Follow Apollo 11 in real time — a day-by-day anniversary companion (July 16–24)
A clock-true guide for following the mission on its anniversary: every major milestone mapped from ground elapsed time (GET) to the 1969 calendar date and wall-clock time, linked to the wiki article that covers it, and — wherever the air-to-ground loop carries the moment — quoted verbatim. The calendar dates and times of day recur every year, so this reads as a “what was happening right now” companion for any July 16–24.
Nothing here is invented: planned times come from the Press Kit’s Mission Events table and the Flight Plan (via the nominal mission timeline); as-flown times are GET tags read directly from the air-to-ground transcript or carried over from the annotated EVA timeline and the planned-vs-actual concept.
The clock: convert GET yourself
Section titled “The clock: convert GET yourself”GET (ground elapsed time) is the mission stopwatch — hours:minutes:seconds since liftoff. Liftoff was 9:32:00 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, July 16, 1969 (Apollo 11 mission), i.e. 13:32:00 UTC.
Rule: UTC = July 16, 13:32:00 + GET. For Eastern time, subtract 4 hours (EDT = UTC − 4). Carry days as the hours roll past 24.
Worked example — the landing, GET 102:45:40: 102:45:40 = 4 days 6:45:40. July 16 13:32:00 + 4 days = July 20 13:32:00;
- 6:45:40 → July 20, 20:17:40 UTC = 4:17:40 p.m. EDT.
Worked example crossing midnight — the first step, GET 109:24:48: 109:24:48 = 4 days 13:24:48. July 20 13:32:00 + 13:24:48 = 26:56:48 → roll the day → July 21, 02:56:48 UTC = 10:56:48 p.m. EDT, still July 20 in the U.S. That is why the first step is “July 20” in American memory and July 21 by the universal clock.
Two companion conventions:
- Transcript tags. The transcript
stamps each line
DD HH MM SS(days/hours/minutes/seconds). GET hours =DD × 24 + HH: tag04 13 24 48→ 4×24+13 = 109:24:48 (rule as documented in the EVA timeline). - Self-check. The Press Kit’s Mission Events table prints its own Date/EDT column next to each planned GET — apply the rule and you reproduce it: TLI 02:44:15 → 16:16:15 UTC → 12:16 p.m. on the 16th ✓; planned touchdown 102:47:11 → 4:19 p.m. on the 20th ✓; planned splashdown 195:19:05 → 12:51 p.m. on the 24th ✓. (A few kit rows differ from the arithmetic by a minute — its own rounding; the tables below are computed from GET.)
Reading the day tables
Section titled “Reading the day tables”- (plan) rows are the pre-flight schedule — the Press Kit Mission Events table (June 26, 1969) — used where the event had no live voice anchor (burns behind the Moon, slots computed in real time). Everything else is the as-flown record: the GET is the transcript’s time-tag on the quoted words, so an event and the line announcing it can differ by a few seconds.
- The mission flew remarkably close to this schedule everywhere except the surface day: the crew moved the moonwalk ~3 hours ahead of the printed plan (see planned vs. actual and the nominal mission timeline).
- Quotes keep the transcript’s conventions:
...= untranscribable garble,(A)marks the famously contested article in the first-step line. Speakers: CDR Armstrong, CMP Collins, LMP Aldrin, CC the capsule communicator on GOSS NET 1. - Days below are UTC dates; each row gives both clocks, and the EDT cell names the date wherever it differs from the day header.
Day 1 — Wednesday, July 16: launch, translunar injection
Section titled “Day 1 — Wednesday, July 16: launch, translunar injection”Liftoff from KSC Launch Complex 39-A; one and a half Earth orbits; the S-IVB relights to send the stack moonward; Collins turns Columbia around and docks with Eagle.
