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Aviation History
1969
1969 - 2469.PDF
540ft ... 15 down, 30°. . . . Looks good. Down a half ... six forward. . . ." "Sixty-second light on . . . down two- and-a-half . . . four forward, four for ward. . . . We're picking up some dust." At 2118 BST came the matter-of-fact words: "Contact lights. OK, engine stop. Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed." Nearly as historic as Caesar's "Veni, vidi, vici" and certainly more widely reported. It was followed by the Houston reply, "We copy you down, Eagle. We've got a bunch of guys about to turn blue." Indeed, Houston could now release its collective bated breath. And so did man land on the Moon, at 21hr 17min 42sec BST on Sunday, July 21, 1969. Eagle had landed at Site 2 in the Sea of Tranquillity, four miles downrange of the predicted touchdown point (part of this deviation due to mascon-induced errors) and 37sec later than predicted. The ground here was flat, the spacecraft tilt being well within allowable limits at 4|-°. A thin cloud of dust rising to about 70ft, raised by the descent engine, did not obscure visibility. But if the LM had stopped, work hadn't. A 3min window existed during which take-off and rendezvous with Columbia was possible. But Eagle was Opposite page: The emotive event of the flight was the contact of Neil Armstrong's left boot with the surface of the Moon; the first occa sion on which man has touched another planet. Above, Armstrong at the bottom of the ladder Above, the lunar module, one face illuminated, the rest in shadow. The American flag is on the right. Below right, Aldrin walks towards Armstrong and the LM
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