Apollo 11: The Eagle Has Landed

very fine as you get close to it it's almost like a you get close to it almost step off the L that's [Music] one I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before this decade is out of Landing a man on the Moon turning him safely to the Earth all that we have accomplished in space all that we may accomplish in days and years to come we stand ready to share for the benefit of all mankind as we explore the reaches of space let us go to the new worlds together not as new worlds to be conquered but as a new adventure to be shared since the earliest time man has imagined this moment the moment when his fellow man would make the first journey to the moon now the time had come in the sixth decade of the 20th century the ancient dream was to become a reality the flight of Apollo 11 was the culmination of many years of planning working building and testing thousands of people had contributed toward this day of accomplishment the great Saturn 5 rocket and the complex Apollo spacecraft had been assembled together on the equipment and techniques and first moved in earlier missions and now they were ready the astronaut Edwin Aldren Jr would pilot the lunar module and Astronaut Neil Armstrong would serve as Mission Commander Armstrong would be the first man to step upon the moon July 16th the day had come the moon awaited the men Rose early ate breakfast and dressed in their spacesuits other astronauts had made this journey to the Launchpad but never with such anticipation 9:32 a.m. July 16th [Music] 3 hours later the Apollo Command Module moves forward to extract the lunar module from the third stage of the launch vehicle both are moving at more than 177,000 mph docked together they will sail a quar million miles across the sea of space and into orbit around the Earth's nearest neighbor loud and CLE Mike and we understand that you are during the 3-day Journey To The Moon the astronauts kept busy checklists navigation and observation housekeeping they must work in a weightless environment keeping their spacecraft and themselves in good condition data must be collected and reported experiments must be performed including photography both inside and outside the spacecraft because of the film speed these actions appear faster than they actually were July 19th Apollo 11 slows down and goes into orbit around the moon the bright blue planet of Earth Now lies 238,000 miles beyond the lunar Horizon astronauts Armstrong and Aldren now in the lunar module separate from the Command Module astronaut Collins remains behind preparation for the lunar module descent to the moon now begins [Music] [Music] [Music] the command module assumes the new name [Music] columia the lunar module will be called the eagle from Colombia Michael Collins's camera sees bright rays of the sun reflecting patterns of color from the surface of the eagle in this strange metallic bird rides the ancient and endless dream of all mankind the command pilot can see detail which his camera cannot record the four landing pads of the lunar module are fully extended and locked in place the eagle is poised and prepared for its descent to the lunar [Music] surface the moonlanding craft rocket engine fires to slow it down and to place it on the pathway to The Landing site in the Sea of Tranquility there is tension and caution as the eagle flies lower warning lights blink on as the computer tries to keep up with the demand for Control Data but the status remains go e we got you now it's looking good over e Houston Ang pitch you're a to to continue you're to continent altitude now 21,000 ft still looking very good velocity down now to 1200 ft per second you're looking great to us eag us a on the 12 alarm got we're going at alarm good radar data we're now in the approach phase everything looking good altitude 1600 1400t still looking very good 21 down 33 down at 19 121 alarm same alude [Music] velocity forward forward down two and upward okay down basag landed through the window of the eagle Armstrong and Aldren see what no human eyes have ever seen before their spacecraft casts a long Shadow across the undisturbed dust of centuries 7 hours after landing after careful preparations for later Ascent were completed Armstrong opens the eagle hatch and begins his climb down to the [Music] [Music] surface the first footsteps on this strange new world must be taken cautiously the moon has only one six the gravity of Earth the nature of its surface was still unknown I'm step off the L that's one step for once on the surface Armstrong Scoops up a small sample of lunar dust and rock precaution against the possibility of an emergency takeoff according to plan astronaut Aldren now descends from the eagle he and his equipment would weigh 383 lb on Earth here they weigh about 66 [Music] lb for a brief moment the first men on the moon stand and look at the star Dark Lonely landscape around them an experience which no one before them can share but there is much to be done in the limited time which they can stay on this airless cloudless satellite of Earth this sheet of metal foil traps and holds particles from the Sun the so-called solar wind or barrage of solar energy which constantly strikes the moon surface results of this