Apollo 11. One Small Step on The Moon.

This year marked the 40th anniversary of the first Moon landings. It was on July 20th 1969 that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed their spider-like Lunar Module ‘Eagle’ onto the Sea of Tranquility.

Apollo was the name given to NASA’s Moon landing program and each of the giant Saturn V rockets that were to be used was given the name plus a number. Apollo 1 was unfortunately a massive disaster in January 1967 when a fire broke out in the command module while it was still undergoing tests on the launch pad. All three astronauts perished in the fire.

Apollo 2,3,4,5 and 6 where unmanned launches to test various systems. But NASA where racing ahead to complete President Kennedy’s pledge to land a Man on the Moon before the end of the 1960’s and beat the Russian’s to the goal. So in October 1968 they launched the first manned Saturn V rocket Apollo 7. Apollo 7 stayed in Earth orbit again as a test vehicle.

But time was running out for NASA so in December 1968 they boldly went where no man had gone before and launched Apollo 8 on a journey around the Moon. Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders became the first humans to see the far side of the Moon and to watch the first ever ‘Earth rise’ as the Earth began to rise over the lunar surface.

Apollo 9 was a low Earth test of the Lunar Module in March 1969 and in May 1969 Apollo 10 paved the way forward for a full Moon landing when the crew took the Lunar Module to within 10 miles of the Moons surface.

All systems where go for a landing and Apollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy on 16th July 1969 on its historic trip to the Moon. Michael Collins was to remain in Lunar orbit while Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the Moons surface. Although it was 20th July when the Lunar Module with Armstrong and Aldrin inside landed on the Moon it was several hours later in the early hours of 21st July that Armstrong stepped onto the Moon with the words ‘That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind’. Armstrong and Aldrin spent 2 ½ hours exploring the Moons surface and collecting rock samples to be returned to Earth.

There was to be another 6 manned flights to the Moon up to 1972. Apollo 13 being the only mission that failed to land following an explosion on board during the flight to the Moon. Apollo 17 was to be the last flight as cut backs to the NASA budget caused the scrapping of Apollo’s 18 to 22.

We held a Grand gala Dinner on 21st July at the Tamisa Golf Hotel in Fuengirola to celebrate the Apollo 11 moon landings, Thankyou to everyone who attended.

So raise a glass and toast 12 very brave men, the pioneers of a trip to another world. Happy Birthday Apollo 11.