It is four decades since the first human foot left an indelible mark in the soft lunar top soil. Today we celebrate and remember with awe the fortieth anniversary of the first manned moon landing. In preparation for this, the moon was photographed by the Ranger missions – starting the first chapter of lunar remote sensing. After the first ‘small step’, followed by a few more, a long period of quiescence ensued.
The Apollo 11 mission was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. It was the fifth human spaceflight of Project Apollo and the third human voyage to the Moon or Moon orbit. Launched on July 16, 1969, it carried Mission Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene ‘Buzz’ Aldrin, Jr. On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon, while Collins orbited above.
