At 9:32 a.m. EDT, Apollo 11, the first U.S. lunar landing mission,
was launched on a historic journey to the surface of the moon.

After traveling 240,000 miles in 76 hours, Apollo 11 entered into
a lunar orbit on July 19.

From left: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, the Apollo 11 crew.

Communications satellite Telstar 1 was launched atop a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962. It successfully relayed through space the
first television pictures, telephone calls, and telegraph images,
and provided the first live transatlantic television feed. Telstar 2
launched May 7, 1963. Telstar 1 and 2, though no longer
functional ,still orbit the Earth today.

Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with astronauts Frank
Borman, James Lovell, Jr. and William Anders aboard (above).

On Christmas Eve, the astronauts entered into orbit around the
moon, the first manned spacecraft ever to do so. During Apollo
8‘s 10 lunar orbits, television images were sent back home, and spectacular photos were taken of Earth and the moon from the spacecraft. In addition to being the first human beings to view
firsthand their home world in its entirety, the three astronauts
were also the first to see the far side of the moon.

The iconic "Earthrise" image taken by astronaut Bill Anders
on Apollo 8 on Christmas Eve 1968. Friday marked the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 8 liftoff.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

Singer Robert Anthony Plant is 73 today.

Plant is best known as the lead singer and lyricist
of the English rock band Led Zeppelin.

From Cape Canaveral, Florida, John Herschel Glenn Jr (above).
was successfully launched into space aboard the Friendship 7
spacecraft (above) on the first orbital flight by an American
astronaut. 

Glenn, a decorated lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps,
was among the seven men chosen by the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA) in 1959 to become the first
American astronauts.