Jul. 20th, 2019 at 8:46am
Today is the 50th anniversary of one of the most important space missions in history - Apollo 11.
The NASA mission saw humans step foot on the moon for the first time, having completed the gruelling 225,623-mile journey from Earth.
At 17:44 GMT on 20 July 1969, the Apollo Lunar Module, known as Eagle, undocked from the main spacecraft and descended to the lunar surface, where it landed in the Sea of Tranquility - a large, flat plain within the Moon's Tranquillitatis basin - at 20:17.
This was about four miles downrange from the original predicted touchdown point, and happened almost 1.5 minutes earlier than scheduled.
Around six and a half hours later, Neil Armstrong emerged from the Eagle and deployed a TV camera for the transmission of the event to Earth.
Finally, at 02:56 GMT, Armstrong stepped onto the moon, uttering the now infamous words: "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."
Buzz Aldrin then followed behind him, around 20 minutes later.
During their time on the moon, the astronauts left several items on the lunar surface.
This included commemorative medallions bearing the names of the three Apollo 1 astronauts who lost their lives in a launch pad fire, and two cosmonauts who also died in accidents, as well as a 1.5-inch silicon disc, containing goodwill messages from 73 countries, and the names of congressional and NASA leaders.
They also collected several lunar surface samples, and deployed the Early Apollo Scientific Experiments Package (EASEP) experiments.
Around two hours later, both astronauts returned to the Eagle lander, before launching back to the main spacecraft, and returning safely to Earth on 25 July 1969.
The NASA mission saw humans step foot on the moon for the first time, having completed the gruelling 225,623-mile journey from Earth.
At 17:44 GMT on 20 July 1969, the Apollo Lunar Module, known as Eagle, undocked from the main spacecraft and descended to the lunar surface, where it landed in the Sea of Tranquility - a large, flat plain within the Moon's Tranquillitatis basin - at 20:17.
This was about four miles downrange from the original predicted touchdown point, and happened almost 1.5 minutes earlier than scheduled.
Around six and a half hours later, Neil Armstrong emerged from the Eagle and deployed a TV camera for the transmission of the event to Earth.
Finally, at 02:56 GMT, Armstrong stepped onto the moon, uttering the now infamous words: "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."
Buzz Aldrin then followed behind him, around 20 minutes later.
During their time on the moon, the astronauts left several items on the lunar surface.
This included commemorative medallions bearing the names of the three Apollo 1 astronauts who lost their lives in a launch pad fire, and two cosmonauts who also died in accidents, as well as a 1.5-inch silicon disc, containing goodwill messages from 73 countries, and the names of congressional and NASA leaders.
They also collected several lunar surface samples, and deployed the Early Apollo Scientific Experiments Package (EASEP) experiments.
Around two hours later, both astronauts returned to the Eagle lander, before launching back to the main spacecraft, and returning safely to Earth on 25 July 1969.
