50 years after the moon landing, the world celebrates the human resolve to attain the unattainable.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Apollo 11 spaceflight that marked Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin as the first humans to have landed on the moon, Google animated the historic journey in a vivid Doodle with Michael Collins, the command module pilot for the Apollo 11 mission, as the narrator.
On July 21, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human to step onto the lunar surface in what he described as "one small step for man, a giant leap for mankind". Those were heady times. After Buzz Aldrin joined him 19 minutes later, they planted the US flag on the moon and transmitted the iconic phone call with the then President of the United States of America, Richard Nixon.
Armstrong and Aldrin were on the Moon's surface, where they spent nearly 21 hours 31 minutes at a site they named Tranquility Base before lifting off to rejoin Columbia in lunar orbit.
50 years later, the world celebrates the human resolve to attain the unattainable.
1. The hopes and dreams of mankind, nation, and presidency
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In this image obtained from NASA, US President Richard Nixon speaks with the Apollo 11 crew (L-R) Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin Aldrin, on July 26, 1969, at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas.
It is said that even though Nixon wasn't exactly involved in the development process of the moon mission, but the mission's success would be viewed as a measure of success for his presidency, since he would have to be the one to face the brunt of public outrage and be answerable for the lost dollars in case the mission failed. Therefore, tensions were high. However, he did not have to be greeted with bad news, since the most historic phone call from the Oval Office of the White House to the Moon started with the lines, "Hello Neil and Buzz, I just can’t tell you how proud we all are for what you have done. Because of what you have done the heavens have become a part of man’s world."
2. A million spectators in awe
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The crew of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission leaves the Kennedy Space Center Manned Spacecraft Operations Building during the pre-launch countdown on July 16, 1969. - Neil Armstrong (C) is followed by Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin.
Since America was engaged in a space race with Soviet Russia, the stakes were high. Apollo 11 wasn't the first manned lunar mission. There was Apollo 8, which, however, was unable to land on the moon but became the first spacecraft to successfully orbit a celestial body. On July 16, 1969, these three fated cosmonauts took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as the rest of the world and an estimated million spectators watched in anticipation.
3. The hopeful little ball of dirt, the blue planet
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This July 17, 1969 photo made available by NASA shows the Earth as the Apollo 11 mission travels towards the moon. ItâEuro™s estimated that about 600 million people around the world watched as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon in 1969.
In Google's doodle for the event, Michael Collins reminisces the moment when the three of them first saw the moon up close, he said it was a 'magnificent spectacle' but looking at the little ball of dirt, our planet Earth, from outer space, took the cake away for him.
"The sun was coming around it, cascading and making a golden halo and filled our entire window," the former astronaut's voice trembled with remembrance, "As impressive as this view was of the alien moon up close, it was nothing compared to the sight of the tiny Earth. The Earth was the main show. The Earth was it."
4. A testiment to mankind's fortitude
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In this photo obtained from NASA, Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong's right foot leaves a footprint in the lunar soil July 20, 1969, as he and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to set foot on the surface of the moon.
As NASA puts it lucidly, "On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong put his left foot on the rocky Moon. It was the first human footprint on the Moon. They had taken TV cameras with them. So, people all over the world watched when it happened. More people watched this Moon landing than any other show on TV."
Here is why it matters. The footprints left on the moon are a shred of physical evidence that testifies human resilience and perseverance. The two astronauts walked on the Moon. They picked up rocks and dirt to bring back to Earth. Every single time we look back to that day 50 years ago, we are reminded what three astronauts and a brilliant crew on-ground, all flesh-and-blood human beings, achieved in an age when the most sophisticated computers would have less computing powers than our smartphones right now. This is the sheer reason why it matters. Why Apollo 11, and the 1969 moon landing matters. Its legacy remains in mankind's drive to attain brilliance every waking moment.
