LM-5 “Eagle” (Apollo 11)

The Apollo 11 Lunar Module (LM) “Eagle” was the first crewed vehicle to land on the Moon. It carried two astronauts, Commander Neil A. Armstrong and LM pilot Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr., the first men to walk on the Moon. Also included on the LM was the Early Apollo Scientific Experiment Package (EASEP), which consisted of several self-contained experiments to be deployed and left on the lunar surface, and other scientific and sample collection apparatus.

Mission Profile

The LM undocked from the Command/Service Module (CSM) at 17:44:00 UT. After a visual inspection by Collins, a separation maneuver was commenced at 18:11:53 UT. The LM descent engine fired for 30 seconds at 19:08 UT, putting the craft into a descent orbit with a closest approach 14.5 km above the Moon’s surface. At 20:05 the LM descent engine fired for 756.3 seconds and descent to the lunar surface began. The LM landed at 20:17:40 UT (4:17:40 p.m. EDT) on 20 July 1969 in the region known as Mare Tranquilitatis (the Sea of Tranquility) at 0.67416 degrees N latitude, 23.47314 degrees E longitude (as determined from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images, DE 421 mean Earth/polar rotation axis reference frame), Armstrong reporting, “Houston, Tranquility Base here – the Eagle has landed”.

Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface at 02:56:15 UT on 21 July (10:56:15 p.m. July 20 EDT), stating, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. He then collected a small contingency sample of lunar material. Aldrin followed 19 minutes later, calling the lunar surface “Magnificent desolation”. The astronauts then unveiled the plaque mounted on a strut behind the ladder and read the inscription aloud: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the Moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.” They put up an American flag and talked to President Nixon by radiotelephone. The astronauts deployed the EASEP and other instruments, took photographs, and collected 21.55 kg of lunar rock and soil. The astronauts traversed a total distance of about 250 meters, both ranging up to about 100 meters from the LM. They took two core tube samples of lunar soil and packed these along with the lunar samples and the solar wind experiment into the sample boxes. Aldrin returned to the LM first, after 1 hour 41 minutes on the lunar surface, Armstrong followed about 12 minutes later, at 05:09:32 UT, after transferring the sample boxes up to Aldrin and placing a packet of memorial items on the ground. The EVA ended at 5:11:13 UT when the LM hatch was closed. Armstrong and Aldrin spent the next 7 hours resting and checking out systems.

The LM lifted off from the Moon at 17:54:01 UT on 21 July after 21 hours, 36 minutes on the lunar surface. After docking with the CSM, piloted by Michael Collins, at 21:34:00 UT, the LM was jettisoned into lunar orbit at 00:01:01 UT on 22 July. The fate of the LM is not known, but it is assumed that it crashed into the lunar surface sometime within the following 1 to 4 months.

~ NASA