‘One small step for man:’ Apollo 11 links

Apollo 11 lifted off at 8:32 a.m. CDT on July 16, 1969, made one loop around the Earth and then hurtled out of near-Earth orbit on a trajectory to its historic landing four days later.

The crew entered lunar orbit just before 12:30 p.m. on July 19 and at 3:17 p.m. CDT on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the surface of the Moon.

At 9:56 p.m. CDT on July 20, 1969, Armstrong took the first step on the lunar surface, saying “That’s one small step for man…one giant leap for mankind.”

The first words didn’t come out quite as Armstrong intended.

He later said he meant to say, “That’s one small step for ‘a’ man.”