43 years ago today, July 16th, 1969, Apollo 11 left Earth for the first human mission to land on the Moon. Launching on at Saturn V rocket from Cape Kennedy, the mission sent Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin into an initial Earth-orbit, and then two hours, 44 minutes and one-and-a-half revolutions after launch, the S-IVB stage reignited for a second burn to place Apollo 11 into a translunar orbit. An estimated 530 million people watched Armstrong’s televised image and heard his voice describe the event as he took “…one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” on July 20, 1969.
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