Friday, July 20, 2012

The Eagle Has Landed

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the Lunar Module of the Apollo 11 mission in Mare Tranquillitatis on the moon. (Fellow crew member Michael Collins, whom everyone always unfortunately forgets, was stuck minding the spacecraft in orbit.) The Lunar Module had been named Eagle by the crew; hence Armstrong's famous line, "The Eagle has landed."

Incidentally, after the landing and checklists Buzz Aldrin took communion; he was a Presbyterian and wanted to do something special for an event as momentous as a moon landing, so his pastor prepared him a small communion kit, which he quietly used once he had a moment.