First Explorers on the Moon

This article was originally published in the December 1969 issue of the magazine.

The talk was weighted with cryptic exchanges of scientific data, but still it rang with the stupendous drama of the greatest achievement in the history of exploration. For these were the voices of Apollo 11—voices carrying over nearly a quarter of a million miles to tell of man's first steps on the moon. The world listened as Neil Armstrong, Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin, and Michael Collins spoke to each other and to CapCom, the capsule communicator in Houston. And as Eagle (the lunar module) separated from Columbia (the command module) and touched down in the dust of that desolate, windless world on July 20, at 4:17 and 43 seconds p.m. EDT— 102 hours, 45 minutes, and 43 seconds after launch—this in part is what was said:

ARMSTRONG: Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed.

CAPCOM (Astronaut Charles M. Duke): Roger, Tranquillity, we copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot.

COLLINS (in Columbia): Fantastic!

ARMSTRONG: Houston, that may have seemed like a very long final phase. The autotargeting was taking us right into a ... crater, with a large number of big boulders and rocks ... and it required ... flying manually over the rock field to find a reasonably good area.