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Welcome to ESAHistory of Europe in spaceELDO/ESRO/ESA:
Key dates 1960-2010Key figures European space pioneersPast Directors General of ESAESRO Directors GeneralELDO Secretaries GeneralChairs of ELDO/ESRO/ESA CouncilESA History Project The History of the European Space AgencySpace history on the webFurther reading on European space historyDownload ESA Bulletin: The ESA History ProjectHistory Study ReportsA History of the European Space Agency, Volume I:
The story of ESRO and ELDO, 1958-1973 (pdf)A History of the European Space Agency, Volume II:
The story of ESA, 1973-1987 (pdf)
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| | Earthrise seen from Apollo 11 | |
On this day: 40 years ago
22 July 1969
At 12:42 a.m. CEST, the Lunar Module Eagle is jettisoned. Nearly five hours later, while behind the Moon, the ‘transearth injection burn‘ of Apollo 11 begins at 5:55 a.m. to send the spacecraft out of lunar orbit towards Earth.
9:30 a.m. Astronauts start sleep period.
6:00 p.m. Astronauts begin waking for first full day of return trip.
6:39 p.m. Spacecraft passes the point in space where Earth's gravity takes over from momentum and begins drawing the astronauts homeward.
9:02 p.m. Midcourse correction is made to readjust the flight path of the spacecraft.
More information:
ESA celebrates the 40th anniversary of mankind first setting foot on the Moon and pays tribute to the men and women who took part in this endeavour, some of whom are still active in NASA, ESA and international space programmes. A series of articles chronicles each day of the historic mission 40 years ago, from launch to landing, with many rarely-seen archive photographs and highlights of some fascinating European contributions to lunar exploration.
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| | The Apollo 11 crew On this day, 40 years ago... More pictures from this day in 196916 July 196917 July 196918 July 196919 July 196920 July 196921 July 196923/24 July 1969 First 'flag' on the Moon? Interview with an Apollo ground station pioneer ESA 'birthday card' of Apollo 11 landing site Human Spaceflight Education with ESA History of Europe in space NASA Apollo 40th anniversary site
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