apollo 11 Archives - First Flight Society

Wright Brothers National Memorial celebrates 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 moon landing, July 18-20

Wright Brothers National Memorial, in partnership with Outer Banks Forever, First Flight Foundation, and First Flight Society, will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing with a series of events from July 18-20.

The anniversary weekend launches the evening of July 18th with a special space-themed movie showing at Dowdy Park in Nags Head, sponsored by the First Flight Foundation. Special space-themed ranger-programs will take place Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

On July 20th, the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the public is invited to watch a special rebroadcast of the news coverage of the original lunar landing outside the visitor center. Some visitors may remember that 50 years ago, on the evening of July 20, 1969, Wright Brothers National Memorial hosted a live […]

Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, Michael Collins

Inducted in 1969

Neil Armstrong 1930-2012

Edwin Buzz Aldrin 1930-

Michael Collins 1930-2021

The First Lunar Landing, 1969

Apollo 11 blasted off from Cape Kennedy on July 16, 1969, bound for the moon. The crew consisted of Flight Commander Neil Armstrong, destined to be the first man on the moon; Air Force Colonel Edwin Aldrin, who accompanied Armstrong to the lunar surface; and Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Michael Collins, who remained in the command module “Columbia” during the final stages of the mission.

Five hundred feet above the moon’s surface, Armstrong assumed manual control of the lunar module “Eagle” in reaction to a computer malfunction. He had only two minutes to choose between landing or aborting the mission. The anxious moments ended when he reported “Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed.”

On July 20, 1969, at 10:56 p.m., Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon and spoke the famous words “that’s one small step for […]