Millions of people on Earth watched via television as a message for all mankind was delivered to the Mare Tranquilitatis (Sea of Tranquility) region of the Moon during the historic Apollo 11 mission, where it still remains today. This photograph is a reproduction of the commemorative plaque that was attached to the leg of the Lunar Module (LM), Eagle, engraved with the following words: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July, 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all of mankind.” It bears the signatures of the Apollo 11 astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, Command Module (CM) pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., Lunar Module (LM) pilot along with the signature of the U.S. President Richard M. Nixon. The Apollo 11 mission launched from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida via the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) developed Saturn V launch vehicle on July 16, 1969 and safely returned to Earth on July 24, 1969. The CM, “Columbia”, piloted by Collins, remained in a parking orbit around the Moon while the LM, “Eagle’’, carrying astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin, landed on the Moon. On July 20, 1969, Armstrong was the first human to ever stand on the lunar surface, followed by Aldrin. During 2½ hours of surface exploration, the crew collected 47 pounds of lunar surface material for analysis back on Earth. With the success of Apollo 11, the national objective to land men on the Moon and return them safely to Earth had been accomplished.

Millions of people on Earth watched via television as a message for all mankind was delivered to the Mare Tranquilitatis (Sea of Tranquility) region of the Moon during the historic Apollo 11 mission, where it still remains today. This commemorative plaque, attached to the leg of the Lunar Module (LM), Eagle, is engraved with the following words: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July, 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all of mankind.” It bears the signatures of the Apollo 11 astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, Command Module (CM) pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., Lunar Module (LM) pilot along with the signature of the U.S. President Richard M. Nixon. The Apollo 11 mission launched from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida via the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) developed Saturn V launch vehicle on July 16, 1969 and safely returned to Earth on July 24, 1969. The CM, “Columbia”, piloted by Collins, remained in a parking orbit around the Moon while the LM, “Eagle’’, carrying astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin, landed on the Moon. On July 20, 1969, Armstrong was the first human to ever stand on the lunar surface, followed by Aldrin. During 2½ hours of surface exploration, the crew collected 47 pounds of lunar surface material for analysis back on Earth. With the success of Apollo 11, the national objective to land men on the Moon and return them safely to Earth had been accomplished.

Millions of people on Earth watched via television as a message for all mankind was delivered to the Mare Tranquilitatis (Sea of Tranquility) region of the Moon during the historic Apollo 11 mission, where it still remains today. A commemorative plaque was attached to the leg of the Lunar Module (LM), Eagle, engraved with the following words: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July, 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all of mankind.” It bears the signatures of the Apollo 11 astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, Command Module (CM) pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., Lunar Module (LM) pilot along with the signature of the U.S. President Richard M. Nixon. The plaque, as shown here, covered with protective steel for the launch and journey to the moon, was uncovered by crew members after landing. The Apollo 11 mission launched from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida via the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) developed Saturn V launch vehicle on July 16, 1969 and safely returned to Earth on July 24, 1969. The CM, “Columbia”, piloted by Collins, remained in a parking orbit around the Moon while the LM, “Eagle’’, carrying astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin, landed on the Moon. On July 20, 1969, Armstrong was the first human to ever stand on the lunar surface, followed by Aldrin. During 2½ hours of surface exploration, the crew collected 47 pounds of lunar surface material for analysis back on Earth. With the success of Apollo 11, the national objective to land men on the Moon and return them safely to Earth had been accomplished.

The first manned lunar landing mission, Apollo 11, launched from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida via the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) developed Saturn V launch vehicle on July 16, 1969 and safely returned to Earth on July 24, 1969. Aboard the space craft were astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, Command Module (CM) pilot; and Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin Jr., Lunar Module (LM) pilot. The CM, piloted by Michael Collins, remained in a parking orbit around the Moon, while the LM, named “Eagle’’, carrying astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin, landed on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. During 2½ hours of surface exploration, the crew set up experiments, collected 47 pounds of lunar surface material for analysis back on Earth, planted the U.S Flag, and left a message for all mankind. In this photograph, Aldrin is deploying the Early Apollo Scientific Experiment Package.

The Apollo 11 mission launched from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida via the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) developed Saturn V launch vehicle on July 16, 1969 and safely returned to Earth on July 24, 1969. Aboard the space craft were astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, Command Module (CM) pilot; and Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin Jr., Lunar Module (LM) pilot. The CM, piloted by Michael Collins, remained in a parking orbit around the Moon, while the LM, named “Eagle’’, carrying astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin, landed on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. During 2½ hours of surface exploration, the crew set up experiments, collected 47 pounds of lunar surface material for analysis back on Earth, planted the U.S Flag, and left a message for all mankind. In this photograph, Aldrin is deploying the Passive Seismic Experiment Package (PSEP).

The first manned lunar landing mission, Apollo 11, launched from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida via the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) developed Saturn V launch vehicle on July 16, 1969 and safely returned to Earth on July 24, 1969. Aboard the space craft were astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, Command Module (CM) pilot; and Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin Jr., Lunar Module (LM) pilot. The CM, piloted by Michael Collins, remained in a parking orbit around the Moon, while the LM, named “Eagle’’, carrying astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin, landed on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. During 2½ hours of surface exploration, the crew set up experiments, collected 47 pounds of lunar surface material for analysis back on Earth, planted the U.S Flag, and left a message for all mankind. In this photograph, Aldrin is deploying the Passive Seismic Experiment Package (PSEP).

