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The Apollo 11 crew heads for the van that will take them to the rocket for launch to the moon at Kennedy Space Center.
- 50 years ago, the Apollo 11 astronauts took off for the moon.
- Aside from Neil Armstrong's unforgettable words upon walking the lunar surface, the three astronauts had much more to say about their experiences.
- Here are their most unforgettable quotes on everything from their historic mission to the future of space travel.
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Half a century ago, on July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts took off for the moon.
Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, and Michael Collins arrived four days later to a place no human being had ever been before.
Collins orbited the moon while Armstrong and Aldrin landed on its surface. It took them hours to put on their space suits and prep for touchdown. After descending the ladder onto the lunar surface, Armstrong uttered his historic words: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." (Armstrong would later claim, "'That's one small step for 'a' man.' It's just that people just didn't hear it.")
The 600 million people watching the moon landing on television would remember that line. But the three astronauts had much more to say about their experience flying to the moon and back.
Here are the astronauts' most memorable words.