| GET | UTC | EDT | Milestone | On the loop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 000:00:00 | 13:32:00 | 9:32 a.m. | Liftoff — Apollo 11 mission | 000:00:04, CDR: “Roger. Clock.” |
| 000:11:45 | 13:43:45 | 9:43 a.m. | Earth orbit insertion (plan: 000:11:50) | CMP: “SECO. We are showing 101.4 by 103.6.” — CC at 000:12:06: “You are confirmed GO for orbit.” |
| 002:44:19 | 16:16:19 | 12:16 p.m. | Translunar injection — S-IVB reignition (plan: 002:44:15) | CMP: “Ignition.” — CC: “We confirm ignition, and the thrust is GO.” |
| 002:53:03 | 16:25:03 | 12:25 p.m. | TLI complete — outbound | CDR: “Hey, Houston, Apollo 11. That Saturn gave us a magnificent ride.” |
| 003:20:00 (plan) | 16:52 | 12:52 p.m. | Transposition & docking — Columbia turns and docks with Eagle | Collins’ report at 003:38:07: “I thought it went pretty well, Houston…“ |
| 004:10:00 (plan) | 17:42 | 1:42 p.m. | CSM-LM ejection from the S-IVB/SLA | — |
| 004:39:37 (plan) | 18:11:37 | 2:11 p.m. | SPS evasive maneuver clears the spent stage | — |
| 006:19:23 | 19:51:23 | 3:51 p.m. | Midcourse correction 1 scrubbed (slot was TLI+9 h ≈ 9:16 p.m. EDT) | CC: “Hello, Apollo 11. Houston. We have scrubbed the midcourse 1.” |
Day 2 — Thursday, July 17: coast, one trim burn, first good TV
Section titled “Day 2 — Thursday, July 17: coast, one trim burn, first good TV”Quiet translunar coast in slow “barbecue” roll. The only outbound trajectory burn is made, and a test TV transmission reaches Goldstone.
| GET | UTC | EDT | Milestone | On the loop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 026:45:38 | 16:17:38 | 12:17 p.m. | Midcourse correction 2 — the one translunar trim burn (SPS, Columbia); slot was TLI+24 h | CDR: “Houston, burn completed. You copying our residuals?“ |
| 030:29:39 | 20:01:39 | 4:01 p.m. | First good TV downlink — TV broadcast & communications | CC: “Goldstone reports they are receiving a TV picture coming down from you all, a little snowy, but a good TV picture.” — CDR: “Roger. We’re just testing the equipment up here.” |
Day 3 — Friday, July 18: first look inside Eagle
Section titled “Day 3 — Friday, July 18: first look inside Eagle”Another coast day. Houston cancels the third midcourse slot, and in the evening the crew open the tunnel early and give a televised tour of the lunar module.
| GET | UTC | EDT | Milestone | On the loop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 048:12:17 | 13:44:17 | 9:44 a.m. | Midcourse correction 3 deleted (computed burn: 0.8 ft/s) | CC: “…we’re deleting midcourse correction number 3 and all the items associated with it.” |
| 055:21:27 | 20:53:27 | 4:53 p.m. | First LM ingress + TV tour of Eagle (the early-ingress option in the onboard checklists) | CDR: “Mike must have done a smooth job in that docking. There isn’t a dent or a mark on the probe.” — CC at 055:21:38: “We’re really getting a great picture here, 11.” |
Day 4 — Saturday, July 19: into lunar orbit
Section titled “Day 4 — Saturday, July 19: into lunar orbit”The Moon fills the windows. Both lunar-orbit-insertion burns happen behind the Moon, out of radio contact — the ground learns each result only at acquisition of signal (AOS).
| GET | UTC | EDT | Milestone | On the loop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 069:18:26 | 10:50:26 | 6:50 a.m. | Midcourse correction 4 waived | LMP: “Good morning. Are you planning a midcourse correction 4 this morning?” — CC: “That’s negative. Midcourse number 4 is not required.” |
| 073:17:24 | 14:49:24 | 10:49 a.m. | Approach — the Moon at three-quarters of a window | CDR: “The view of the Moon that we’ve been having recently is really spectacular… It’s a view worth the price of the trip.” |
| 075:54:28 (plan) | 17:26:28 | 1:26 p.m. | Lunar orbit insertion 1 — SPS burn behind the Moon into 60×170 nm (Columbia) | (no comm — burn occurs out of contact) |
| 076:16:59 | 17:48:59 | 1:48 p.m. | AOS — first call from lunar orbit | SC: “Houston, Apollo 11. Over.” — burn report at 076:21:56, CDR: “It was like - like perfect!… NOUN 44 showed us in a 60.9 by 169.9.” |
| 080:09:30 (plan) | 21:41:30 | 5:41 p.m. | Lunar orbit insertion 2 — circularizes at ~54×66 nm | (behind the Moon) |
Day 5 — Sunday, July 20: “THE EAGLE HAS LANDED”
Section titled “Day 5 — Sunday, July 20: “THE EAGLE HAS LANDED””The big day — undocking, powered descent through the program alarms, touchdown with the tanks near empty, and then the schedule’s one great divergence: the crew ask to walk before the planned rest period, pulling the moonwalk ~3 hours ahead of the plan (printed depress slot: 112:30 GET = 2:02 a.m. EDT on the 21st).
