Space Age Style: 20 Forgotten Photos from the Apollo 11 Mission
This summer marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Everyone knows the famous photographs of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the surface of the moon. Lesser-known are the photos of what took place back on Earth. Recently, we searched the NASA images archive for some of the seldom-seen images of the 1969 lunar mission. These images show the trappings of the space age: Engineers in skinny ties, scientists with serious expressions, space buffs camping out in Detroit-built station wagons, and above all, the sublime awesomeness of being an astronaut.
Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong, seen with the helicopter he flew to practice landing the Lunar Module.
July 9, 1969: A week before the launch, the astronauts reported to the flight crew training building of the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins arrived carrying a cup of coffee.
Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin arrives arrival at the flight crew training building.
July 15, 1969: Collins, Armstrong and Aldrin, spoke to the press the night before launch.
July 16, 1969: Apollo Program Director Lieutenant General Samuel C. Phillips monitored pre-launch activities from the Kennedy Space Flight Center control room.
July 16, 1969: Thousands of people camped out on beaches and roads adjacent to the Kennedy Space Center to watch the Apollo 11 liftoff.
A million spectators came to the spaceport to witness the historic launch. Some camped on the beach.
Vice President Spiro Agnew and former President Lyndon B. Johnson watched the liftoff, July 16, 1969, 9:32 am EDT.
Apollo 11 mission officials relaxed after the successful liftoff. From left to right are: Charles W. Mathews, Deputy Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight; Dr. Wernher von Braun, Director of the Marshall Space Flight Center; George Mueller, Associate Administrator for the Office of Manned Space Flight; Lt. Gen. Samuel C. Phillips, Director of the Apollo Program.
With the mission underway, reporters interviewed the family of Neil Armstrong.
Dr. Robert R. Gilruth, Director of the Manned Spacecraft Center, followed progress of the lunar landing mission from his console in Houston’s Mission Control Center.
The Apollo 11 astronauts splashed down at 11:49 a.m. CDT on July 24, 1969, about 812 nautical miles southwest of Hawaii. They waited in a raft for helicopter pickup with a United States Navy underwater demolition team swimmer.
Flight controllers and mission officials celebrated the return of the astronauts to earth.
Aldrin, Armstrong, and Collins were flown by helicopter to the U.S.S. Hornet. They wore biological isolation garments they donned while still in the spacecraft.
Immediately, the astronauts were placed in quarantine.
The mobile quarantine facility was transported from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center Lunar Receiving Laboratory in Houston, Texas.
The astronauts bow their heads in a prayer offered by USS Hornet Chaplain Lt. Commander John Pirrto. President Richard Nixon stands at right.
The astronauts were kept under quarantine for three weeks. Here are Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin seen through the window of the Mobile Quarantine Facility.
Friends and family greeted the astronauts as they emerged from the quarantine on August 10, 1969.
The astronauts were international celebrities. A goodwill tour carried them to 24 countries and 27 cities in 45 days. Thousands swarmed them during a parade in Mexico City on September 23, 1969.
June 24th, 2009 at 11:40 am EGMT+5
I look at these photos with envy and admiration in my eyes for all you guys in the space industry.
Keep up the good work!!
July 1st, 2009 at 8:32 pm EGMT+5
Photo’s and story bring back many memories, I was 11 at the time, and astronauts were “Hero’s” in my mind.
Thanks for the visit back in time. :)
July 17th, 2009 at 7:18 pm EGMT+5
I was not alive when this happened well I was about to be born but my uncle was and he is 14th photo in the barea. Norvell Wood. What a man. He gave me some collectables from that day which really made it a memorable moment once I was old enough to realize the signifigance.
July 20th, 2009 at 8:04 am EGMT+5
Great images–what a time-period–thanks for sharing! Goldangit–I shoulda been an astronaut!
July 21st, 2009 at 8:46 pm EGMT+5
In today’s world when so many things are forgotten about, it’s wonderful to see great memories especially for me. You see, my father, Norvel Wood, while in the Navy had the honor and priivillage of working with not only Apollo 11 crew but with the crew of Apollo 8 as well. The two pictures of the astronuats disbarking from the chopper when they arrived aboard ship has my father closing the “hatch”. It is a blessing to have more documentation of this. My thanks and gratitude to the men before Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins and to the men and women since who have scarficed their personal and professional life for the knowledge and freedoms I, we, as Americans, have today. Thank- you~~”Thanks for the memories”.
July 27th, 2009 at 2:34 pm EGMT+5
Loved these pics! It’s corny but that one of the family sleeping on the beach really moved me in some way. I mean what cool parents to take their son to see the lift off, and then sleep ON THE BEACH for the best view?? I love the way he’s bright and alert, reading the book, while they are both crashed…. Awww…. it’s sweet!
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:24 pm EGMT+5
The recollection never fails to make my heart skip a beat. Can you imagine what was going thru their minds at that news conference the night before the launch? No matter how much planning and practicing had gone on, nobody knew what they were going to find when they got there. The whole ‘giant step for for mankind’ was such an understatement!
August 4th, 2009 at 8:21 am EGMT+5
It’s sad to see how many people these days think that all this was just a hoax. I have a hard time seeing how any of this could have been faked. I wasn’t born until 85, but it’s all just as real to me.
Great photo collection by the way. It’s nice to see the ‘behind the scene’ shots that are never published.
August 6th, 2009 at 1:24 am EGMT+5
The hoax thing, the lights from different angles, and some other things making people believe this was hoax,…I could think of one reason, the astronauts might have worked under ETs’ watchful guide when they were on the Moon, which they are not allowed to speak about to anyone including their family and some co-workers.
It’s amazing that the so toy-like spaceship made the trip to the Moon if it was real…. ( I presume even the landing on the moon was helped by the moon people)….Toy-like ship… considering the law of nature…
August 18th, 2009 at 6:12 am EGMT+5
Its amazing to those honourable guys in their rare pics who changed the history of space exploration of humans!!!!!!
September 9th, 2009 at 4:50 pm EGMT+5
How can you look at the 3 guys in these pictures, and not see in their faces that they were actually there? They also seem to be damn happy to have lived through it. It was a few minutes of peace on earth. Time will give us the truth. So come on, let’s hurry up and go back.
November 6th, 2009 at 3:58 pm EGMT+5
those are great photos
November 9th, 2009 at 2:53 pm EGMT+5
The best moment of the history!
January 12th, 2010 at 1:25 pm EGMT+5
These pictures just make me that much prouder to that lived through part of the height of that part of the space race. I can remember waiting for every issue of National Geographic to see what new pictures would be published from the various missions. I remember building, from scratch, out of cardboard, toothpick and painted aluminum foil, a model of Skylab.
Looking back on it today, it seems like there was so much more to look forward to, back then. Our problems seemed so mundane compared to what we, the world, are going through now.