“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.
U.S. President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961
Setting foot on the moon marked the fulfilment of a desire that had probably lasted ever since human beings set their eyes on Earth’s natural satellite. The success of the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969 – a little over five months before the end of the 1960s – also meant that Kennedy’s target was achieved.
Here are snapshots from a week that saw Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the moon…
Photo:
NASA / REUTERS
July 16, 1969: Lift-off | 13:32:00 UTC (Universal Coordinated Time), 9:32 am ET (Eastern Time) |
The Apollo 11 spacecraft – with Neil Armstrong, Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin, and Michael Collins aboard – blasted off from Cape Kennedy on a Wednesday morning.
It might have been the middle of a week, but a million spectators were gathered in attendance, including Vice President Spiro Agnew (to the right of centre) and former President Lyndon Johnson (centre). Not to mention the countless others around the world following all the updates. There was a carnival atmosphere, but everyone gathered knew that the real drama was still a few days away.
Photo:
NASA / AP
July 20, 1969: Undocking | 17:44 UTC (1:44 pm ET) |
Three days after lift-off, the crew were in lunar orbit. One day after that, Armstrong and Aldrin got into the Lunar Module (LM) called Eagle, while Collins continued to orbit in Command Module (CM), called Columbia, clicking photographs of the lunar surface and serving as a communications link.
At the time mentioned above, the LM undocked from the CM. This is a picture of the CM with Collins aboard, as seen by Armstrong and Aldrin from the LM after undocking. The descent to the surface of the moon began soon after.
Photo:
NASA / AFP
July 20, 1969: Landing |
20:17 UTC (4:17 pm ET) |
“Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed,” were Armstrong’s first words once the LM touched down on the surface of the moon.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours, and to give thanks in his or her own way.” Buzz Aldrin spoke these words after landing their Lunar Module (LM) on the moon.
This photo shows an Earthrise viewed from lunar orbit prior to landing on July 20, 1969.
Photo:
NASA / AP
July 20, 1969: Human landing begins |
10:51 pm ET (July 21, 1969, 2:51 UTC ) |
In case you are wondering what took place in the 6.5 hours between their landing and a human setting foot on the moon, there’s a simple answer: the preparation to leave the LM included a detailed check of Eagle by Armstrong and Aldrin in order to make sure that the lift-off from the moon would take place without incident.
Photo:
NASA / AP
July 20, 1969: Human sets foot on moon | 10:56 pm ET (July 21, 1969, 2:56 UTC ) |
At 10:51 pm ET, Armstrong began his descent from the LM. He started speaking while at the foot of the ladder and finished that communication with “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” at the time mentioned above, syncing it with the moment he set foot on moon. Aldrin joined Armstrong on the moon 19 minutes later and the duo set about performing the tasks they had prepared for, including collecting samples.
This is a picture of Aldrin as clicked by Armstrong while the duo walked the surface of the moon.
Photo:
NASA / AP
July 21, 1969: Ascent from the lunar surface | 17:54 UTC (1:54 pm ET) |
Armstrong and Aldrin spent a total of 21 hours and 36 minutes on the moon’s surface, with the entire extravehicular activity phase lasting over 2.5 hours. Following rest and sleep, the ascent stage was fired up at the time mentioned. Picture shows the LM during its ascent as photographed by Collins from the CM.
Photo:
AP
July 24, 1969: Splashdown | 4:51 UTC (12:51 pm ET) | The successful rendezvous between Eagle and Columbia took place at 21:35 UTC (5:35 pm ET) on July 21. Collins welcomed back Aldrin and Armstrong and the LM was jettisoned into lunar orbit at 23:41 UTC (9:41 pm ET).
A little over five hours later, Apollo 11 began its journey back to Earth, leaving the lunar orbit once and for all. Re-entry procedures were initiated on July 24 and about 48 hours after they had left the lunar orbit, Apollo 11 and its astronauts splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, 20 km from the recovery ship USS Hornet.
U.S. President Richard M. Nixon, who also spoke to Aldrin and Armstrong by telephone from the White House when the duo were on the moon, personally welcomed the trio back to Earth and congratulated them on a successful mission.
The weird contraption, by the way, is a Mobile Quarantine Facility. The astronauts had to stay in quarantine for 21 days (not always in this mobile unit, no!), just in case the moon had any traces of biological pathogens.
Photo:
AP
What came after? |
The success of the Apollo 11 mission saw further Apollo missions take place. Between 1968 and 1972, a total of 24 astronauts made the trip from Earth to the moon, with 12 of them setting foot on the moon. In addition to the experiments that they performed while on the moon, they brought back samples – moon rocks that are priceless. That’s not only in the sense that you can’t put a monetary price on it, but also because of the secrets that they hold, to be revealed by researchers and scientists.
Following the Apollo missions, there was a lull of nearly half a century when lunar missions with a human crew kind of took a backseat. Four more humans, including the first woman, however, travelled around the moon as part of the Artemis II mission in 2026 – taking the total of people who have travelled to the vicinity of the moon to 28. Let’s hope a woman would soon set foot on the moon…
Published – July 20, 2026 07:33 am IST
