#apollo 50

Dave Scott on location in Hawaii, December 1970, during geology training in preparation for the Apollo 15 mission scheduled to launch July 1971.

Today we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 14.

Inside mission control when the Apollo 11 astronauts first walked on the Moon, July 20, 1969.

1. Apollo 11

Date: July 16-24, 1969 (8 days, 3 hours, 18 minutes, 35 seconds)

Crew: Neil Alden Armstrong, Edwin Eugene “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr., and Michael Collins

Mission Highlights: Oh, where to begin?!

On July 16, at 9:32 am, Apollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy with the mighty Saturn V. Over one million people witnessed the launch in person, and millions more watched live coverage on television or listened on the radio. On the second orbit of the Earth, the crew performed the trans-lunar injection (TLI) burn and docked with the LM, beginning their historic journey. Apollo 11 reached the moon on July 19, the third day of the flight. The crew spent several hours in lunar orbit, observing the moon and preparing for the descent.

The next day, July 20, Neil and Buzz entered the LM, nicknamed Eagle, and separated from the Mike and the CSM Columbia. After final checks to ensure the well-being of the LM, the Eagle began its final descent to the lunar surface. Their approach was too fast, and program alarms began alerting the crew to “executive overflow” issues. Neil took semi-automatic control of the spacecraft to pilot the spacecraft to a flatter, less rocky area, while Buzz reported navigational data. With only seconds of fuel left, Eagle landed on the lunar surface, in the Sea of Tranquility, at 4:17 pm on July 20, 1969. CAPCOM Charlie Duke in Houston, along with the rest of the world, let out a collective sigh of relief: “Roger, Twank-Tranquility, we copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We’re breathing again. Thanks a lot.”

Almost immediately, the crew began to prepare for the EVA. Buzz Aldrin took communion, the first lunar liturgy. He reported back to Earth: “I’d like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way.” Over three hours later, longer than initially planned, Neil and Buzz were ready to exit Eagle. Much pre-flight debate had resulted in the decision that Neil would be first out of the LM.

Over 600 million people across his home planet watched as Neil Alden Armstrong descended the ladder. At 10:56 pm on July 20, he stepped onto the surface of the moon and spoke perhaps the most famous quote in history: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Shortly thereafter Buzz followed him onto the surface, and they got to work planting the American flag, speaking to the President of the United States, collecting samples, and performing experiments. The EVA lasted two and a half hours. Shortly before reentering the LM, Buzz and Neil dropped a small package containing a small, gold olive branch, messages from world leaders, two medallions in honor of Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Komarov, and an Apollo 1 patch commemorating Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee.

Neil and Buzz returned to the LM, their home on the moon, exhausted and forever enshrined in history. After several hours of rest and preparation, they ascended from the lunar surface (knocking over the flag in the process) and rejoined Mike Collins and Columbia in lunar orbit. Mike had been working hard, and also enjoying his peace and quiet (and coffee) as “the loneliest man in the world.” Observing Earthrise over the lunar horizon, he was one man looking at 3.61 billion (including the two on the moon), what an incredible view. Eagle docked with Columbia at 5:35 pm on July 21, Neil and Buzz returned to the CSM, and Eagle was jettisoned, falling back to the moon.

Apollo 11 made the three day journey back home, which included a live television broadcast to Earth. On July 24, the crew splashed down in the Pacific and was recovered by the USS Hornet. After spending three weeks in quarantine, Neil, Buzz, and Mike were released to the world, traveling the planet on a whirlwind international tour, celebrated by millions of people in over 20 countries. Celebrations of Apollo 11 have lasted much longer than that 40-day tour, however, as the mission is one of the greatest achievements in human history. G-d bless the crew of Apollo 11, and all of us on this Good Earth.

Significance: It’s difficult to put into words the significance of Apollo 11. It goes beyond the technical accomplishments of one mission, one country over another. President John F. Kennedy’s goal of putting a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth before the end of the decade was met, an incredible achievement, but it meant so much more than that. Apollo 11 was both a deeply unifying moment for all of humanity and an intensely personal one for millions of people.

Many brilliant words have been spoken by many brilliant people about the importance of humankind’s first venture into space, too many to begin to cover here. But these simple words, spoken during the first conversation between human beings on different celestial bodies, sum it up quite nicely:

"It is advisable to look from the tide pool to the stars and then back to the tide pool again." 

Have you ever wanted to drive a rover across the surface of the Moon?

This weekend, students from around the world will get their chance to live out the experience on Earth! At the Human Exploration Rover Challenge, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, high schoolers and college students operate human-powered rovers that they designed and built as they traverse a simulated world, making decisions and facing obstacles that replicate what the next generation of explorers will face in space.

Though the teams that build the rover can be a few people or a few dozen, in the end, two students (one male, one female) will end up navigating their rover through a custom-built course at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. Each duo will push their rover to the limit, climbing up hills, bumping over rocky and gravelly grounds, and completing mission objectives (like retrieving soil samples and planting their team flag) for extra points -- all in less than seven minutes.

2019 will mark the 25th year of Rover Challenge, which started life as the Great Moonbuggy Race on July 16, 1994. Six teams braved the rain and terrain (without a time limit) in the Rocket City that first year -- and in the end, the University of New Hampshire emerged victorious, powering through the moon craters, boulder fields and other obstacles in eighteen minutes and fifty-five seconds.

When it came time to present that year's design awards, though, the honors went to the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao, who have since become the only school to compete in every Great Moonbuggy Race and Rover Challenge hosted by NASA Marshall. The second-place finishers in 1994, the hometown University of Alabama in Huntsville, are the only other school to compete in both the first race and the 25th anniversary race in 2019.

Since that first expedition, the competition has only grown: the race was officially renamed the Human Exploration Rover Challenge for 2014, requiring teams to build even more of their rover from the wheels up, and last year, new challenges and tasks were added to better reflect the experience of completing a NASA mission on another planet. This year, almost 100 teams will be competing in Rover Challenge, hailing from 24 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and countries from Bolivia to Bangladesh.

Rover Challenge honors the legacy of the NASA Lunar Roving Vehicle, which made its first excursion on the moon in 1971, driven by astronauts David Scott and James Irwin on Apollo 15. Given the competition's space race inspiration, it's only appropriate that the 25th year of Rover Challenge is happening in 2019, the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's historic Apollo 11 moon landing.

Interested in learning more about Rover Challenge? Get the details on the NASA Rover Challenge site -- then join us at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center (entrance is free) or watch live on the Rover Challenge Facebook Page starting at 7 AM CT, this Friday, April 12 and Saturday, April 13. Happy roving!