The First Moon Landing
What do you already know about the First Moon Landing?
Mission Launch
On the 16th July 1969 a Saturn V rocket was launched on a mission called Apollo 11. On board were Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. There had been other Apollo missions before and would be others after but this one was special as it would be the first time humans would walk on the Moon.
This mission was thought to be so dangerous that none of the astronauts were able to get life insurance. Instead they signed lots of autographs for their families to sell if things went wrong.
The crew of Apollo 11
The Saturn V rocket launching
Landing on the Moon
Four days after leaving Earth, on the 20th July Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin got into the Lunar Module. Michael Collins stayed up in Command Module above the Moon’s surface.
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon, having to be very careful not to land on any boulders or in any craters. They landed in the Sea of Tranquillity, a flat area on the Moon’s surface. It was close though, the lunar module missed its landing spot by four miles. When it landed on the Moon it had less than one minute of fuel left!
Neil Armstrong was the first of the astronauts to get out of the Lunar Module and climb down onto the Moon’s surface. When he was doing this a camera on the Lunar Module was filming him and millions of people on Earth were watching. When he took his first step on the Moon he said ‘That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’.
An estimated 650 million people watched the Moon landing on television back on Earth. This was about 1/5 of the world’s population at the time!
Buzz Aldrin then followed Neil Armstrong on to the surface of the Moon. They spent 21 hours and 36 minutes on the Moon, 2 hours and 31 minutes of which was actually spent walking on the surface, taking pictures and taking rock samples to be taken back to Earth. There is no rain or wind on the moon to erase their footprints, so evidence of them being there is probably still there even now!
While on the Moon the astronauts had to wear a special space suit. This suit, with its backpack containing life supporting equipment and oxygen kept them alive. Walking on the Moon was very different to walking on Earth. There isn’t as much gravity on the Moon so although the astronauts didn’t float off into space they could jump very high and walking was probably very bouncy!
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin went back into the Lunar Module and after many more hours they went back up to Michael Collins in the Command Module. While they had been on the Moon they had put up an American flag, but this got knocked down almost straight away by the lunar module’s engine exhaust as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin blasted off the Moon!
Coming Home
Once Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were back in the command module they began the three day journey back home. The spacecraft couldn’t land safely back on Earth and instead was designed to crash back on Earth into the sea.
On the 24th July they had made it back to Earth. The service module was separated from the command module just before re-entry to the Earth’s atmosphere. The command module had a heat shield to protect the astronauts of the extreme temperatures of re-entering. Once back on Earth parachutes slowed the command module down and allowed it to safely splash back down in the Pacific Ocean. Helicopters then came to collect the three astronauts.
The astronauts were kept in quarantine for 21 days after landing back on Earth. This was in case they had been contaminated by something on the Moon’s surface! Astronauts from the Apollo 12 and Apollo 14 missions had to do the same, until they realised it wasn’t necessary.
The command module floating back to Earth using parachutes.
The command module in the Pacific Ocean.
What we've learnt...
Apollo 11 was the first mission to land on the Moon. It launched on the 16h July 1969.
Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the Moon on the 20th July 1969. He famously said ”That’s one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind.”
Buzz Aldrin also walked on the Moon. Almost every single photo is of him as Neil Armstrong was taking the photos.
Michael Collins stayed in the Command Module in the Moon’s orbit.
The Command Module splashed back into the Pacific Ocean on the 24th July 1969.
Test your knowledge...
The First Moon Landing
If you click the correct answer the box will turn green. If it’s the wrong answer it will turn red and then show you what the correct answer was. Remember to read or listen to the questions carefully! If you are listening to the questions using Text To Speech make sure you pause it after it has read the questions and answers so you have a chance to think!
#1. Who stayed in the Command Module?
#2. When did Apollo 11 launch?
#3. What part of the Apollo Spacecraft landed back in the ocean at the end of the mission?
#4. Who walked on the Moon first?
#5. What did the astronauts use to get to and from the surface of the Moon?
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