How did Apollo 11 launch from the moon?

After 21.5 hours on the moon, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin blasted off from the lunar surface on July 21, 1969. read more

This photo shows the Apollo 11 Ascent Stage just before docking with the Command Service Module. One interesting thing to notice is small round-edged panel to the right of the door (the “mouth”) - it has a vaguely gold tone. The ripples in that panel were caused by the stresses caused by the launch. read more

The American flag heralded the launch of Apollo 11, the first Lunar landing mission, on July 16, 1969. The massive Saturn V rocket lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center with astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin"Buzz" Aldrin at 9:32 a.m. EDT. read more

On July 13, three days before Apollo 11's launch, they launched Luna 15, which reached lunar orbit before Apollo 11. During descent, a malfunction caused Luna 15 to crash in Mare Crisium about two hours before Armstrong and Aldrin took off from the Moon's surface to begin their voyage home. read more