After three days of travel from Cape Canaveral, and a day in orbit around the Moon, it is time to begin the critical phase of Apollo 11: the moon landing. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took place on board the lunar module Eagle, known by the general public under the name of LEM. Michael Collins is alone in the command module, which will remain in orbit around the Moon.

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On July 16, 1969, Neil Armstrong (right) and his crew are ready to join the launch complex 39A. NASA

The separation between the two vessels proceeded without problems, and the last phase of the descent to move from a speed of over 6,000 km/h in orbit until the ground stop will last only 12 and a half minutes. The maneuver is short, but it plunges the two astronauts into the unknown: this is the only part of their journey, which has not been cleared by the Apollo missions previous. A few months earlier, the crew of Apollo 10 had overflown the landing site is at 16 km altitude, with the LEM, …

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