CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — America’s most daring, extraordinary feat — landing astronauts on the moon — remains the pinnacle of achievement by anyone anywhere. Ever.And the lunar lander — a groundbreaking piece of America — is up there still, far away.NASA put 12 men on the lunar surface more than half a century ago, beginning with Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. The two became the first humans to explore another world when their lander, bearing the patriotic name Eagle, settled onto the Sea of Tranquility on July 20, 1969. “The Eagle has landed,” Armstrong radioed as a spellbound Earth erupted in cheers and tears.Just 6½ hours later came the most momentous and memorable line of all. Armstrong descended the ladder and stepped onto the gray, gritty dust: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”At 23 feet (7 meters), the Apollo lunar module stood a little taller than a giraffe and looked just as ungainly. It had two sections: a lower descent stage with four legs and an upper stage that housed the crew. The descent stage got the moonwalkers to the lunar surface and remained behind as the men blasted back into lunar orbit.All six descent stages will be there for perpetuity, clumped around the equator on the moon’s near side.
Far above the Earth, NASA's Apollo lunar lander put astronauts on the moon
America's most daring, extraordinary feat, landing astronauts on the moon, remains the pinnacle of achievement by anyone anywhere.
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