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Apollo 11 was the first human spaceflight to land on the Moon. The 1969 mission's wide effect on popular culture has resulted in numerous portrayals of Apollo 11 and its crew, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins.
The mission was extensively covered in the press. Over 53.5 million US households tuned in to watch the Apollo 11 mission across the two weeks it was on TV, making it the most watched TV programming up to that date. An estimated 650 million viewers worldwide watched the first steps on the Moon. [1] [2] [3]
After their return, the astronauts went on what was called the "Giant Leap" tour, visiting 23 countries in 38 days. [4] Starting in Mexico City, where they donned sombreros and were given a second parade, their tour took them through South America, to Spain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Germany, England, and Vatican City. [4] After a rest in the U.S. embassy in Rome they went on to Turkey and Africa. [4] In Zaire, Buzz Aldrin leaped over the barricade between him and some entertainers and joined in with their dancing. [4]
Missing from the tour was Hungary, which rejected the United States's invitation to host the astronauts. [5] Relations between Hungary and the United States were strained at the time over the non-return by the U.S. of the Crown of St Stephen. [5]
Many countries have issued stamps commemorating the mission.
The United States issued a US$2.40 stamp commemorating the 20th anniversary in 1989, a stamp for the 25th anniversary, and a 33¢ stamp commemorating the 30th anniversary in 1999. [6] [7] The 20th anniversary stamp caused some concern when it was issued, as the law forbade living people from being depicted on stamps, and the image was of two astronauts planting a U.S. flag on the Moon. [7] However, it was never actually officially stated by the USPS that the figures were specifically Armstrong and Aldrin, and not just generic astronaut figures. [7] Other stamps issued included a 10¢ stamp on 1969-09-09 showing an astronaut descending a ladder from a lunar module, and the US$9.95 anniversary stamp issued in 1994. [7] The 1969 stamp art was by Paul Calle, the 1989 art by his son, and the 1994 one by both. [8]
The postal service of Eire issued a commemorative €1 stamp for the 50th anniversary in 2019, but misspelled the word "gealach" (Gaelic for "Moon") as "gaelach" ("Irish"), an accidental transposition during design that was not caught in proof. [9] The USPS issued two 50th anniversary stamps as part of its "Forever" collection, one a photograph of the Moon with the landing site marked, and the other one of Armstrong's pictures of Aldrin. [10]
The astronauts themselves had, before the mission, signed what were called "insurance covers", stamped envelopes that were essentially life insurance in the form of memorabilia that family members could sell off in the events of the astronauts' deaths. [11] This practice would continue through to Apollo 16. [12]
Armstrong and Aldrin also cancelled a commemorative stamp whilst on the surface of the Moon. [13] Originally, they were to have done this reciting pre-scripted dialogue that had been supplied by USPS public relations. [13] But the supplied script was lengthy and stilted, the Washington Post commenting that it would have lasted "for the better part of one orbit of the moon" and resulted in "a veritable barrage of phone calls from a flabbergasted public", and NASA decided that the astronauts had enough to do; so the stamping was without ceremony. [13]
The first song played from the surface of the Moon, chosen by Aldrin, was Quincy Jones's and Frank Sinatra's version of "Fly Me to the Moon". [14] The BBC had used a hurriedly re-recorded version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" for its news coverage of the landing, but did not play the song again until the mission was over, because of the way that the song lyrics ended. [15]
Contemporary movies that did well because of the public's interest in the Moon landing were 2001: A Space Odyssey , Barbarella , and Planet of the Apes . [16] [17]
The United States of America acknowledged the success of Apollo 11 with a national day of celebration on Monday, July 21, 1969. [18] All but emergency and essential employees were allowed a paid day off from work, in both government [19] and the private sector. The last time this had happened was the national day of mourning on Monday, November 25, 1963, to observe the state funeral of President John F. Kennedy, who had set the political goal to put a man on the Moon by the end of the 1960s and bring him back to Earth safely.
