Space

Apollo 11

Armstrong and Aldrin spent 21 hours and 36 minutes on the Moon in July 1969, while Collins orbited alone in Columbia.

23 facts

At a glance

20 July 1969

Day Eagle landed on the Moon

21 h 36 min

Time Armstrong and Aldrin spent on the surface

195 h 18 min

Length of the whole mission

3 astronauts

Crew: Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins

20 to 21.55 kg

Rock and soil returned to Earth

Apollo 11 launched on 16 July 1969 at 13:32 UT (9:32 a.m. EDT) on a Saturn V rocket from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.
The spacecraft made one and a half orbits of Earth before the burn that sent it toward the Moon.
The command and service module entered lunar orbit on 19 July 1969 at 17:21:50 UT, using a retrograde engine burn made while behind the Moon.
The lunar landing came on 20 July 1969, four days after launch.
Apollo 11 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on 24 July 1969 at 16:50:35 UT, about 21 to 24 kilometres from the recovery ship USS Hornet.
The whole mission lasted 195 hours, 18 minutes and 35 seconds.
The crew was released from quarantine on 10 August 1969.
The command module came down about 400 miles south-south-west of Wake Island.

The crew was Neil Armstrong as commander, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin as lunar module pilot and Michael Collins as command module pilot.
Collins stayed in lunar orbit in the command module while Armstrong and Aldrin landed.
Collins was a US Air Force lieutenant colonel on his second spaceflight, having flown on Gemini 10.
The backup crew was James Lovell as commander, Fred Haise as lunar module pilot and William Anders as command module pilot.

The lunar module Eagle landed at about 20:17 UT on 20 July 1969 (4:17 p.m. EDT).
The landing site was in the Sea of Tranquility, at 0.67416 degrees north and 23.47314 degrees east.
Armstrong flew the lander past a boulder field and a crater before touching down.
Armstrong reported, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."
The first step onto the surface came at 02:56:15 UT on 21 July.

Armstrong and Aldrin spent 21 hours and 36 minutes on the lunar surface, which includes time resting inside the lunar module.
The moonwalk lasted more than two and a half hours.
Eagle lifted off from the Moon at 17:54:01 UT on 21 July 1969.

The astronauts returned between 20 and 21.55 kilograms of lunar rock and soil, depending on the source.
Twelve American astronauts walked on the Moon during the Apollo programme, between 1969 and 1972.
The mission carried a commemorative plaque, medallions for the Apollo 1 astronauts and two cosmonauts, and a silicon disk of goodwill messages from 73 countries.