The Boston Globe dropped a massive set of Apollo 11 photos, many of these not likely seen before. It’s been 40 years, what would it be like if we kept going?…
40 years ago, three human beings – with the help of many thousands of others – left our planet on a successful journey to our Moon, setting foot on another world for the first time. Tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of the July 16, 1969 launch of Apollo 11, with astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. aboard. The entire trip lasted only 8 days, the time spent on the surface was less than one day, the entire time spent walking on the moon, a mere 2 1/2 hours – but they were surely historic hours. Scientific experiments were deployed (at least one still in use today), samples were collected, and photographs were taken to document the entire journey. Collected here are 40 images from that journey four decades ago, when, in the words of astronaut Buzz Aldrin: “In this one moment, the world came together in peace for all mankind”.
Pictured above –
Post-deployment documentation photo of the Laser Ranging Retroreflector Experiment (LRRR). For the past 40 years, the retroreflectors were used in conjunction with a dedicated facility at the McDondald Observatory in Texas to accurately measure the distance to the Moon. These experiments discovered, among other things, that the moon is moving away from Earth at a rate of 2.5 inches per year. The National Science Foundation recently terminated funding for the McDonald Laser ranging station, with continued measuements to be made by two other facilities.
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