Apollo 11 Moon Mission Images Still Stun After 47 Years
Nearly a half-century later, photographs documenting the first trip to the moon continue to defy imagination. Here's a look at 10 of the best images.
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This week marked the 47th anniversary of NASA's first successful moon landing, a momentous event that redefined the limits of impossibility.
Landing on the moon never gets old -- except that it did, as American audiences got bored with consecutive moonshots -- and NASA's mandate shrunk after Apollo 17.
Nevertheless, the significance of the first voyage to Earth's only natural satellite -- where a team of intrepid astronauts hurtled through space to orbit, and eventually descend, on the ghostly, dusty surface of the moon -- seems to grow more profound with each passing year.
With that in mind, we've assembled a selection of the most astounding images from humankind's first expedition to the moon, documenting the launch, the landing, and the splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean.
While subsequent missions to the moon afforded new and more complex analysis of the lunar surface, nothing will ever surpass the breathtaking images gathered on that initial flight. They document a time of audacious exploration that has never been equaled.
[See images of NASA's Apollo missions through the years.]
In a time when trepidation and uncertainty threatens to unweave the very fabric that binds us together as a society, these images may remind us of what we can achieve together.
This is doubly important in recognizing that rudimentary tools and equipment that pale in comparison to today's smartphones and notebook computers we use on a daily basis allowed humankind to take a new, bold step forward.
As Neil Armstrong memorably, if haltingly said, upon setting foot upon the moon, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind," if that's what he actually said.
(All Images: NASA)
Launched by a Saturn V rocket -- the largest production model of the Saturn family of rockets -- Apollo 11 was the fifth manned mission of NASA's Apollo program. As of 2016, the Saturn V remains the tallest, heaviest, and most powerful rocket ever brought to operational status.
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on July 20, 1969, and Armstrong became the first to step onto the lunar surface. The third crew member, Michael Collins, piloted the Command Module Columbia alone in lunar orbit while they were on the moon's surface. Apollo 11 was the second all-veteran multi-person crew in human spaceflight history.
Of the many awe-inspiring photographs captured over the duration of the Apollo missions, few have had the impact of our lonely planet -- a blue and white marble drifting in space above the barren and forbidding landscape of the moon. This particular shot was taken from lunar orbit prior to landing.
On July 20, 1969, the lunar module Eagle separated from the command module Columbia. Collins, alone aboard Columbia, inspected Eagle as it pirouetted before him to ensure the craft was not damaged. As the descent began, Armstrong and Aldrin found that they were passing landmarks on the surface four seconds early and reported that they would land miles west of their target point.
Apollo 11 landed with less fuel than other missions, and the astronauts encountered a premature low-fuel warning. This was later found to be the result of greater propellant "slosh" than expected, uncovering a fuel sensor issue. On subsequent missions, extra anti-slosh baffles were added to the tanks to prevent this.
Armstrong took this photo of the lunar module from a distance. It is an eerie image that encapsulates both the essential humanity and the almost inconceivable audacity that brought humankind as far as it -- to this day -- has ever been. The first man to walk on the moon died on Aug. 25, 2012, in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Armstrong works at the lunar module in the only photo taken of him on the moon from the surface. About 20 minutes after the first step, Buzz Aldrin joined Armstrong on the surface. In the vast Apollo 11 photographic record, there are only five images of Armstrong partly shown or reflected. This is one of them.
The first person to walk on the moon smiles following the successful completion of the mission -- Armstrong's second and last space flight was as commander of Apollo 11. He spent two and a half hours outside the spacecraft and uttered one of the 20th century's most memorable lines. Armstrong reportedly prepared the famous epigram on his own.
Mission Control celebrates the successful return of all three astronauts to Earth. Then President Richard Nixon was aboard the USS Hornet to personally welcome the astronauts back to Earth. He told the astronauts, "As a result of what you've done, the world has never been closer together before."
On Aug. 13, the Apollo 11 crew rode in parades in their honor in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. On the same evening in Los Angeles there was an official state dinner to celebrate the flight. Members of Congress, 44 governors, the Chief Justice of the US, and ambassadors from 83 nations attended the event at the Century Plaza Hotel.
On Aug. 13, the Apollo 11 crew rode in parades in their honor in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. On the same evening in Los Angeles there was an official state dinner to celebrate the flight. Members of Congress, 44 governors, the Chief Justice of the US, and ambassadors from 83 nations attended the event at the Century Plaza Hotel.
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