Neil Armstrong photographed just minutes after becoming the first man to walk on the Moon, 1969. Rare Historical PhotosMichael Collins, the astronaut who took this photo, is the only human, alive or dead that isn’t in the frame of this picture, 1969. Rare Historical PhotosThe Apollo 11 crew await pickup by a helicopter from the USS Hornet, prime recovery ship for the historic lunar landing mission. The fourth man in the life raft is a United States Navy underwater demolition team swimmer. All four men are wearing biological isolation garments. The Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin aboard splashed down at 11:49 a.m. CDT, July 24, 1969, about 812 nautical miles southwest of Hawaii and only 12 nautical miles from the USS Hornet. NASANASA and Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) officials joined with flight controllers to celebrate the successful conclusion of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission in the Mission Control Center. From left foreground Dr. Maxime A. Faget, MSC Director of Engineering and Development; George S. Trimble, MSC Deputy Director; Dr. Christopher C. Kraft Jr., MSC Director of Flight Operations; Julian Scheer (in back), Assistant Administrator, Office of Public Affairs, NASA HQ.; George M. Low, Manager, Apollo Spacecraft Program, MSC; Dr. Robert R. Gilruth, MSC Director; and Charles W. Mathews, Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Manned Space Flight, NASA HQ. NASAIn the Mission Operations Control Room of the Mission Control Center, Building 30, Manned Spacecraft Center, flight controllers applaud the splashdown and success of the Apollo 11 lunar mission. Four days earlier on July 20, 1969, mission commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon. Armstrong, Aldrin and command module pilot Michael Collins splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, successfully completing the mission. NASAA Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) with the three Apollo 11 crew members inside is unloaded from a United States Air Force C-141 transport at Ellington Air Force Base very early Sunday after a flight from Hawaii. A large crowd was present to welcome astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. back to Houston following their historic lunar landing mission. The crew remained in the MQF until they arrived at the Crew Reception Area of the Lunar Receiving Laboratory at the Manned Spacecraft Center. NASAPresident Nixon greets the returning Apollo 11 astronauts, 1969. Rare Historical PhotosDr. Wernher von Braun, the first center director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center is carried aloft on the shoulders of city officials during the Apollo 11 celebration in downtown Huntsville on July 24, 1969. NASAThe Apollo 11 spacecraft Command Module (CM) is loaded aboard a Super Guppy Aircraft at Ellington Air Force Base for shipment to the North American Rockwell Corporation at Downey, Calif. The CM was just released from its post-flight quarantine at the Manned Spacecraft Center (which would later be renamed JSC). The Apollo 11 spacecraft was flown by astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, CM pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot, during their lunar landing mission. Note damage to aft heat shield caused by extreme heat of Earth reentry. NASANew York City welcomes Apollo 11 crewmen in a showering of ticker tape down Broadway and Park Avenue in a parade termed the largest in the city’s history. Pictured in the lead car, from the right, are astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot. The three astronauts teamed up for the first manned lunar landing, on July 20, 1969. NASA
