Apollo 11 launch
On the morning of 16 July 1969 a Saturn V rocket left for the Moon with three astronauts aboard. Four days later, on 20 July, people set foot on the Moon for the first time.
Available views: Orbit ✓ · Sky — (not visible in the sky)
The story
At 9:32 a.m. Eastern time on 16 July 1969 a Saturn V rocket rose from launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The rocket stood 110.6 metres tall, higher than a 30-storey building. In the small command module ‘Columbia’ at its top sat Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. About a million people watched from beaches and roadsides, and around 3,500 reporters from many countries covered the launch.
The Saturn V is still the only rocket that has sent people to the Moon. The five F-1 engines on its first stage pushed together with a force of about 3,400 tonnes. They burned about 13 tonnes of propellant every second, using up about 2,000 tonnes during the first stage’s burn of a little over 2 minutes 40 seconds. Because the rocket was so heavy, lifting it off the ground took an enormous amount of fuel.
The spacecraft first circled the Earth one and a half times while the crew checked the equipment. About 2 hours 44 minutes after launch, the rocket’s third-stage engine fired again, speeding the spacecraft up to about 39,000 km/h and sending it on its way to the Moon. After three days of travel it entered orbit around the Moon on 19 July, and the next day, 20 July, the lander ‘Eagle’ carrying Armstrong and Aldrin touched down on the Moon.
From launch to landing took about four days. The orbit view reproduces Apollo 11’s route as it circles the Earth, heads off towards the Moon, and three days later is caught by the Moon’s gravity and swings around behind it. Keeping in mind that the Moon is about 380,000 km away helps make clear how long a journey the spacecraft made.
Mission goals
This launch set out to fulfil the promise President Kennedy made in 1961: to send a person to the Moon and bring them safely back to Earth within ten years. About 400,000 people are said to have taken part in the Apollo programme. Besides researchers at government agencies, engineers and workers at a great many companies built parts for the rockets and spacecraft, and the Saturn V became the symbol of that effort.
The Saturn V’s abilities still stand out today. It could lift about 140 tonnes into orbit close to Earth, or send about 48 tonnes on the way to the Moon, figures no other rocket matched for decades afterwards. In pure pushing power, however, it has been overtaken by SLS, first launched in 2022, and by Starship, which began test flights in 2023.
The launch was also an event watched together by people around the world. Television carried the lift-off live, and the Moon landing a few days later was watched at the same moment by a very large number of people worldwide. Apollo 11 did much to make rocket launches feel like occasions that many people share.
Mission chronology and background
The Saturn V was designed at the Marshall Space Flight Center led by Wernher von Braun. It was launched 13 times, from the uncrewed test flight Apollo 4 in November 1967 to the launch of the Skylab space station in 1973. Apollo 6 in 1968 suffered some engine shutdowns, but no crew or payload was ever lost. All six flights that landed people on the Moon rode on a Saturn V.
Several practice flights came before Apollo 11. In December 1968 Apollo 8 carried the first crew around the Moon; in March 1969 Apollo 9 tested the lander in orbit around Earth; and in May Apollo 10 descended close to the Moon, rehearsing everything short of landing. Apollo 11 was the flight that took the final step after all that preparation.
On launch day the three astronauts woke shortly after 4 a.m. and ate the traditional breakfast of steak and eggs. The launch date and time were set by the lighting at the landing site: the Sun had to be low so that rocks and craters cast long shadows and a safe spot could be picked out. Meanwhile the Soviet uncrewed probe Luna 15, trying to bring back lunar soil, crashed in the Sea of Crises about two hours before Eagle left the Moon.
Other milestones of this mission
Where to see it — sky and simulator
The replay in the orbit view shows the route from leaving Earth on 16 July 1969 to entering orbit around the Moon on 19 July. It also shows how the speed changes. Just after departure the spacecraft was at its fastest, about 39,000 km/h. Pulled back by Earth’s gravity, it slowed steadily to about 3,600 km/h, then sped up again once it passed the point where the Moon’s pull became stronger.
At the time of launch the Moon was a crescent. New Moon had fallen on 14 July, so on launch day the Moon was a very thin crescent close to the Sun in the sky. Setting the sky view to Cape Canaveral at 13:32 Universal Time on 16 July 1969 reproduces the sky at lift-off, with the thin young Moon near the Sun.
Three real Saturn V rockets are on display in the United States today: at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Film of the Apollo 11 launch and recordings of the radio calls between the spacecraft and the ground are also available in NASA’s archives. Watching the footage again shows how slowly the huge rocket first rose.
See this for yourself — replay the moment in the orbit view
FAQ
How big was the Saturn V?
It stood 110.6 m tall and weighed about 2,900 tonnes at launch, with first-stage engines pushing with a force of about 3,400 tonnes.
How long did it take to reach the Moon?
Three days from launch to lunar orbit (16 to 19 July), with the landing on 20 July.
How many people watched the launch?
About a million people watched nearby, and around 3,500 reporters covered it. Television carried it around the world.
Is the Saturn V still the most powerful rocket?
In pushing power it has been overtaken by SLS (2022) and Starship (test flights from 2023). It remains, however, the only rocket to have sent people to the Moon.
Related
- Apollo 11 — first footsteps on the Moon
- Artemis II launch
- Gagarin — first human in space
- The Moon — object index
- Earth — object index
Times and figures are approximate — verify with official sources when planning travel. Simulation uses J2000 mean elements.