Apollo 11 Timeline of Events

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Apollo 11

In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was delayed past its intended July launch and would...

Timeline of Events

1962

9.12.1962

President Kennedy delivers an address at Rice University in which he announces that it is a goal of the United States to "land a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth".

1965

2.17.1965

Project Ranger: The Ranger 8 probe launches on its mission to photograph the ''Mare Tranquillitatis'' region of the Moon in preparation for the manned Apollo missions. ''Mare Tranquillitatis'' or the "Sea of Tranquility" would become the site chosen for the Apollo 11 lunar landing.

1969

7.16.1969

Apollo program: ''Apollo 11'', the first manned space mission to land on the Moon, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

7.18.1969

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin make a television transmission from the Lunar Module.

7.20.1969

Apollo Program: Apollo 11 successfully lands on the Moon at 20:17 UTC on July 20.

7.20.1969

The lunar module separates from the command service module and begins its decent to the moons' surface.

7.21.1969

Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon, during the Apollo 11 mission.

7.21.1969

The lunar module lifts of from the surface of the moon.

7.21.1969

The lunar module docks with the command service module in the moon's orbit.

7.24.1969

Apollo program: ''Apollo 11'' splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean.

8.13.1969

The ''Apollo 11'' astronauts are released from a three-week quarantine to enjoy a ticker-tape parade in New York. That evening, at a state dinner in Los Angeles, they are awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President Richard Nixon.