Moon+Landing

=Moon Landing-Neil Armstrong on Apollo 11 (1969)=

Overview
“That one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Those famous words from Neil Armstrong are known around the world as he became the first man to step on the moon. July 16, 1969, the crew of Apollo 11 began their voyage to become the first to land on the moon which included Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, and Mike Collins. On July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin landed on the moon setting one of the world’s greatest triumphs. After close calls on the tedious part of landing, both Armstrong and Aldrin continued to do the unthinkable as they walked on the moon and planted the American flag on national television.

Critical Issue
On July 16, 1969 the crew prepared to take off knowing the landing would test the entire Apollo system. As they entered space, the spacecraft was composed with Eagle, the landing craft attached to Columbia, the command module. The two joined crafts slowly coasted moon ward above the anticipation of the entire world. July 19, Apollo 11 entered lunar orbit, the next day Columbia and Eagle separated and the two crafts drifted apart, Armstrong and Aldrin towards the moon’s surface in the Eagle while Collins stayed in Columbia, circling the moon in its orbit. As the Eagle approached the surface they were almost forced to abort the mission; however, was landed == safely by Armstrong who called into his mike “Houston, the Eagle has landed.” Armstrong exited the Eagle and started to descend from a ladder on the side of the craft; raising his left boot and lowering it to the lunar dust he said “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” He had become the first to step on the moon.

Conclusion/Historical Significance
The first order of business was to collect a small bag of soil; the soil he described was almost black, like powdered graphite. After near 15 minutes of Armstrong walking around Aldrin was now as well on the moon’s surface. They mounted a T.V camera where it would broadcast the rest of the activities. The two stood the American Flag in the moon, and then had a short discussion with the U.S President Richard Nixon all the while being displayed on national T.V. After Armstrong collected more rocks and soil and they deployed a solar-powered seismometer to detect moon quakes and an array of prisms that would help find the precise distance between the earth and the moon. Once thought as impossible, the three men returned to a world that had been changed. The lunar landing left the inspiration that seemingly impossible problems could be solved. The future of space travel had been changed forever. An estimated 600 million people listened and watched one of the greatest triumphs in world history.