# AC381 - 7/21/1969, Man's First Landing on the Moon, Apollo 6 Stamp

Own a Special Event Cover Honoring the Moon Landing

This neat cover honored history as it happened!  It was canceled on July 21, 1969, the day that Neil Armstrong first stepped out onto the Moon (the lunar module had landed hours earlier, on July 20).  The cover features the 1969 6¢ Apollo 8 Moon Orbit stamp, which was issued just two months prior to the Moon landing!  The cover was canceled in Tranquility, New Jersey, a nod to the landing site, an area known as the “Sea of Tranquility.”  The artwork cachet pictures the lunar module above the moon and the Apollo 11 crew. This is important space and US history you’ll want in your collection – send for yours now.

More About the Moon Landing

After thousands of hours of work over eight years, NASA launched Apollo 11 on July 16, 1969.  Four days later, on July 20, 1969, their Eagle lunar module approached the Moon.  The landing module touched down in a place called “West Crater,” which was scattered with boulders.  After the landing, Aldrin requested everyone “…to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way.”  After the landing was completed, the crew began preparations for the Moonwalk.  They had originally planned a five-hour sleep period, but it was decided they would be too excited to sleep.

Then, at 10:56 p.m. EDT, Armstrong set his left foot down upon the surface of the Moon and called it, “…one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”  Fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin joined Armstrong on the surface and described the scene as “magnificent desolation.”  Back on Earth, the world watched through a live television feed.

The Moonwalk wasn’t just symbolic – Armstrong and Aldrin had several tasks to perform.  One of them included planting the American flag.  They took photographs, collected rock, and dust samples and set out equipment to transmit readings.  After about two-and-a-half hours, they returned to the landing module.  When taking off their spacesuits they noticed a strange smell in the air.  Armstrong described it as wet ashes and Aldrin said it was like “the smell in the air after a firecracker has gone off.”  It was the smell of the Moon dust.  Armstrong and Aldrin then took a much-deserved rest.

Following their rest, Armstrong and Aldrin blasted off from the Moon’s surface – unfortunately toppling the American flag they had planted.  In future lunar landings, the flag was placed no closer than 100 feet from the modules, so as not to repeat that mistake.

The Eagle docked with the Columbia, where fellow astronaut Michael Collins had been waiting.  The Eagle was released into orbit around the Moon, and NASA scientists later assumed that it crashed to the surface after a few months.

On July 24, the command module separated and began its descent to Earth.  The bottom of the module faced the surface and had special heat shields that would burn away during re-entry, to prevent the build-up of heat.  The parachute opened after 195 hours and 13 minutes in space.  The Apollo 11 crew splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, where Navy ship USS Hornet was nearby.  They were finally home and America had effectively won the Space Race.