experiment will be taken back to Earth to reveal new secrets to anxious scientists an American flag is Left Behind on the moon together with medals honoring American and Soviet Spacemen who lost their lives in earlier space tests and a small disc carrying messages of Goodwill from 73 Nations on earth a plaque on the lunar module reads here men from the planet Earth First set foot upon the moon July 1969 ad we came in peace For All Mankind through a specially made television camera viewers in Many Nations on Earth were able to watch the astronauts as they walked and worked on the moon despite the bulky space suits and the backpacks containing oxygen temperature control control and Communications equipment the Apollo 11 crew found they could move easily about the surface because there is no wind or rain on the moon these Footprints will remain for centuries in addition to collecting Rock and soil samples the Explorers leave behind a seismometer this highly sensitive device would send back valuable information on external meteoroid impacts as well as internal lunar movements [Music] a 100 prism laser reflector would help man to measure the exact distance from Earth to moon to an accuracy of 6 in these were the first of many experiments which will be taken to the Moon to provide man continuing and increasing knowledge about the moon and the vastness of space beyond after 2 hours and 31 minutes the first lunar explorers had completed their research on the moon a night of rest in the lunar module Scout down preparations and they were ready to come home Tranquility base Houston guidance recommendation is pings and you're cleared for takeoff Roger understand we're number one on the runway S 5 stage Eng very th000 ft High 80 ft per second vertical rise Houston you're looking good at two P all agre right down us houon going right down the track everything's great horizontal velocity approaching 2500 ft per second [Music] Roger some 120 miles to go until insertion July 21st the eagle and its Twan crew lifted off the moon perfectly and climbed slowly to rendevu and Doc with the Mother Ship [Music] Colombia while Armstrong and Aldren explored the moon astronaut Collins had kept a long and lonely vigil in the Columbia the approaching Eagle was a welcome sight later the three men would share their Reflections on this adventure with the world I believe that uh from the early space flight we demonstrated a potential to carry out this type of emission and again it was a question of time until this would be accomplished I think it's a technical Triumph for this country to have said what it was going to do a number of years ago then by goly do it the relative ease with which we were able to carry out our mission which of course came after a very efficient and logical sequence of flight I think that this demonstrated that we were certainly on the right track when we took this commitment to to go to the Moon I just see it as a beginning a beginning of a new [Music] [Music] age [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] once again the bright blue planet of Earth Rises over the lunar Horizon for those who had witnessed man's Landing in the Sea of Tranquility the moon would never again appear quite the [Music] same July 24th Dawn in the Pacific Apollo blazes across the heavens coming back to 25,000 miles an hour president Richard Nixon who had talked with the astronauts by telephone while they were on the moon was waiting aboard the recovery carrier to welcome the returning voyagers [Music] the president later expressed the nation's response to this historic Mission someway when those two Americans stepped on the moon the people of this world we're brought closer together that it is that Spirit the spirit of Apollo that America can now help to bring to our relations with other nations the spirit of Apollo transcends geographical barriers and political differences it can bring the people of the world together in peace to protect against any possible lunar contamination the astronauts put on airtight special garments before coming aboard the rescue ship they transferred directly from the helicopter to a mobile quarantine van in which they would be flown back to the man spacecraft Center in Houston Texas July 27 the journey was ended they were home [Music] again [Music] an ahead lay three weeks of isolation medical tests and Mission debriefings then visits to major cities of America and abroad the details of their unique Mission would be relived and remembered so that others might learn what they had learned and that future Travelers in space might build upon their experience The Rock and soil samples brought back would be examined and analyzed by scientists in Many Lands they would reveal new insights into the origin and the age and the composition of the Moon and perhaps new knowledge of the earth as well already experiments left on the moon were sending back revealing new [Music] information [Music] the mission was successfully completed the eagle had landed the first men on the moon and Colombia had returned them safely to Earth wherever man Journeys tomorrow across the ocean of our universe history will remind him that Apollo 11 was Mankind's first encounter with a new world [Music] [Music] [Music]