Lift-off

'he year is 1969.

The place is Cape Kennedy, Florida.

The event is to send three men to the moon.

-or the first time ever,

men are going to land on the moon.

The three men are Neil Armstrong,

Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins.

They are astronauts.

The three astronauts move towards the big rocket

dressed in white spacesuits.

A lift in the rocket tower

brings them up in the space ship.

The name of the space ship is Apollo 11.

Many people all over the world

watch this event on TV.

The astronauts fasten the seat belts.

They have prepared this flight for many months.

Everything is carefully planned.

The count-down starts:

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-zero

Lift-off!

The rocket rises up in the air.

It makes an incredible noise,

and the ground shakes.

The rocket rises higher and higher up in the air

sending fire and smoke behind.

The first stage falls away.

Later the second stage drops away.

Apollo 11 moves at a tremendous speed,

but the astronauts don't feel it.

They are weightless now

and drift round in the cabin.

Through the windows they can see the earth.

It is a fantastic sight.

They can see the blue oceans and red deserts.

There are some white clouds.

The earth is very luminous

even more luminous than the moon.

The flight to the moon will take three days.

There is not much room in the cabin,

so the astronauts often collide.

The astronauts have special space food.

It is dried food packed in plastic.

They warm it up by injecting warm water

into the food packets from a sort of water pistol.

They have to take care not to spill a drop or a crumb.

If they do,

the drop or crumb will move round in the cabin.

The Eagle

The astronauts get nearer to the moon,

which is big and round.

They can see mountains and craters.

The surface looks very rough.

Will they be able to land there?

Soon the astronauts are going to separate.

Aldrin and Armstrong are going to land on the moon

in the Lunar Module called the Eagle.

Collins has to stay back in Apollo 11.

Aldrin and Armstrong put on their spacesuit.

It provides them with oxygen,

and protects against warmth and coldness.

They have radio contact with the earth.

The two astronauts enter the Eagle.

Then they steer the Lunar Module towards the moon.

The Eagle has to land on flat ground.

If the module turns over

it won't be able to lift off again.

The Eagle has not got much fuel,

so they have to land quickly.

They are just about to land in a deep crater,

but within a few seconds Armstrong succeeds

in finding a good place to land.

Armstrong opens the hatch and steps out.

"That's one small step for a man,

one giant leap for mankind," he says.

He is now standing on the moon.

Then Aldrin follows him.

The sky is totally black.

But they can see the shining blue and white earth.

There is no wind.

There is no sign of life.

The moon is covered by dust.

They make footprints in the dust,

when they walk.

It is very easy to walk

because of the attractive force of the moon.

A man doesn't weigh much here.

Therefore they jump high at each step.

The astronauts place the American flag

in the dust of the moon.

They take some photos

and collect moonstone and moon dust.

Then they put up instruments

that can send information back to the earth

for many years.

Now the important thing is to make the Eagle lift-off,

but before lift-off they leave a message,

"Here men from the planet Earth first set foot

upon the moon July 1969.

We came in peace for all mankind."

Luckily the Eagle lifts off perfectly,

and soon the three astronauts are together again.

They are on their way back to earth.

Three big parachutes open,

when the spacecraft lands in the Pacific Ocean.

The three astronauts are taken to a hospital

to be examined for bacteria from the moon,

which might bring diseases to the earth.

There are no diseases,

and three weeks after they are free again.

Now the three astronauts

are celebrated all over the USA.