Luna 15 was launched on July 13th, 1969 and went into lunar several
days later. At the time, Luna 15 was thought to be an attempt to upstage the
flight of Apollo 11, which launched several days later. Apparently, though, the
probe studied circumlunar space, the lunar gravitational field, and the
chemical composition of lunar rocks, as well as took some photographs.
Apollo 11
Apollo 11 was launched on July 16th, 1969, landed on the lunar surface
in the Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility)
on July 20th and returned to Earth on July 24th. Her crew
consisted of Neil Armstrong, mission commander, Michael Collins, command module
pilot, and Buzz Aldrin, lunar modul pilot. The command and service module was
dubbed Columbia and the lunar
module was called Eagle.
July 20th,
1969 will be forever remembered as one of those epochal days in
human history. The day that men landed on the Moon was the fulfillment of an
ancient dream, given form by President Kennedy in 1961, and finally executed by
the efforts of hundreds of thousands of men and women over eight years.
Soon after landing, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin exited
the Eagle lunar module and became the first men to walk on the Moon. “That’s
one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind,” were the first words to be
spoken from the lunar surface and has become one of the most remembered
sentences in the history of civilization. The EVA of two hours and thirty one
minutes was broadcast live on television and was witnessed by over a billion
people out of a world population at the time of about three and a half billion.
The American flag was raised over the landing site, several scientific
instruments were left on the lunar surface, and a number of rock and soil
samples were taken back to Earth. It was, as someone said, the greatest day
since Creation.