To the Moon

Everything had been tried and tested for the Moon landing. It was time for the actual mission to take place. The astro­nauts selected for the crew of Apollo 11

Florida. Nearly one million people gath­ered to watch from the surrounding beaches. Within minutes, the rocket’s first stage was out of fuel and dropped off, as the other stages would do when their jobs were done.

During the flight from Earth, the spacecraft reached a speed of 24,300 miles per hour (39,100 kilometers per hour). After the initial acceleration to break free of Earth’s gravity, the speed

Braking rockets slowed the spacecraft and sent it into lunar orbit. As their spacecraft traveled in orbit around the Moon, Armstrong and Aldrin prepared for their descent to the surface. They entered the Eagle, the lunar module, and separated it from the command module Columbia, leaving Collins in orbit in Columbia to await their return.