Humanity reaches the Moon and the space age begins

A foot swings down the steps of the lunar module, landed in the Sea of ​​Tranquility. He descends; the toe of his boot touches the fine dust below. It is the first time in human history that man has walked on the Moon. Armstrong takes short steps; he puts his entire body on his feet, as if checking the firmness of the ground.

It's 3:56 a.m. (Spanish time) and hundreds of eyes are following the incredible moment, astonished and surprised. The astronaut begins his walk, finally freeing himself from the module's ladders, the only element that still connects him to Earth. Confident, perhaps stunned by the moment he's experiencing, Armstrong has set foot on another world, as the dawn of a new era for humanity begins.

"This sand is like a very fine powder. It's practically like stepping on desert sand." This is how Armstrong and Aldrin summarize their first experience of the lunar surface, one of whose first photographs, taken directly from the satellite, appears above. The walk lasted two hours and twenty-four minutes. During this time, both astronauts were extremely active, although the human aspect of the happily concluded adventure was not lacking: "Give thanks, each in his own way," they said in their message to all humanity. One of the first operations carried out was the placement of the United States flag at the landing site, to which both astronauts saluted.

Speaking with President Nixon, Armstrong said, "It is a great honor and privilege for us to be here representing not only the United States, but the men of peace of every nation in the world." The historic telephone conversation underscored the congratulations of the United States and people around the world.

If there's a cardiac technician at this Apollo flight monitoring station, they should request a transfer immediately. At the very least, the current Apollo XI flight is proving to be a marathon of anxiety experienced around the world via this gigantic antenna, which connects the astronauts to the Houston Mission Control Center in turn.

On Saturday, Fresnedillas captured the difficult moment of lunar orbit entry; yesterday, this station also broadcast the solemn moment of the moon landing; this afternoon, the lunar module's self-launch into orbit and the start of the assembly operation with the command module, crewed by the lone Collins, was scheduled to be recorded.

After the exciting early morning, the tracking station entered a period of relaxation. At 6:15 a.m., the two astronauts closed the module's hatch and, after eating and performing some final checks, settled in for a sleep of about eight hours. Houston said goodnight to Aldrin and Armstrong, telling them that Collins, in orbit around the Moon, was now sleeping like a baby.

"Thank you," Armstrong replied. "It's been a long day."

Armstrong's heart rate could be monitored on one of the monitors in the press room of this station. The first man to walk on the moon couldn't sleep. It was eight hours of uneasy, restless sleep. At two in the afternoon, Mission Control woke the astronauts, who, after lunch—Aldrin and Armstrong ate four times during the twenty-one and a half hours they spent on the moon—set about finalizing preparations for the most dramatic operation of their entire journey.

The Eagle (lunar module) had landed yesterday on the surface of the Moon, nest and all. Today it was supposed to take flight and leave the "nest" (the lunar module's base platform) on the Moon. It was an operation never performed in a lunar environment; the ignition of these engines had been tested a thousand times on Earth; technicians had installed duplicates of all the parts. All these assurances did not dispel the specter of a possible failure.

Fresnedillas had already made contact, once again, with astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin. (The neighboring Robledo de Chavela antenna remained in contact with Collins.) The operation was scheduled to begin at five minutes to seven.

The countdown began: in the command module, in Houston, all over the world, thanks to the live television feed at that moment, the numbers were ticking down. The voice of "zero" couldn't be heard; a tremendous roar from the Eagle's ascending engine filled every communication channel. Armstrong's voice was soon heard, inflexible, reassuring, and, as always, delivering good news:

-We're going up smoothly. Everything's going well.

Through control panels on one of the monitors, a white line could be seen, the brilliant trajectory of the imposing Eagle, which climbed at a speed of 6,000 feet per second.

The engine burn lasted seven minutes and fourteen seconds, during which the lunar lander consumed 4,989 pounds of fuel. The objective was achieved: after following a vertical trajectory, the Eagle entered an elliptical orbit measuring nine by forty-nine kilometers.

A second ignition at three minutes to eight placed the Eagle at an optimal altitude for docking with the command module, an operation accomplished at 10:32 tonight. Four hours later, the lunar module will be undocked and released into space. Collins, a privileged witness to the feat of his two companions, will be the first human to congratulate the "lunauts" Armstrong and Aldrin. There will be little time for excitement. The crew will have to finalize preparations before tomorrow, at 5:57, they ignite the service module's engine to put the Apollo XI spacecraft on a trajectory toward Earth.