A replica of the footprint left by Neil Armstrong is located at Tranquillity Park in Houston, Texas. [20] The park was dedicated in summer of 1979, a decade after the first Moon landing. In 2019 Buzz Aldrin's well-known photograph of his own footprint was depicted on the Apollo 11 50th Anniversary commemorative coins. [21]
The Apollo 11 Cave in Namibia was named after the flight upon its successful return to Earth. [22]
Soon after the mission a conspiracy theory arose that the landing was a hoax, a theory widely discounted by historians and scientists. [49] [50] [51] It may have gained more popularity after the 1978 film Capricorn One portrayed a fictional NASA attempt to fake a landing on Mars. [52]
There is a humorous and ribald urban legend that when Armstrong was a child, the wife of a neighbor named Gorsky, when asked by her husband to perform oral sex, had ridiculed him by saying "...when the kid next door walks on the Moon!" and then decades later while walking on the Moon, Armstrong supposedly said "Good luck, Mr. Gorsky". In 1995 Armstrong said he first heard the story in California when comedian Buddy Hackett told it as a joke. [53] A short film based on the legend was released in 2011. [54]
A 1970 United States congressional hearing noted that "all countries which had the technical capability of telecasting Apollo 11 live did so." [55]
All three major American broadcast networks, CBS, NBC and ABC had live coverage of the Moon landing. In the United States, 94 percent of people watching television were tuned into the event. [56]
British television coverage of the Apollo 11 mission lasted from 16 to 24 July 1969 on all three UK television channels, BBC1, BBC2 and ITV. Most of the footage covering the event from a British perspective has now been wiped or lost. [57] [58]
By the time of the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969, the two islands were each network-capable via microwave link, but the link over Cook Strait had not been completed, and there was no link between New Zealand and the outside world. Footage of the Moon landing was recorded on video tape at the Australian Broadcasting Commission's ABN-2 in Sydney, then rushed by an RNZAF English Electric Canberra to Wellington and WNTV1. [59] To forward this to the South Island, the NZBC positioned one of its first outside broadcasting vans to beam the footage to a receiving dish across Cook Strait, from which it was forwarded through the recently commissioned South Island network.
When the Apollo 11 landing occurred some Eastern Bloc countries (Soviet Union, North Korea and the People's Republic of China) did not broadcast live television footage of it. [60]
Eastern Bloc countries in Europe which covered the Moon landing on television were: Yugoslavia, Romania, [61] Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia. [62]
Morocco, Libya and Tunisia played live news coverage of the event. [55]
Indian electronic media of that era was largely confined to radio. It is reported that the broadcasts were not synchronous with the Apollo 11 flight. For example, the AIR Madras radio service, which was relaying from the Voice of America’s commentary on the Apollo 11 take-off on 16 July, cut off its relay “exactly at 7pm. Whereas the take-off took place only at 7.02pm." The radio service instead switched to Thirai Ganam—a film songs programme. [63]
Apollo 11 was a spaceflight conducted by the United States from July 16 to July 24, 1969. It marked the first time in history that humans landed on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, and Armstrong became the first person to step onto the Moon's surface six hours and 39 minutes later, on July 21 at 02:56 UTC. Aldrin joined him 19 minutes later, and they spent about two and a quarter hours together exploring the site they had named Tranquility Base upon landing. Armstrong and Aldrin collected 47.5 pounds (21.5 kg) of lunar material to bring back to Earth as pilot Michael Collins flew the Command Module Columbia in lunar orbit, and were on the Moon's surface for 21 hours, 36 minutes, before lifting off to rejoin Columbia.
Neil Alden Armstrong was an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer who, in 1969, became the first person to walk on the Moon. He was also a naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor.
Buzz Aldrin is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission, and was the Lunar Module Eagle pilot on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission. He was the second person to walk on the Moon after mission commander Neil Armstrong. Following the death of Michael Collins in 2021, he is the last surviving Apollo 11 crew member.
Moon landing conspiracy theories claim that some or all elements of the Apollo program and the associated Moon landings were hoaxes staged by NASA, possibly with the aid of other organizations. The most notable claim of these conspiracy theories is that the six crewed landings (1969–1972) were faked and that twelve Apollo astronauts did not actually land on the Moon. Various groups and individuals have made claims since the mid-1970s that NASA and others knowingly misled the public into believing the landings happened, by manufacturing, tampering with, or destroying evidence including photos, telemetry tapes, radio and TV transmissions, and Moon rock samples.
Mare Tranquillitatis is a lunar mare that sits within the Tranquillitatis basin on the Moon. It contains Tranquility Base, the first location on another celestial body to be visited by humans.
