July 20 1969 - Man on the Moon!!!

Man will never reach the moon regardless

 of all future scientific advances.

  --     Dr. Lee De Forest (inventor of the vacuum tube

and father of television), February 1957

Man on the Moon!


Today is the 40-th anniversary of man's greatest achievement ever. On July 20, 1969 - Man first walked on the Moon!

I do remember clearly the exact day, when it happened. It was not just my birthday, but a small anniversary. Than, I was 5 years old, and everything was filled with magic. So, the space news were at the time absolutely normal for me, as I believed that anything can happen. Walking through the time, my personal anniversary will always be together with this amazing fact, which did not become less significant 40 years later.

Yes, on July 20, 1969, the human race accomplished its single greatest technological achievement of all time when a human first set foot on another celestial body. Six hours after landing at 4:17 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (with less than 30 seconds of fuel remaining), Neil A. Armstrong took the “Small Step” into our greater future when he stepped off the Lunar Module, named “Eagle,” onto the surface of the Moon, from which he could look up and see Earth in the heavens as no one had done before him. He was shortly joined by “Buzz” Aldrin, and the two astronauts spent 21 hours on the lunar surface and returned 46 pounds of lunar rocks. After their historic walks on the Moon, they successfully docked with the Command Module “Columbia,” in which Michael Collins was patiently orbiting the cold but no longer lifeless Moon.

Note that the Soviet Union was first to land a spacecraft on the moon, in 1959, but NASA's Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to set foot on the lunar surface, realizing humanity's age-old dream and effectively winning the space race for the United States.

NASA archive - Picture of Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin Aldrin on July 15, 1969:

Lunar Exploration Chronology (1958 – 1998)

Review the exploration timeline and how tight was the competition between the USA and the Soviet Union. For the Soviet Union, it was the matter of the social pride to bypass the USA on the way to Space. The best human resources and financial contributions were directed towards space projects, and Russians were very close to capture the moon landing priority as well. For them, it was a factual proof the communist society is far superior to the capitalist society.

