52 years ago, Apollo 11 was on its way to the Moon. Want to follow simultaneously as if the mission were happening right now and relive and experience Apollo 11 in real-time? You can. Find out how in this short article.
The world anxiously watched on July 20, 1969, as Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” E. Aldrin, Jr. took humankind’s first steps on the lunar surface. This fantastic engineering, scientific, and political achievement was the culmination of an estimated 400,000 Americans’ efforts and achieved our Nation’s leadership in space for generations to come.
The Crew of Apollo 11
The Apollo 11 crew—Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins—safely returned to Earth on July 24, 1969, accomplishing the national goal set in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy.
Approximately half a century later, the United States is the only country ever to have attempted and accomplished landing humans on a celestial body other than Earth and safely returning them home.
Saturn V rocket
At this time, 51 years ago, astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins had just launched from atop the 363-foot Saturn V rocket that cost $42 billion in today’s U.S. dollars and was hurtling through earth-orbit space as the first-ever human-crewed mission to the Moon.
An estimated 1 million spectators watched the launch from the vicinity of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, while around 25 million viewers watched it on TV just in the U.S.
51st anniversary of the nine-day Apollo 11 mission.
July 16 marked the start of the 51st anniversary of the nine-day Apollo 11 mission that resulted in the first humans setting foot on the lunar surface on July 21, 1969, and their safe return home. I’m sure almost every day in July so far, you’ve seen news headlines commemorating Apollo 11 and taking a look back at the extraordinary effort that made it a success.
Relive Apollo 11 in real-time
And while there are plenty of sources for footage of the mission—either from news stations or from NASA itself—one of the coolest ones gives you the ability to relive the mission in real-time.
Apolloinrealtime.org/11 gives you the option to watch the mission beginning T-minus 1 minute from launch, or instantly view it in real-time. Both options live stream mission audio feeds, as well as live mission status data, including mission phase, crew status, vehicle velocity, and the command module’s distance from Earth.
Relive Apollo 11 through 51-year-old video and audio footage
The live stream also streams video when appropriate footage is available, along with mission photos and quotes from mission personnel. One of the website’s coolest features is the live transcript feed of the astronauts and mission control, so even if the audio is a bit hard to decipher at times, the transcript follows right along.
Since Apollo 11‘s mission occurred 51 years ago, you can now relive it through 51-year-old video and audio footage.
I’m grateful such an all-encompassing offering like Apollo In Real-Time exists to give you an idea of what it was like for viewers to follow along in 1969.
You should definitely be checking back into the live stream frequently over these next days, and especially on July 21.
That’s it. I hope you enjoyed this short article about Apollo 11 fantastic journey to the Moon and back. If you want to know more about the crew and everything regarding the Apollo Program, then head over to my site at apollo11space.com.