Our friend and astronaut blogger Leroy Chiao was an invited guest at the Apollo 11 40th Anniversary gala last night. Here he shares a few shots, his memories of the Eagle touchdown, and his thoughts on the next moon mission.
Apollo 11 Mission Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin are now on course to the surface of the Moon, after undocking from Columbia. I’m certainly not the great Walter Cronkite, but I’m liveblogging the historic event here.
The Eagle—Apollo 11′s Lunar Module—has now undocked from Columbia—the Command Module—and is now orbiting the Moon, 2 hours, 16 minutes minutes from landing Armstrong and Aldrin on its surface. This is how it looks from Columbia.
From Apollo 11′s Command Module, now on final approach to the Moon landing site: “We’re getting first view of the landing approach. Looks like pictures but difference of watching a real football game and watching it on TV.”