Apollo 11 astronauts returning to launch pad 50 years later
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This March 30, 1969 photo made available by NASA shows the crew of the Apollo 11, from left, Neil Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, module pilot; Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, lunar module pilot. Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to the surface of the moon. (NASA via AP)
CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Apollo 11′s astronauts are returning to the exact spot from where they flew to the moon 50 years ago.
NASA has invited Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A on Tuesday. They will mark the precise moment — 9:32 a.m. on July 16, 1969 — that their Saturn V rocket departed on humanity’s first moon landing. Mission commander Neil Armstrong — who took the first lunar footsteps — died in 2012.
It kicks off eight days of golden anniversary celebrations for each day of Apollo 11′s voyage.
Also Tuesday morning, 5,000 model rockets are set to launch simultaneously at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. At the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, Armstrong’s newly restored spacesuit goes on display.
This combination of photos made available by NASA shows the 12 men who have walked on the moon. Top row from left are Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11 – 1969; Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, Apollo 11 – 1969; Charles “Pete” Conrad, Apollo 12 – 1969 and Alan L. Bean, Apollo 12 – 1969. Middle row from left are Alan Shepard, Apollo 14 – 1971; Edgar D. Mitchell, Apollo 14 – 1971; David Scott, Apollo 15 – 1971 and James B. Irwin, Apollo 15 – 1971. Bottom row from left are John Young, Apollo 16 – 1972; Charles M. Duke Jr., Apollo 16 – 1972; Eugene A. Cernan, Apollo 17 – 1972 and Harrison “Jack” Schmitt, Apollo 17 – 1972. (NASA via AP)
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