When Aldrin followed Armstrong to step out of the lunar module, he could only mutter, “Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, a magnificent desolation”, upon seeing what was around the moon, according to New York Daily News.
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The first time Neil Armstrong step on the moon was the most important and significant achievement science made in the twentieth century.
With completion of the flight of Apollo 11, the United States of America fulfilled President John F. Kennedy’s 25 May 1961 call to land a man on the Moon and return him safely to the Earth before the decade of the 1960’s was out.
Audio of Armstrong and Aldrin landing on the moon here.
The pair then joined the other member of of the Apollo 11 crew, Micheal Collins, for the trip back to Earth.
Astronauts Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins left Earth on July 16 from Cape Kennedy in Florida. The pair took photos of the lunar module to assess its condition after landing and took soil samples, as well as testing their range of movement in the Moon’s low gravity.
More than a half billion people watched the televised first moonwalk July 20, 1969, where Neil Armstrong uttered the now-famous words, “That is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. This is the anniversary of the takeoff and landing of the spaceflight Apollo 11 on the moon – and also the date the families of the astronauts attended church – perhaps to pray for their loved ones out there in space. They returned via the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969.
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So, it was 46 years back, when the milestone was achieved.
