Follow Aerospace America's coverage of the Apollo 11 Fiftieth Anniversary on this page

View the Apollo Events Calendar

Apollo Stories

Winning the moon race

By John M. Logsdon

July 1, 2019

The Apollo 11 moon landing still amazes, not just as a technological achievement but as a feat of political will by a democratic society. Space scholar John Logsdon has spent a good part of his career thinking about why and how this bold mission succeeded. Logsdon depicts how the U.S. made what is arguably humanity’s greatest achievement.

Women reflect on Apollo

By Debra Werner

July 1, 2019

There was only one woman in Mission Control when Apollo 11’s lunar module landed on the moon; today women make up 34% of NASA’s workforce. Debra Werner talked to one of the pioneers.

Once we went to the moon

By John M. Logsdon

September 27, 2018

The circumstances that led the U.S. to undertake the Apollo 11 lunar mission 50 years ago next July, and the five landings that followed, were unique, and they won’t be repeated. Even so, space historian John M. Logsdon sees reason to anticipate that U.S. astronauts will in the next decade return to the moon.

Mission Facts: Apollo 11

Landing Site

Sea of Tranquility
0.67 N, 23.47 E

Retrieval Site

Pacific Ocean
13° 19'N, 169° 9'W

Moon Samples

21.7 kilograms returned to Earth

Total Flight

195 hr. 18 min. 35 sec.

Plaque

Affixed to the leg of the lunar landing vehicle

Surface Time

21 hr. 36 min.