Apollo 11

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Apollo 11 Lunar Module with its four landing-gear footpads deployed. This photograph was taken from the Command Module as the two spacecraft moved apart above the Moon.

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(Buzz Aldrin) stands next to the U.S. flag at Tranquility Base on the Moon during NASA's Apollo 11 mission, July 20, 1969. Aldrin's forward-leaning stance was the normal resting position of an astronaut wearing the life-support pack.

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Apollo 15 Lunar Module pilot James B. Irwin loads up equipment in preparation for the first lunar extravehicular activitiy on the moon.

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Apollo 12 astronaut Charles "Pete" Conrad stands beside the U.S. flag after is was unfurled on the lunar surface during the first extravehicular activity (EVA-1) Nov. 19, 1969. Footprints made by the crew can be seen in the photograph.

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Timeline of the Apollo missions. space exploration, infographic

Timeline of the Apollo Space Missions

Solar eclipse of the sun.

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Albert Einstein in Washington, D.C. c. 1921-1923. Physicist

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Apollo 11 Article

When was Apollo 11 launched?

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Apollo 11, the first space mission to put people on the Moon, was launched on July 16, 1969. Almost every major aspect of the flight of Apollo 11 was witnessed via television by hundreds of millions of people in nearly every part of the globe, until splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on July 24.