The first manned lunar landing mission, Apollo 11, launched from the Kennedy Space Flight Center (KSC) in Florida via the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) developed Saturn V launch vehicle on July 16, 1969 and safely returned to Earth on July 24, 1969. Astronauts onboard included Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, Command Module (CM) pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., Lunar Module (LM) pilot. The CM, “Columbia”, piloted by Collins, remained in a parking orbit around the Moon while the LM, “Eagle'', carrying astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin, landed on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. On July 20, 1969, Armstrong was the first human to ever stand on the lunar surface, followed by Aldrin. During 2½ hours of surface exploration, the crew set up experiments, collected 47 pounds of lunar surface material for analysis back on Earth, planted the U.S Flag, and left a message for all mankind. In this photograph, Armstrong is removing scientific equipment from a storage bay of the LM. The brilliant sunlight emphasizes the U. S. Flag to the left. The object near the flag is the Solar Wind Composition Experiment deployed by Aldrin earlier.

The first manned lunar landing mission, Apollo 11, launched from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida via the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) developed Saturn V launch vehicle on July 16, 1969 and safely returned to Earth on July 24, 1969. Aboard the space craft were astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, Command Module (CM) pilot; and Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin Jr., Lunar Module (LM) pilot. The CM, piloted by Michael Collins, remained in a parking orbit around the Moon, while the LM, named “Eagle’’, carrying astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin, landed on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. During 2½ hours of surface exploration, the crew set up experiments, collected 47 pounds of lunar surface material for analysis back on Earth, planted the U.S Flag, and left a message for all mankind. In this photograph, Aldrin walks past some rocks, easily carrying scientific equipment which would have been too heavy to carry on Earth. The two packages made up the Early Apollo Scientific Experiment Package (EASEP) on Apollo 11. On the left is the Passive Seismic Experiment Package (PSEP) and on the right is the Laser Ranging Retroreflector (LRR).

The first manned lunar landing mission, Apollo 11, launched from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida via the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) developed Saturn V launch vehicle on July 16, 1969 and safely returned to Earth on July 24, 1969. Aboard the space craft were astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, Command Module (CM) pilot; and Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin Jr., Lunar Module (LM) pilot. The CM, piloted by Michael Collins, remained in a parking orbit around the Moon, while the LM, named “Eagle’’, carrying astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin, landed on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. During 2½ hours of surface exploration, the crew set up experiments, collected 47 pounds of lunar surface material for analysis back on Earth, planted the U.S. Flag, and left a message for all mankind. In this photograph, Aldrin walks past some rocks, easily carrying scientific equipment experiements, which would have been to heavy too carry on Earth. The two packages made up the Early Apollo Scientific Experiment Package (EASEP) on Apollo 11. On the left is the Passive Seismic Experiment Package (PSEP) and on the right is the Laser Ranging Retroreflector (LRRR).

This montage depicts the flight crew patches for the manned Apollo 7 thru Apollo 17 missions. The Apollo 7 through 10 missions were basically manned test flights that paved the way for lunar landing missions. Primary objectives met included the demonstration of the Command Service Module (CSM) crew performance; crew/space vehicle/mission support facilities performance and testing during a manned CSM mission; CSM rendezvous capability; translunar injection demonstration; the first manned Apollo docking, the first Apollo Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA), performance of the first manned flight of the lunar module (LM); the CSM-LM docking in translunar trajectory, LM undocking in lunar orbit, LM staging in lunar orbit, and manned LM-CSM docking in lunar orbit. Apollo 11 through 17 were lunar landing missions with the exception of Apollo 13 which was forced to circle the moon without landing due to an onboard explosion. The craft was,however, able to return to Earth safely. Apollo 11 was the first manned lunar landing mission and performed the first lunar surface EVA. Landing site was the Sea of Tranquility. A message for mankind was delivered, the U.S. flag was planted, experiments were set up and 47 pounds of lunar surface material was collected for analysis back on Earth. Apollo 12, the 2nd manned lunar landing mission landed in the Ocean of Storms and retrieved parts of the unmanned Surveyor 3, which had landed on the Moon in April 1967. The Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) was deployed, and 75 pounds of lunar material was gathered. Apollo 14, the 3rd lunar landing mission landed in Fra Mauro. ALSEP and other instruments were deployed, and 94 pounds of lunar materials were gathered, using a hand cart for first time to transport rocks. Apollo 15, the 4th lunar landing mission landed in the Hadley-Apennine region. With the first use of the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), the crew was bale to gather 169 pounds of lunar material. Apollo 16, the 5th lunar landing mission, landed in the Descartes Highlands for the first study of highlands area. Selected surface experiments were deployed, the ultraviolet camera/spectrograph was used for first time on the Moon, and the LRV was used for second time for a collection of 213 pounds of lunar material. The Apollo program came to a close with Apollo 17, the 6th and final manned lunar landing mission that landed in the Taurus-Littrow highlands and valley area. This mission hosted the first scientist-astronaut, Schmitt, to land on the Moon. The 6th automated research station was set up, and 243 ponds of lunar material was gathered using the LRV.