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Celebrating The 50th Anniversary Of Apollo 11

NASA History Office and the NASA JSC Media Services Center
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NASA
Earthrise viewed from lunar orbit prior to landing.

On July 20, 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon. The Apollo 11 mission was the pinnacle of NASA’s decade long efforts to conquer space flight. It occurred just eight years after President John F. Kennedy announced a national goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s.

Credit NASA History Office and the NASA JSC Media Services Center / NASA
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NASA
Saturn V lifts off from Kennedy Space Center on July 16, 1969

Lake Effect's astronomy contributor Jean Creighton has been thinking about everything that had to be invented and perfected in order for that landing to happen.

"This was monumental. You can think of a really, really tall building and that's how big the Saturn V stands. Not to mention that it would burn hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel a minute," says Creighton.   

Creighton is the director of theManfred Olson Planetarium, located on the UW-Milwaukee Campus.

Bonnie North
Bonnie joined WUWM in March 2006 as the Arts Producer of the locally produced weekday magazine program Lake Effect.
Dr. Jean Creighton has always been inspired by how the cosmos works. She was born in Toronto, Ontario and grew up in Athens, Greece where her mother claims she showed a great interest in how stars form from the age of five.