5 Facts About the Moon Landing
It was 42 years ago this week that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon.
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1. Neil Armstrong gets the glory as the first person to walk on the moon, with Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. not far behind. But don’t forget about the third crewmember. Michael Collins remained behind in the command module while his subsequently more famous counterparts kicked up moon dust. No hard feelings. “I know that I would be a liar or a fool if I said that I have the best of the three Apollo 11 seats, but I can say with truth and equanimity that I am perfectly satisfied with the one I have,” Collins once said.
2. Apollo 11 completed an eight-day, 953,054-mile journey to the moon and back. That’s equivalent to traveling around the Equator about 38 times.
3. The journey to the moon took about four days. Apollo 11 blasted off at 9:32 a.m. July 16, 1969, from Kennedy Space Station. It entered the lunar orbit on July 19, and July 20 was the big show. At 1:46 p.m. that day, Armstrong and Aldrin began their descent in the Eagle lunar module. They landed on the moon at 4:18 p.m. at the Sea of Tranquility, and Armstrong opened the hatch at 10:39 p.m.
4. Apollo 11’s moon landing gave us many things: bragging rights over the Russians, the catchphrase “the Eagle has landed” and decades of conspiracy theories about hoaxes and Hollywood soundstages. But most of all, it gave us that enduring line, “It’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Which makes no sense, as man and mankind are pretty much the same thing as Armstrong phrased it. Armstrong later said his microphone failed to pick up the crucial “a,” as in, “It’s one small step for a man…” Much better phrasing.
5. Moonwalkers—of the NASA variety, not Michael Jackson dancers—are a very exclusive club. Just 12 NASA astronauts have walked on the moon. The last were part of the Apollo 17 crew, who touched down on the lunar surface in December 1972. Eugene Cernan is officially the last person to walk on the moon.
2. Apollo 11 completed an eight-day, 953,054-mile journey to the moon and back. That’s equivalent to traveling around the Equator about 38 times.
3. The journey to the moon took about four days. Apollo 11 blasted off at 9:32 a.m. July 16, 1969, from Kennedy Space Station. It entered the lunar orbit on July 19, and July 20 was the big show. At 1:46 p.m. that day, Armstrong and Aldrin began their descent in the Eagle lunar module. They landed on the moon at 4:18 p.m. at the Sea of Tranquility, and Armstrong opened the hatch at 10:39 p.m.
4. Apollo 11’s moon landing gave us many things: bragging rights over the Russians, the catchphrase “the Eagle has landed” and decades of conspiracy theories about hoaxes and Hollywood soundstages. But most of all, it gave us that enduring line, “It’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Which makes no sense, as man and mankind are pretty much the same thing as Armstrong phrased it. Armstrong later said his microphone failed to pick up the crucial “a,” as in, “It’s one small step for a man…” Much better phrasing.
5. Moonwalkers—of the NASA variety, not Michael Jackson dancers—are a very exclusive club. Just 12 NASA astronauts have walked on the moon. The last were part of the Apollo 17 crew, who touched down on the lunar surface in December 1972. Eugene Cernan is officially the last person to walk on the moon.
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