Apollo 11

NASA (US) · Crewed landing · 1969Success

Apollo 11 mission insignia; it deliberately carries no crew names
Apollo 11 mission insignia; it deliberately carries no crew names. Credit: NASA, via Wikimedia Commons.

Success: first crewed lunar landing, July 20, 1969, 20:17:40 UTC at Tranquility Base; crew returned to Earth July 24, 1969.

Apollo 11 landed the first humans on the Moon on July 20, 1969, meeting the goal President Kennedy set on May 25, 1961, and it left hardware that is still doing science: laser stations were still ranging to its retroreflector when its successor instrument reached the Moon in March 2025. One correction up front: the iconic surface portrait everyone knows shows Buzz Aldrin, not Neil Armstrong. Armstrong carried the camera, and he appears in that photo only as a reflection in Aldrin's visor.

Facts as of July 20, 2026, from the sources listed below.

650M

estimated live TV audience for the first step

21.5kg

of lunar samples returned

21h 36m

spent on the lunar surface

1969

retroreflector deployed, still in scientific use today

Buzz Aldrin at Tranquility Base, photographed by Neil Armstrong, who appears only as the reflection in the visor
Buzz Aldrin at Tranquility Base, photographed by Neil Armstrong, who appears only as the reflection in the visor. Credit: NASA (AS11-40-5903).

Commonly wrong. Three recurring errors in English coverage. First, the famous visor portrait (AS11-40-5903) shows Aldrin, not Armstrong: NASA's own caption notes Armstrong took it, and nearly every clear surface still from Apollo 11 shows Aldrin because Armstrong carried the Hasselblad. Second, 'landed with 17 seconds of fuel' overstates it: the 60- and 30-second calls counted down to a mandatory land-or-abort decision, not to empty tanks, and the LROC site page puts the real margin at 'tens of seconds of fuel remaining'. Third, NASA renders the first words as 'one small step for [a] man'; Armstrong maintained he said, or at least intended, 'a man'. Bonus staleness trap: the Apollo 11 flag is NOT standing today (LROC imaging plus Aldrin's own account of it blowing over during ascent), even though flags still stand at the other Apollo sites.

01Mission facts

LaunchJuly 16, 1969, 9:32 a.m. EDT (13:32 UTC), Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39A, Saturn V
CrewNeil Armstrong (Commander), Michael Collins (Command Module Pilot), Buzz Aldrin (Lunar Module Pilot)
LandingJuly 20, 1969, 20:17:40 UTC, Mare Tranquillitatis, 0.67416 N, 23.47314 E
First stepJuly 20, 1969, 10:56 p.m. EDT (02:56 UTC July 21)
MoonwalkOne EVA of about 2.5 hours, ending 111 h 39 m mission elapsed time; crew stayed within about 300 feet of Eagle
Time on surface21 hours 36 minutes
Samples returned21.5 kg
SplashdownJuly 24, 1969, 12:50 p.m. EDT, Pacific Ocean, 13 miles from USS Hornet
Mission duration195 h 18 m 35 s, about 36 minutes longer than planned
TV audienceAn estimated 650 million people watched Armstrong's first step
Retroreflector legacyApollo-era retroreflector data still used more than 50 years later (NASA, Jan 2, 2025); successor NGLR-1 delivered to the Moon in 2025
Flag statusLROC imaging shows flags standing at all Apollo sites except Apollo 11; Aldrin reported it was blown over by ascent engine exhaust
Crew statusArmstrong died Aug 25, 2012; Collins died Apr 28, 2021; Aldrin is the last living crew member (as of July 2026)

Site: 0.6742°N, 23.4731°E · Tranquility Base, Mare Tranquillitatis (source)

02Crew

Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11 CommanderUnited States

Neil Armstrong

Commander

Michael Collins, Apollo 11 Command Module PilotUnited States

Michael Collins

Command Module Pilot

Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 Lunar Module PilotUnited States

Buzz Aldrin

Lunar Module Pilot

Portraits: NASA.

