Fascinating Facts About Apollo 11

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We know that you know that the fiftieth anniversary of the Moon landing happened last Saturday, but hey, guess what? The fiftieth anniversary of the Moon landing happened last Saturday! So, we’re here today to bring you some of the more interesting, more exciting parts of the whole thing for you to sound super smart while you continue celebrating. Let’s get ready for blastoff; this is Fascinating Facts About Apollo 11!

5. Luna 15
Of course the Soviet Union didn’t want the United States to get to the Moon first! They were the first into space, the first to send a woman into space, and they obviously wanted to be in control when it came to the Moon. The U.S. kept pushing and managed to land humans there on July 20, 1969, but not before the Soviets tried one last trick to pull glory away from the Americans. Luna 15 was an unmanned lunar craft whose primary goal was to bring a soil sample back from the Lunar surface and return it to Russia. It launched just three days prior to Aldrin, Armstrong, and Collins, and its goal was to land before the astronauts could. There were problems, though, and it wasn’t ready to descend to the Moon’s surface until July 21, 1969—a day after the first moonwalk. It was the Soviet’s second attempt to gather a soil sample and return it to Earth; the first mission, E-8-5-402, failed because the third stage of the launch vehicle didn’t ignite. Luna 15 crashed not long after descent began, and it’s believed it probably ran into the side of a mountain.

4. One Man’s Solitary Confinement
Michael Collins, the guy most often left out when people talk about the Moon landing, spent some of the time he was waiting for Armstrong and Aldrin in an extraordinary way. Collins stayed back in the command module while the other two explored the surface. Aldrin and Armstrong were away for 22 hours, during which, Collins orbited around the dark side of the Moon several times. Each time, he spent 47 minutes on the other side. Think about that. He spent 47 minutes with no radio communications and no view of home all alone. Not only that, but he was separated from all of humanity, including his fellow astronauts, by the entire body of the Moon, for 47 minutes! Back on Earth, he said, “If a count were taken, the score would be three billion plus two over on the other side of the moon, and one plus God knows what on this side.”

3. The Wright Brothers’ Plane
Did you know that some of the pieces of the plane belonging to the legendary Wright Brothers made their way up into space with the Apollo 11 crew? That’s right; prior to beginning the big trip, the Air Force contacted Neil Armstrong to see if he’d be interested in taking them up and even offered him half of what he took on board. Armstrong loved flying and was enthusiastic about the idea, and that was that. Pieces of the first plane in flight inside the first-ever craft to make a daring trip to the surface of the Moon? It sounds entirely fitting.

2. An Audience Far, Far Away
Now, the Moon landing was widely watched around the world, and it was that day in July of 1969 that inspired the hearts and minds of those watching and the generations since. What kind of draw did such an event have? Well, records suggest that the number of people watching the broadcast of the first-ever Moon landing was around 650 million. Six hundred fifty million people watched one event that unfolded roughly 238,900 miles away from us, that's over six times more than the last super bowl! Even people at Disneyland took a break from all of the fun to watch Armstrong step onto the Moon! Crazy to think all of this happened fifty years ago!

[stevejohnson]

I hear breathing in between sentences and I can't stop hearing it.

[ypaulbrown]

I was at the launch at US 1 and highway 50

[peach]

I was 11 and a member of the Lunar Logbook Club. I kept a scrapbook of all the newspaper articles which I still treasure today. Our large school had one TV and all the older kids sat in front blocking my view so I ran home to watch it. A few years ago I was lucking to attend a "Dinner with Neil Armstrong" event sponsored by CPA Australia. He spoke for an hour and answered lots of questions. I think it could have been his last rare public appearance before he died. Since then I have also attended a similar event to hear Buzz Aldrin.

[charlespolk]

When Armstrong stepped on the moon, I was 8 years old. Both my Dad and I were big space enthusiasts. He helped me build several models of the LM, Command module and Saturn V. On the evening that Armstrong first walked, my parents let me stay up way past my bedtime to watch it on television. I remember being totally enthralled and feeling very proud as an American, especially as a representative of all humans throughout the world and feeling like we could do anything we put our minds to.

[parratt-world]

I was 20 years old, and watched the event live, with a crowd who were grouped around a shop window where there was a TV.
Swanston St. Melbourne, Australia.
Prior to the Moon landing, the other event was watching Sputnic.

[ayushsapkota]

I was 18 years old and my father was one of the engineer of Apollo 11 Saturn V

[enlightenedtruthseeker]

Yes, I was in Grade School at the time and the Entire School Watched it on TV's that were brought into the school for Every Classroom to watch! I remember it like it was just yesterday! A Moment that will Always remain one of My Fondest Childhood Memories!! 🏫🌑🚀

[MEugeneDavis]

I was 12, watching the landing with one of the guys that built the F-1 engines. My dad.

