APOLLO 11
July 16, 1969

Apollo 11 put the first men on the Moon on July 20, 1969. Space Collectibles, based in Paris since 2014, offers Apollo 11 memorabilia for collectors, such as NASA photographs, mission documents and related pieces. Each item is described individually, and we ship worldwide from Paris.

## The mission in brief

The crew of Apollo 11 was Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins. Their Saturn V rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on July 16, 1969. After about four days in space, Armstrong and Aldrin separated the lunar module, Eagle, from the command module, Columbia. Collins stayed in lunar orbit.

## Landing in the Sea of Tranquility

Eagle touched down in the Sea of Tranquility on July 20. Armstrong told Mission Control in Houston: "Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Hours later he climbed down the ladder and said: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

## The first moonwalk

Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the Moon for about two and a half hours. They planted the American flag, set up scientific experiments and collected about 21.5 kg (47 lb) of Moon rocks and soil. President Nixon spoke to them by radio while they were on the surface.

## Return and splashdown

The two astronauts took off in Eagle's ascent stage and rejoined Collins in orbit, then the crew flew back to Earth. Splashdown took place in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969, and the USS Hornet recovered the crew. As a precaution, they spent about three weeks in quarantine.

## Apollo 11 and the space race

In 1961, President Kennedy set the goal of landing a man on the Moon before the end of the decade. Apollo 11 was the first of the Apollo missions to reach it, and it ended the space race in favor of the United States. Explore our other Apollo missions on the Apollo memorabilia page.

The Apollo program took twelve astronauts to the surface of the Moon between 1969 and 1972. Space Collectibles, based in Paris since 2014, offers Apollo memorabilia for collectors, such as NASA photographs, mission documents and related pieces. Each item is described individually, and we ship worldwide from Paris.

## The Apollo program in brief

NASA's Apollo program began after President Kennedy's 1961 call to land a man on the Moon. It built the Saturn V rocket, which stood about 110 meters (363 feet) tall, and the Apollo spacecraft: a command module, a service module and a lunar module for the landing itself.

## Apollo 1 and the first tests

On January 27, 1967, a fire during a launch rehearsal killed the Apollo 1 crew, Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee. The program was redesigned. Unmanned flights followed, including the first Saturn V launch (Apollo 4), and Apollo 7 then flew the first crewed mission in Earth orbit in October 1968.

## Apollo 8 to Apollo 10: the road to the Moon

Apollo 8 carried Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders around the Moon in December 1968, the first men to orbit it. Apollo 9 tested the lunar module in Earth orbit, and Apollo 10 rehearsed the landing without touching down.

## The six Moon landings

• Apollo 11 (July 1969): the first Moon landing, in the Sea of Tranquility. See our Apollo 11 memorabilia.
• Apollo 12 (November 1969): a precise landing near the Surveyor 3 probe. See Apollo 12.
• Apollo 13 (April 1970): an oxygen tank explosion ended the landing attempt, and the crew returned safely. See Apollo 13.
• Apollo 14 (1971): Alan Shepard's mission.
• Apollo 15 (1971): the first lunar rover, driven near Hadley Rille.
• Apollo 16 (1972): a landing in the lunar highlands.
• Apollo 17 (December 1972): the last landing, with Eugene Cernan and geologist Harrison Schmitt. See Apollo 17.

The lunar rover was used on Apollo 15, 16 and 17.

## After the Moon landings

Apollo 18, 19 and 20 were cancelled. The program's hardware lived on: Skylab, the first American space station, was launched on a Saturn V in 1973, and an Apollo spacecraft docked with a Soyuz in Earth orbit in 1975, ending the program.

## Find Apollo memorabilia by type

Looking for a specific kind of piece? Browse our flown to the Moon artifacts or our signed astronaut autographs.

Neil Armstrong was the first human to walk on the Moon, on July 21, 1969 (UTC). Before Apollo 11 he was a naval aviator, a test pilot and a Gemini astronaut. This page tells his story and points collectors to the Apollo 11 pieces we offer from Paris.

## From Wapakoneta to naval aviator

Armstrong was born on August 5, 1930, on a farm near Wapakoneta, Ohio. He earned his pilot's license at 16. He studied aeronautical engineering at Purdue University on a Navy scholarship, then served as a naval aviator in the Korean War, flying 78 combat missions.

