Moon Landings | Aayushi Verma

In this article written for Day Three of World Space Week 2019, I write a short piece about the Apollo Moon landings. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first manned moon landing back in July 1969.

Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to the Moon, pioneered by NASA. The team of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins were the astronauts to go on this mission, with Armstrong being the first man on the Moon on the now-historic day of July 21, 1969. They collected 21.5 kg of lunar samples to bring back to Earth. One of the most famous quotes of all time, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”, was spoken by Neil Armstrong on this mission.

This is Buzz Aldrin, as photographed by Neil Armstrong. Image source: NASA.

There were a total of 12 Apollo missions, with Apollo 11 being the 6th in the series of missions. The earlier missions were preparations for the Moon landings.

This is a view of the Mission Control Room during the Apollo 11 mission. Image source: NASA.

The last Apollo mission, and the last time humans journeyed to the Moon, was Apollo 17, on Dec 11 1972. The main scientific finding from these missions was there are similarities in the geology of the Earth and Moon, which is evidence that the Moon was formed from debris blown off the Earth.

Earth rising, as seen from the Apollo 11 Command Module on the Moon. Image source: NASA.

These missions were significant and have left a cultural impact that is still celebrated today. And the future looks especially bright with more upcoming Moon missions. Eyes to the skies!

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