| GET | UTC | EDT | Milestone | On the loop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100:09:50 (plan) | 17:41:50 | 1:41 p.m. | Undocking behind the Moon, rev 13 | — |
| 100:18:04 | 17:50:04 | 1:50 p.m. | Eagle flying free | CDR: “Roger. Eagle is undocked… The Eagle has wings.” |
| 101:38:48 (plan) | 19:10:48 | 3:10 p.m. | Descent orbit insertion — DPS burn behind the Moon, pericynthion ~8 nm | (no comm) |
| 102:28:08 | 20:00:08 | 4:00 p.m. | GO for powered descent — powered descent and landing | CC: “Eagle, Houston. If you read, you’re GO for powered descent.” — relayed by Collins: “Eagle, this is Columbia. They just gave you a GO for powered descent.” |
| 102:38:30 | 20:10:30 | 4:10 p.m. | Program alarms during the braking phase (plan PDI: 102:35:13) | CDR: “It’s a 1202.” |
| 102:45:40 | 20:17:40 | 4:17 p.m. | Touchdown at Tranquility Base (plan: 102:47:11) | LMP: “CONTACT LIGHT.” … “Okay. ENGINE STOP.” |
| 102:45:59 | 20:17:59 | 4:17 p.m. | The announcement | CDR: “Houston, Tranquility Base here. THE EAGLE HAS LANDED.” — CC: ”…You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We’re breathing again. Thanks a lot.” |
| 104:39:14 | 22:11:14 | 6:11 p.m. | The schedule swap — crew propose the EVA before the rest period (planned vs. actual) | LMP: “Our recommendation at this point is planning an EVA with your concurrence starting about eight o’clock this evening, Houston time.” — CC at 104:39:40: “We thought about it; we will support it. You’re GO at that time.” |
| 106:11:00 | 23:43:00 | 7:43 p.m. | EVA prep begins (Mission Report anchor; simulations had allowed 2 h — it took ~3) | — |
Day 6 — Monday, July 21 (UTC): the moonwalk, liftoff, and the fleet reunited
Section titled “Day 6 — Monday, July 21 (UTC): the moonwalk, liftoff, and the fleet reunited”By universal time the entire EVA falls on July 21 — in the U.S. it begins late on the evening of Sunday the 20th. For the minute-by-minute walk, follow the annotated EVA timeline alongside this table of headline moments. The walk ends, the crew sleep poorly, and Eagle’s ascent stage flies the mission’s only no-backup maneuver to rejoin Columbia.
