A real-time journey through the first landing on the Moon
This website replays the Apollo 11 mission as it happened, 50 years ago. It consists entirely of historical material, all timed to Ground Elapsed Time–the master mission clock. Footage of Mission Control, film shot by the astronauts, and television broadcasts transmitted from space and the surface of the Moon, have been painstakingly placed to the very moments they were shot during the mission, as has every photograph taken, and every word spoken.
Upon starting the application, select whether to begin one minute before launch, or click “Now” to drop in exactly 50 years ago, to-the-second during the anniversary.
Navigate to any moment of the mission using the time navigator at the top of the screen. The top bar is the entire mission with two bars below it providing magnification. Selecting transcript items, photos, commentary items, or guided tour moments, also jumps the mission time to the moment they occurred.
Main mission audio consists of space-to-ground (left ear), capcom loop (right ear), and on-board recorder (center, when available). Selecting a Mission Control audio channel mutes the main audio, opens the Mission Control audio panel, and plays the “live” audio of that Mission Control position. Change channels by selecting the seats in mission control. Closing the Mission Control audio panel will unmute the main audio and continue mission playback.
These 50 channels of Mission Control audio have only recently been digitized and restored, and are made publicly available here for the first time. They total over 11,000 hours in length.
Please contact Ben Feist for any inquiries.
“I think we’re going to the moon because it’s in the nature of the human being to face challenges. It’s by the nature of his deep inner soul… we’re required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream.”
— Neil Armstrong
Commander, Apollo 11
“Space is not just going up and coming back down again. Space is getting into orbit and being there, living there, establishing a presence, a permanence.”
— Buzz Aldrin
Lunar Module Pilot, Apollo 11
“I knew I was alone in a way that no earthling has ever been before.”
— Michael Collins
Command Module Pilot, Apollo 11
Ben Feist Concept, research, mission data restoration, audio restoration, video, software architecture and programming. Follow @BenFeist for updates.
Stephen Slater Archive Producer, historical audio/footage synchronization
Chris Bennett Visual design, interface styling and programming
David Charney Visual design
Arnfinn Holderer Audio restoration programming
Robin Wheeler Photography timing, transcript corrections
Todd Miller Director, Apollo 11 film
Tom Petersen Producer, Apollo 11 film
Dr. John Hansen and the National Science Foundation 30-track Mission Control audio digitization. More info at exploreapollo.org
Dr. Bill Barry Chief Historian, NASA HQ
Dr. Jacob Bleacher Chief Exploration Scientist, NASA HQ
Dr. Cindy Evans Division Chief, Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division, NASA JSC
Dan Garrison Jacobs Technology, NASA JSC
Dr. Ryan Zeigler Manager, Apollo Curator, ARES, NASA JSC
Dr. Paul Niles Assistant Chief Scientist, ARES NASA JSC
Sandra Tetley Real Property Officer, Historic Preservation Officer, NASA JSC
Greg Wiseman 30-track Mission Control audio digitization, NASA JSC
Dr. Noah Petro Project Scientist, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Planetary Geology, Geochemistry and Geophysics Lab, NASA Goddard
David Woods Author, How Apollo Flew to the Moon
Kipp Teague Apollo mission photography
Paul Vanezis EVA footage
NASA Apollo Flight Journal
NASA Apollo Lunar Surface Journal
Internet Archive
The crew of Apollo 11
The men and women of Mission Control
Mike Dinn
Jacqueline Poole
Todd Green
Ian House
Joey Schwartz
David Charney
Sammy Goldberg
Robin Wheeler
Joe Davenport
Linden Sims
Suzanne Molina
Kevin Spencer