Name	Nation	Date Launched	Mission
Pioneer 1 (p)	US	11 Oct 1958	Flyby attempt that reached 71,700 miles (1/3 of distance to Moon) before falling back toward Earth. Returned Van Allen Radiation Belt data.
Pioneer 2 (u)	US	8 Nov 1958	Flyby attempt that reached 963 miles and yielded no useful scientific data.
Pioneer 3 (p)	US	6 Dec 1958	Flyby attempt that reached 63,500 miles before falling back toward Earth. Returned Van Allen Radiation Belt data.
Luna 1 (p)	USSR	2 Jan 1959	Impact attempt that resulted in flyby within 3,728 miles of Moon.
Pioneer 4 (p)	US	3 Mar 1959	Flyby at 35,500 miles from Moon.
Luna 2 (s)	USSR	12 Sep 1959	Impacted on Moon 13 Sep 1959 at 22:02:04 UT, Latitude 29.10 N, Longitude 0.00—Palus Putredinis.
Luna 3 (s)	USSR	4 Oct 1959	Lunar flyby that transmitted first images of far side of Moon.
Ranger 1 (u)	US	23 Aug 1961	Lunar impact attempt that entered Earth orbit after booster failure and reentered atmosphere on 30 Aug 1961.
Ranger 2 (u)	US	18 Nov 1961	Lunar impact attempt that entered Earth orbit after booster failure and reentered atmosphere on 19 Nov 1961.
Ranger 3 (u)	US	26 Jan 1962	Lunar impact attempt; spacecraft malfunction in encounter period.
Ranger 4 (u)	US	23 Apr 1962	Lunar impact attempt; spacecraft computer and sequencer malfunctioned in Earth orbit.
Ranger 5 (u)	US	18 Oct 1962	Lunar impact attempt; spacecraft malfunctioned in Earth orbit.
Sputnik 25 (u)	USSR	4 Jan 1963	Unnamed Luna-class probe, known by Sputnik 25 West; spacecraft malfunctioned in Earth orbit.
Luna ? (u)	USSR	2 Feb 1963	Unnamed Luna-class probe that failed to reach Earth orbit.
Luna 4 (u)	USSR	2 Apr 1963	Lunar impact; spacecraft malfunctioned en route to Moon.
Ranger 6 (p)	US	30 Jan 1964	Lunar impact, but cameras failed.
Ranger 7 (s)	US	28 Jul 1964	Lunar impact that transmitted 4,316 photographs of surface.
Ranger 8 (s)	US	17 Feb 1965	Lunar impact that transmitted 7,137 photographs of surface.
Cosmos 60 (u)	USSR	9 Mar 1965	Lunar soft lander that failed in Earth orbit.
Ranger 9 (s)	US	21 Mar 1965	Lunar impact that transmitted photographs as it crashed into Crater Alphonsus.
Luna 5 (u)	USSR	9 May 1965	Lunar soft lander; retrorockets malfunctioned and crashed into Sea of Clouds.
Luna 6 (u)	USSR	8 Jun 1965	Lunar soft lander; rockets malfunctioned and spacecraft leapt off course, missing Moon by 99,000 miles.
Zond 3 (s)	USSR	18 Jul 1965	Probe photographed far side of Moon during flyby on way to Mars. Zond 1 and 2 were probes sent to Venus and Mars.
Luna 7 (u)	USSR	4 Oct 1965	Lunar soft lander that crashed into Ocean of Storms near crater Kepler.
Luna 8 (u)	USSR	3 Dec 1965	Lunar soft lander that crashed into Ocean of Storms near crater Galilaei.
Luna 9 (s)	USSR	31 Jan 1966	Lunar soft lander that landed on Moon 3 Feb 1966 at 18:44:52 UT, Latitude 7.08 N, Longitude 295.63 E—Oceanus Procellarum.
Luna 10 (s)	USSR	31 Mar 1966	Lunar orbiter.
Surveyor 1 (s)	US	30 May 1966	Lunar soft lander that landed in Ocean of Storms on 2 Jun 1966 and transmitted more than 10,000 photographs of surface.
Lunar Orbiter 1 (s)	US	10 Aug 1966	Lunar orbiter.
Luna 11 (s)	USSR	24 Aug 1966	Lunar orbiter.
Surveyor 2 (u)	US	20 Sep 1966	Lunar soft lander that crashed southeast of crater Copernicus.
Luna 12 (s)	USSR	22 Oct 1966	Lunar orbiter.
Lunar Orbiter 2 (s)	US	6 Nov 1966	Lunar orbiter.
Luna 13 (s)	USSR	21 Dec 1966	Landed on Moon 24 Dec 1966 at 18:01:00 UT, Latitude 18.87 N, Longitude 297.95 E—Oceanus Procellarum.
Lunar Orbiter 3 (s)	US	4 Feb 1967	Lunar orbiter.
Surveyor 3 (s)	US	17 Apr 1967	Landed on Moon 20 Apr 1967 at Ocean of Storms 230 miles south of crater Copernicus.
Lunar Orbiter 4 (s)	US	8 May 1967	Lunar orbiter.
Surveyor 4 (u)	US	14 Jul 1967	Lunar soft lander that lost contact with Earth just before landing.
Lunar Orbiter 5 (s)	US	1 Aug 1967	Lunar orbiter.
Surveyor 5 (s)	US	8 Sep 1967	Landed on Moon 10 Sep 1967 in Sea of Tranquility, 15.5 miles from Apollo 11 landing site.
Surveyor 6 (s)	US	7 Nov 1967	Landed on Moon 9 Nov 1967 at Latitude .5 N, Longitude 1.4 W. On 17 Nov 1967 spacecraft rockets were fired and the lander was moved 8 feet to the west for stereoscopic measurements of region.
Surveyor 7 (s)	US	7 Jan 1968	Landed on Moon 10 Jan 1968 at Latitude 40.9 S, Longitude 11.5 W, 18 miles north of crater Tycho.
Luna 14 (s)	USSR	7 Apr 1968	Lunar orbiter.
Zond 5 (s)	USSR	15 Sep 196	Circumlunar mission that returned to Earth 21 Sep 1968.
Zond 6 (s)	USSR	10 Nov 1968	Circumlunar mission that returned to Earth 17 Nov 1968.
Apollo 8 (s)	US	21 Dec 1968	Piloted orbiter.
Apollo 10 (s)	US	18 May 1969	Piloted orbiter.
Luna 15 (u)	USSR	13 Jul 1969	Lunar soft lander that crashed at Sea of Crises.
Apollo 11 (s)	US	16 Jul 1969	Piloted landing.
Zond 7 (s)	USSR	7 Aug 1969	Circumlunar mission that returned to Earth 14 Aug, 1969.
Apollo 12 (s)	US	14 Nov 1969	Piloted landing.
Apollo 13 (p)	US	11 Apr 1970	Piloted landing mission that was partially successful only because crew returned safely.
Luna 16 (s)	USSR	12 Sep 1970	Landed on Moon 20 Sep 1970 at 05:18:00 UT, Latitude 0.68 S, Longitude 56.30 E—Mare Fecunditatis. Lunar sample return.
Zond 8 (s)	USSR	20 Oct 1970	Circumlunar mission that returned to Earth 27 Oct 1970.
Luna 17 (s)	USSR	10 Nov 1970	Landed on Moon 17 Nov 1970 at 03:47:00 UT, Latitude 38.28 N, Longitude 325.00 E—Mare Imbrium. Lunar rover—Lunokhod 1.
Apollo 14 (s)	US	31 Jan 1971	Piloted landing.
Apollo 15 (s)	US	26 Jul 1971	Piloted landing.
Luna 18 (u)	USSR	2 Sep 1971	Landed on Moon 8 Sep 1971, Latitude 3.5 N, Longitude 56.5 E. Lost communication after landing.
Luna 19 (s)	USSR	28 Sep 1971	Lunar orbiter.
Luna 20 (s)	USSR	14 Feb 1972	Landed on Moon 21 Feb 1972 at 19:19:00 UT, Latitude 3.57 N, Longitude 56.50 E—Mare Fecunditatis. Lunar sample return to Earth 25 Feb 1972.
Apollo 16 (s)	US	16 Apr 1972	Piloted landing.
Apollo 17 (s)	US	7 Dec 1972	Piloted landing.
Luna 21 (s)	USSR	8 Jan 1973	Landed on Moon 15 Jan 1973 at 23:35:00 UT, Latitude 25.51 N, Longitude 30.38 E—Mare Serenitatis. Lunar rover—Lunokhod 2.
Luna 22 (s)	USSR	2 Jun 1974	Lunar orbiter.
Luna 23 (p)	USSR	28 Oct 1975	Landed on Moon 6 Nov 1973, Sea of Crises; damaged in landing and only three days of research undertaken.
Luna 24 (s)	USSR	14 Aug 1976	Landed on Moon 18 Aug 1976 at 02:00:00 UT, Latitude 12.25 N, Longitude 62.20 E—Mare Crisium. Lunar sample return.
Clementine (s)	US	25 Jan 1994	Lunar orbiter that mapped surface in greater detail than anything previously.
Lunar Prospector (s)	US	6 Jan 1998	Lunar Prospector was launched on this date for a one-year polar mission to explore the Moon, especially whether or not water ice is buried inside the lunar crust.

