At 100 hours and 12 minutes into the flight, the Eagle undocked from Columbia and went into lunar
. At 102 hours and 33 minutes into the mission, powered descent commenced until the Eagle was positioned 26,000 ft above the surface and 5 miles from the landing site. Less than a minute’s worth of fuel remained.
Armstrong radioed, ‘Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed.’
The relief between the astronauts on the moon, and mission control back on Earth, must have been immense.
Charlie Duke in mission control replied, ‘Roger, Tranquility, we copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We’re breathing again. Thanks a lot.’
109 hours and 42 minutes after launch, as the Eagle cast a strange shadow on to the moon’s surface, untouched by humans since its creation, Armstrong cautiously descended the ladder and made the very first footprint in the dust.
His words, ‘It’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,’ have become immortal, as has the footage that the two astronauts transmitted back to Earth.
From ‘Apollo 11 ‘The Eagle Has Landed”, Federation Aeronautique Internationale