America's most daring, extraordinary feat, landing astronauts on the moon, remains the pinnacle of achievement by anyone anywhere.
FILE- In this image released by NASA, Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., a lunar module pilot, stands on the lunar surface after the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969.
The Lunar Module is seen in the background. This image, taken by the Indian Space Research Organization's Chandrayaan2 Orbiter and provided by Marty McGuire, shows the Apollo 11 landing site with the lunar descent stage visible on the moon on April 2, 2021.
Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., a lunar module pilot, prepares to deploy the Early Apollo Scientific Experiments Package during the Apollo 11 lunar surface extravehicular activity , July 20, 1969. Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong took this picture with a 70mm lunar surface camera.
FILE- In this image released by NASA, Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., a lunar module pilot, stands on the lunar surface after the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969. The Lunar Module is seen in the background. . The two became the first humans to explore another world when their lander, bearing the patriotic name Eagle, settled onto the Sea of Tranquility on July 20, 1969.
“The Eagle has landed,” Armstrong radioed as a spellbound Earth erupted in cheers and tears. Just 6½ hours later came the most momentous and memorable line of all. Armstrong descended the ladder and stepped onto the gray, gritty dust: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. ” At 23 feet , the Apollo lunar module stood a little taller than a giraffe and looked just as ungainly.
It had two sections: a lower descent stage with four legs and an upper stage that housed the crew. The descent stage got the moonwalkers to the lunar surface and remained behind as the men blasted back into lunar orbit. All six descent stages will be there for perpetuity, clumped around the equator on the moon’s near side. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and other countries’ satellites around the moon have photographed them.
Resembling whitish splotches from orbit, the descent stages pinpoint the touchdown sites not only of Eagle but Intrepid, Antares, Falcon, Orion and Challenger. Its moon landing nixed, Apollo 13’s lunar module Aquarius was turned into a lifeboat that got its crew of three safely home. The ascent stages are scattered all over the moon — smashed to bits, no longer needed once the moonwalkers were back inside the command module.
Some speculate, however, that Apollo 11's ascent stage might still be orbiting. For NASA’s new Artemis program, private businesses are handling lunar lander details and operations. Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are scrambling to get their landers ready for a docking test in low-Earth orbit with a NASA crew capsule next year. If Artemis III’s docking rehearsal goes well, NASA could launch its first moon landing with astronauts since Apollo as early as 2028.
SpaceX’s Starship is so tall that moonwalkers will need a 10-floor elevator to descend to the lunar surface. The Apollo astronauts used a nine-rung ladder. On that long-ago day, President Richard Nixon said in a phone call to Armstrong and Aldrin as the pair stood alongside the U.S. flag they had just planted 240,000 miles from home. Said Nixon: “For one priceless moment in the whole history of man, all the people on this Earth are truly one.
”Part of a recurring series, “American Objects,” marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. For more American objects, click. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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