[samsignorelli]

Re the mission patch....you SHOULD have noted the reason the crew names were left off. After some discussion the crew decided to keep their names off the patch. Michael Collins explains: “We wanted to keep our three names off it because we wanted the design to be representative of everyone who had worked toward a lunar landing, and there were thousands who could take a proprietary interest in it, yet who would never see their names woven into the fabric of a patch. Further, we wanted the design to be symbolic rather than explicit.”


Apollo 11 was NOT the first manned mission to the moon...it was the first LANDING on the moon. Apollos 8 and 10 also went to the moon. 8 was a lunar orbital mission and 10 was a dress rehearsal for 11.


The low fuel issue on the descent stage had NOTHING to do with the 1201 and 1202 computer alarms. Those were caused by the landing computer being overloaded. The fuel status had nothing to do with it.


Further, the 16 seconds of fuel left was in the descent stage. The ascent stage -- the part the astronauts were in - had a completely separate engine and fuel supply specifically to lift off again.


FURTHER further, had those 17 seconds run out, they would NOT have crashed...they would have had to land IMMEDIATELY or abort.

[tonicastel]

My mom listened to the radio broadcast in South Africa when she was 18. We only got TV there in 1976!

My best space memory is when my Dad & I used to climb onto our roof in dead of Winter together to watch Halley’s Comet together.

I also remember when the shuttle first flew. We were on vacation in the game park & the night sky was perfect. You could see it overhead. Amazing.

[Porthos]

Well, both of my granddads were involved with the Apollo program. One was working with Gruman and worked QA for the Lunar Lander. The other helped train the astronauts in the pool. I have a few very cool memorabilia. One of the coolest is a mini US Flag flown in space on a shuttle flight given to my mom who worked in the machine shop building the kitchens on the shuttles.

[albertklappenberger]

I was in Air Force basic training. I am still surprised training was interrupted to allow the entire group if trainees to watch the landing live on the day-room TV.

[richardfeynman]

I was fifteen and watched it at home with my parents in England. It was the most exciting moment of my life up to that time and I’ve gotta say it’s still up there! It definitely started a fascination in science and space flight. Like most folks i had expected a return to the moon within twenty years or so and a Mars landing by now. I hope to see the return mission, but I don’t think it will be by 2024.

[Shivaho]

I was in a campground somewhere in Colorado on a cross country family vacation watching it on a portable 6" B&W TV.

[paulmurphy]

For the moonwalk, I was 11, at home in England. It was a battle to keep my eyes open watching the little black and white TV at 3 or 4 am here, so young, and my mother had woken me for the event maybe 30 minutes before, it felt like a very long wait for Armstrong to appear. I had my cardboard model Command Module and LM hanging from my bedroom ceiling, and the Earthrise poster from Apollo 8 on my bedroom wall at the time. My guiness book of records had only Russian missions of "firsts" in the space race pages, and I think I remember writing the new "first" onto that page the next day. Good times.

[fredola]

1:35 No. That is now that he said. Because of the microphone muffles because your are tons of miles away from earth. What he actually said was, "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

[Kirktalon]

I was 8 years old enjoying my summer vacation. I was very interested in the missions and remember watching it on TV.

[MikeDesertHunterHale]

I was with my best friend, over at his girlfriend's apartment, we were able to watch the first probe settle into the surface as they set down, I will never forget as long as I live. I'm 71 now and nothing will ever involve my psyche as much as watching it happen, live.

[jdmlegent]

These Apollo videos is something to remember! It's the only thing human beings ever did without doing it again! Because it's so difficult. And it takes many things to happen simultaneously.
Cold war, space race with USSR, White House and Presidency pride, American people 's prestige, great minds and skillful engineers, unlimited bank account $, and the guy that gave us the " how to do it " the master of rockets and space travel, Werhner Von Braun!

That's why we haven't go back to the moon or tried an attempt for other missions to Mars etc.
Now we are trying hard to achieve it again with technology x10 times better than the 60's and it will be tough and difficult!

[steevethekitty]

i was 7 in Oklahoma, i wanted to watch it but didnt hold out much hope. but i rember being suprised! then dad called us in from work i new it had to be a huge deal then, that just didnt happen, then all 7 of us all huddled over our old 12 inch black and white we all watched Neal jumped off the lander said one small step, My Dad he he said "isnt that something" and then he just got quiet. I guess it was something realy special for him, He grew up riding a horse, carring a caldle to the out house and lived to see man get running watter and walk on the moon; Good times the best times!