Landing Page of June 9, 2019

Continued from last week:

Apollo 11 Mission Overview:

"The Eagle has landed..."

Apollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy on July 16, 1969. Aboard were; Neil Armstrong, Commander; Michael Collins, Pilot and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Lunar Module Pilot. The crew and Apollo 11 were launched into an initial earth orbit of 114-116 miles.

Two hours, forty-four minutes after launch, the S-IVB stage reignited for a second burn. This took five minutes, 48 seconds and placed Apollo 11 in a trans-lunar orbit. At this stage the, the Command and service module (CSM), Columbia separated. After transposition and jettisoning, the CSM docked with the lunar module (LM) Eagle, then the S-IBV stage separated, injecting into heliocentric orbit, four hours and forty minutes had passed.

July 17, a three-second burn of the SPS the second part of four scheduled mid-course corrections was performed. The remaining three course corrections became unnecessary. The first color television transmission was made between the space craft and earth,

July 18, both Armstrong and Aldrin donned space suits, climbing through the docking hatch from Columbia to Eagle. While in the Eagle, a check was made and the second televised transmission accomplished.

July 19, the first lunar orbit insertion maneuver was enacted while Apollo 11 was behind the moon, out of contact with earth.

July 20, after making a final check of the LM, with Armstrong and Aldrin aboard, the Eagle was un-docked from Columbia. After a decent orbit insertion maneuver, the LM was at what was known as high-gate (about 26,000 feet above the moon's surface and approximately 5 miles from it's landing site.)

The LM would be only partially piloted by Armstrong, making its landing in the Sea of Tranquility. This was actually the second target, about miles from the anticipated landing site. Landing occurred one and one half minutes earlier than scheduled. "The Eagle has landed..."

Photos from moon (courtesy of Taschen Publishing)