Apollo 11 Launch Images Burgess

This collection consists of 118 digital image files created in 2009 by photographer Travis Burgess by scanning original 35 mm black and white photographic negatives which he had made in July 1969. The first series of 112 images feature Apollo 11 astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edward E. "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr. participating in a preflight press conference on July 5, 1969, at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas. The second series consists of 6 images taken at the launch of Apollo 11 on its Saturn V rocket from Launch Pad 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on the morning of July 16, 1969.

The Apollo program began as part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) long-term plan for lunar exploration. Following President Kennedy's speech of May 25, 1961, which called for a lunar landing by the end of 1969, NASA accelerated its development scheme accordingly. Apollo 11 (July 16-24, 1969) was the fourth manned flight of the program and the first manned landing on the moon. The mission objectives were to "perform a manned lunar landing and return; conduct scientific experiments; [and] collect soil and rock samples for return to Earth." The three-man crew, Neil A. Armstrong (Commander), Michael Collins (Command Module Pilot), and Edward E. "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr. (Lunar Module Pilot) accomplished all mission objectives. Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon in the Sea of Tranquility at 3:17pm on July 20, 1969, and, six hours later, Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the moon at 9:55pm. The two men spent two hours outside the lunar module and gathered 21kg of lunar samples before lifting off at 12:54am on July 21, 1969, to rendezvous with Collins.