July 20: Celebrating 47 years of the first time people set foot on the Moon

On July 20 of 47 years ago, the mission crew of Apollo 11 set foot on the Moon, officially marking the first time humans conquered another object outside of Earth.

The Apollo 11 mission was inspired by the call of President John Kennedy in a National Assembly session on May 25, 1961. At that time, the United States was in the cold war with the Soviet Union, both powers ran against each other in many areas, including space technology. The President of the United States wishes to make a trip to bring people to the Moon and safely return to Earth.

On July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission was launched into space by the Saturn V. Apollo 11 rocket .This is the fifth mission of the US Aeronautics Agency (NASA) Apollo program and the first mission to bring people to the Moon.(Photo: NASA).

NASA conducted Apollo unmanned missions to test the entire structure of the spacecraft. On January 27, 1967, a tragedy took place at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, when a fire occurred during the test of manned launch of a Saturn V rocket, resulting in Three astronauts were killed.

The commander of the mission, astronaut Neil Armstrong after the final test flight on July 16, 1969.He was the first person to set foot on the Moon.He died on August 25, 2012 due to complications after a heart surgery.(Photo: NASA).

Although the 1967 trial failed, NASA and its thousands of employees continued to perform the Apollo program. The Apollo 7 mission in October 1968 was NASA's first manned flight around Earth. This airline agency continues to improve spacecraft design for subsequent missions.

The image "The Earth grows" was taken from Apollo 11 when the ship landed on the surface of the Moon.(Photo: NASA).

Before Apollo 11, other missions were carried out to the Moon. Apollo 8 was launched in December 1968, bringing three astronauts to the dark surface of the Moon - the surface of the Moon that was never visible from the Earth. Apollo 9 in March 1969 tested the module on the Moon while the ship was in Earth orbit. Apollo 10 in May of the same year brought three astronauts around the Moon's orbit.

Two astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin went for a walk on the Moon for two and a half hours.Before returning to the ship, they plugged the American flag to the Moon.Meanwhile, astronaut Michael Collins stays in the control cabin.(Photo: NASA).

The Apollo 11 event landed on the Moon and was watched by more than 600 million people worldwide via live television, including southern Vietnam. On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 was launched into space by Saturn V boosters from the Kennedy Space Center, bringing three astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the place to fulfill their dream of conquering their faces. Moon .

Image of astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the Moon on July 20, 1969.He was the second man to set foot on the Moon, after the command of the mission, Neil Armstrong.(Photo: NASA).

After losing 76 hours to travel more than 386,000 kilometers in space, Apollo 11 arrived at Moon's orbit on July 19. After that, the Eagle module controlled by Armstrong and Aldrin is separated from the command module. Two hours later, the Eagle arrived at the surface of the Moon at 20: 17 minutes (UTC time). Immediately, Armstrong announced radio for ground stations in Houston, Texas that "Eagles landed. "

Shoe of Buzz Aldrin imprinted on the surface of the Moon.Because the Moon has no air like it does on Earth, this footprint still exists today.(Photo: NASA.)

At exactly 2:39 am (UTC time), Armstrong opened the module cellar door and was about to step down, five hours earlier than scheduled. 2 hours 56 minutes, Armstrong set foot on the dusty surface of the Moon. In the first steps, he said the immortal sentence: " That's a small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. " ( Roughly translated: "It is a small step of a person, but a great progress of humanity ").

Astronaut Neil Armstrong on the cabin after completing historic steps on the surface of the Moon.(Photo: NASA).

Buzz Aldrin set foot on the Moon 19 minutes later, together they discovered, collected specimens to bring to Earth to study, experiment with some simple experiments, and chat with President Richard Nixon from Houston. . 5 hours 11 minutes, both boarded the module and returned to the spacecraft.

The astronauts' wives welcome their husbands back at Ellington air base. Three astronauts sit in closed rooms for isolation and medical examination. (Photo: NASA.)

On July 22, three astronauts began their journey back to Earth. Noon on 24/7, they landed safely on the Pacific Ocean. After Apollo 11, 5 other missions took people to the Moon and all were successful. The last person to set foot on the Moon was astronaut Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt on the Apollo 17 mission on December 14, 1972. Since then, no one has come to the Moon anymore.

The Apollo program is a very expensive space project. More than 400,000 engineers, technicians, scientists joined the program, with a total cost of more than US $ 24 billion (about US $ 100 billion compared to today's exchange rate).