Astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the surface of the Moon.
Source: NASA
This month sees the 40th anniversary of an event that shaped a generation – the first lunar landing. At exactly 12:56:20 on 21 July 1969 (AEST), Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon. The words he spoke are still famous: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." It is less well known that he had meant to say "one small step for a man" but in the excitement of the moment left out the 'a'!
The Apollo 11 mission was launched from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on 16 July 16 1969. The astronauts took just over three days to reach the Moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the lunar basin known as the Sea of Tranquility on what was 20 July in the USA, but was already the early morning of 21 July in Australia. They were on the surface of the Moon for less than a day, including their two and a half hour moonwalk, before commencing the return journey, first to rendezvous with Michael Collins in the lunar orbiter and then back to Earth, where they splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean three days later.
This mission was the fulfillment of US President John F. Kennedy's vow, made in 1961, that the USA would "commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth".
Although it was mainly inspired by the political 'Space Race' with the Soviet Union, the Apollo lunar landings did provide useful scientific information. The rock samples returned from the Moon brought new information about its composition and ultimately led to a new theory about how the Moon was formed.
Australia played an important role in the lunar landing. The picture of Armstrong setting foot on the Moon was received at Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station in the ACT, while almost all of the rest of the transmission was received at the Parkes Radio Telescope in NSW. (The role of Parkes is celebrated in the movie The Dish, but Honeysuckle Creek was actually the main tracking station in Australia for the mission, and there were several other stations around Australia as well.)
Museum Victoria has a small collection of Apollo era artefacts including a commemorative medal issued by the Historical Medal Society of Australia and New Zealand and a souvenir audio recording of the mission highlights.
To commemorate the landing, NASA is replaying on their website the entire audio from the Apollo 11 mission at exactly the same time and date it was broadcast in 1969. The launch happened on 16 July; listen to the rest of the mission, including the following major events (all in AEST):
- Lunar module begins descent to Moon's surface: 6:04am, 21 July
- Lunar module lands on Moon's surface: 6:17am, 21 July
- Hatch opens for EVA: 12:39pm, 21 July
- First step on the Moon: 12:56pm, 21 July
- EVA ends, hatch closes: 3:11pm, 21 July
- Lunar module lift-off from Moon: 3:54am, 22 July
- Splashdown and end of broadcast: 2:51am, 25 July