It was 45 years ago when the first men touched the lunar soil with Apollo 11 space mission.
President John F. Kennedy in his “Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs” on May 25, 1961 launched the idea of a Moon mission with these renowned words:
«First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth».
The mission lasted about 8 days, 16-24 July 1969.
Too many people contributed to the Apollo project and to the dream of the Man on the Moon. The words from Neil Armstrong, the commander of Apollo 11, on July 23rd, 1969 on the way home from the Moon summarize the outstanding achievement of Apollo project:
«We would like to give special thanks to all those Americans who built the spacecraft; who did the construction design, the tests, and put their hearts and all their abilities into those craft. To those people tonight, we give special thank you, and to all the other people that are listening and watching tonight. God bless you. Good night from Apollo 11».
These slides collect just some bits of information on probably the biggest and more complex Project ever conceived and carried out by Man. The slides are a mix of Italian and English. However, the images and photos are what count the most and describe better the Space challenge.
I was a very small child when They did it. I have few faint recollections… in front of a black-and-white TV somewhere. For the 40-year anniversary, in 2009, I bought some books and videos of Apollo project and had the opportunity to present what I learned to some classes, from elementary to high schools. These were touching experiences based on sharing the details on Apollo mission and Man’s will to achieve a Dream.
The Apollo 11 crew from left to right: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin Aldrin (only Armstrong and Aldrin touched the lunar soil. Collins kept on orbiting around the Moon in the Command Module, waiting Armstrong and Aldrin for the Rendezvous with the Lunar Module).