| GET | UTC | EDT | Milestone | On the loop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 109:19:16 | 02:51:16 | Jul 20, 10:51 p.m. | Armstrong on the porch — EVA | CDR: “Houston, I’m on the porch.” |
| 109:22:00 | 02:54:00 | Jul 20, 10:54 p.m. | First live TV from the surface — TV broadcast | ”We’re getting a picture on the TV.” |
| 109:24:48 | 02:56:48 | Jul 20, 10:56 p.m. | THE FIRST STEP | CDR: “THAT’S ONE SMALL STEP FOR (A) MAN, ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND.” |
| 109:37:08 | 03:09:08 | Jul 20, 11:09 p.m. | Contingency sample — the first sample of the Moon (collection & containers) | “Contingency sample is in the pocket.” |
| 109:43:24 | 03:15:24 | Jul 20, 11:15 p.m. | Aldrin on the surface | LMP: “Magnificent desolation.” |
| 109:52:40 | 03:24:40 | Jul 20, 11:24 p.m. | Plaque read — ceremonial activities | ”…We came in peace for all mankind.” |
| 109:58:32 | 03:30:32 | Jul 20, 11:30 p.m. | Solar Wind Composition foil out — SWC | ”I’ll start working on the solar wind.” |
| 110:09:43 | 03:41:43 | Jul 20, 11:41 p.m. | Flag raised | CC: “They’ve got the flag up now and you can see the stars and stripes on the lunar surface.” |
| 110:16:09 | 03:48:09 | Jul 20, 11:48 p.m. | President Nixon’s call | ”…for one priceless moment… all the people on this Earth are truly one.” |
| 110:35:56 | 04:07:56 | 12:07 a.m. | Bulk sample sealed | ”Bulk sample is just being sealed.” |
| 111:02:08–111:12:32 | 04:34–04:44 | 12:34–12:44 a.m. | EASEP deployed — PSE aligned, laser reflector leveled, seismometer uncaged (EASEP) | “The laser reflector is installed and the bubble is leveled and the alignment appears to be good.” |
| 111:16:13 | 04:48:13 | 12:48 a.m. | Core tubes + documented grab — field geology | ”…get two core tubes and the solar wind experiment.” |
| 111:39:13 | 05:11:13 | 1:11 a.m. | Hatch closed — EVA ends | ”The hatch is closed and latched, and verified secure.” |
| 114:18:31 | 07:50:31 | 3:50 a.m. | Equipment jettison — the seismometer’s accidental first calibration (PSE) | CC: “We observed your equipment jettison on the TV, and the passive seismic experiment recorded shocks when each PLSS hit the surface.” |
| 114:22:51 | 07:54:51 | 3:54 a.m. | Goodnight at Tranquility Base | CC: “Yes, indeed. Get some rest there and have at it tomorrow.” |
| 124:21:54 | 17:53:54 | 1:53 p.m. | Lunar liftoff — ascent and rendezvous (target 124:22:00; press-kit plan 124:23:21) | LMP: “9, 8, 7, 6, 5, abort stage, engine arm ascent, proceed.” … “Very smooth… very quiet ride.” |
| 127:52:05 | 21:24:05 | 5:24 p.m. | Rendezvous — station-keeping (plan TPF: 127:43:54; CSI/CDH/TPI slots 125:21/126:19/126:58) | CDR: “Roger. We’re stationkeeping.” |
| 128:03:12 | 21:35:12 | 5:35 p.m. | Docking (plan: 128:00:00) | CDR: “Okay. We’re all yours.” |
| 130:11:08 | 23:43:08 | 7:43 p.m. | Ascent stage jettisoned (plan slot: 131:53:05) | CC: “We got Eagle looking good. It’s holding cabin pressure and it picked up about 2 feet per second from that jettison.” |
Day 7 — Tuesday, July 22: leaving the Moon
Section titled “Day 7 — Tuesday, July 22: leaving the Moon”Transearth injection — like the arrival burns, fired behind the Moon — then the homeward coast begins with the one transearth trim burn.
| GET | UTC | EDT | Milestone | On the loop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 134:37:53 | 04:09:53 | 12:09 a.m. | GO for TEI | CC: “Apollo 11, Houston. You are GO for TEI.” |
| 135:24:34 (plan) | 04:56:34 | 12:56 a.m. | Transearth injection — SPS, 2 m 30 s, behind the Moon (Columbia) | (no comm) |
| 135:35:14 | 05:07:14 | 1:07 a.m. | AOS — homeward bound | CC: “Hello Apollo 11. Houston. How did it go?” — CMP: “Time to open up the LRL doors, Charlie.” — CDR at 135:36:28: “That was a beautiful burn. They don’t come any finer.” (LRL = the quarantine Lunar Receiving Laboratory) |
| 150:28:31 | 20:00:31 | 4:00 p.m. | Midcourse correction 5 — the only transearth trim in the record (slot TEI+15 h) | CC: “11, Houston. We’re standing by for your burn. Everything’s looking good from down here.” |
Day 8 — Wednesday, July 23: the last evening out
Section titled “Day 8 — Wednesday, July 23: the last evening out”A coasting day pointed at the entry corridor; the night before splashdown, each crewman gives a farewell reflection on live TV.
