There are some events which stir a whole community with joy. There are some other events which stir an entire nation. But there are a few events which stir the whole world. Landing on the Moon is such a big event in the history of mankind.
It is the story of cold war period of world war two. The Soviet Union was always ahead of the Americans regarding to space travel. They sent "Laika", the first dog to the space in Sputnik. On May 1961, John F. Kennedy, the contemporary President of the United States gave a declaration. He said in an important speech that America would bring a man on the moon and safely back.
The name of the mission was Gemini 8. The Apollo 11 was that very prestigious spacecraft which landed on the moon for the first time. The Apollo 11 spacecraft was launched from Cape Kennedy Space Centre on July 16, 1969. The three astronauts were Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins. Neil Armstrong commanded the whole mission.
Four days later, Apollo 11 entered into sky of moon. Armstrong and Aldrin landed their Lunar Module Eagle on the moons surface. The history got a new and unique achievement. First Armstrong and then Aldrin stepped onto the surface of the moon and became the first humans to leave their footprints in the lunar dust.
Armstrong said, "That's one small step for man... one giant leap for mankind."
To walk on the moon's surface, the astronauts needed to wear a space suit with a back mounted, portable life support system. This controlled the oxygen, temperature and pressure inside the suit. Beside this, the astronauts had to get used to the reduced gravity there. They could jump very high compared to on Earth.
A camera in the Lunar Module provided live television coverage when Neil Armstrong climbed down the ladder to the surface of the moon. They witnessed the pure tranquility of the moon. An American flag was left on the moon's surface as a reminder of the accomplishment. They explored the surface and gathered moon rocks for over two hours. They collected soil and rock samples to return to Earth. Then they fired off the surface and rejoined Collins in the orbiting mother ship.
After re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, the astronauts got down safely from their ship on Pacific Ocean with the help of parachutes. After landing in the Ocean, the crew were retrieved by a helicopter and taken to the recovery ship, the "USS Hornet." Thus they added one more new chapter in the long history of mankind.
