On the 20 July, 1969, in North America and on the 21 July, 1969 in Europe, the Apollo 11 mission flew to the moon and Neil Armstrong and 'Buzz' Aldrin became the first men to land on the Moon. Michael Collins was the Command Module Pilot and orbited the moon whilst the other two landed in the lunar module.
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| Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin |
At the time of the landing I was watching Televisione Milano in Campione d'Italia, which is on Lake Lugano, in the Italian speaking Canton of Ticino in Switzerland. It was in the wee small hours of the morning, and the Hotel had laid on a few small eats for those guests interested enough to be up at that hour, to watch the broadcast of the landing. I remember a very exited Italian commentator translating the chat between the astronauts and ground crew "Everything is A-OK, beautiful" as "Quando si dice beautiful, tutto va bene" and then leaping up and down in his chair screaming "Sono arrivati, sono arrivati" Patrick Moore couldn't have done it better.
Forty two years later on the 21st July 2011, the last space shuttle flight took place. A fitting date, I guess, on which to end to the United States' space programme.
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