Speaking in the early 1960’s, the President of the United States of America, John F. Kennedy said that he wanted the Americans to land an astronaut on the moon before the end of the decade.
In the next few years astronauts went in spacecrafts but no one actually landed on the moon.
In 1969, three astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins were launched into space on the Appollo 11 spacecraft. The mission was to land two of the astronauts on the surface of the moon. It was successfully completed.” Tranquility base here, the Eagle has landed” said, Neil Armstrong. These special words were heard by 600 million people on earth.
About six and a half hours later, the Eagle’s door was opened and Armstrong climed out. He wore a moon suit, carried a backpack weighing 49 kilograms and had oxygen for four hours. Heading down the ladder he uncovered a TV camera on the side of the Eagle so the world could witness his first step. As his feet touched the moon’s surface he said, that’s one small step for a man, one great leap for mankind. It was 3.56 a.m. on July 20,1969. John F. Kennedy’s dream had come true.
R. Deviskey
Grade 6
High level International School, Hatton