Destination Moon

Destination Moon is an artwork by UK artist Michael Conroy in celebration of the Apollo missions and the historic Apollo 11 moon landing of July 20, 1969.

The 1/10 scale model, measuring approximately 180cm long, shows the command and service module (CSM) Columbia and the lunar module (LM) Eagle, in docked configuration in lunar orbit following the three day journey from the Earth to the Moon.

At this stage in the mission, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin entered the LM to deploy the landing gear and prepare the spacecraft for undocking, leaving Michael Collins in Columbia to orbit the moon and later rendezvous with Eagle. Once undocked, Eagle began its descent to the Sea of Tranquillity. Armstrong took manual control of Eagle during the final phase of landing to avoid a crater and an area strewn with large boulders.

“Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed.” With those words Neil Armstrong let the world know that the Apollo 11 lunar module Eagle had set down safely on the surface of the moon.

The primary objective of the mission was to achieve the goal set by President John F Kennedy on May 25, 1961 of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth. An estimated 650 million people around the globe watched as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the surface of another world.

2019

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