## Test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base

After the war, he joined the NACA (the agency that became NASA) as a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base in California. He flew the X-15 rocket plane to the edge of space. He later earned a master's degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California.

## NASA astronaut: Gemini 8 and the first docking

NASA selected Armstrong as an astronaut in 1962. He flew as commander of Gemini 8 in March 1966, together with David Scott, and the crew carried out the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit. A stuck thruster then sent the capsule into a violent spin. Armstrong regained control and brought the crew home safely, a decision that confirmed his reputation for calm under pressure.

## Apollo 11: the first moonwalk

As commander of Apollo 11, Armstrong took manual control of the lunar module Eagle during the final descent to avoid a field of boulders. He reported to Mission Control: "Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Hours later he climbed down the ladder and stepped onto the surface. On the Moon, gravity is about one sixth of Earth's.

## His first words on the Moon

Armstrong's first words as he stepped off the ladder were: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." He said he had meant to say "one small step for a man". The indefinite article is hard to hear in the recording, and he later said that people were welcome to read it in. The press reported the sentence worldwide, and it is the most famous phrase of the space race.

## After Apollo: Challenger, teaching and recognition

President Richard Nixon awarded the Apollo 11 crew the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969. Armstrong left NASA in 1971 to teach aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati. In 1986 he served as vice chairman of the commission that investigated the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. He died on August 25, 2012, at age 82, after complications from heart surgery.

## Where to see Armstrong's legacy

His Apollo 11 spacesuit belongs to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington. The Smithsonian ran a Kickstarter campaign in 2015 to help conserve it. Armstrong's hometown has the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta.

## Armstrong collectibles

Armstrong was selective about signing autographs, so his signature is one of the most sought after by collectors, and authenticity matters. Browse our Apollo 11 memorabilia and our signed astronaut autographs. For other missions, see our Apollo memorabilia page.

Buzz Aldrin was the second human to walk on the Moon, on July 21, 1969 (UTC). He is also one of the best-known supporters of a human mission to Mars. This page covers his career, from fighter pilot to astronaut to Mars planner, and points collectors to the Apollo 11 pieces we offer from Paris.

## From West Point to the Air Force

Aldrin was born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr. on January 20, 1930, in Montclair, New Jersey. He graduated from West Point in 1951 and served as a fighter pilot with the US Air Force in the Korean War. He later legally adopted "Buzz", his childhood nickname, as his first name.

## A doctorate in astronautics at MIT

Aldrin earned a doctorate in astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1963. His thesis dealt with orbital rendezvous, the technique that lets two spacecraft meet in space. NASA picked him as an astronaut that same year, and he was the first with a doctorate.

## Gemini 12: proving spacewalks

In November 1966, Aldrin flew on Gemini 12 with Jim Lovell. He spent about five and a half hours outside the capsule over three spacewalks, showing that astronauts could work in space without exhausting themselves. His rendezvous methods were used for the Apollo missions.

## Apollo 11: second man on the Moon

On Apollo 11, Aldrin was the lunar module pilot. He followed Neil Armstrong onto the surface and described the view as "magnificent desolation". The two men spent about two and a half hours outside while Michael Collins stayed in orbit in the command module. President Richard Nixon awarded the crew the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969, and Congress gave them the Congressional Gold Medal in 2011.

## Mars: Aldrin's second mission

Aldrin retired from NASA in 1971 and the Air Force in 1972. Since then he has promoted human exploration of Mars. He designed the Aldrin Cycler, a spacecraft path that would let a ship circle between Earth and Mars on a regular schedule with little fuel. He has also proposed starting with the Martian moon Phobos and with missions to near-Earth asteroids, then building a permanent settlement on the Red Planet. In his plan, the 70th anniversary of Apollo 11, in 2039, is a target date.

## Research and teaching at Florida Tech

Aldrin is a research professor of aerospace engineering at the Florida Institute of Technology, known as Florida Tech. The university hosts the Buzz Aldrin Space Institute, which studies how to settle Mars and plan future missions.

## Aldrin collectibles

Aldrin signed photographs and documents are among the most requested Apollo autographs, and authenticity matters. Browse our Apollo 11 memorabilia and our signed astronaut autographs. For other missions, see our Apollo memorabilia page.

