50 years ago on this day man landed on moon for the 1st time; Find out how much you know about it

Apollo 11 which carried the first man to land on the Moon took off on July 16, 1969 and returned to Earth on July 24. As the world celebrates the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, here is a quiz to test what you know.

1. What’s the distance from the Earth to the Moon?

2. What was the travelling time to the Moon ?

3. What is the distance from the earth to the International Space Station?

4. What was the Lunar Module called?

5. How much time did the Lunar Module stay on the lunar surface?

6. How many astronauts were there in Apollo 11?

7. How many of the astronauts set foot on the Moon?

8. How much time did the astronauts spend on the Moon?

9. How much material did Apollo 11 bring back from the Moon?

10. How many men have set foot on the Moon so far

(Answers are provided at the end of the story.)

NASA’s monumental Apollo 11 mission turns 50 today. The first ever moon landing in the world was a historic event for mankind and NASA is celebrating with everyone and has various events in and around the site of the liftoff.

The Washington Monument – the 565 ft. national symbol, in light of the occasion, will be projecting a 363-foot image of the Saturn V rocket for two hours every night during the week of the mission’s anniversary to mark the experiment that put the first two humans – both Americans – on the moon. This will be followed by a demonstration of the launch and a show on the day.

NASA’s website has also brought forth its special edition, with its background showing images of the mission and links to merchandise, videos and images of the mission that made history.

Google has outdone itself in today’s doodle. On clicking the image, one finds the narration of Michael Collins along with an animation of the entire mission as fact which were previously unknown to the public are revealed.

For instance, the team contributing to Project Apollo from around the world are roughly 4,00,000 in number! Most of these people are construction workers, scientists, and engineers who never left the ground. Also among those 4,00,000 were the mission’s three astronauts – Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Collins himself.

Their historic journey began with one of the most powerful rockets of all time – the Saturn V – blasting off from the Kennedy Space Center on 16 July 1969.

After inserting themselves into the Moon's orbit, part of their vehicle – the lunar module, also called "the Eagle," separated for a 13-minute controlled drop to the surface. Michael Collins stayed behind in the orbiting base (called the command module), which would eventually bring the astronaut trio back home, enjoying his warm cup of coffee.

To name just a few of the challenges the trio faced, Armstrong and Aldrin lost radio contact with Earth, the onboard computer showed unfamiliar error codes, and fuel ran short moments before the pair of them landed on the Moon.

As millions watched on television anxiously, they steered the module to a chosen landing site in a crater known as the 'Sea of Tranquility' on 20 July 1969. Only a short while later, Armstrong became the first person to set foot and walk on the Moon, uttering the now-infamous words "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

The Apollo 11 crew returned to Earth on 25 July 1969. The Apollo programme continued to carry ten more American astronauts to the Moon, with the final mission in 1972. Many breakthroughs were made possible by these Apollo missions – from CAT scans to freeze-dried food.

Answers:

1.) 3.63 lakh Kms

2.) Roughly three days

3.) 402 Kms

4.) Eagle

5.) 21 hours

6.) Three

7.) Two of the three astronaults. Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrich, stepped out on the Moon while the third one, Michael Collins, stayed back in the command module

8.) Neil Armstrong spent 2.5 hours on the surface of the Moon while Aldrich joined him after the first hour. They slept on the Moon for seven hours and conducted tests.

9.) The astronauts brought back 22 Kilograms of material including moon rocks and soil samples.

10.) Twelve men have so far set foot on the Moon while 12 more men have made the journey but did not land on the Moon