One Giant Leap: A Moon Landing Retrospective

Saturday, July 20, 2019

July 20 will mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing; the first time humans walked on the moon. Even after 5 decades, Neil Armstrong's photos of himself and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin, standing lightly on the gray dust, set against the endless inky expanse of outer space, still inspire awe. In honor of that occasion, these are a selection of historic archival photos, as well as the front page of the Southeast Missourian from that historic weekend.

This detail of a July 20, 1969 photo made available by NASA shows astronaut Neil Armstrong reflected in the helmet visor of Buzz Aldrin on the surface of the moon. The astronauts had a camera mounted to the front of their suits, according to the Universities Space Research Association. So rather than holding the camera up to his eye, as we're accustomed to, Armstrong would have taken the photos from near his chest, which is where Armstrong's hands appear to be in his reflection. (Neil Armstrong/NASA via AP)
This March 30, 1969 photo made available by NASA shows the crew of the Apollo 11, from left, Neil Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, module pilot; Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin, lunar module pilot. Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to the surface of the moon. (NASA via AP)
FILE - In this July 16, 1969 file photo, from right, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin walk to the van that will take the crew to the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida. (AP Photo/File)
In this July 16, 1969 photo made available by NASA, the 363-feet Saturn V rocket carrying the Apollo 11 crew, launches from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (NASA via AP)

In this July 20, 1969 photo made available by NASA, astronaut Buzz Aldrin Jr. poses for a photograph beside the U.S. flag on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. Aldrin and fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong were the first men to walk on the lunar surface with temperatures ranging from 243 degrees above to 279 degrees below zero. Astronaut Michael Collins flew the command module. (Neil Armstrong/NASA via AP)
FILE - In this July 20, 1969 file photo, Andy Aldrin, 10, sits on a pile of cordwood in the backyard of his home in Houston while other members of his family listen to the reports of the progress of the Apollo II lunar module carrying his father, Col. Buzz Aldrin and fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong to a landing on the moon. (AP Photo)
In this July 20, 1969 photo made available by NASA, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, lunar module pilot, walks on the surface of the moon near the leg of the Lunar Module "Eagle" during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity. (Neil Armstrong/NASA via AP)
In this July 21, 1969 photo made available by NASA, the Apollo 11 Lunar Module ascent stage, carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, approaches the Command and Service Modules for docking in lunar orbit. Astronaut Michael Collins remained with the CSM in lunar orbit while the other two crewmen explored the moon's surface. In the background the Earth rises above the lunar horizon. (Michael Collins/NASA via AP)
In this July 21, 1969 photo made available by NASA, astronaut Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11 commander, sits inside the Lunar Module after he and Buzz Aldrin completed their extravehicular activity on the surface of the moon. (Buzz Aldrin/NASA via AP)

FILE - In this July 24, 1969 photo from the U.S. Navy, Lt. Clancy Hatleberg closes the Apollo 11 spacecraft hatch as astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin, Jr., await helicopter pickup from their life raft after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, 900 miles southwest of Hawaii, returning to Earth from a successful lunar landing mission. His mission was to decontaminate the astronauts and their command module, Columbia, immediately following splashdown. (Milt Putnam/U.S. Navy via AP)
FILE - In this July 21, 1969 file photo, U.S. Air Force Sgt. Michael Chivaris, Clinton, Mass.; Army Spec. 4 Andrew Hutchins, Middlebury, Vt.; Air Force Sgt. John Whalin, Indianapolis, Ind.; and Army Spec. 4 Lloyd Newton, Roseburg, Ore., read a newspaper headlining the Apollo 11 moon landing, in downtown Saigon, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Hugh Van Es)
"Cape Girardeau citizens are proud of their nation, excited almost beyond words and hopeful the Apollo 11 Moon mission may somehow bring the country together and hep the cause of world peace." - From the front page of the Southeast Missourian, Vol. 64, No. 247, from Monday, July 21, 1969 (we didn't publish on Sundays at that time) detailing the "thrilling liftoff" of the astronauts. (Tyler Graef ~ Southeast Missourian)
This July 17, 1969 photo made available by NASA shows the Earth as the Apollo 11 mission travels towards the moon. It's estimated that about 600 million people around the world watched as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon in 1969. (NASA via AP)