Apollo 11: From Pad 39A to the Pacific

At 13:32 UTC on 16 July 1969 a Saturn V rose from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew had eaten the traditional pre-flight breakfast of steak and eggs, and more than 450 people sat at the consoles in the firing room. The rocket had left the Vehicle Assembly Building on a crawler-transporter on 20 May, bound for this pad. Since 2014 the pad has been leased by SpaceX, and Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets now launch from it.

From Houston, flight controllers in room MOCR 2 followed the landing. During the descent the lunar module's guidance computer raised 1201 and 1202 alarms, and computer engineer Jack Garman told Guidance Officer Steve Bales it was safe to continue. After touchdown, capsule communicator Charles Duke answered Armstrong: "You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again." The room became a National Historic Landmark in 1985 and, restored to its Apollo-era look, reopened to the public in July 2019.

Visitor guidance: The room is seen through the glass of the Visitor's Gallery on the tram tour from Space Center Houston.

This stop is on the Moon, so it has no pin. The chosen site in the Sea of Tranquility was centred at 0°42′50″N 23°42′28″E; Eagle landed at about 20:17 UTC on 20 July a little farther downrange, after Armstrong took manual control to avoid a crater full of boulders. His first radio call gave the place its name: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." On the surface he said: "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." The crew collected 21.5 kg of rock and dirt, and the descent stage is still there.

Location precision: The stop is on the Moon and this map shows Earth only, so it has no pin; the coordinates in the text are the centre of the planned landing site, not the exact touchdown point.

Three antennas received the moonwalk's television signal at once. At first the world picture alternated between Goldstone and Honeysuckle Creek, because the Moon was still too low for the 64-metre dish at Parkes. Some nine minutes in it rose into view, and the Parkes picture was so much better that NASA stayed with it for the rest of the 2.5-hour broadcast, watched live by an estimated 600 million people. Gusts above 100 km/h shook the telescope, which worked outside its safety limits throughout.

Visitor guidance: The visitors centre lets you watch the dish move; the 2000 film The Dish retells the story in fictionalised form.

Columbia struck the Pacific forcefully on 24 July at 13°19′N 169°9′W, 24 km from the carrier USS Hornet. The recovery area had been moved 215 nautical miles after Air Force Captain Hank Brandli read a storm front in top-secret spy-satellite images. The capsule landed upside down and was righted within ten minutes by flotation bags. The astronauts then walked to a mobile quarantine facility on Hornet, where Nixon greeted them: "the world has never been closer together before."

Location precision: This is open ocean; the pin marks the recovery position reported for Columbia's splashdown, not a place anyone can visit.

The quarantine on the astronauts, and on Columbia itself, was lifted on 10 August 1969. The capsule then toured 49 state capitals, Washington and Anchorage, and in 1971 passed to the Smithsonian Institution. The National Air and Space Museum counts it among its collection, and its exhibition hall opened on 1 July 1976 under a director who knew the spacecraft well: Michael Collins, who had flown to the Moon on Apollo 11.

Visitor guidance: Columbia has been moved for restoration and touring exhibitions, so check the museum's website for what is on view.