In News: NASA astronaut Michael Collins at 90, who piloted the historic mission of Apollo 11 spacecraft Columbia in 1969, recently passed away due to cancer.
About Apollo 11 Mission-
- The primary objective of Apollo 11 was to complete a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961- to perform a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth.
- Additional flight objectives included scientific exploration by the lunar module (LM), crew; deployment of a television camera to transmit signals to Earth; and deployment of a solar wind composition experiment, seismic experiment package and a Laser Ranging Retroreflector.
- Apollo 11 was launched from Cape Kennedy on July 16, 1969, carrying Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin.
- Armstrong described the event as he took “…one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” on July 20, 1969.
- Under the Apollo program, there were five more successful lunar landing missions and one unplanned lunar swing-by, Apollo 13.
- The Apollo 17 mission’s Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt were the last men to walk on the moon.
Source: LiveMint
