Thursday Thirteen

Space . . . the final frontier!

Here are a few facts about the July 20, 1969 moon landing.



1. NASA built twelve lunar modules for the Apollo moon-landing program.

2. The command module from Apollo 11 brought astronauts safely back to Earth.

3. The Apollo 11 command module Columbia carried astronauts Neal Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins to the moon and back in July 1969.

4. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington is home to several Apollo lunar modules built for the moon-landing program. It is visited by millions of people each year. The lunar roving vehicle qualification test unit is on display at the National Air and Space Museum.

5. Neil Armstrong's famous moon walk is commemorated at the National Air and Space Museum.

6. On July 16, 1969, at 9:32 am EDT, Apollo 11 lifted off from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Neil Armstrong (commander), Buzz Aldrin (lunar module pilot) and Michael Collins (command module pilot) were the crew. The Apollo 11 spacecraft consisted of the command module, Columbia, and the lunar module, Eagle.

7. On July 20, 1969, at 1:47 pm EDT, Armstrong and Aldrin, in the lunar module Eagle, separated from the command module. Collins remained onboard the Columbia orbiting the moon. At 4:17 p.m. EDT, The Eagle landed. A minute later, Armstrong made a report to NASA, saying, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." He reported that the lunar module had set down on the moon's surface at the Sea of Tranquility. The module had only enough fuel to run for 40 more seconds.

8. On July 20, 1969, at 10:56 pm EDT, Armstrong stepped out of The Eagle. That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," he said as he became the first human to set foot on the moon. At approximately 11:15 pm EDT, Buzz Aldrin joined Armstrong on the moon. The men read from a plaque signed by the three crew members and the president, "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."

9. At 11:48 pm EDT on July 20, 1969, President Nixon spoke to Armstrong and Aldrin via radio from the Oval Office, "(it) certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made," the president said. They spoke for two minutes and the call was televised on both ends. Afterward, Armstrong and Aldrin spent over two hours collecting moon rock samples and data, and spent the night on board the Eagle.

10. The crew traveled 240,000 miles from the Earth to the moon in 76 hours.

11. ABC, CBS, and NBC spent, collectively, between $11 million and $12 million on Apollo 11 coverage and covered the mission from Sunday morning until Monday evening. The moon landing was watched by an estimated 600 million people around the world.

12. July 21, 1969 - At 1:54 pm EDT - The Eagle departs from the moon to rendezvous with Columbia. At 5:35 pm EDT, The Eagle docked with Columbia. After transferring moon rocks, data, and equipment, the Eagle was jettisoned, and the crew began the flight back to Earth. On July 22, 1969, Columbia reached a trajectory toward Earth.

13. July 24, 1969 - At 12:50 pm EDT Columbia splashes down, eight days, three hours and 18 minutes after liftoff. The astronauts return to Earth in the Pacific Ocean about 900 miles from Hawaii, then go into quarantine aboard the USS Hornet. On August 10, 1969, the astronauts were released from quarantine.

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 509th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.