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John F. Kennedy set a national goal to perform a spectacular landing on the moon and then return to Earth.
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Gemini was a training project, and the 8th one was with Neil Armstrong to practice parking a spacecraft in circular orbit, conduct system evaluations, demonstration of controlled reentry, etc.
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During a training session, Buzz Aldrin was practicing to take a documentary photo of a sample. This would help to prepare for getting samples of moon soil and rock.
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Apollo 11 was launched into Earth orbit carrying Commander Neil Armstrong, Module Pilot Michael Collins and Pilot Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin
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Apollo 11 finally reaches the moon, passing behind it for the first time. They were able to enter the lunar orbit being 61.3 miles above the lunar surface.
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Neil Armstrong placed the Modularized Equipment Stowage Assembly on the Lunar Module's descent stage to provide live television coverage.
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Since the Apollo 11 was able to be televised, and everyone got the chance to watchNeil Armstrong to become the first man to walk on the moon at 10:56 p.m. As he places his left foot onto the lunar soil he states his famous quote, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."
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Before they were able to leave the moon, Armstrong was to collect datat samples of lunar rock and soil while Aldrin was to place two devices on the moon. One device would measure "moonquakes" and meteorite impacts and the other was used to bounce laser beams off the Moon. Once they completed their tasks they were told to return to the Lunar Module.
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At 12:56 a.m. the spacecraft was started up to get ready for the return to Earth. At 1:40 in the afternoon they passed over from the lunar gravity into Earth's gravity.
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The spacecraft for Apollo 11 finally reaches Earth's orbit and lands 825 miles southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii and 13 miles from their recovery ship. The crew members were picked up in a helicopter and taken back to the U.S.S. Hornet.
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Shortly after the crew returned from their mission, they were quickly placed in a mobile quarantine trailer. A few weeks later NASA finally released them from the quaratine.
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After the astronauts of Apollo 11 returned to Earth they were cheered for in the ticker tape parade help in New York City, where they all received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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After Neil Armstrong resigned from NASA a year after the Apollo 11 mission. He became a professor of Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Cincinnati in 1971 and he taught there until 1979.
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Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin retired from NASA a year after he went back to the Air Force in 1971. He wrote a two books, one of which he recounted the Apollo 11 mission, called Return to Earth. His other book was called Men From Earth, which talked about the space race.
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Collins resigned from NASA in January of 1970 and many more accomplishments after being an astronaut. He became Vice President of Vought Corporation for field operations in Arlington, Virginia.
