Apollo 11
Flight Plan
Commemorating the 30th
Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing
The
flight plan for Apollo 11 was a minute-by-minute time line of
activities for the mission crew--Neil Armstrong, Mike Collins, and
Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin--and Mission Control in Houston. The flight was
launched July 16, 1969. Touchdown on the moon took place, as
scheduled, on July 20, 102 hours, 47 minutes, and 11 seconds after
launch from Cape Kennedy. The astronauts spent 21 hours and 36 minutes
on the moon, and returned to Earth on July 24.
The flight plan describes tasks to be done 102 to
103 hours into the flight. Immediately after landing, Armstrong and
Aldrin reviewed their lunar contact checklist and reached a decision
on "stay/no stay." Armstrong then reported to Houston: "The Eagle has
landed."
Flight plans, officially known as "flight
data files," for Apollo 8 to Apollo 17, and other records related to
the Apollo program, are in the custody of
NARA's
Southwest Region in Fort Worth, Texas. (NARA
Record Group 255)
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