Apollo 11 was flying to the Moon thirty-nine years ago

William Atkins
Friday, 18 July 2008 22:03

Science - Space

On July 18, 1969, 39 years ago, the three astronauts aboard the NASA Apollo 11 spacecraft were winging their way to the Moon for humankind's first manned landing on an extraterrestrial body. Their remarkable journey is recorded in an old NASA document with interesting names for their space vehicles.



With a flight duration of about eight days, Apollo 11 lifted off from its Earth launch site, Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida, on July 16, 1969.

The Apollo 11 spacecraft used a Saturn V SA-506 rocket booster to begin its historic journey to Earth’s moon at 13:32:00 Universal Time Coordinated (UTC), 9:32 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), local time in Florida.

The Commander of Apollo 11 was Neil A. Armstrong, its Command Module Pilot was Michael Collins, and its Lunar Module Pilot was Edwin “Buzz” E. Aldrin, Jr.,

Armstrong and Aldrin separated from the Command Module “Columbia” and descended toward the surface of the Moon in their Lunar Module “Eagle.” The lunar module was named “Eagle,” after the national bird of the United States, the bald eagle.

The command module was named “Columbia” probably in reference to one of the names used to represent the United States, “Columbia.” Possibly the name was taken from a name of a Moon ship in Jules Verne’s novel From the Earth to the Moon.

However, the names “Columbia” and “Eagle” were not the first names chosen by NASA. The June 25, 1969 report “Technical Information Summary—Apollo (A-1S1-506)—Apollo Saturn-V Space Vehicle” by the NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama, states earlier names that had been selected to be used for the lunar lander and the command module.

Please read page two to find out these names.