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46 Years Ago, "Eagle Has Landed"

Photo: NASA
Photo: NASA

Monday marks the 46th Anniversary of Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landing on the moon.

Their quarter-million mile journey began from Florida’s Space Coast

On July 20, 1969, the Lunar Module Eagle landed at Tranquility Base. Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to step foot on the surface of the moon.

The event ended the space race and meet President Kennedy’s deadline of landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade.

Their 4 day journey began atop a Saturn V rocket launched from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A. The two moon walkers, along with command module pilot Michael Collins traveled nearly 240,000 miles over four days.

The three made it back safely four days later.

NASA’s Apollo program would send a total of twelve men to the moon.

Brendan covers space news for WMFE, everything from rocket launches to the latest scientific discoveries in our universe. He hosts WMFE's weekly radio show and podcast "Are We There Yet?" which explores human space exploration.