Forty year ago, on July 20, in 1969, Neil Armstrong, Commander of Apollo 11 Mission and Edwin Aldrin Jr., Commander of its lunar module ‘ Eagle’ became the first cosmonauts to land on the moon. As Armstrong set his foot on the celestial body he said, “ One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” It was indeed an astonishing feat! If one were to cover the distance of nearly 4 lakh kilometers between Moon and Earth by car it would take him 130 days to reach the lunar surface. The Apollo Mission journey was covered in a little over three days from 16th to 20th July that year. While Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon, Michael Collins continued to orbit Earth in his command module. After spending 21 hours exploring the moon’s surface, Armstrong and Aldrin returned to Earth. Millions of people across the world watched the video broadcast of the Moon landing.
Yet in the decades since the historic July 20, 1969 moon landing, few have followed in Armstrong’s footsteps.
Only 12 men have ever walked on the moon, all of them Americans, with the last lunar walks in 1972.
The Apollo program, launched during slain president John F. Kennedy’s administration, has long since been axed after six successful lunar landings.
