50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing on July 20, 1969

Image courtesy of trialsanderrors' Flickr page - Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin by Neil Armstrong, Sea of Tranquility, Moon, 1969: https://www.flickr.com/photos/trialsanderrors/4642094852/in/photolist-85cX59-6Mng6S-7ZgKG1-r5jKBv-8fwvFX-h2AvB9-q9KQL6-bHz72D-eTW28i-iop8gq-q175Qk-ajfW7i-nfyFUv-6NzmuC-gWLFrP-cmgCvq-6gANFN-7hJz2r-o34GtH-8uCWv8-259ebwm-5KE4Nb-VK2QK7-4NeDFt-eeW8pG-4VSHm6-MijqYB-j6ZpET-5HMRtL-We9QKq-SahEKy-fLuxJJ-o6B7TP-cmgC1A-cxa1zW-8jCsG9-WTWPvB-pSkF8p-TfvPyi-TfpG6z-s8t3Wt-bBfpRi-7vZohy-2driQAD-7ScLXL-8F1atb-g1QzMC-dyQWp1-PLuE3y-iLKY7r
Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Picture of my son holding up a signed book from a booksigning by Buzz Aldrin, September, 2015

             

Yes, it has been half a century since the mission to fulfill President John F Kennedy’s promise to the country to bring a man to the moon, and return him safely back to Earth, began.              

The actual moon landing occurred on July 20th, 1969, and was broadcast live back here on Earth, particularly in the United States.

It was obviously a huge event, and largely seen as a triumph of human capability and ingenuity, even though there are certainly some people who claim that the moon landing was fake. But for most people, it was a symbol of what human beings can achieve when they put their minds and energy into cooperating together to achieve something great.

And it happened 50 years ago on this day!

Technically,  the Apollo 11 landed on the moon  at 10:56pm EST. It is amazing to imagine how people back then were congregated in front of their television sets and watched the lunar landing.  They saw the images and heard Neil Armstrong famously say, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. "

Buzz Aldrin describes the lunar surface as "magnificent desolation. "

What an achievement,  exactly 50 years ago on this day!

Here are some more pictures from the Buzz Aldrin booksigning, September, 2015: