LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It was 'the perfect launch' for a three-day journey to the moon, a mission no man had ever accomplished.
On July 16, 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins boarded a rocket at the Kennedy Space Center and launched into the history books, with the weight of the world on their shoulders.
It's estimated about 600 million people were watching. Old film from the WHAS-TV archives shows local bank employees taking a break from the stock exchange, hospital staff glued to the television and students watching from school auditoriums.
The Saturn V rocket entered the moon's orbit on July 19, but the landing wouldn't happen until July 20. That's when the drama began to unfold. Apollo 11 was running out of time and fuel in the search for a smooth landing, and then, with seconds to spare, Armstrong landed the aircraft.
"The eagle has landed," you can hear him say to Mission Control.
The crew landed on the moon 240,000 miles from earth, as everyone back home sat in awe. Network anchor Walter Cronkite delivered the news on WHAS-TV, at the time, a CBS affiliate.
"Armstrong is on the moon. Neil Armstrong, 38-year-old American, standing on the surface of the moon. This July 20th, 1969," Cronkite said over the air.
"It's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," Armstrong said, during his first steps on the moon.
Armstrong told Mission Control the walk was easier than he'd expected, kicking up dust from the moon's surface. The weight of the world was gone.
The Apollo 11 crew eventually brought back about 50 pounds of moon rock for scientists to study. Of the 140 researchers, three were from Kentuckiana: two from the University of Kentucky, the other from Indiana University.
The emotions from that day were far from what President Richard Nixon was ready to face, if the mission did not go as planned. He had a second speech prepared, reading, "the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace."
Fun Facts: In 1979, Neil Armstrong landed in Louisville, after he lost his ring finger in a tractor incident. Surgeons at Jewish Hospital were able to reattach it. He later died in 2012.
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Contact reporter Brooke Hasch at bhasch@whas11.com. Follow her on Twitter (@WHAS11Hasch) and Facebook.