On July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 spacecraft was launched into space, the first to take human beings to the moon. The launch was done from the Kennedy Space Center on the east coast of Florida. The eyes of the world were fixed on the three astronauts who had the honor of being on that flight. They were Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin Buzz Aldrin. The rocket was launched at exactly 9:32:00 a.m. local time.
Millions of people watched the broadcast on television, and then-US President Nixon followed him from the White House Oval Office. The Saturn V rocket, with which the launch was made, is the largest, heaviest and most powerful rocket ever successfully launched. German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, a former Nazi who took part in the construction of the infamous German V-2 missiles that targeted London, took part in its construction.
The Saturn V rocket itself weighed 2,800 tons (like the average naval destroyer). At launch, Commander Neil Armstrong’s heart rate accelerated to 110 beats per minute. He stated that the roar of the rocket was the strongest he had heard, much louder than the previous rockets in which he had ridden. The journey to the moon took them four days, and then they stepped on the moon’s ground as the first people in history.
