Since a precision landing was not expected on the first mission, the target area was an ellipse measuring 11.5 miles (18.5 km) east and west by 3.0 miles (4.8 km) north and south. They were numbered 1 to 5, going from east to west. They ranged between 45 degrees east and west, and 5 degrees north and south of the center of the Moon's facing side. Based on high-resolution photographs taken by the Lunar Orbiter spacecraft, and photos and data taken by the uncrewed Surveyor landers, this list was narrowed down to five sites located near the lunar equator. National Park Service, and UNESCO have declined to do so, due to the technicality that it is not located within their borders.įor more than two years, NASA planners considered a collection of 30 potential sites for the first crewed landing. states of California and New Mexico have registered Tranquility Base as a heritage site associated with them, but Texas, the U.S. It is located in the south-western corner of the dark lunar plain Mare Tranquillitatis ("Sea of Tranquility"). Tranquility Base was named by Aldrin and Armstrong, and first announced by Armstrong when the Lunar Module Eagle landed. They lifted off the surface on July 21 at 17:54 UTC. The astronauts spent two hours and 31 minutes examining and photographing the lunar surface, setting up several scientific experiment packages, and collecting 47.5 pounds (21.5 kg) of dirt and rock samples for return to Earth. Armstrong exited the spacecraft six hours and 39 minutes after touchdown, followed 19 minutes later by Aldrin. On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 crewmembers Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed their Apollo Lunar Module Eagle at approximately 20:17:40 UTC. Note the change in call sign from "Eagle" to "Tranquility Base".Tranquility Base ( Latin: Statio Tranquillitatis) is the site on the Moon where, in July 1969, humans landed and walked on a celestial body other than Earth for the first time. But it's Armstrong that says after they land, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The radio voices you hear are mostly Mission Control in Houston (specifically Apollo astronaut Charlie Duke, who acted as the spacecraft communicator for this mission) and Buzz Aldrin, whose job during the landing was to keep an eye on the LM's altitude and speed - you can hear him calling it out, "3 1/2 down, 220 feet, 13 forward." Armstrong doesn't say a whole lot.he's busy flying and furiously searching for a suitable landing site. In 2018, I wrote about what to watch for during the landing sequence. I've watched the whole thing a couple of times while putting this together and I'm struck by two things: 1) how it's almost more amazing that hundreds of millions of people watched the first Moon walk *live* on TV than it is that they got to the Moon in the first place, and 2) that pretty much the sole purpose of the Apollo 11 Moon walk was to photograph it and broadcast it live back to Earth. I hope that with the old time TV display and poor YouTube quality, you get a small sense of how someone 40 years ago might have experienced it. If you've never seen this coverage, I urge you to watch at least the landing segment (~10 min.) and the first 10-20 minutes of the Moon walk. here's what I wrote when I launched the project in 2009: This is one of my favorite things I've ever done online. Here's the schedule (all times EDT):Ĥ:10:30 pm: Moon landing broadcast startsĤ:17:40 pm: Lunar module lands on the MoonĤ:20:15 pm - 10:51:26 pm: Break in coverageġ1:51:30 pm: Nixon speaks to the Eagle crew Just open this page in your browser today, July 20th, and the coverage will start playing at the proper time. For the 12th year in a row, you can watch the original CBS News coverage of Walter Cronkite reporting on the Moon landing and the first Moon walk on a small B&W television, synced to the present-day time. Fifty-one years ago today, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon and went for a little walk.
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