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Mission clock — follow Apollo 11 in real time

Every milestone of Apollo 11 mapped from ground elapsed time to the 1969 calendar. On the July 16–24 anniversary the clock runs live — “what was happening right now” — mapping the current instant onto the mission. Any other time, it opens at the landing; scrub the slider, step through events, or click any line to jump.

● LIVE
T+000:00:00
Now

  1. Wednesday, July 16
  2. 000:00:00 Liftoff — Apollo 11 mission 9:32 a.m.
  3. 000:11:45 Earth orbit insertion (plan: 000:11:50) 9:43 a.m.
  4. 002:44:19 Translunar injection — S-IVB reignition (plan: 002:44:15) 12:16 p.m.
  5. 002:53:03 TLI complete — outbound 12:25 p.m.
  6. 003:20:00 (plan) Transposition & docking — Columbia turns and docks with Eagle 12:52 p.m.
  7. 004:10:00 (plan) CSM-LM ejection from the S-IVB/SLA 1:42 p.m.
  8. 004:39:37 (plan) SPS evasive maneuver clears the spent stage 2:11 p.m.
  9. 006:19:23 Midcourse correction 1 scrubbed (slot was TLI+9 h ≈ 9:16 p.m. EDT) 3:51 p.m.
  10. Thursday, July 17
  11. 026:45:38 Midcourse correction 2 — the one translunar trim burn (SPS, Columbia); slot was TLI+24 h 12:17 p.m.
  12. 030:29:39 First good TV downlink — TV broadcast & communications 4:01 p.m.
  13. Friday, July 18
  14. 048:12:17 Midcourse correction 3 deleted (computed burn: 0.8 ft/s) 9:44 a.m.
  15. 055:21:27 First LM ingress + TV tour of Eagle (the early-ingress option in the onboard checklists) 4:53 p.m.
  16. Saturday, July 19
  17. 069:18:26 Midcourse correction 4 waived 6:50 a.m.
  18. 073:17:24 Approach — the Moon at three-quarters of a window 10:49 a.m.
  19. 075:54:28 (plan) Lunar orbit insertion 1 — SPS burn behind the Moon into 60×170 nm (Columbia) 1:26 p.m.
  20. 076:16:59 AOS — first call from lunar orbit 1:48 p.m.
  21. 080:09:30 (plan) Lunar orbit insertion 2 — circularizes at ~54×66 nm 5:41 p.m.
  22. Sunday, July 20
  23. 100:09:50 (plan) Undocking behind the Moon, rev 13 1:41 p.m.
  24. 100:18:04 Eagle flying free 1:50 p.m.
  25. 101:38:48 (plan) Descent orbit insertion — DPS burn behind the Moon, pericynthion ~8 nm 3:10 p.m.
  26. 102:28:08 GO for powered descent — powered descent and landing 4:00 p.m.
  27. 102:38:30 Program alarms during the braking phase (plan PDI: 102:35:13) 4:10 p.m.
  28. 102:45:40 Touchdown at Tranquility Base (plan: 102:47:11) 4:17 p.m.
  29. 102:45:59 The announcement 4:17 p.m.
  30. 104:39:14 The schedule swap — crew propose the EVA before the rest period (planned vs. actual) 6:11 p.m.
  31. 106:11:00 EVA prep begins (Mission Report anchor; simulations had allowed 2 h — it took ~3) 7:43 p.m.
  32. Monday, July 21 (UTC)
  33. 109:19:16 Armstrong on the porch — EVA Jul 20, 10:51 p.m.
  34. 109:22:00 First live TV from the surface — TV broadcast Jul 20, 10:54 p.m.
  35. 109:24:48 THE FIRST STEP Jul 20, 10:56 p.m.
  36. 109:37:08 Contingency sample — the first sample of the Moon (collection & containers) Jul 20, 11:09 p.m.
  37. 109:43:24 Aldrin on the surface Jul 20, 11:15 p.m.
  38. 109:52:40 Plaque read — ceremonial activities Jul 20, 11:24 p.m.
  39. 109:58:32 Solar Wind Composition foil out — SWC Jul 20, 11:30 p.m.
  40. 110:09:43 Flag raised Jul 20, 11:41 p.m.
  41. 110:16:09 President Nixon's call Jul 20, 11:48 p.m.
  42. 110:35:56 Bulk sample sealed 12:07 a.m.
  43. 111:02:08–111:12:32 EASEP deployed — PSE aligned, laser reflector leveled, seismometer uncaged (EASEP) 12:34–12:44 a.m.
  44. 111:16:13 Core tubes + documented grab — field geology 12:48 a.m.
  45. 111:39:13 Hatch closed — EVA ends 1:11 a.m.
  46. 114:18:31 Equipment jettison — the seismometer's accidental first calibration (PSE) 3:50 a.m.
  47. 114:22:51 Goodnight at Tranquility Base 3:54 a.m.
  48. 124:21:54 Lunar liftoff — ascent and rendezvous (target 124:22:00; press-kit plan 124:23:21) 1:53 p.m.
  49. 127:52:05 Rendezvous — station-keeping (plan TPF: 127:43:54; CSI/CDH/TPI slots 125:21/126:19/126:58) 5:24 p.m.
  50. 128:03:12 Docking (plan: 128:00:00) 5:35 p.m.
  51. 130:11:08 Ascent stage jettisoned (plan slot: 131:53:05) 7:43 p.m.
  52. Tuesday, July 22
  53. 134:37:53 GO for TEI 12:09 a.m.
  54. 135:24:34 (plan) Transearth injection — SPS, 2 m 30 s, behind the Moon (Columbia) 12:56 a.m.
  55. 135:35:14 AOS — homeward bound 1:07 a.m.
  56. 150:28:31 Midcourse correction 5 — the only transearth trim in the record (slot TEI+15 h) 4:00 p.m.
  57. Wednesday, July 23
  58. 157:03:55 Corridor check — tracking after MCC-5 Jul 22, 10:35 p.m.
  59. 177:32:24 Final telecast — the crew's reflections (TV broadcast) 7:04 p.m.
  60. Thursday, July 24
  61. 194:50:04 (plan) CM/SM separation (Columbia) 12:22 p.m.
  62. 195:03:01 Last call before blackout (plan entry interface: 195:05:04) 12:35 p.m.
  63. 195:12:09 Drogue chutes 12:44 p.m.
  64. 195:18:18 SPLASHDOWN (plan: 195:19:05 = 12:51 p.m.) — ~8 days 3 h 18 m after liftoff 12:50 p.m.

The full day-by-day tables, with the wall-clock conversions and the on-the-loop quotes, are in the Follow Apollo 11 in real time analysis.