Who were the crew members of Apollo 11?
Apollo 11 was crewed by Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin. All three were on their second and final spaceflight.
Questions about Apollo 11
Short answers, pulled from the story.
When did Apollo 11 land on the Moon?
Eagle landed on the lunar surface on the 20th of July 1969 at 20:17:40 UTC, touching down in the Sea of Tranquility (Mare Tranquillitatis) with 216 lb of usable fuel remaining.
What did Neil Armstrong say when he first stepped on the Moon?
Armstrong declared: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." He intended to say "for a man", but the word "a" was not clearly audible in the transmission; later printed versions included it in square brackets.
How many people watched the Apollo 11 Moon landing on television?
An estimated 600 million people, roughly one-fifth of the world's population at the time, watched Armstrong's moonwalk broadcast live. The launch alone was televised live in 33 countries, with an estimated 25 million viewers in the United States.
What caused the 1201 and 1202 computer alarms during Apollo 11's lunar descent?
The alarms were triggered because the rendezvous radar switch was left in the wrong position, causing the guidance computer to process data from both the rendezvous and landing radars simultaneously. A hardware electrical phasing mismatch generated spurious interrupt cycles that overloaded the computer. Computer engineer Jack Garman confirmed it was safe to continue the descent, and the software recovered by dropping lower-priority tasks.
What new minerals were discovered from Apollo 11 lunar samples?
Three previously unrecognized minerals were identified in the rock samples: armalcolite, tranquillityite, and pyroxferroite. Armalcolite was named after Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins. All three minerals have subsequently been found on Earth.
What happened to the Soviet Luna 15 probe during Apollo 11?
Luna 15 was launched by the Soviet Union on the 13th of July 1969, three days before Apollo 11, in an attempt to return lunar material to Earth before the American mission. It crashed in Mare Crisium on the 21st of July at 15:50 UTC, roughly two hours before Armstrong and Aldrin lifted off from the lunar surface.