45 Years Later: 23 Images of NASA’s First Moon Landing

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On July 20, 1969 NASA's mission to land on the moon culminated with the Apollo 11 crew Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins touching down on lunar soil.

 

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45th anniversary of moon landing, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins, nasa's mission, apollo 11, first men on moon, moon boot, lunar surface landing

Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. salutes the U.S. flag on the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969. NASA's mission to send the first man to the moon 45 years ago set the pace for space discovery throughout the world, providing a new frontier for exploration, technology and innovation.

NASA/AFP/Getty Images

 

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45th anniversary of moon landing, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins, nasa's mission, apollo 11, first men on moon, moon boot, lunar surface landing

Left, a pre-launch twilight photo of the the Apollo 11 Saturn V launch vehicle and right, the spacecraft lifting off from Kennedy Space Center on July 16, 1969, in Florida, carrying crew members Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr.

NASA; Getty Images

 

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45th anniversary of moon landing, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins, nasa's mission, apollo 11, first men on moon, moon boot, lunar surface landing

Apollo 11 takes off on July 16, 1969.
NASA/AFP/Getty Images

 

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45th anniversary of moon landing, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins, nasa's mission, apollo 11, first men on moon, moon boot, lunar surface landing

Thousands of journalists line the banks of a lagoon at the Cape Kennedy press site as Apollo 11 thunders from its launchpad 3 1/2 miles away.
AP

 

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45th anniversary of moon landing, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins, nasa's mission, apollo 11, first men on moon, moon boot, lunar surface landing

Former President Lyndon B. Johnson, center right, and Vice President Spiro Agnew, right, watch with the crowd as Apollo 11 lifts off.
NASA/AFP/Getty Images

 

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45th anniversary of moon landing, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins, nasa's mission, apollo 11, first men on moon, moon boot, lunar surface landing

The Apollo 11 crew has a last briefing during its breakfast on July 16, 1969. From left, astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins listen to NASA flight crew director Donald "Deke" Slayton, right.
NASA/AFP/Getty Images

 

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45th anniversary of moon landing, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins, nasa's mission, apollo 11, first men on moon, moon boot, lunar surface landing

Neil Armstrong, front, waves as the Apollo 11 crew heads for the van that will take them to the launchpad.
AP

 

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45th anniversary of moon landing, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins, nasa's mission, apollo 11, first men on moon, moon boot, lunar surface landing
Mission officials celebrate in the Launch Control Center following Apollo 11's successful liftoff. From left, Charles Mathews, deputy associate administrator for the Office of Manned Space Flight; Wernher von Braun, director of the Marshall Space Flight Center; George Mueller, associate administrator for the Office of Manned Space Flight; and Lt. Gen. Samuel Phillips, director of the Apollo program.
NASA/AFP/Getty Images

 

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45th anniversary of moon landing, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins, nasa's mission, apollo 11, first men on moon, moon boot, lunar surface landing

The crew of Apollo 11: from left, Neil Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot.
NASA/Newsmakers/Getty Images

 

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45th anniversary of moon landing, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins, nasa's mission, apollo 11, first men on moon, moon boot, lunar surface landing
A NASA official shows the two cameras, one for black and white and one for color, that will film astronauts walking on the surface of the moon.
NASA/AFP/Getty Images

 

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45th anniversary of moon landing, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins, nasa's mission, apollo 11, first men on moon, moon boot, lunar surface landing

A view of Earth appears over the lunar horizon as seen from Apollo 11.
NASA/Newsmakers/Getty Images

 

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45th anniversary of moon landing, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins, nasa's mission, apollo 11, first men on moon, moon boot, lunar surface landing

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, the first men to land on the moon, plant the U.S. flag on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969. "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," Armstrong famously uttered when he first stepped off the landing module.
NASA/AP

 

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45th anniversary of moon landing, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins, nasa's mission, apollo 11, first men on moon, moon boot, lunar surface landing

An Apollo 11 astronaut takes a picture of his boot on the moon's surface.
NASA

 

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45th anniversary of moon landing, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins, nasa's mission, apollo 11, first men on moon, moon boot, lunar surface landing

Buzz Aldrin deploys a foil sheet pointed at the sun, leaving it to "collect" rays for about 1 hour and 17 minutes before rolling it up to bring back to Earth for analysis. Also pictured are several boot prints left by Aldrin and Neil Armstrong on the moon's surface.
NASA

 

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45th anniversary of moon landing, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins, nasa's mission, apollo 11, first men on moon, moon boot, lunar surface landing

One of the few photographs of Neil Armstrong on the moon shows him working on the Apollo 11 lunar module.
NASA/Newsmakers/Getty Images

 

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45th anniversary of moon landing, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins, nasa's mission, apollo 11, first men on moon, moon boot, lunar surface landing

Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong smiles inside the lunar module on July 20, 1969. Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, on Aug. 5, 1930, and passed away at age 82 on Aug. 25, 2012, in Cincinnati.
NASA/Newsmakers/Getty Images

 

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45th anniversary of moon landing, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins, nasa's mission, apollo 11, first men on moon, moon boot, lunar surface landing
American servicemen pause on a street in downtown Saigon, Vietnam, on July 21, 1969, to read a local newspaper account of the Apollo 11 lunar landing.
AP

 

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45th anniversary of moon landing, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins, nasa's mission, apollo 11, first men on moon, moon boot, lunar surface landing

A view of the moon's Daedalus crater, or No. 308, as seen from Apollo 11.
NASA


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45th anniversary of moon landing, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins, nasa's mission, apollo 11, first men on moon, moon boot, lunar surface landing

Buzz Aldrin walks on the moon. The astronauts explored the lunar surface for about 22 hours.
NASA/Getty Images


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45th anniversary of moon landing, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins, nasa's mission, apollo 11, first men on moon, moon boot, lunar surface landing

A view of the moon photographed 10,000 nautical miles away from Apollo 11 on July 21, 1969, during the spacecraft's trans-Earth journey homeward.
NASA/Newsmakers/Getty Images


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45th anniversary of moon landing, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins, nasa's mission, apollo 11, first men on moon, moon boot, lunar surface landing

The lunar module approaches for a rendezvous with the command module, manned by astronaut Michael Collins, on July 21, 1969. The command module continued to orbit the moon until July 22.
NASA/Newsmakers/Getty Images

 

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45th anniversary of moon landing, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins, nasa's mission, apollo 11, first men on moon, moon boot, lunar surface landing

After an eight-day mission, the Apollo 11 command module lands in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969, and is recovered by U.S. Navy helicopters.
AP


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45th anniversary of moon landing, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins, nasa's mission, apollo 11, first men on moon, moon boot, lunar surface landing

U.S. Navy personnel wearing biological isolation garments arrive to recover the Apollo 11 crew. The mission was an overwhelming success in its execution of safety, science and exploration and heralded as one of the United State's crowning accomplishments.
AP

 


Credit:Diana Soliwon
Source: Usnews.com

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