THE UNIT’S SATURN V ROCKET, EQUIPPED WITH THE MOST POWERFUL ENGINE...

11 .The unit’s Saturn V rocket, equipped with the most powerful engines ever built, blasted

them into space. Their trajectory took them around the Earth and toward the moon when a

third-stage rocket fired. Two modules-the Eagle, for landing, and the Columbia, a command

and service center- entered the moon’s orbit on July 19. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, piloting

the Eagle landing module, stepped down on the moon on July 20,1969.The third US astronaut

,Michael Collins ,was in the orbiting command module overhead. “That’s one small step for a

man, one giant leap for mankind”, said Armstrong. The words were seared into the memories

of the 600 million some people- about 1/5 of our planet’s population at that time-who watched

the broadcast transmitted from the lunar surface. And for a time it seemed the impossible was

just the beginning.