Michael Collins was the command module pilot of Apollo 11. While Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon in July 1969, he orbited alone above them, in the command module Columbia. This page covers his career, from pilot to astronaut to museum director, and points collectors to the Apollo 11 pieces we offer from Paris.

## From Rome to West Point

Collins was born on October 31, 1930, in Rome, Italy, where his father was a US Army officer. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1952 and joined the US Air Force. He flew fighter aircraft, then attended the Air Force's test pilot school at Edwards Air Force Base and worked as a flight test pilot.

## NASA astronaut and Gemini 10

NASA selected Collins in 1963, in the same group as Buzz Aldrin. In July 1966 he flew on Gemini 10 with John Young. The crew docked with an Agena target vehicle, and Collins carried out two spacewalks, the first astronaut to do so on one mission. One of them took him to a second Agena, left in orbit by an earlier flight, to retrieve an experiment.

## From Apollo 8 to Apollo 11

Collins was first assigned to the Apollo 8 crew. Surgery on his spine in 1968 forced a change, and Jim Lovell took his place. Collins then joined the Apollo 11 crew as command module pilot.

## Apollo 11: alone around the Moon

After Eagle separated from Columbia, Collins stayed in lunar orbit for about a day. Each time his spacecraft passed behind the Moon, he lost radio contact with Earth for roughly 48 minutes. He later wrote that he felt not loneliness, but awareness and satisfaction. When Armstrong and Aldrin lifted off from the surface, Collins performed the rendezvous and docking that brought them home. President Richard Nixon awarded the crew the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969, and Congress awarded them the Congressional Gold Medal in 2011.

## After Apollo: State Department and Smithsonian

Collins left NASA in 1970 to become Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs. In 1971 he became the first director of the National Air and Space Museum, part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, and led its move to a new building on the National Mall, opened in July 1976. He then served as an undersecretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and retired from the Air Force Reserve as a major general. Columbia, the spacecraft he flew in, is now held by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.

## Writing: Carrying the Fire

Collins wrote several books, including Carrying the Fire (1974), widely regarded as one of the best astronaut memoirs. He also wrote Liftoff (1988), on the history of American spaceflight. He died on April 28, 2021, at age 90.

## Collins collectibles

Photographs and documents signed by Michael Collins, alone or with Armstrong and Aldrin, are sought by Apollo collectors, and authenticity matters. Browse our Apollo 11 memorabilia and our signed astronaut autographs. For other missions, see our Apollo memorabilia page.

Vintage photographs of the Apollo 11 crew, signed by Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, are regularly offered for sale. Armstrong was the first man to walk on the Moon, so his signature is the one collectors look for most. What is such a photograph worth, and how do you tell a real signature from a reproduction? The answer starts with how astronaut autographs were handled in the early space program.

## When astronaut autographs were free

During the early years of NASA, astronaut signatures were seen less as a commercial opportunity and more as outreach. Anyone could write to an astronaut, enclose a self-addressed envelope and receive an autograph free of charge. The astronauts answered, and this kept public enthusiasm for the space program high.

## The autopen: why many signatures are not hand-signed

The program captured the public's imagination, and demand soon outgrew what the astronauts could sign by hand. Offices turned to secretarial signatures and to the autopen, a machine that reproduces a signature mechanically. Presidents, including John F. Kennedy, used it to answer large volumes of mail. As a result, some Apollo-era photographs carry a signature that looks genuine but was not written by the astronaut.

## What affects the value of a signed Apollo 11 photo

Prices depend on several factors, and we do not quote a figure without seeing the piece:

• Signer. Armstrong signed more selectively as years went by, and his signature is the most sought after of the crew.
• Number of signatures. A photograph signed by all three crew members is generally more sought after than one signed by a single astronaut.
• Authenticity. A hand-signed autograph, checked by an expert, is worth far more than an autopen or secretarial signature.
• The photograph itself. Condition, size, whether it is an original NASA print, and the image all matter.
• Provenance. Knowing where and when the piece was signed adds confidence.

## How to protect yourself when buying

Ask the seller how the signature was authenticated, ask for clear photographs of the signature, and compare it with known examples. Be wary of a price far below what comparable pieces sell for.

## Browse Apollo 11 signed pieces

See our signed astronaut autographs and our Apollo 11 memorabilia.