Apollo 11: 40 Years Ago

Forty years ago today, a Saturn V launch vehicle lifted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida, carrying the Apollo 11 mission on the first leg of its journey to the moon.

That was the first time people traveled from Earth to another body and landed.

The event, and Apollo 11, are discussed quite a few places online, including:

• "NASA Marks Apollo 11 Anniversary With Restored Video Footage"
  FOXNews (July 16, 2009)
  • "Forty years ago Thursday, Apollo 11 blasted off on its 280,000-mile journey, fulfilling President Kennedy's 1961 call to reach the moon by the end of the decade.
  • "To commemorate the anniversary, NASA released newly restored video footage of the Apollo 11 moon landings — but the fabled 'lost' moon tapes weren't among them...."
• "Apollo 11 (AS-506)"
  Lunar Landing Mission
  National Air and Space Museum, The Smithsonian
  • "Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. The first steps by humans on another planetary body were taken by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on July 20, 1969. The astronauts also returned to Earth the first samples from another planetary body. Apollo 11 achieved its primary mission - to perform a manned lunar landing and return the mission safely to Earth - and paved the way for the Apollo lunar landing missions to follow...."
• "The Apollo 11 Mission"
  NASA
  • "The purpose of the Apollo 11 mission was to land men on the lunar surface and to return them safely to Earth. The crew was Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, Command Module pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., Lunar Module pilot...."
• "Apollo 11 Image Gallery"
  NASA History Office and the NASA JSC Media Services Center
• "Enhanced Moon footage revealed"
  BBC video (July 16, 2009)
• "Buzz Aldrin and the Apollo 11 mission"
  CNN video (July 16, 2009)
  • "It was 40 years ago that Buzz Aldrin became the second man to walk on the moon. The footage of Aldrin and fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong from the moon captured the imagination of millions inspired a generation...."