03Mission timeline

  1. 25 May 1961

    President Kennedy sets the national goal of a crewed lunar landing and safe return

  2. 16 Jul 1969

    Launch from Kennedy Space Center Pad 39A at 9:32 a.m. EDT (13:32 UTC)

  3. 19 Jul 1969

    Lunar orbit insertion, about 75 h 50 m after launch

  4. 20 Jul 1969

    Eagle lands at Tranquility Base, 20:17:40 UTC

  5. 20 to 21 Jul 1969

    Armstrong's first step at 10:56 p.m. EDT (02:56 UTC 21 Jul); one EVA of about 2.5 hours

  6. 21 Jul 1969

    Ascent from the Moon at 124 h 22 m mission elapsed time after 21 h 36 m on the surface; docking with Columbia at 128 h 3 m

  7. 24 Jul 1969

    Pacific splashdown at 12:50 p.m. EDT, 13 miles from USS Hornet; mission duration 195:18:35

  8. Jul 2012

    LROC imaging confirms the Apollo 11 flag is no longer standing, as Aldrin reported

  9. Mar 2025

    NGLR-1, the retroreflector program's successor instrument, lands via Blue Ghost; Grasse, Wettzell, and Apache Point record laser returns

Teal dots: events that physically happened in flight or on the Moon. Grey: announcements, namings, contracts, and targets.

04The mission

Apollo 11 launched from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39A on July 16, 1969, at 9:32 a.m. EDT (13:32 UTC) atop a Saturn V, with Neil Armstrong commanding, Michael Collins piloting the command module Columbia, and Buzz Aldrin piloting the lunar module Eagle. Lunar orbit insertion came on July 19, about 75 hours 50 minutes into the flight. On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin undocked Eagle and began the descent. Armstrong took manual control to fly past the bouldery ejecta of West crater, setting down almost a kilometer beyond the planned spot with, in the LROC science team's words, only tens of seconds of fuel remaining. Touchdown came at 20:17:40 UTC (4:17 p.m. EDT), 102 hours 45 minutes into the mission, followed by the call: Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.

At 10:56 p.m. EDT on July 20 (02:56 UTC, July 21), Armstrong stepped off Eagle's footpad with the words NASA renders as 'that's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind,' watched by an estimated 650 million television viewers. Aldrin followed about 20 minutes later. The single moonwalk lasted about two and a half hours, ending at 111 hours 39 minutes mission elapsed time, and the pair never ranged farther than about 300 feet from the lander. They collected 21.5 kg of samples, planted the flag, took a call from President Nixon, and deployed the Early Apollo Scientific Experiments Package: a seismometer and the Laser Ranging Retroreflector. They also left a plaque reading 'Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.'

After 21 hours 36 minutes on the surface, Eagle's ascent stage lifted off at 124 hours 22 minutes mission elapsed time and docked with Columbia at 128 hours 3 minutes. Splashdown came on July 24, 1969, at 12:50 p.m. EDT in the Pacific, 13 miles from the recovery ship USS Hornet, closing a mission of 195 hours 18 minutes 35 seconds, about 36 minutes longer than planned.

The site is still an active laboratory. NASA wrote in January 2025 that lunar research 'still leverages data from those Apollo-era retroreflectors' more than 50 years on, and the program's direct successor, the University of Maryland's Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector NGLR-1, landed aboard Firefly's Blue Ghost on March 2, 2025; observatories at Grasse, Wettzell, and Apache Point recorded laser returns from it that same month, extending a ranging record that began with Apollo 11's array in 1969. Since 2009 the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera has repeatedly imaged Tranquility Base, resolving the descent stage, the science instruments, and the dark line of Armstrong's trail to Little West crater. Those images also settled a question: the flags still cast shadows at every Apollo site except Apollo 11. Aldrin reported watching the flag blow over in the ascent engine's exhaust, and LROC concluded he was correct.

Armstrong died on August 25, 2012, and Collins on April 28, 2021. As of July 2026, Buzz Aldrin is the mission's last living crew member. The 57th anniversary of the landing falls on July 20, 2026.

05In pictures

Aldrin beside the flag, July 20, 1969. The ascent engine's exhaust later blew it over. Credit: NASA (AS11-40-5875).
Aldrin's bootprint, made for the soil-mechanics study (not the first step, despite frequent miscaptioning). Credit: NASA (AS11-40-5878).
Eagle returns from Tranquility Base with Earth beyond, photographed by Michael Collins from Columbia. Credit: NASA (AS11-44-6642).
Tranquility Base from lunar orbit: descent stage, instruments, and Armstrong's trail to Little West crater. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University.

Tap a photo to enlarge.

06Sources

azmth is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA, CNSA, Roscosmos, ISRO, JAXA, or any other space agency or company named on this page.

Flag icons: circle-flags by HatScripts, MIT license.

← Apollo 10 (1969)Apollo 12 (1969) →All Moon missions →Who has landed on the Moon? →azmth Luna: the Moon →