| GET | UTC | EDT | Milestone | On the loop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 157:03:55 | 02:35:55 | Jul 22, 10:35 p.m. | Corridor check — tracking after MCC-5 | CC: “…we’re showing a gamma of minus 6.57… It’s just about in the center of the corridor; everything’s looking fine.” |
| 177:32:24 | 23:04:24 | 7:04 p.m. | Final telecast — the crew’s reflections (TV broadcast) | CDR: “Good evening. This is the Commander of Apollo 11. A hundred years ago, Jules Verne wrote a book about a voyage to the Moon. His spaceship, Columbia, took off from Florida and landed in the Pacific Ocean after completing a trip to the Moon…” |
| ~180:05 (plan) | Jul 24, 01:37 | 9:37 p.m. | Midcourse correction 6 slot (EI−15 h; computed in real time) | — |
Day 9 — Thursday, July 24: splashdown
Section titled “Day 9 — Thursday, July 24: splashdown”Entry day: the Service Module is cast off, Columbia hits the atmosphere at 36,000+ ft/s, disappears into blackout, and ends the mission under three parachutes in the mid-Pacific — into quarantine.
| GET | UTC | EDT | Milestone | On the loop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ~192:05 (plan) | 13:37 | 9:37 a.m. | Midcourse correction 7 slot (EI−3 h) | — |
| 194:50:04 (plan) | 16:22:04 | 12:22 p.m. | CM/SM separation (Columbia) | — |
| 195:03:01 | 16:35:01 | 12:35 p.m. | Last call before blackout (plan entry interface: 195:05:04) | CC: “You’re going over the hill there shortly. You’re looking mighty fine to us.” — CDR: “See you later.” |
| 195:12:09 | 16:44:09 | 12:44 p.m. | Drogue chutes | CC: “DROGUES.” |
| 195:18:18 | 16:50:18 | 12:50 p.m. | SPLASHDOWN (plan: 195:19:05 = 12:51 p.m.) — ~8 days 3 h 18 m after liftoff | SWIM 1: “SPLASHDOWN!” — the transcript’s last word |
From the recovery deck the crew walk straight into biological isolation — the quarantine and back-contamination program (see also crew health) — while the samples fly ahead to the Lunar Receiving Laboratory: the mission ends, and the science begins.
Caveats
Section titled “Caveats”- Planned ≠ flown. The (plan) rows are the June 26, 1969 press-kit schedule. The flown mission tracked it closely for launch, the translunar/transearth legs, and lunar orbit — the visible deviations in the record are the landing ~1.5 min early, the EVA pulled ~3 h forward (with the printed depress slot 112:30 never used), liftoff/docking within minutes, and the LM jettisoned ~1.7 h early. Where the record carries an anchor, the table uses it.
- A GET tag times the words, not always the deed. Transcript GETs are when a line was spoken on the loop; for events like the flag or the bulk sample the announcing line trails the act by moments.
- Behind-the-Moon burns (LOI-1/LOI-2, DOI, TEI) have no live voice record; their rows are plan times, with the AOS exchange quoted as the first word back.
- The UTC/EDT columns are computed from GET by the rule above, not copied from any modern retelling; the press kit’s own Date/EDT column independently confirms the arithmetic (to within its rounding).
Sources
Section titled “Sources”- Apollo 11 Press Kit (Release 69-83K) — Mission Events table (planned GET / Date / EDT for every event; “(plan)” rows)
- Apollo 11 Technical Air-to-Ground Voice Transcription — every quoted line and its GET tag, launch through “SPLASHDOWN!”
- Apollo 11 EVA — annotated master timeline — the moonwalk anchors reused in Day 6
- Apollo 11 Flight Plan (Final, AS-506) and nominal mission timeline — the planned surface day (112:30–115:18 EVA) the crew moved forward
- Apollo 11 EVA planned vs. actual — the 104:40 decision and 106:11 prep-start anchors (Mission Report §4.12)
- Apollo 11 mission — the 9:32 a.m. EDT launch anchor; lunar ascent and rendezvous — the 124:22:00 liftoff target