Bart Winfield Sibrel is an American conspiracy theorist who has written, produced, and directed films arguing that the Apollo Moon landings between 1969 and 1972 were staged by NASA under the control of the CIA. He has created four independent films promoting the ideas, with the first having been the film A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon (2001).
Tranquility Base 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. On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 crewmembers Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed their Apollo Lunar Module Eagle at approximately 20:17:40 UTC. Armstrong exited the spacecraft six hours and 39 minutes after touchdown, followed 19 minutes later by Aldrin. 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. They lifted off the surface on July 21 at 17:54 UTC.
Astronauts Gone Wild: Investigation Into the Authenticity of the Moon Landings is a 2004 Pseudo-documentary produced and directed by Bart Sibrel, a Nashville-based videographer who claims that the six Apollo Moon landings in the 1960s and 1970s were elaborate hoaxes. Sibrel made this video as a follow-up to his 2001 video A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon, which accuses NASA of falsifying the Apollo 11 mission photography. The title of the presentation is a wordplay on the Girls Gone Wild video series.
Apogee Books is an imprint of Canadian publishing house Collector's Guide Publishing. The Apogee imprint began with "Apollo 8 The NASA Mission Reports" in November 1998 at the request of astronaut Buzz Aldrin, second man on the moon. The first publication by Apogee was printed to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the first crewed flight around the moon. A limited edition print run of this Apollo 8 book led to Aldrin suggesting that the imprint continue with further anniversary publications.
Robert Godwin is a British author who has written about rock music and spaceflight. Early in his career he was a rock music impresario who managed a venue in Burlington, Ontario, and founded Griffin Music.
Apollo 11 is a television docudrama film which aired on November 17, 1996 on The Family Channel. It was nominated for a Primetime Emmy.
First Man is a 2018 American biographical drama film directed by Damien Chazelle from a screenplay by Josh Singer, based on the 2005 book by James R. Hansen. The film stars Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong, alongside Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Corey Stoll, Christopher Abbott, and Ciarán Hinds, and follows the years leading up to the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon in 1969.
Unidentified flying objects have been reported by astronauts while in space. These sightings have been claimed as evidence for extraterrestrial life by ufologists.
John Hirasaki is an American mechanical engineer who worked for the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during the Apollo 11 mission, the first crewed mission to the Moon. In 1969 he – along with Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and William Carpentier – became one of the first five known humans to view lunar rocks inside Earth's atmosphere.
Apollo 11 was the first human spaceflight to land on the Moon. In the decades after its 1969 mission took place, widespread celebrations have been held to celebrate its anniversaries.
Apollo 11 is a 2019 American documentary film edited, produced, and directed by Todd Douglas Miller. It focuses on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, the first spaceflight to land humans on the Moon. The film consists solely of archival footage, including 70 mm film previously unreleased to the public, and does not feature narration, interviews, or modern recreations. The Saturn V rocket, Apollo 11 crew, and Apollo program Earth-based mission operations engineers are prominently featured in the film.
Command module Columbia (CM-107) is the spacecraft that served as the command module during Apollo 11, which was the first mission to land humans on the Moon. Columbia is the only spacecraft of the 1969 Apollo 11 mission that returned to Earth.
Lunar Module Eagle (LM-5) is the spacecraft that served as the crewed lunar lander of Apollo 11, which was the first mission to land humans on the Moon. It was named after the bald eagle, which was featured prominently on the mission insignia. It flew from Earth to lunar orbit on the command module Columbia, and then was flown to the Moon on July 20, 1969, by astronaut Neil Armstrong with navigational assistance from Buzz Aldrin. Eagle's landing created Tranquility Base, named by Armstrong and Aldrin and first announced upon the module's touchdown.
Apollo in Real Time is an interactive, multimedia website that presents the Apollo 11, Apollo 13, and Apollo 17 missions as they happened at the time by compiling and synchronizing thousands of hours of audio and video recordings, transcripts, and photographs. Apollo historian Ben Feist created the Apollo 11 and Apollo 17 real-time sites, and was a NASA contractor by the time he created the Apollo 13 real-time site. Air & Space magazine describes the Apollo 13 site as "one of the most ambitious multimedia history sites ever created".
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