AMRRC, Inc. American Airlines Retirees Committee

"WE  CHOOSE  TO  GO TO  THE  MOON" 

--- is the well-known phrase from a speech about the effort to reach the Moon delivered 

by John F. Kennedy to a large crowd 

gathered at Rice Stadium in Houston, Texas on September 12, 1962. 

The speech was intended to persuade the American people to support the Apollo Program, the national effort to land a man on the Moon.

In his speech, Kennedy characterized space as a new frontier, invoking a pioneer spirit and infused the speech with a sense of urgency and destiny, and emphasized the freedom enjoyed by Americans to choose their destiny rather than have it chosen for them. Although he called for competition with the Soviet Union, he also proposed making the Moon landing a joint project. 

President Kennedy's moon mandate came at the height of the space race—a sort of subplot to the Cold War between the United States and what was then the Soviet Union. The U.S.S.R. sent the first artificial satellites into orbit, starting with the 184-pound Sputnik I in October 1957. 

 APOLLO 11  MISSION

JULY 20, 1969

The successful Apollo 11 moon landing on 

July 20, 1969, ushered in an era of moon exploration that has gone un-rivaled. 

The Apollo moon-landing program carried an optimistic moniker- it was named for the son of Zeus in Greek mythology, often known as, the god of light and the sun. 

Apollo 11 included a command module dubbed Columbia, and a lunar lander called the Eagle. The lander was named after the Bald Eagle in the mission insignia.

Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon on July 20, 1969.

Apollo 11's journey to the moon 

took three and a half days.

MOONWALKERS
As the craft passed through the shadow of the moon and started its approach, Aldrin and Armstrong got into the spider-like lunar 

module and began their descent. 

Finally, with half a billion people watching on televisions across the world, the astronauts emerged from the Eagle.

Armstrong became the first person to step onto the lunar surface. He uttered his famous first words, reportedly unscripted: 

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Aldrin joined Armstrong and they spend about two hours exploring the lunar surface.
They planted the American flag and placed mementos for their fallen peers.

CREW  MEMBERS  

 Apollo Commander, Neil Armstrong

Lunar Module "EAGLE" Pilot, Buzz Aldrin

Command Module Pilot, Michael Collins 

Man landed on the Moon, July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) . 

Command module pilot Michael Collins flew the command module Columbia alone in lunar orbit while Armstrong and Aldrin were on the 

Moon's surface. 

Armstrong and Aldrin spent a total of (21) hours, (31) minutes on the lunar surface at a site they named Tranquility Base before lifting off to rejoin Columbia in lunar orbit. 

Let’s celebrate this historic event and the brave astronauts who traveled to a new frontier. 

______________________________________

APOLLO  I

The first mission almost brought U.S. 

moon-landing efforts to an abrupt end. 

On January 27, 1967, a flash fire occurred 

in the Apollo 1 command module during a launch simulation, killing the three astronauts meant to pilot the mission. 

Astronauts, Roger Chaffee, Virgil “Gus” Grissom and Ed White II perished when a blaze 

erupted in their command module 

during pre-flight testing.