....Fly me to the Moon.....

Forty-three years ago 3 brave men did something amazing.......Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins were the crew of Apollo 11....the first moon landing.

This weekend one of my heroes......Neil A. Armstrong passed away.

Lifting off in a Saturn V rocket on July 16th 1969 the three astronauts took four days to reach lunar orbit. Collins stayed in the Command module Columbia while Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the moon's surface in Lunar module Eagle. The chosen landing site proved unsuitable so the lander was flown by Armstrong to another part of the Sea of Tranquility and landed with only 25 seconds worth of fuel left in the tanks.

They landed at 20.18 UCT (GMT) on July 20th and Armstrong stepped off the ladder and on to the Moon's surface at 02.56.15 on July 21st.His left foot was the first to touch the lunar dust.

In total the two men spent 21 hours 30 minutes on the surface, with only 2 hours 30 minutes outside the vehicle. Although the famous words used to acknowledge Mission Control's comment, "We copy you landed Eagle" were "Houston, the Eagle has landed"said as the lander touched down, for the time they were on the Moo for the remainder of the time Armstrong referred to the vehicle as Tranquility Base.

When the astronauts left the Moon they left behind a US flag, which blew over in the thruster blast from the engines....for future missions the flags were planted 100m away from the ship to avoid this happening again.....and the landing legs which have a plaque which read "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."

Apollo 11 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24th.

So, as the news of Neil's sad passing travels round the world, do as has been suggested......if you wish to honour him, go outside and when you see a clear moon, give him a wink. I just did!

Das vidanya moy padruga.