‘That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.’

Today is the 56th anniversary of Neil Armstrong's and Buzz Aldrin's walk on the Moon.

They had landed the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) (which was named Eagle), at 20:17:40 UTC on Sunday 20th July. After privately taking Communion, they then began to prepare to leave the LEM. Armstrong exited the LEM at 02.51 UTC, and Aldrin followed at 03:15 UTC. Having undertaken several tasks (including planting a US flag, leaving a plaque on the Moon’s surface, and collecting moon rock) they had returned aboard the LEM by 05.11 UTC. They then slept for about seven hours before preparing to take off at 17:54 UTC. They docked with the Apollo 11 capsule (which was named Columbia and that was piloted by Michael Collins) at 21:15 UTC, and after Eagle was jettisoned at 23.41 UTC, They began the journey back to Earth.

That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.

I can remember sitting up to watch the grainy image of Armstrong climbing down the ladder of the Lunar Excursion Module on our black and white TV and hearing him say his immortal words. (We had not yet bought one of the colour TVs that had been on sale in the UK for two years.) At the time, I felt that I had witnessed the dawn of a new age … but unfortunately, that was not to be, and after five more missions, man never again returned to the Moon.