July 20, 1969: "One Small Step for Man. .."
Washington — Six Year's After President John F. Kennedy’s Assassination, the Apollo 11 Crew Landed on the Moon, Fulfilling His Promise to Put an American There...
Washington
—
Six years after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, the Apollo 11 crew landed on the Moon, fulfilling
his promise to put an American
there by the end of the decade and return him safely to Earth.
Concerned as Eagle descended onto a football field-sized crater, Armstrong manually steered the lander away and touched down safely in another part of the Sea of Tranquility.
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During their 2.5-hour
Moon walk, Aldrin and Armstrong planted an American flag, ran scientific tests and collected 21.6 kilograms of rock and soil. They carried communications and life support equipment that weighed only 6.4 kilograms on the Moon’s lesser gravity.
The pair returned aboard Eagle and rejoined Columbia after about 22 hours on the Moon.
Apollo 11 safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean July 24, 434 kilometers away from its original landing site to avoid a storm.
After being quarantined, the astronauts were celebrated with a plethora of parades and personal appearances.
But the true significance of the first Moon landing was that it gave a nation dredged in the midst of war abroad and sociopolitical upheaval at home a reason to be proud.
Kennedy’s commitment to the Moon landing was driven by the desire to alter the perception of the
United States being second to the Soviet Union in the space race. But changing that perception also began to change the reality of the United States, not only as the leader in space, but in science in general.
Alexander Ross has covered the video game industry for a decade, writing deep dives on game design, esports tournaments, VR developments, and gaming culture.