Video Presentations

But let’s come back in time to these remarkable fays from the Apollo 11 launch on July 16, 1969 to the moment.

Video 1: Watch it now, as you would have seen it on July 16, 1969, at 9:26 AM EDT. T-minus 00:5:59 and counting. The live U.S. broadcast via satellite of the lift-off of Apollo 11.

Lift-off of Apollo 11 on July 20 1969

Video 2: Look at the people from around the world who saw these incredible images live on TV.  They are all in disbelief on what they say on TV that morning on July 20, 1969! 

Moon Landing July 20 1969

Video 3: Truly spectacular images of Neil Armstrong walking on the Moon!!!

Neil Armstrong walking on the Moon July 20 1969

Sources and Additional Information:

http://history.nasa.gov/ap11ann/introduction.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/07/dayintech_0720

http://history.nasa.gov/ap11ann/chronology.htm

http://www.tierraunica.com/tierra_unica/2008/07/july-20-1969---39th-anniversary-of-mans-greatest-achievement-ever.html

Rentometer - You Sure your Rent is Reasonable?

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Come and visit it, when it recovers from the “web invasion”. You will have a best informative position, while searching for new apartment or bargaining with your landlord on the reasonable rent for your current one.

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Video Presentation:

Rentometer - You Sure your Rent is Reasonable?