40th Anniversary Of Moon Walk
40 years ago today Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first men to walk on the Moon, during the Apollo 11 mission.
Armstrong stepped onto the Moon’s surface at 0256 GMT, nearly 20 minutes after first opening the hatch on the Eagle landing craft.
Armstrong had earlier reported the lunar module’s safe landing at 2017 GMT with the words: “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”
As he put his left foot down first Armstrong declared: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
He was joined by “Buzz” Aldrin at 0315 GMT and the two collected data and performed various exercises – including jumping across the landscape – before planting the Stars and Stripes flag at 0341 GMT.
Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin spent a total of 21 hours on the Moon, two-and-a-half of them outside the landing module.
Info via BBC On This Day
Posted on July 21, 2009 | Filed Under Life
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