Moon Landing’s 40th Anniversary
By mikepayne
Moon Landing 40th Anniversary – 40 years ago today, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin (with Michael Collins standing by) set foot on Earth’s moon for the first time in human history. “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” described Armstrong, bouncing slowly down the stairs from NASA’s Apollo lunar module. The moon landing was inarguably man’s greatest achievement in science, one watched around the world in awe for 40 years.
After the Thor, Juno, Atlas and Luna unmanned landings, NASA prepped their first manned moon landing with their Apollo missions. On July 16th, 1969, Apollo mission number 11 blasted off in a Saturn V rocket with astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins in it’s payload. Four days later, Apollo 11′s lunar module landed safely on the surface of the moon, where it’s two astronauts set foot on the moon to conduct man’s first hands-on research of the lunar terrain.
After research was conducted, the lunar module fired its rockets and launched back into orbit, where it docked with Michael Collins and headed home for eventual re-entry onto planet Earth. No matter what you’ll be doing today, when night falls and the moon rises, take a look skyward and remember for a moment. 40 years ago today, man achieved the unachievable– truly one giant leap for mankind…
