national flag was unfurled. A direct conversation takes place with President Richard Nixon from the lunar surface. Scientific instruments are being installed — seismometer and laser reflector to determine the exact distance to the Earth. Samples of lunar soil were collected, totaling 21.55 kg, which were later delivered to Earth for study. A stainless steel commemorative plaque has been left with an engraved inscription: “Here people from planet Earth first set foot on the moon. July 1969 AD. We come in peace on behalf of all Humanity“ and signed by Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins and US President Nixon. Aldrin stayed on the lunar surface for 1 hour and 30 minutes, then returned to the Lunar Module, and Armstrong stayed for a total of 2 hours and 10 minutes. Then the two astronauts ate dinner and went to bed to rest. Aldrin sleeps on the floor of Eagle, and Armstrong uses a hammock attached under the return stage's main engine shroud.
From the Command Center in Houston, they wake up the astronauts after 7 hours of rest. The crew conducts pre-launch preparation of the Lunar Module. At 5:54 p.m. on July 21, the engines of the return leg of Eagle were ignited, and after a 21:36 min. and 20 sec. the first expedition to visit the moon leaves it.