The Untold Story Of The Moon Landing:



The date was May 25, 1961 and our president John F. Kennedy gave a speech about how The United States was falling behind the Soviet Union in technology and prestige. So he challenged the nation to put a man on the moon before the decade. So NASA right away went to work.Then on July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 was ready for take off. Me, (Israel Avila) and my companions Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were ready. We had gone through tons of training for this moment. I felt lucky because Michael Collins couldn't make it so I took his place. We knew that all of America was going to watch us since there was a recording device in the lunar module. Then as we took our seats, strapped up and got everything ready for the mission. All I could hear was “Ready for blast off in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 blast off!!!” at that moment all I could think of me having the accomplishment of being the first man on the moon.

Then we were launched into space, all I could feel was my skin going back as the gravity pushed down an enormous amount of force on my body. Then as Houston told us that we were officially in space I notice how amazing the stars and other planets looked like it was amazing to see so many stars around us and the planets like Jupiter, and Mars it was just an amazing view. Then Neil and I took off our straps and we floated around as Buzz took care of the direction that the spaceship was going.Houston then told us “Do you feel any changes, and is everything was alright?” “No the spaceship is going fine no changes has happened yet we are okay here but we will tell you if something does happen” I replied



“ Affirmative we will be here all the time just tell us if anything is happening.” After that, Neil told me, “You think that we're going to make it.” I then replied “We would be definitely lucky remember what happened to the other Apollos they didn't make it, but don't worry I'm sure everything is going to be alright” “ Well that made me get a little worried “ he replied.“ Well we will see what happens, go take those pictures of earth from the back of the ship, were going to need them” “OK”. Then I tried out the gravity, it felt amazing to be floating in space, and the earth looked gigantic from our point of view, we got to see how beautiful the earth was it was breath taking . The whole trip we kept communicating with Houston talking about how we were going to be the first men on the moon and how we were on live broadcasting television, also what we needed to pick up from the moon like rock samples and soil. In the next two days Houston was telling us that it would take about one more day to reach the moon because of the speed that we were going. So we just sat tight and were talking about if we were going to make it or not and who was going to step on the moon first.






After about one day we landed on the moon in a peaceful manner. Just looking down as we landed gave me the chills.Houston then told us that we had landed safely on the earth and the whole control room just started. Then all of us then put on space suits that had a portable life support system mounted on the back. As Houston then said “ Congratulations!!” then a whole bunch of cheering happened and we all feel proud.The support system controlled the oxygen, temperature, and pressure inside of the suit. Neil who we agreed on was going to step on the moon first, looked at me and said “listen” he then stepped out of the spacecraft and said “ That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” I couldn't believe it…..he stole the words that i was going to say!!! He must have overheard me saying it at night just as we were about to go to sleep.I put so much work into that phrase. So then we all stepped on to the moon the moon gravitational pull was very light I say I could jump at least 2 times higher than what I jumped on earth. We started doing what we came here for, we did experimentation's and then we started collecting soil and rock samples which I thought was really cool. The rocks were sandy and very light weight, the feeling and the texture of the rock was pretty rough to. Also I could definitely tell that the moon was a lot smaller than the earth just by standing Buzz and I could see the where the moon curves out into the distance. After we were done the time we had been on the moon was long, it was just about 21 and a half hours. After that we were sent there to do we were ready to go back to earth. I can remember my last moments on the moon the sandy soil going up as i stepped on it, the last look at the horizon, and finally the last jumps that soared me though the air. But finally it was time to go home.

The command service module “Columbia” which was the control center and was also our way to getting back to earth. I can remember my last time seeing moon from so close it was great. The time for the arrival to earth we thought was pretty much going to be the same. So we everyday we just decided to talk about how successful the mission was and examine the rocks and soil that we picked up from the moon. One thing that we didn't notice is that we could see other planets from much closer than on earth. So we took picture right away, overall I think the mission was pretty successful we got to the moon we grabbed samples and now we were going safely back to earth I mean like what can possibly go wrong. As we entered the atmosphere I can just feel the change from the landing on the moon and the way the gravity was here down on earth. After we were done going through the atmosphere I knew that I was back home.

Just the intel from from Houston really made me feel proud of myself I can remember what they said “ the impossible mission was complete and then we heard cheering again from the other people working there. The date that we landed was July 24, 1969 and we took just about 8 days We then landed in the Pacific Ocean. We were then picked up by a helicopter and were brought to shore. When we got there there were tons of news stations there trying to get a word from us but we were told to ignore them and just keep on going went back to NASA where we had been launched and there everyone was celebrating and we had a fun time popping champagne bottles, eating and partying.Although one thing that was hard when we got there was getting used to standing up again for the first time in about eight days. It took me about a day just to do that.Overall I enjoyed we all enjoyed the lunar landing me, Neil, and Buzz really bonded on that trip and became more friends than ever. But now people don't know me Israel A they formally know me as the first man on the moon.