43 years ago today, on July 20th, 1969, astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong aboard Apollo 11 became the first humans to land on the moon. Six hours later, Armstrong reported the moon’s surface dust as “very fine-grained” and “almost like a powder.” As he stepped off the lunar module he then spoke his famous words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” as the world watched in awe.
On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 was launched from Cape Kennedy Space Center atop a huge Saturn V rocket. On July 20, 1969, the Lunar Module, nicknamed the “Eagle”, touched down on the surface of the moon at Tranquility Base. Upon landing, Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong reported “The Eagle Has Landed”. A few hours later, Neil Armstrong, stepped off of the Eagle’s ladder, placed one foot upon the moon’s surface and proclaimed: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”.
I still remember then I was a small child studying in class-2. There were no televisions at our homes. The television was quite a new phenomenon during those days. We had one television in our school. It was in the evening, we all gathered at the school hall to watch the first landing of human beings on the surface of the moon. I believe that was my first Television show as I cannot remember any show on television that I watched prior to that. It was really a memorable incident and we all clapped with joy as we saw Neil Armstrong jumped to land on the moon. We were all awestruck!
July 20th is observed as Moon Day to commemorate the day man first walked on the moon in 1969. Happy Moon Day!
