21 Facts About Apollo 11

Apollo 11 was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon.

The Apollo 11 spacecraft had three parts: a command module with a cabin for the three astronauts, the only part that returned to Earth; a service module, which supported the command module with propulsion, electrical power, oxygen, and water; and a lunar module that had two stages—a descent stage for landing on the Moon and an ascent stage to place the astronauts back into lunar orbit.

The Apollo 11 project was enabled by NASA's adoption of new advances in semiconductor electronic technology, including metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors in the Interplanetary Monitoring Platform and silicon integrated circuit chips in the Apollo 11 Guidance Computer .

In October 1968, Apollo 11 7 evaluated the command module in Earth orbit, and in December Apollo 11 8 tested it in lunar orbit.

In March 1969, Apollo 11 9 put the lunar module through its paces in Earth orbit, and in May Apollo 11 10 conducted a "dress rehearsal" in lunar orbit.

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Apollo 11 was the second American mission where all the crew members had prior spaceflight experience, the first being Apollo 10.

Apollo 11 thought Lovell deserved to command his own mission .

Apollo 11 entered a near-circular Earth orbit at an altitude of 100.

Apollo 11 cleared the crater and found another patch of level ground.

Apollo 11 landed with less fuel than most subsequent missions, and the astronauts encountered a premature low fuel warning.

Apollo 11 used slow-scan television incompatible with broadcast TV, so it was displayed on a special monitor and a conventional TV camera viewed this monitor, significantly reducing the quality of the picture.

Apollo 11 then folded the bag and tucked it into a pocket on his right thigh.

Apollo 11 used the geologist's hammer to pound in the tubes—the only time the hammer was used on Apollo 11—but was unable to penetrate more than 6 inches deep.

Apollo 11 was moving rapidly from task to task as time ran out.

Apollo 11 realized that a storm front was headed for the Apollo recovery area.

The flag of American Samoa on Apollo 11 is on display at the Jean P Haydon Museum in Pago Pago, the capital of American Samoa.

The success of Apollo 11 demonstrated the United States' technological superiority; and with the success of Apollo 11, America had won the Space Race.

Racial and financial inequalities frustrated citizens who wondered why money spent on the Apollo 11 program was not spent taking care of humans on Earth.

Apollo 11 landing is referenced in the songs "Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins" by The Byrds on the 1969 album Ballad of Easy Rider and "Coon on the Moon" by Howlin' Wolf on the 1973 album The Back Door Wolf.

Apollo 11's team brought parts of two of the five engines to the surface.

In July 2010, air-to-ground voice recordings and film footage shot in Mission Control during the Apollo 11 powered descent and landing was re-synchronized and released for the first time.