That's one small step for man... one giant leap for mankind.
Celebrating 50 years since man landed on the moon
Written by Charlotte Allen
The famous line uttered by Neil Armstrong as he took his first steps on the moon. Here is an account of arguably one of the most important events in history and how the world has celebrated this remarkable achievement!
“The Eagle has landed”
On the 16 July 1969, Neil Armstrong, Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin and Michael Collins left the Kennedy Space Centre for a 480,000 mile round-trip journey, launched by a Saturn V rocket. After three days of travelling, the astronauts finally entered lunar orbit and descended to the moon into the Sea of Tranquillity (the base on the moon). At 21:56 CT (03:56 GMT), Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon and was shortly followed by Aldrin and Collins as millions of people around the world watched history being made. The men splashed back down to earth on 24 July in the Pacific Ocean after just over eight days in space and 50 years later we come together to celebrate the bravery and courage that the crew displayed during the most ambitious space mission to date.
How is the world celebrating?
NASA streamed online footage of the event so that a people could relive the historic moment, and images from the Apollo 11 mission were projected onto the Washington Monument, Washington DC. In Houston, at the NASA visitor centre, thousands held a New Year's Eve style countdown to mark the first steps on the moon and the Grand Palais in Paris put on a special exhibition focused on the moon.
What does the future hold?
Sadly, Armstrong died in 2012 at the age of 82 but Aldrin and Collins are both still alive.
The truth is: that mission belongs to all of them, and to future generations of Americans who dream to reach the moon once more.
— Buzz Aldrin on Twitter
I lead a quiet life… I'll be walking along down my street at night and I sense something over my right shoulder - and I look up and see that little silver sliver up there and think, 'Oh, that's the Moon! I've been there!'
— Michael Collins on Fox News
By 2024, NASA want to lead two astronauts to the lunar south pole of the moon in a mission called Artemis (the twin sister of Apollo). Then, with the help of this mission, NASA wants to put an astronaut on Mars as early as the 2030s!
I hope you are as excited by this as I am - look where we are 50 years later and imagine where we will be in 50 years’ time. We are yet to put a female astronaut on the moon, so we still have a way to go yet but as the world celebrates this momentous occasion, I hope it inspires a whole new generation of astronauts!
How did you celebrate the #MoonLanding2019? Did you watch the online stream by NASA or were there any local events you went to? Let us know on our Facebook and Instagram channels!
